He is known for his winning ways at the helm as head football coach at the University of Utah, leading the Utes to historic success over 12 exciting seasons. We’re talking about Ron McBride, or Coach Mac as many have come to know him over the years.
On this episode of the Supercast, we have the honor of sitting down with the legend and hearing first-hand about his time coaching, recruiting, and giving young athletes opportunities they never thought possible. Find out how Coach Mac is continuing his passionate work in our schools today with the Ron McBride Foundation, making sure at-risk youth have every chance to succeed. Plus, hear how Coach Mac impacted the life of one of our very own, Valley High Principal Jacinto Peterson.
Audio Transcription
The world is about adversity and how you handle adversity and you got all this social media where all these kids are very mean to each other. You've got to get beyond that so somebody doesn't get their self-image spoiled.
Yeah, and the negativity sticks with you.
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Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. He is known for his winning ways at the helm as head football coach at the University of Utah, leading the Utes to historic success over 12 exciting seasons. We're talking about Ron McBride or Coach Mac as many have come to know him over the years. On this episode of the Supercast, we have the honor of sitting down with the legend and hearing firsthand about his time coaching, recruiting, and giving young athletes opportunities they never thought possible. Find out how Coach Mac is continuing his passionate work in our schools today with the Ron McBride Foundation, making sure at-risk youth have every chance to succeed. Plus, hear how Coach Mac impacted the life of one of our very own, Valley High School Principal Jacinto Peterson.
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We're talking today with Coach Ron McBride. Mac, thank you so much for being here today.
Absolutely, Superintendent. Hey, I'm glad to be here.
It's a real thrill. I've been telling my friends I get to talk to you today.
[LAUGHTER]
You got to tell that to my wife.
We have felt your support in Jordan School District through your foundation, and I think it was high time that we just talked with you about the great things that you have going and all the support that you give to our kids in need. So we just wanted to talk with you about the foundation and where that came from.
Actually, Lavell Edwards and myself started it nine years ago. The thing was to help the underserved kids and to give them a chance to see a brighter side of life. Basically, from the time I was in high school, junior high, I was always very involved, particularly with my teammates that were underprivileged because I came from a lower middle East LA neighborhood. So I understood, and my parents were month to month trying to keep afloat.
So through your own experience and your experience with players who were underprivileged, you've always had this focus on helping people.
Absolutely, yeah. So I've always been. So when I retired from Weber, then and Lavell and I were doing the radio show on Fridays. So we said, "Let's start this foundation." West Jordan Middle was one of our first schools.
You've done a lot of work with them consistently over the years.
Oh ya, lots. First of all, the principals, the vice principals, the people that worked there were outstanding. The librarian was outstanding.
Oh, yeah. And she cares. I mean, I think we did a book club was the first thing we did over there, right?
This was many years ago. She was so appreciative and loved the kids so much. She was so excited about what we were doing, you know. Then I loved the principal, you know, and she was awesome.
When you're able to bring resources to a school, and you see that the school has these caring adults that are trying to do their best for kids, it's got to feel good that you know that those resources are going to the right place.
Well, West Jordan Middle always followed up with whatever, you know. I mean, you go over there and check with their . . . watch the after school program. The lady that ran it, Ivy Erickson, one of the best people in the world.
Yeah, she's done like it.
But first of all, she the kids, she's all into the young people.
She's all into the young people that have problems and she's a good listener.
And so she's excited about what she does.
So it's easy to go there and watch her in action.
Well, I'm thrilled that you picked West Jordan Middle and they really are amazing people there.
There's been some turnover since you started.
Well, yeah, Dixie was a principal and she's at a bigger job.
And I tell you what, she's, first of all, her dad, I think, was a principal at that school.
And she has a real history in education.
She's a great lady. You know what I mean? The great thing about when she was at West Jordan, it was always open anytime.
We would go by to check out what they were doing or talk to the kids or whatever, but it was always very open to us. I think it was, that was the first school that, when Jerry Sloan was sick, we kind of dedicated that school to Jerry back then to begin with. So we called it “Jerry's Kids” to begin with over there.
And then, of course, Jerry had problems and finally, his problems took his life. It was too bad.
Yeah, it is. You were really instrumental in helping those after-school programs happen at West Jordan Middle School.
That made a huge difference for those students.
Oh, yeah. I mean, they had-- And they had a lot of things going on. Besides sports, you know, they had Pokémon and they had chess club, it's ceramics club. So they had a lot of things.
Yeah. It was all this pent-up need from the kids and interest from the adults in providing those opportunities. Yeah, yeah. And when you come in with those resources with caring adults and needy kids, it was just an-- it's an incredible combination.
And you've allowed us to do things we couldn't do on our own.
Oh, absolutely. And you know, they have a lot of-- since they've kind of redid West Jordan Middle, they have a whole bunch of access to things they didn't have before.
The shop classes are really good.
Because, you know, in today's economy, it's important that young people know how to do a trade.
Because that's where all the money is right now.
Trade-- so more young people need to go into trades because they're paying a good wage, you're going to make a good living, and you're going to be working every day.
AI doesn't fix things or remodel things or repair things, you know?
Yeah, but we have a huge need in that sector.
This feels like an extension of what you were able to do as a football coach.
You gave kids opportunities as a football coach. Talk to me about the relationship.
Well, I always-- you know, we always divided the locker room into three segments because of red, yellow, and green. So the red guys were about 10% of your football team and these are guys that were underappreciated, needed academic help, needed structure help, you know? Just needed to put them on a different line. So we would put our red guys with our green guys and therefore, then they would get them to thinking a different process.
The idea is to take the red guys and get them to the yellow and get the yellow to the green. So you hopefully, by the time they graduate from college, that they were all into the green zone where they could take care of their own problems, take care of their own situations, handle adversity, do things that people have to do to be successful.
There's a lot of work off the field to help them become everything they can be.
It's a lot of brainwashing.
[LAUGHTER]
So, yeah, you just have to change the way people think.
And if you put them around people that think different, then they slowly buy into it. What I find now with these red people, when I go to different places in Hawaii or in the South or anything, all these kids that play for me are academic people now. That's all they want to talk about is, "Oh, my kid's in college. He's doing this. He's doing this." And all of a sudden I says, "Well, I guess you got the message a long time ago."
Yeah, it definitely worked. So, the message was, "There's more than football, and we need to prepare you for that."
Yeah, football is a vehicle. And if you don't do what I say, then I can take football away from you. So therefore, the kids, they want to play football, so if they want to play football, they have to get an education, they have to become the kind of citizens you want them to become.
Let's figure that out, yeah. Now, you coached one of our principals.
His story is unreal because I can still remember going to that high school, and then he was living with his grandparents in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. I said, "Well, how do I find the trailer?" "Well, go down this dirt road, turn right at where you see this dog tied up, and then turn left, and then you'll see the trailer, right."
They were beautiful people, you know. And Jacinto's had so much success here, and I'm so proud of him because he's always been a stand-up man.
He's an incredible leader.
He’s a great educator and he's saving a lot of kids.
Yeah, well, he understands it all because he lived through it.
Yeah, absolutely. When you first met Jacinto, what were your impressions?
Oh, I loved the kid. You know, he was easy to talk to, good communicator. I loved his grandparents, his grandma, you know. They're all just great and all they were interested is in getting this kid in a better spot for his life.
So they all wanted the same thing.
You accomplished that, and he's changed a lot of lives as a result. So thank you for that. You did me a big favor by sending Jacinto our way.
I'll tell you what, he did me a big favor by coming here. So he's the best, that kid.
Yeah, absolutely. Well, tell me about the foundation now. Tell me about your operations and how people can help if they wanted to.
So we started out with nothing, basically. And then we're up to, I think we got 32 schools now we support, between Ogden, Salt Lake, Canyons District. We got schools in all those places and so we gave away a little over $400,000 last year.
In different schools. And everybody on our foundation has a school that they're responsible for. And we got, when we have our meetings, everybody reports on their schools, what's going on. And then I visit as many as I can.
You've been very visible. Very hands on with us.
Yeah, because what you want to do is you can't have a foundation and then the guy's name on it, you know, who's that guy? But I love the kids because the kids are so much fun.
Nobody says, “who's that guy?” I've seen you in school so many times, interacting with the kids, interacting with the adults.
Oh yeah, we have a lot of laughs when we go and then getting to know different kids and watching them go through the system.
Middle school kids in particular, you can't help but have a good laugh when you're around middle school kids.
Well, middle school kids are making some decisions that are important to their lives. Because that's kind of that age group where you kind of start thinking, you know, a little more than you really should know, or you think you know more, and you're starting to question things, and you call it a growth spurt. So you got to make, you got to try to get these kids to think a little different and think beyond where they think they can be.
They're having a growth spurt in every aspect of their lives, really. It's a big time.
Yeah, you're right. Stay with us when we come back. More with Coach Mac and he talks with us about the recent coaching changes at the University of Utah.
Never miss an episode of The Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? Jordan School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education, as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire custodians and bus drivers. In Jordan School District, we like to say people come for the job and enjoy the adventure. Apply today at employment.jordandistrict.org.
There have been a lot of changes in the football world lately. What do you think of all the coaching shifts?
I'm in the middle of most of it every day because every time somebody gets leaves or something they call and say, “I'm going.” Obviously, some of those guys that Kyle took with him to Michigan were guys that played for me. A lot of staff have played for me. With Lewis Powell leaving, Doug LSI leaving, Jim Harding leaving, Jason Beck leaving. Those guys all have a history with all those guys. That was tough. I talked to most of them before they left and tried to talk them into staying. Now Morgan has hired some really good people. So it looks like Jordan Gross is going to be the old line guy, which is a great take. I think they're bringing back Noki who worked for me up at Weber as one of the D-line guys. They just hired Bumpus back as a wide receiver guy, which is a good hire. Then Colton Swan, who was my defensive coordinator at Weber, he's now the defensive coordinator. Luther's back, which is good. Colton is good. Sharif is good. Jordan will do a nice job with the offense. Kevin McGivin is going to be the offensive coordinator. He worked for me at Weber and was up at Utah State. We lost some good ones, but we hired some good ones.
It's good to hear your take on that and your connection to all those folks.
The interesting thing, a guy that I coached with at Wisconsin, Fred Jackson, worked for the Michigan football program for 27 years. They retained him. Today I get a picture with him and a couple of the Utah people. They sent it to me. I said, "I can't believe how old you are, Fred."
[LAUGHTER]
When I've talked with people who worked with you in the past, they talk about kindness and loyalty. That you are just extremely loyal. When someone needs help and they ask you, you're all in. You're there to help. That's been your career and it's been your passion in retirement with this foundation. You're a dedicated loyal friend who wants to help people have a better life.
The whole key to our civilization are young people. What we have to do is create positives for them that they can go beyond what their parents have done. The key to the whole thing is, I want to have a positive voice on education.
The more you invest, the more you have a voice. The voice has to be positive. It can't be negative. It has to be that if you have a problem, you've got to adjust to the problem and solve it. The world is about adversity and how you handle adversity. Are you equipped? Can you handle the problem? All these kids at that middle age are asking questions, and you've got all this social media. Kids are very mean to each other, and this social media. You've got to get beyond that so somebody doesn't get their self-image spoiled.
The negativity sticks with you.
It has an outsized impact way beyond. I know that even if you hear a negative comment from someone you don't know, it sticks with you at that age in ways that are so damaging.
Oh yeah. I mean, when I say cut out the noise, but with all these cell phones, these kids get a lot of noise.
Like you were saying, you're lifting them at such an important time, providing these resources to our middle school kids.
Absolutely. Hopefully, we will continue to grow.
If people want to help, they just go to RonMcBrideFoundation.org and they can make a donation right there.
Absolutely. We don't spend a lot of money paying people so we only have two people that we pay.
You're also helping with Joel P. Jensen and with Majestic Elementary. Majestic, our elementary arts academy, a very unique place.
Oh my, it's so much fun over there.
How they've incorporated the music with the teaching, with the learning and very positive people.
Oh, they are. A lot of great energy.
You're a good match for that school.
Yeah, oh yeah. They're great. I like the process. It's an interesting way of education. It's an interesting way to keep the kids involved. And then your teachers over there are heavily involved in that formula.
Oh yeah, no, they're all in. They're all trained.
They approach education in a whole different way.
And your support really makes some incredible experiences possible. So you bought the pianos for the piano lab, is that right?
Well, I remember when we started down the academy pathway, and we wanted to make it a music school, and that was a big obstacle, is being able to get those keyboards in there.
Oh yeah. Well, it's all, you know, if you're going to have that kind of school, you've got to have good instruments and you've got to have a way to, you know, and you've got to make it first class.
I received an email from someone at the state level who had attended their program right before the winter break and they were so impressed with how important this clearly was to the families of the students who were benefiting from the program when they all came there. It's just, it's a whole community impact. You've done a lot of great work with Joel P. Jensen as well, offering those after school . . .
Yeah, yeah. She's a good leader, very good leader.
And she's great. Yeah. So yeah, you've hired some really good people in your district.
Thank you. We really do have good people everywhere.
Very extremely positive role models for the kids.
You have these strong relationships that stay because you create strong relationships to stay with.
Yeah, absolutely. So it doesn't stop because your eligibility is up.
And you're basically in these kids' lives forever. My wife, she's on social media, I guess, with around 200 players. So every morning she's answering their questions, answering what their problems are. And then she'll come in and she'll say, "Hey, so and so's got a problem. You need to get ahold of them." So he's doing well. So we have one of the kids play for me at a heart attack two days ago. So she's been on the phone taking, "How is he? How's he doing?" And then I'm on the phone with his family. And yeah, so yeah, it's just... But that's where it's supposed to be.
Doesn't surprise me a bit that you're still in touch with those 200 players.
Yeah, well, it's probably more than that. It's fun to watch them have kids and then see how they handle their kids.
We've had a lot of... Kids have had a lot of success.
That's amazing. What are some of the success stories you remember with your students that are most meaningful?
Well, you know, probably all starts with Joe Mosley back in high school. Overfeld High School was a minority school and Piedmont Hills was the first place that I coached. So they were busing kids from Overfeld to Piedmont, minority kids and Joe was a really good football player. So, he wasn't showing up. And he wouldn't get on a... They were busing these kids. He wouldn't get on the bus.
So then I said, "Okay, I'm going to pick you up every morning. Get you dressed. Take you to McDonald's and then we'll go to school." And he said, "You're not going to do that." I said, "Yes, I am." So I'd show up. I'd get him out of bed and make sure he got dressed. "Okay, we're on the way to McDonald's." And then I'd make sure he got home at night. I did that for maybe almost a year until I got him squared away. And then he became a leader in the school. And then he became in charge of all the gang units in San Jose. He just retired recently, so I was kind of the guest speaker at his retirement. This was 60 years ago.
So everywhere there's a success there is a Joe Mosley story.
Lots of stories like that.
I mean, so some people, you try to help them, try to put them right, and then they just keep falling back into a pattern. So sometimes you fail and I know the failures and I know why.
A lot more successes, sounds like.
Well, yeah. I would say, yeah. I think we're on the positive side of—
But there are, you know, everybody has problems.
Yeah, it's true. Well, thank you, Mac, for supporting these three schools in our district and for what you do in the broader community throughout the state and just for the positive impact you've had in Utah for so many years. Thank you.
Well, it's a good agenda and it's important. So it looks like we're in this for the long run.
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Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.
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