S2 E15. Mikey Likes It! 2X, DIII, National Semi-Finalist, CNU HC Mikey Thompson, Part III.

In this episode of the 'Get the Lax Scoop' podcast, hosts Big Dawg (Ron Dalgliesh) and Jaybird (Jay McMahon) interview two-time Division III national semi-finalist head coach Mikey Thompson from Christopher Newport University. They discuss the importance of skill development for youth lacrosse players, specifically highlighting the benefits of small-sided games and playing multiple sports. 
Coach Thompson also shares insights into building a successful lacrosse program, focusing on culture, consistency, and player development both CNU as well as his experience with the 2023 version of the Boston Cannons of the professional ranks. He also reflects on the two biggest influences on his life, his grand-father, Wardlaw Thompson, a WWII veteran who, like Mikey, was a captain of the UVA lacrosse team and his father, a counselor and phsychologist. Additionally, the episode features a 'Mindset Minute' stressing the significance of focusing on the process over the outcome, using examples from recent NCAA championship games. 

The episode concludes with a light-hearted Q&A segment with Steve Grisalfi, covering Christopher Newport University's history and achievements.

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Transcript

Jay: 0:00

It's time for get the La Scoop, a podcast bringing you all the people and stuff you should know. In the game of lacrosse, we take LAX seriously, but ourselves, not so much. Join hosts, big Dog and Jaybird, and the biggest names in the game. Brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's J M L Skills, mindset, and LAX IQ training. Ron Doish, the big dog, was a collegiate football and lacrosse player at Brown. He was also an assistant lacrosse coach and the executive director of the sports found. and Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, a three time All-American Midfielder Brown. He was a captain of the US Junior National team and is the founder of J M L. And joining us in the studio, Steve gfi, who's collegiate lacrosse career statistics equals one goal against Dartmouth. Brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's J M L Skills, mindset, and LAX IQ training. Helping the next generation cross players. Get to the next level.

1:05

​Hello everyone. And welcome back to the show. We're super excited to give you the third and final installment of our interview series with two time D three national semi-finalist. Christopher Newport university head coach, Mikey Thompson. If you haven't heard parts one and two, we highly recommend you go back and do so as they were simply special. If you're enjoying what you're listening to, please give us a thumbs up, leave a quick review and share it with a friend who would really appreciate that. As it helps support the podcast, you will find this interview picking up right where we left off last week and joy. And then another topic that we'd like to discuss is the need for players to really come to work on their individual skills. And you know, we've seen just as youth coaches that so many of these boys and girls are out there playing game after game tournament after tournament and especially like in the middle school years. It seems like where they can just get left behind if they don't take some time outside of practice. To work on their game. And it was funny actually watching the Virginia Syracuse game. Paul Gate was honored and they're like, Oh, what made you and Gary so great? And he talked about practicing outside of practice. So I was like, all right, good, good plug there from Paul Gate. But in general, we emphasize that and you know, working with the team. You know, certain skills, you know, even considering mindset lacks IQ, all that stuff. What are certain skills that you would recommend kids work on, especially as you said, you went through the Geronimo program. What are some things that you think these middle schoolers, you know, then they're, once they're in high school, they're going to be on that circuit where they're doing all this, all these big travel tournaments and doing the showcases. So what are some skills that you'd say, Hey, everyone out there has really got to work on, on this, you know, if there's two or three or four things, what do you think they might be? Yeah, well, I would start by saying, I think playing is kind of a relative term, you know, if you're talking about like 10 on 10, you know, full field games for young kids and middle schoolers, you're, you're just never going to get the amount of touches to make it worth your time. You know, you're an attack man and your guy can't win face offs and all of a sudden you're literally just sitting out there and you're not, you're not getting enough points. opportunities to make decisions and to make plays. And so I'm a huge advocate for playing as much as possible, but I think in a more small sided context. So it's something that our team does all the time. We've got eight box lacrosse cages. We got one of those outdoor box facilities. So our guys play a lot of box. They play a lot of three by and four by five by. With tennis balls and no pads, and I started a little pickup league here in Virginia Beach where anybody can show up and get a game whenever they want. And I'm a huge advocate for that because I don't think there's anything that makes you a better player and a more creative player than small sided games and pick up you're learning skills in a way. That is low stakes. You don't have a coach barking down your neck teaching you about certain fundamentals and stuff like that You just kind of figure out what works for you on your own And I think there's real value in that and once you've done that enough then you're able to kind of get a little bit more of that isolated skill work that you're probably referring to whether that's on the cage or on the wall or you know some of the more Traditional training. I think that can be really important to, to sharpen those skills, but I am a huge proponent of play as long as it's not 10 on 10, you know, and it's smaller sided so that you're maximizing those opportunities to make decisions and to make plays and to touch the ball. So so I would say that that's one of the biggest things. And also you know, it's no surprise after, talking to me even for this long, but like play other sports. I I'm even amazed. Watching some of my own guys in practice, you know, a small example would be clearing the ball. Sometimes I feel like some of my guys that only played lacrosse will drift into coverage as opposed to like cutting into space. And I'm like, That's soccer, that's, that's football or, you know, some of our best guys that played basketball, like have a real knack for hesitations when they're dodging, you know, and little things like that, that you'll see that you only develop playing other sports. I'll use my younger brother for an example. He played multiple sports and you know, he wasn't highly recruited or anything like that. And he just, once he started playing lacrosse every day and he had, you know, Kind of some of those other, other skills he really developed as a lacrosse player. So playing other sports and playing the game in a context, that's going to allow you to get more touches and make more decisions is going to help you develop quicker than just playing 10 on 10, or just thinking that the wall or the time on the cage is the only answer. If I look back at my own development, I did spend tons and tons of time. And tons of hours on the cage and on the wall. So I am a fan of that. But I think all of that together is a, is a pretty good place to start. Right. Yeah, and that's, that's kind of what we found, like, just like you said, with a big 10 on 10 game, a kid might just get two or three shots, you know, in a whole game, and then meanwhile, he doesn't get those reps, but that makes sense, playing some small sided situations where you're getting some lax IQ in, getting the feel for, for the whole, you know and then you might identify this is where I keep getting a shot. So I'm going to, I'm going to on my own, go ahead and practice that, shot on the run, or I keep getting this one step down or on the high crease that sort of thing. So good stuff. Yeah, that's, that's something that we, we continue, you know, doing to this day is there's, there's almost no drills that you'll see in our practice at CNU that doesn't have some type of context. You know, there's always going to be a defense out there. And we really. Prioritize decision making. And so when that first whistle blows and then coach loses pretty much all control over the game, we want to have players that can make good decisions on their own. Good stuff. Mikey, what else you know, obviously Jay went through, you built an incredible program there, you know and, and what have been the keys for you in, in developing the program? Generating that interest and then developing players. I mean, it may be just be an extension of what you were just talking about, but how do you take that philosophy you were just talking about in terms of, you know, how you can develop your skills and how did you then take that to a big picture of how I'm going to develop, you know, what's become one of the best division three programs in the country. Ron, good question. You read my mind. Take it away, Mikey. Well, thank you, Jay. I appreciate that. Can we just let him answer the question? Jay, I don't need your compliments. I knew it was a great question, Jay. Well, I think I appreciate you saying that. And I think, you know, if, if I go back to what I was saying about my, my year coaching and getting into coaching from there, and, you know, even some of the stuff I went through in college, like my ultimate goal. When I got to C& U, it was just to build a culture that allowed people to be part of something special that they were proud of, and that they would work hard towards, and You know, winning games wasn't really even on top of mind at that point. You know, our program started in 2007. I don't think we were anywhere in the top 100 back in 2012. So it was all about like creating an environment that people were going to be proud of. And and from there, you know, you start to win a couple more games and you obviously get a little bit better recruits and you, you keep some of the things that have hopefully made you successful and you throw some stuff out here and there. And one of the, one of the other things I think is a little bit unique about my coaching journey is I've been at the same place for so long that I haven't had the traditional climb the ladder experience as a coach. I haven't had. You know, 10 different great head coaching mentors to learn from. So it's been a lot of trial and error and and learning along the way. And you know, it's, it's been kind of a gaining momentum. Gaining momentum as we've gone. And you know, the other thing is just the school itself. I mean, the, the school that, that I work at is phenomenal. It's a beautiful campus. Like I said, it's, it's right outside Virginia beach and. The athletic department is very, very successful. You know, the school's won national championships over the past couple years and, you know, softball, all the men's basketball and women's soccer. So so it's been kind of a combination of a lot of things, but I think ultimately, like, as Dom would tell you, consistency is the ultimate measure of mental toughness. And so that's kind of our, one of our, our big philosophies is just, you Get a little bit better every day, get a little bit closer every day. And you know, we still obviously we'll always have work to do. But but that's kind of how we've been able to gain a little bit of momentum and, you know, be part of something that our guys and our alums are now now very proud of. That's right. Yeah. I mean, 250 D3 teams and you guys have just really climbed the rankings and have stayed there for a number of years. Pretty, pretty remarkable. So, Mikey, as we, you know, kind of start to wrap things up, I'm just really intrigued by the difference in approach, or not, in coaching from that building process you just talked about, and at the Division III level, no matter how good you are, you've got to develop players, right, and you've got to get them better over the course of their career, and then you're going to be on the coaching staff and the cannons. You know, and you're coaching Asher Nolting and Marcus Holman and Jack Kilty. And what, what is like, how is that approach to coaching or what was that experience like where you're, you're obviously, I assume trying to do the same thing, put those guys in a position to succeed, but it's got to be a much different kind of conversation or kind of approach. So I'm just kind of fascinated by what you learned from that or, or what that experience was like. Yeah. Well, you know, I said I didn't get the chance to really work under too many great coaches, but right off the bat, what I'll say about Coach Holman and, and working with Coach Mitchell, Coach Jim Mitchell, who is the offensive coordinator at Princeton, like, Man, I learned so much right off the bat, and I don't, there's not many coaches out there that are as committed to developing a culture as Coach Holman. So, so, so getting to be a part of that was, was such a blessing. And you know, it was challenging in that I went from a, you know, final four on a Sunday to training camp on a Thursday. I didn't really have a break there for about a year. And you know, but it was, it was such a special team to be a part of last summer because of the people in the locker room and coach Holman was very very intentional about the way that he built that roster full of great teammates. And you know, the main difference I would say is just everybody. On that team is a true professional. There's, there's no, there's no mystery as to why they're in that locker room when you see the way that they go about their business and the way that they. They train and take care of their bodies and treat each other and and accept coaching. I mean, it's all exactly what you would expect, you know, there's, there's, there was no egos on that team. They all just, you know, fortunately for us, we came from a team, you know, the year before we literally only had one, one game and that was the first game of the season. And so, you know, maybe we got lucky because there was. it was easy to be humble in that regard. But but you know, it was like right from the start, just, just such an honor to be a part of that group. And I learned so much about culture and about the game being a part of that. And and the cool thing too, is that like, Those guys are, they're, they're no different than college kids in that they really want to be coached. You know, it wasn't like, Hey, let's just roll the ball out and stroke each other's ego and hopefully it works out. Like those guys craved the film sessions. They crave the structure, they crave the accountability. And that was one thing that I know that they really appreciated our staff bringing last summer was like that. That college coach level of preparation, attention to detail into the scouting reports and coming up with practice plans, you know, all that kind of stuff. And it was just really, really special to be a part of, and I'm going to, I'm going to definitely miss it this summer, but like I told you, Jay, you know, with a one and a half year old and a three and a half year old I'm really excited to be around the family more this summer and and share the cannons on this summer. Right. It'll be there when you're ready. Yeah. Hey Mikey, it's so, it's fun to, you know, if you've been around a lot of teams, it's kind of cool to hear that whether it's Christopher Newport and you're starting a program or whether you're coaching a group of professionals who are at the highest level of the game, if you don't have culture. Right. If you don't have that sense of connectedness with a group of people, you're just not going to find success. So it's funny, as soon as you start talking about it, you're like, of course, you know, that it's the same things that are going to bring you success. Of course, you got to have the ability and the athleticism and all those things, but without a culture. And wanting to be coached too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's so interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.. Well that's, and that's something I'll tell you to run too, is like We've had to, we've had to remember that at times this year as well, you know, like we're, we're, we were coming into a year with super high expectations and more preseason All Americans than, than any other team in the country. And, you know, there's been times when we've had to remember like, Hey, we all have a role here. And the most important thing is playing as a team and the relationship. Between person to person, because if you get into a mindset where you're chasing wins and you're chasing accolades, and again, I'm not saying that this is what was happening with us, but it's like a daily reminder that the culture in the relationships are the most important thing, like, and I admit, like, I always remember hearing coaches talk about how it's When we were not the most talented team, and I'm not saying that we are now, but we're one of the more talented rosters. I always remember just hearing coaches say like, yeah, you know, like talent's great, but it's really about playing together in the culture. I'm like, yeah, that's great. But that's coming from a coach that has, you know, that much talent. I'm like, whatever, like, I'll worry, I'll worry about that if I ever get to the point where that's the case. And there's been times, you know, Even this year where I'm like, wow, that is the absolute truth. I mean, it does not matter how talented you are, you know, five of our six first guys on offense for preseason, all Americans, and there's only one ball, you know, so it's like, how can we play together in a way that makes us and me one sixth, you know, us great is really like the ultimate challenge for, for any coach, right.

Jay: 16:24

How about if we transition to. J m l and let's do that. We'll get into a little bit of the mindset. We'll do a mindset minute here.

16:33

Before we get to our mindset minute, I'd like to take a moment. To ask for your support for this podcast through our Patrion page. A monthly subscription or even a one-time donation of any amount would be really helpful to keep the show going. We will put the link in the show notes. Also, we want to bring your attention to an effort that all of us at they get the lack scoop podcast contribute to. And that is the Boston chapter of Harlem. Lacrosse is summer camp. This program has literally been life-changing for so many underprivileged boys and girls. This camp focuses on rising ninth graders who are at a critical time in their development. Studies from Harlem lacrosse show the players who stick with their program through high school, have a much higher graduation rate and a much better chance at advancing their academic careers. Since they started this camp four years ago, the retention rate of players remaining with the program into high school has skyrocketed. We will add the link to this cause in our show notes as well. And for today's mindset minute, which comes from the great Brian cane author of the training course, mental performance mastery, or M P M. And NPM, there are 10 pillars for success. One of those pillars. Is to focus on the process over the outcome. We're coming off another exciting championship weekend. Watching both the men's and women's D one championship games. And the men's semi-finals for that matter really made me see how important this pillar is. Not only in preparation for a season, but during an actual game. Now, of course, it's very useful to follow your process. At any point in the season as you're training. But it's especially helpful if you find yourself in a deficit during competition. All three men's teams that were ultimately defeated this weekend seem to get lost looking at the scoreboard. Once their opponent took a commanding lead. The team seemed to seize up and play tight as if they had to make up all the goals, they were down by immediately, where else their dreams of a championship would be dashed. This was evidenced by the fact that each team's unforced errors went through the roof. Once they were down. And even simple routine plays that they normally make very easily, seemed impossible for them to perform. Their attitude could also be observed by looking at their body language. This was not the case for the Boston college women's program. And their national championship game versus Northwestern BC found themselves down six to zero after the first quarter. As the second quarter started, I was amazed at how the Eagles continued to play their game. If someone were to turn on the television at that point. Without looking at the scoreboard and were asked who they thought was winning. Based on each team's body language, effort, and energy. I don't think there's any way anyone could have known who had the lead because of both teams. We're demonstrating this laser-like focus. One of the first things head coach Acacia Walker Weinstein said on the sidelines after the game was, I'm so proud of this team because they never got scared. They played without fear. In other words, they let go of the outcome focused on their game plan, played with that regard for the scoreboard and let the results be what they may as coach Thompson just reminded us when of Dom storage. His favorite sayings is consistency is the highest form of mental toughness. Brian Cain explains that this pillar of success is all about the old adage of putting your focus on controlling what you can control right now. One moment to the next. And why is this important? Because this will prevent the overwhelm that comes with focusing on a six, zero deficit or any deficit for that matter. Most people think this is some innate trait that only superstores possess, but the truth is this is a skill that any one individual or any one team can develop. In his book. How good do you want to be? Coach Nick Saban said becoming a champion is not an easy process. It's done by focusing on what it takes to get there. That is the process and not on getting there. That is the outcome. And quote. The key is not to get distracted by all the elements of a game that are out of your control, such as what calls the referees are making or not making and what your opponent is doing or saying. BC demonstrated tremendous discipline as they watched one. Free position goal after the next go against them. They didn't focus on the past. They focused on their game plan. Which was an incredibly sophisticated passing attack, requiring them to play fast, loose, and with confidence. This allowed them to claw back within two goals at halftime and eventually take the lead and the championship. If they had put their focus on the daunting task of the comeback. Against the defending champions, uh, team, they had lost two in the regular season. Uh, team who had the all-time leading scorer in division one, lacrosse history on their side. They probably would have tightened up their ability to perform would have slipped and they would have lost for certain. Instead, they kept their focus on executing the next play. One after another wonderfully exemplifying down starches mantra. Of consistency. Demonstrated by the highest form of mental toughness. One could imagine. And they didn't stop until they took a two goal lead in the fourth quarter. And in the last seconds held on to win. By one 14 to 13. To sum up our mindset minute, be aware of where your focus is. Make sure it's directed on the things you can control, avoid anxiety and white knuckles. Which really hurt your performance. By not trying to climb the mountain in one single bound. Instead, let go of the outcome. As you head towards your goal. One step at a time. And that forward momentum will propel you to your highest level of execution. Now we will return to our program in progress. We've experienced that. Yeah, we're going to turn it over to someone who takes a little different aspect on this podcast in a second, Steve Grisolfi, but he just reminded me of one of, I remember talking to hugely successful college coach who had Gotten to his first final four and three years later, I remember talking to him saying, and he said, you know, all of a sudden I'm so excited. Cause I now am talking to recruits that I never was able to talk to before. And he said, and then you realize. That some of those recruits you don't want in other words, you can forget about what got you there and the kind of qualities of human beings and teammates that you put together to get you to that place. And it's, I mean, I think that's, that's the thing that I'm sure keeps you going as a coach. How do you build that sense of identity and consistency of culture when all those things can get in the way, you know, along that journey. Pointed in the same direction. Yeah, that's such a great point. And I've never felt more grateful to be a division three lacrosse coach, you know, because of the world of college sports right now. I mean, if you think about division one college basketball or football, or I'm sure even division one, you know, college lacrosse, it's, it's starting to creep its way into it, but like. How can you have an honest conversation with a recruit and have any idea what their motives are? You know, it, it division three lacrosse, it's like, it's still a pretty wholesome endeavor in terms of wanting to go get a great education, wanting to be part of a special culture, wanting to play the game. You know, all that stuff is still true, but now it's like, man, you know, you got seven guys on Duke basketball's roster and the transfer portal, when you're playing at the best school, it's like. Anyway, it's kind of a different way of answering your question, but you just have to, you have to keep your core values at the forefront. Like, what are the things that are going to be most important to your program? And it's never a perfect science in terms of getting the guys that, that are all about those things, but that's where your traditions come in. And that's where your, your daily actions and your behaviors and you know, your, your mantras to go back to some of the things that Dom would say, like that stuff has to be every single day. And Oh, look, he's got the Dom back of the hand. He got to get the back of the hand with Dom, put your back into it. Great day, baby. That's right. But but yeah, so, so it's, it's a daily thing and, and yeah, I'm just, I'm just happy to be. You know where i'm at for sure. That's awesome. Steve. Are you ready pal? Hey coach. Hey, how you doing? i've been doing my homework on wikipedia and google. So now i'm an expert so we've got some questions for you. Christopher newport was a british privateer In 16th century colonial Virginia who helped to settle the Jamestown, the first permanent European settlement in North America, Christopher Newport University's mascot are appropriately called the Captains. Is it slightly confusing when you announce the team Captains for the Captains? Yeah, yeah, I guess it is. You know, we say captains a lot and that, yeah, you got me there. You're, you're exactly right. I'm, I'm as confused trying to answer the question as as I was listening to it. I have to apologize to you. They don't let me ask any lacrosse related questions because of, because of my inexperience. All right, onto you famously followed your grandfather's footsteps at University of Virginia as you were both named captains of the lacrosse team, your grandfather playing way back in the late 1940s. My question is this, has there ever been a cooler name in lacrosse than Wardlaw Thompson? And tell us a little bit about your grandfather, seems like he was a very interesting guy. Thanks for, thanks for asking. Yeah, my grandfather, you know, him and my dad, my, my two biggest, you know, heroes, and he was what, he was one of the first guys that actually brought lacrosse to Virginia post World War II and so he was a two time captain there and, you know, I'm William Warlaw, the fourth, and I now have my three and a half year old son, who's the fifth. So, pass that along to him. If he wants to keep it going and have a six, that's his problem, but I felt like the fifth was okay to keep going. But but yeah, you know, he was, again, one of the main reasons I fell in love with Virginia lacrosse and just kind of did everything with him and my dad and, you know, You know, he lived until he was, I believe 95. And he he was at all of my games at UVA. He was at all of my CNU games. And now that he's since passed, I guess I, I feel okay telling this story, but I was a I was a junior the year that Virginia beat Maryland in seven overtimes. It was like the longest lacrosse game of all time. Yeah. And I don't know how old he was at the time, but. Like he had to go to the, he really had to go to the bathroom and like, he like refused to get up and go to the bathroom in case the overtime goal was was scored during that time. This was at UVA, right? This was at UVA. So anyway, it was number one, but like, I'll let, I'll let you, you, you know, decide what happened from there, but he didn't. He didn't miss the final goal. He stayed to the bitter end. Yeah. That's how much he loved it. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Alright, so I'm going to rattle off some Christopher Newport University statistics here. U. S. News and World Report. Has CNU ranked second among public regional universities in the South and fifth among all regional universities in the South. The university also appears very high in the 2023 U. S. news rankings in the following categories. Most innovative schools, best undergraduate business program, best value schools, best undergraduate computer science programs, and best undergraduate engineering programs. I understand they're building a. Huge STEM Center now that'll be like the crown jewel of campus that'll be open in spring of 2026. Is Steve getting paid by the admissions office free? I mean, look at this, Mikey, he's getting it done for you, Ron. I'm a Wikipedia expert. yeah. I'm gonna get you on as a volunteer assistant Right. But one thing I noticed that was actually very interesting, I, I've never seen this one before, but Chris Christopher Newport is one of only five public institutions in the entire country to earn a perfect a rating from the American Council of Trustees and alumni for the strength of its curriculum. Perfect score indicates that an institution requires all seven subjects deemed essential to a quality education, including literature, composition, economics, mathematics, foreign language, science and American history and government. So that's you know, that core curriculum there is, it must be you know, stressed at the university. Very impressive that it's only one of five in the country to get the perfect rating. What would you like to expect students to know about Christopher Newport University as they begin their search for a school? Yeah, I think a lot of the kids that we end up recruiting are interested in, in business. We have, we have probably 50 percent of the guys on our roster do the Luder School of Business. And you know, I think you combine the, the curriculum with it's a, it's a larger Division III school. We're just under 5, 000 undergrad. Which I always tell recruits, it's the best of both worlds. There's a lot going on on campus. There's a football program. There's 24 sports, I think on campus. So you get large crowds at games and stuff like that. There's a lot of engagement with the student body. But then I think the stat is 70 percent of the classes are 17 students or less. So you get the small classes. All taught by professors, no TAs or anything like that. So you get kind of the best of both worlds there. Mentioned the athletic department, you know, is very strong. Just last year, our men's basketball team won the national championship year before that women's women's soccer and softball. So a lot of really strong athletic programs and facilities on campus. And then like I said, yeah, something that was important for me, you know, growing up in Richmond and then going to school in Charlottesville you know, being, being as close to the beaches as we are as great, especially in the off season guys, you know, or a quick trip across the the bridge to spending a Saturday in Virginia beaches is nice as well. Beautiful. Beautiful. Surf's up, right coach? That's right. Mikey, I will tell you that usually you get a lot more of that first captains as captains questions from Steve. He went very highbrow today for you. Well, Mikey, this has been awesome. We really appreciate you coming on. So many amazing, great answers and such a, a full life you've lived. And we'd say at a very young age. You know, relative to us old guys, but this has been really great. We really appreciate your time. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me on. It's been great to meet you guys and I hope we'll stay in touch and Feel free to share any Dom stories along the way. No, we got to get some Dom material with each other. Get some more Dom stories going. So, so Mikey, say hi to Jude for me. And I'll be rooting for you all the way through the playoffs until you meet RPI. Okay. Yeah. My brother. All right. Yeah. That's, I mean, what an amazing season they're having. So I've had a little time to meet him spend some time with him over the years and, He's he's one of the best in the business as well. So that's been cool to see them be so successful over the years. They actually, I think it was 2022 that RPI got sent to CNU. They were on the other side of the bracket, but they've actually been on campus and played a Oh, that's right. That's right. Played a tournament game there, so, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was them in union, I think which was a far trip for both of those schools, but they, they made it. Yeah. Well, good luck man down the stretch here. Hope you make a big run. Yeah. It looks like you're poised for it. Thanks again, guys. I appreciate it.

Ron: 32:27

until we meet again, here to, hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the Get the LAX coop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.