Episode #116: Vinny Barber Returns

🧱 “Build It Brick by Brick: Culture, Courage, and the Lynchburg Way” 🤼‍♂️

What does it take to build a college program from zero—culture first, wins second, significance always? In this episode, Coach Vinny Barber returns (last seen in Episode 15) as the newly named Head Men’s Wrestling Coach at the University of Lynchburg to unpack the real work of starting something enduring. We talk through the vision for a state-of-the-art wrestling facility, the standards that shape day-one culture, and how to lead athletes through uncertainty with clarity, humility, and edge.

Vinny reflects on lessons from the University of the Ozarks—including NWCA Academic All-Americans, NCAA DIII qualifiers, conference champions, and a 2024 team title—and how those experiences inform everything from staff hiring to practice design to athlete development. We also explore his time with River Valley Wrestling Club and FloWrestling, and why storytelling and systems both matter when you’re building a program meant to last.

🎯 If you’re a coach, AD, or parent who cares about process over hype and character over shortcuts, this one’s for you.
👀 And don’t miss Part 2, where we go deep on recruiting: communication, evaluation, and building Lynchburg’s first roster.

Learn more about Coach Barber: lynchburgsports.com/staff-directory/vinny-barber/363

Explore podcasts, weekly blogs, Significant Recruiting books, Launchpad classes, and speaking: coachmattrogers.com

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Significant Coaching Podcast, i'm your host, Matt Rogers. Today's episode is a reunion coach Vinny Barber is back. You may remember him from episode 15 when we talked about his journey as one of the rising young voices in college wrestling. Well, a lot has changed since then. Coach Barber was recently announced as the head men's wrestling coach at the University of Lynchburg, where he's been tasked with something few coaches ever get the chance to do, build a college wrestling program from the ground up. That means recruiting the first roster. Yeah, establishing a culture and helping design a brand new state-of-the-art wrestling facility that will serve generations of Hornet wrestlers. When Lynchburg hits the mat in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, the OD DAC in 20 26, 27. It will be the result of years of work recruiting, planning, and laying the foundation for something special before taking this leap. Coach Barber made a name for himself at the University of Ozarks, where his teams produced nine NWCA Academic All Americans seven NCAA division, three National Qualifiers, 13 Conference Champions, and a 2024 Sly Act team Championship. He also founded it, led the River Valley Wrestling Club, helping young wrestlers chase national dreams while staying grounded in community and character. This conversation isn't just about wrestling, it's about vision, culture, and the courage to start something new. Quick reminder for weekly blogs, recruiting services, speaking inquiries, and my significant recruiting books and launchpad classes. Head over to coach matt rogers.com. All right, let's jump into it. Here's my conversation with Coach Vinny Barber, the new head men's wrestling coach at the University of Lynchburg. Coach Barber. So great to see you. How's it feel to be the first returning guest to the podcast? It's fun. I'm excited. I'm glad we have the opportunity to do this again. Just different colors just go around. Absolutely. I miss talking to you. It's been too long. You and I chat every once in a while, but I wanted to get you on, talk about this new transition in your life, transition in your career. Talk about Lynchburg and how has that transition from one school to the other been for you. It's been a, it's, it was tough in the beginning. It all happened really fast. I don't know if I would've ever left the Ozark. I said that all the time. Yeah. I was like, recruits and families like, Hey, you ever gonna leave? I think I mentioned that to you. I'm like, I could be here forever. So when the opportunity came, it all happened within three or four days. Getting out here, flown out here, interviewed, accepted the job, all within a week. So it was tough in the beginning, I bought a house sight on scene and trying to get out here as fast as I could, but it was tough. But I think, I'm in a much better head space now that I'm here and things are really rolling. Yeah I don't think people understand, I've left two. Coaching jobs that I basically built from nothing and how hard that was on my soul to leave those kids that you recruited. 42% of the kids that went to college last year, I think it was, went into the portal and transferred. Yeah. So it's. It is one of those things that you have to understand if you're on the outside looking in. Coaches have lives too. They have to make decisions that are best for them. Sometimes it's'cause of family, I, yeah, I left a job because of my wife. We left, I left another job because we had some parents that weren't doing well and we had kids and one would be close to family. So everybody's got their reasons and it's, and I don't think people understand how hard it is on us to leave those kids in that. Yeah, it was really hard. It was probably the hardest thing I had to do. I remember like yesterday, like walking in, I called a few of our older guys early on and told'em what was going on, and then I told them all at study hall and it was hard. It was really hard for me. I'd been at the Ozarks for seven years at that point, got into it at infancy, really built it up to something special there with some really good people around me. And it was hard, but I'll tell you, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but kids are pretty resilient. They were okay with it. And I think. I think to your point, I like the portal. In today's day and age in college athletics, the kids understand it. I felt myself explaining myself to a lot of our older guys and they were like, coach, no we get it, man. And I was like, okay. And I think they genuinely do. I still keep in touch with some of them. Yeah, my assistant took over for me. There he is the head coach, Nathan. So I've still been really tied in with the program but they get it. It's just hard. Definitely when you build it I built it and it's man, that's even harder. I miss, I miss, Ms. Rich, I miss Joey. I miss some people out there. Yeah. It's where I started my career, every change is good. Change. It is. It is. And it's a great growth process for us as coaches when we do make that change.'cause we have to reevaluate our value system. We have to reevaluate our priority system. And it's nice to be wanted too on the other side of that. Yeah. Yeah, it's nice that somebody believes in you to say, Hey, we'd like you to come do what you've been doing at our place. Oh, yeah, no, that was fun. After when I got the call, we had just gotten back from the national tournament and had a decent shelling out there. But it was just nice because, like Lynchburg's really good at athletics. It's Division three C and they're one of the best athletic departments in the country. So to get a call and have the opportunity to do it here was something really special. And it was nice. I know it's like a little bit of stroke of the ego, but it was nice to have somebody recognize the work I was doing and want me to do the same work here. Yeah. And you've earned it. I remember a young man I worked with five, six years ago that was. Unsure of himself and not quite sure where he was headed and was working so hard. To do a thousand different things at an elite level. Yeah. That he forgotten how important it was to take care of himself and his health. Do you remember that guy? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. What's changed for you and how you go about. Viewing your job with that. That thing we talk about all the time. That, yep. Life balance. Where's where? Come for you. So I think, and I don't, I'm not dogging on the town I was in before, but being in a town like Lynchburg was a big step too. I looked at taking this job one, it's a big town, big, Liberty universities out here, so there's a lot of people out here, right? It's 10 x the size of where I was at. So the opportunity to come out here and build a family was definitely, a priority for me and something that could be accomplished, right. But I said it all the time. I said it on my interview. I even, I mentioned it to Rich when I was leaving. I was like, man, coaching at the Ozarks. It's, and it's not product of the Ozarks, it's products of what I was doing. It felt like dog ears. It felt like one year was seven, right? Yeah. And I think it was because I put so much on. Myself and so much like I tried to do so many things at once and something that's really special about Lynchburg and that I was able to vet along the interview process was we have, we are really resourced here, so I know that I can put my head down at night and know that my guys are taken care of and that are my program's taken care of, but others around me and it's not just me. It doesn't just fall on me. We just got done building out this facility. It's the biggest facility in Division three wrestling. Our ad, our assistant ad other coaches, so many people here helping which was inspiring, right? And I could get that vibe. And when, you're surrounded by people that will like, I say pick up the slack when you're not around or have your back, right? Have, really have your back at a high level. It allowed me to realize I can take a step back sometimes. And also as I get older and like my priorities change, like I still wanna win, I still wanna create a really good program. But as I get a little older, I'm like, where am I heading? And how do I balance that and make it really healthy for me so that I enjoy it And being around coaches like I have here who've been doing this for. 20 plus years and really mastered that like work-life balance has been helpful too. I came here more, a lot for me, selfishly, to keep growing as a coach and get better as a coach and a person in coaching, as well as being able to build a better program. I think that's one of the biggest things I miss about being a co, being a college coach, is to be able to walk across the office to somebody that's done it for 20 years and go, Hey. I'm dealing with this. How would, how have you handled this? Or how would you how would you perceive that? It's such a, it's such a benefit that I think we can take for granted in the moment. To have that many people that have are a resource for you and what you're doing. Yeah. You can't walk down the street, you can't go to the mall, you can't go to the grocery store. And you might meet a hundred people and probably a hundred of those people have no idea what it's like to be a coach. No idea. Yep. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's why I struggle going to, Christmas parties in our neighborhoods. Everybody's in it or business and you just don't understand what we're dealing with. How Oh, yeah. How much emotion we carry on our shoulders every day as a coach, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. And here, like we have probably, I wanna say 70 people on the, in our athletic staff. So there's Wow. Somebody for everybody, right? Like our lacrosse coach has been here 20 plus years. All their coach our soccer coach, our men's soccer coach, and I really buddied up early on. He's been really helpful. All of them have been really good and we have such a tight. Bond amongst all of us that work in athletics. We just had an athletics meeting this morning, all coaches meeting and just looking around the gym again and man, we're in the gym having to have this meeting'cause it's the only space big enough to fit us all. And we all work really hard. And I think, seeing everybody's families involved and it's a really special place for that. But it's really giving me a better perspective.'cause I feel like the odd guy out. I'm probably one of the only head coaches out of family right now, and I'm like, all right, I need my little kids running around the soccer game, watching along with everybody else's here soon. Yeah it's so funny. I just, kyle Cooks, who's the head baseball coach at Central Missouri. He and I had become friends after he was on the show, and his wife just posts a picture. He's out scouting and his 7-year-old son or 8-year-old son sitting right there with him taking notes says he's scouting. I'm like, yeah, that's what I, that's what I didn't get. My kids were little when I stepped down and got out of coaching, so I hear you. But man, enjoy being a coach of being single man. It's fun. It'll change once you have kids. If you get married, man, it'll change. Yeah, for sure. What advice would you give a young coach who's gotten that first head coaching job? What advice would you give'em now that you've gone through this and you're building a program from scratch to a new school. What does that look like? Yeah, it's funny'cause I'm I'm still in that spot, right?'cause I'm still very close with the coach at the Ozarks. I'm still doing that. It's, some things I look at, I'm like, oh, I wanna help out more. And I think the biggest advice that I can give people is and I learned this, and one of'em is you don't, you think you're ready for it, but you never are. You're never ready to be a head coach. And that's fine. That's what it is, right? Like it was told to me right before I took over at the Ozarks was like, you're not ready for this. Not in a bad way, but you just don't know what you don't know until you have to know it. But a lot of it's just like being really humble and really vulnerable. Like I'm doing, I'm redoing it all here. I've been head coach for a while. I'm pretty I feel like I'm decently experienced, but I'm doing it again, right? Learning the processes here, learning everything here, and being able to have conversations and ask other coaches how have they been successful? How do they navigate this? And really just being vulnerable, right? That's one of our team things too. We're really vulnerable with our guys, understand where our weak points are and where our positives are. And for me it's, I would tell people like, Hey be. Humble in the fact and okay in the fact that you don't know what's what you don't know. But don't and then I think it's like trying to figure out like, do you. It's a tough one to say it this way, but it's like you still gotta work hard at that, right? Understand what you don't know. But go back to the drawing board. And I think too, most coaches probably had a pretty successful athletic career, so it's hard for them to rewind time again and be back. And I say it, like we have I have a new assistant here and I said it to the guys who took over from me. He is like, Hey. You weren't really good at wrestling when you first started, right? So you are not gonna coach'em when you first start, and that's okay. And you're still never where you want to be in your sport, even at your pinnacle, right? You always want to get better. And that's the same thing, like I I ask our guys to put a national championship level effort every single day and into their work. I ask myself the same thing, and that's what I would ask give advice to coaches. Like it's work again, it's just a different, it just looks different. I'm not slapping hands and wrestling, I'm like. I'm meeting with my ad, I'm meeting with donors. I'm recruiting. It's the sa it's all just relative to where you're at. But just when I was an athlete Hey coach, how do I do this now? It's, Hey, coach Kudelka, who's been the lacrosse coach at Lynchburg for 20 plus years, like in the national tournament every year. Like, how do I do this here? It's just relative where you're at just being vulnerable and willing to ask people for help. I've, you and I have probably talked about this before, I know I've talked about it on the podcast a few times, but. I have files from 2000 on my computer. I was a head coach for the first time. Yeah. 25 years ago. And it's so funny when I look at those files,'cause that first year I had one folder. It was just like everything was in one folder. Year two, I had three folders. Yeah. Year three I had seven folders, and by the time I got to like year seven or eight, I had 25 folders like you're talking about. I had fundraising, travel yeah. Practice plans, have you found that in your seven, eight years as a head coach now? That part of the transition's easier because you have, you've built so many templates, you've built so many things that are just Yeah, automatic where you can change Lynchburg and change a couple names and, yep. Yeah, I'm sorry. And I think, yeah, for sure. I think a lot of it is a lot of people, some coaches tell me like, Hey, Lynchburg can be totally different. Scrap what? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if that's the route to take. Yeah. I think it's just adapting what I know already. So the type of recruit here is a little different than I was getting in my last place. The culture out here is different. A lot of things are different. The don't the fundraising efforts out here are just. They're catered a little differently, but I'll tell you right, like in the, you talk about a template, like we used to go to University of Arkansas and work their parking well. I've already called Liberty University to work their parking. Like some things don't have to change, right? They just kind of work geographically where you're at. But a lot of the things that I learned as a head coach are. Interchangeable. I think once you get that rhythm down and how to navigate certain things and you find out what works for you, I don't think as much as what works for each specific university, I think it's like what works for each coach to be able to navigate the problem ahead. Yeah. And then just adapt to the different things, right? We had some things that were really strong at Thes Arks that helped me do my job better that maybe aren't so strong over here at Lynchburg and vice versa. So I'm still like beating that same drum. I'm just adapting it to be, to work a little better in, in this situation. Yeah. I love it. I wanna get into practice planning with you a little bit. Yeah. Because I know you're, are you're, are you gonna have some kind of a club season this year? Yeah, we got like a club season. We're actually kinda like kicking that off here soon, now that our facility's done. But yeah we officially start next year. This year is just a lot of traveling, a lot of recruiting and that part of it. Will you have any will you do any competitions though? So the guys that we have on campus will go to do some opens. They train on their own through the club and then they'll go wrestle some opens. Yep. Can you coach them once? I told I can't coach'em. I can't really be involved in that. Okay. Unfortunately. But we do have a club coach. We were really lucky to like fall into a town where this kid who was a two time, he was two time all American Division two actually had some college coaching experience lives in the area. And one day we were working out at a local club. He says, Hey, I wanna help. So he'll be our club coach and he's like a local high school teacher, young kid, 20, maybe my age, actually like 30. And he's helping out and he'll be our club coach. So he'll be able to be there for those guys at that time and kind of work with them throughout the season as me and my assistant, and spending time on the road recruiting. What a great benefit to have a year to figure out who you want to be as you're Oh yeah. As you're bringing in the talent you want. Yep. Talk. Talk to me a little bit. Have you started thinking about practices?'cause you've got different facilities now. Yeah. You're starting to learn what the class schedule's gonna look like. Have you started thinking about what you want your practices to look like and how you want your assistance? Yeah. So it's funny you bring that up.'cause now that our facilities like done and functional Sammy, my assistant Sammy and I were talking, we're like, Hey man, we're gonna live a day every now and again'cause we got some time. But as an athlete, right? We're gonna have, we're gonna go to a study hall room from seven to eight, and then we're gonna say we have an eight 30 class on the farthest side of campus. Can we do that? And our facility we're really lucky. It's beautiful, but it's a little bit off campus, about five, six minutes. So now it's, we're gonna work out till six. We're gonna shower and we're gonna see can we get back to campus in time to eat dinner and what changes do we need to make? So we're actually gonna be like our te our own test subjects and really feel everything out and then plan accordingly from there. Now we do have some luxuries here at Lynchburg, that help us, like the dinner thing, we are, we're unique in the sense that our meal hall is owned in house. Contract out like Synex or Aramark. So you know, if we need to push that back to seven 30 closing time, we can. And those are all things that, because a lot of the recruits have those questions, right? How are we gonna get the practice if we don't have our car? And all of those little things that I guess sometimes you can overlook. And so we're we're living that, we're gonna live as an a college athlete sometimes and walk to classes and see what that really feels like and best suit our practices for that.'cause having the facility off campus is a is awesome, but it does come with some. Some challenges that I've never faced. If you don't, if you wait until 35, 40 freshmen are on campus in fall and then you wanna figure that out, you're doomed. And that's the other thing is, and I was telling Sammy, I was like, man, we got 35 freshmen. It's not like we got 35 dudes and 20 or transfers like they're freshmen, they're new to college. So we have to answer a lot of those questions ourselves now. So that they're,'cause they're already gonna be behind just being as, being freshmen in college and adjusting to that. Yeah it's wild. I don't know if I told you this, but I'm, I am consulting with a college out in Oregon and they've never had an athletic department before and we're, I'm building it, so I'm literally recruiting. Cross country team for men and women. Men's soccer team. Yeah. And a women's soccer team this year for another college. Yeah. To get'em ready to beat next fall as we as I hire coaches. Wow. Yeah. And it's amazing how many of those things that I'm thinking about right now. Because. We won't have on campus facilities, so everything's gonna be a drive, a hike, a bike ride, and your season's in the middle of winter, even though it's Oh yeah. It's, you live in a state that's, not known for, it's really cold, but you get snow and it's gets cold. Oh, yeah. So it's really cool that you're seeing those things ahead of time and you get to adjust. Yeah. I'm curious about how. You talked about the kind of the practice plan you're putting through to how to prepare and see if this is gonna work. Yeah. How do you imagine freshmen handling that when they get there in terms of, wow, I've never had to drive somewhere or get on a bus to get there. How do you see them handling some of those obstacles or changes that they've never had before? Yeah, so I kinda, I like,'cause I thought about that immediately as taking the job, right? A lot of people, and I look at things like backwards, right? If I am the next best school in Virginia, how am I gonna recruit against Lynchburg? It's oh, their campus off their facility's off campus. That's not gonna be fun. And the way I look at, it's yeah like when you, when you're like a high level athlete, you more than likely, like when you're in the NFL, you live and you drive to practice. Yeah. So we're, we've went that route, we're gonna treat this as such a high level program, your facility's off campus.'cause there is nowhere on campus that could house the biggest division three wrestling facility in the country. You couldn't have this on campus. We're so lucky to have this off. It's all how you message it. And I gotta have to message that to myself at first too. But I believe it now that I'm like here. But it's it's selling it that way. And then also. I'm very upfront in the recruiting process about that is Hey, you're gonna,'cause the moms ask all the time, like, how are they gonna get there? And I, the first few I was like, we'll figure it out. And then I'm like, that's not a good enough answer. I'm like, that one's not good. And so I adapted. I'm like, yeah we'll have a path. We'll have a pathway. And the nice thing, everyone can have cars on campus. And again, it kind that's gonna go into what we do this year. We'll,'cause we have a few like athletic only vans and we own our own buses, so that part's really easy. And my ad is very like, detail oriented and when every time I bring it up to him, he's very calm about it. So I'm very confident that we'll have that figured out and that's what I portray forth. But it is I tell freshmen it's Hey, I'm recruiting you. And I'm recruiting you because of wrestling and a lot of things, but I'm also gonna task you with being a junior. As a freshman, right? Like I, I'm looking for the guy who wants to be the leader and build this with me, but is gonna take on like some big boy responsibilities that a typical freshman wouldn't. And I'm very honest, if the kid's Hey, if you're down for that, great. Some kids don't want that, right? And that's gonna be the early on dilemma. Everyone's oh, you haven't proven you're a good program yet. I don't think that matters because I think, again, like you could be. You could have a great team one year and a bad one next year, like just'cause you're having success Tradition programs that helps recruiting, don't get me wrong, but I think my biggest. Thing. The obstacle that I'm very upfront with is I'm recruiting you here to step in and be a dude immediately. And some kids really love that and I task them with this responsibility you're gonna build this alongside of us as Sammy and I, and build something really special here, but that, here's what that looks like. And that's not just working out really hard in the room. That's how do we get involved in the community? And you're a freshman, you're still cha, you're still adjusting to college. Like here comes all these other tasks of what does it look like to be a part of a brand new program? Because I think a lot of young coaches taking over programs, they want success so fast. Yeah. So they get what I would say, almost like they'll get a transfer who could be like a culture killer? Like the worst thing I can do is get a transfer who's like a risky kid and he's the best kid on my team and his culture's bad, right? Like that just dooms you for the eternity. So it's recruiting really high level kids who are high level humans who. Understand what they're getting themselves into. And yeah, we're like, we're going after good wrestlers. And usually high performing, high school athletes are going to fall in line with that belief and that ideology. But it's definitely a, if I was them, that's cool, right? Like I get to do that. Some kids don't love it. And I think that's. That's made the recruiting process a little easier. But I got kids, we've got five, we went five visits. These, our past five visits, all committed on the spot. Wow. And I was like, Ooh, this place is special. And we didn't even have a facility built at that point. It was just a vision of what we could do. So that was really cool to see that. But it's asking these freshmen to come and be juniors and. That's a unique ask. But kids, some kids really want that, and that's who we're looking for. I'm not so sure coach, that's not the question we ask every freshman. Yeah. Yeah. Just to, you just see what, where their character is. I know when I'm working with a 16 or s year old for the first time, and I'm coaching them through this journey that we're about to go on together with recruiting, and the question, one of the questions I always ask early on is. Do you want a program that's already proven or do you want a program where you get to build that legacy? And I phrase it that way. Yeah. Because I don't think kids think that way. They're like, oh, I get to build, I get to create that legacy. That's cool. And it's how many kids go. I don't know if I wanna go into someplace that's already done this. They've already, it's how am I gonna be special? How am I gonna stand out when they've got 30 All Americans already in 25 years, I get to go someplace and maybe be the first All American there. Yep. That's pretty powerful. Yeah, no, and that resonated pretty well with me when my,'cause we we got banners made already. And so many of my coaching buddies, they're like, damn, that's a nice facility, but you already got banners. I'm like, yeah, we do.'cause I was hesitant, I'll be honest. And I'm the guy who's let's build this. My ad was like, no, I want the kids to see the banners that they'll be on one day. And I was like, Ooh, that's so cool. Heck yeah. That's awesome. So those banners are up, that was like his thing. And he put'em up and they're big and they say National Champ, and they don't got nobody's name on'em. And they say Academic All American and Conference Champ. And it's who's first? And that's powerful to come from my boss, right? Like my guy, my coach, my head coach is telling me, was that his idea? Was that his plan? Yes. Tell'em I'm coming for him here in the next couple of months on the show, because that is just pure brilliance in terms of the visualization every single day of what we're doing here. Yeah. And we're not telling you have to have a name there. It's not, we're not telling you, you have to do this tomorrow, but we're telling you that's it's there when you're ready. Yeah. That's what we're building. Yeah. And that, yeah. And that was something I'll tell you along the whole building of this facility has been. Where I think another thing we, back to the, one of the first questions you asked me is like, how did I how did I start to like work life balance a little bit? I re I took our facility as like a, the first step of me is growing as a coach. So we have a whole weight room in here, like a full functioning weight room. Not like one rack, like a full weight room. A full training room like norm tech, ice tub, heat packs, like everything you'd get in a normal college training room. And then we have a massive facility and they asked me like our assistant, one of our assistant athletic directors is our head athletic trainer and the other one is our head strength coach and then our ad and they were like, what do you need? Tell us how this flows.'cause they're new to wrestling. And then I could just vibe that they were really excited and I was like, here's the first opportunity for me to like. Back off a little bit, right? Like I trust them, I'm gonna trust them in this facility and help them like build it out. And I started, I told them all, I said, you guys are doing your job out of my facility, like our head at. I said, Hey Carolyn, you're doing your job as the head athletic trainer to take care of our athletes. You just happen to be in my facility. You put in there what you need. And same thing with our strength coaches. Hey, you're working with our athletes. This is your, like your field. I'm not. Crossing that boundary I trust you. And it was nice to not have to control the whole thing, right? And you walk around this place and you're like, man, that came together really well. So it was nice to have the faith and then the trust that it got done. And then our athletic director's really good with like audio and visual and the aesthetics of things. And I think I'm pretty good at it. But like he crushes it and, the stereo system he put in here and the system that links all the TVs together and just the little touches that. I even missed along the way, like where, how are we gonna flow in people in here so they're crossing not through the locker room and things like that. And seeing so many people, again, like the phrase used before, like having my back and seeing what we want to build here has been like nothing but inspiring and making this a really fun thing to do every single day. How much fun is that? Yeah. And I think it speaks volumes coach to your growth.'cause I think seven years ago. You're the guy with eight cans of paint, sing the walls, trying to figure out what paint you want, and losing three days to that. Am I wrong? Yeah, I think at one point I told you in my office back then, I said I don't let anybody do anything but me. It's so great. I'm so happy for you.'cause that's what we all dream of as coaches, is to have those people that are as passionate as you about your program as you are. That can take some of that weight off where you can focus on being what you're best at. And that's coaching and mentoring and yeah, building relationships. And that's fantastic because you're gonna have such a heavy freshman class next year, and you're gonna have so many newcomers. You've coached through the grind to division three. You know how hard it's, just the balance that these kids are going through and the fact that you really aren't on the mat with them for six, seven months outta the year. Where they gotta do a lot of work on their own. What's the biggest mistake freshmen make when they think I'm ready for college wrestling? Yeah, I think it's, I think it's that it's thinking they're ready, right? Because you're never ready, right? So it's realizing hey, we're never ready. And I think as, as counterproductive as this might sound, so a good buddy of mine coaches at Cortland and he's yeah, I don't even let the freshmen in the room right away. And I'm like, good.'cause it burn them. Like the college wrestling season is already longer than the high school wrestling season. And we did a thing a few years ago at Ozarks. It burnt me. We had freshmen come up early in the summer and that didn't work. They all fizzled out. Most of them quit, didn't return. And it was like, oh, because that season's so long, like the college wrestling season's so long, it's such a grind. But getting freshmen ready and I tell'em that's. First few months before five, six weeks before I really can get my like hands on you. Is their job to figure college out, right? I tell'em, I say, Hey, the first two weeks, that's when you have your fun, right? That's when you do everything the college kids want to do. Come week two, two, and one day it's game time, right? Now I want you, whether or not we have study hall yet, or practice at 6:00 AM you're waking up at six and just go walk around outside. I don't care. Don't fall back asleep till nine and your first class is at nine 30. Right? Start to build that routine because it, like phasing in, right? Like you phase in these changes in your life that are drastic, right? I laugh all the time. Like kids, sometimes their biggest problem is they bleach their colored clothes, right? Like they didn't mean to, but they don't have to do laundry, right? So there's so many things that they're about to adjust to. So I always phase in those adjustments, knowing that in three months they're up at 6:00 AM they're doing something, they're going to class all day, they're eating good, they're doing all this, and they're probably going to bed around nine, 10 o'clock after me taking four or five hours of their day every day. And how do you phase them and prepare them for that and make them feel confident that when it comes, they're ready.'cause I think that's where you'll lose a lot of kids, is they get so overwhelmed on October 15th when the first day of practice rolls around. It's oh, this is the first time I'm waking up early. And I'm so nervous because I don't know if I can manage the whole day. Where it's like we just give'em little doses of it. Like little doses of it. And then we do a lot of team building. That's a big one. Team building in the beginning of the year. I found the best team building to be through. There's definitely value in doing fun team building, but I say things that aren't super fun, like our fundraising at five in the morning everyone gets together on how much they hate coach'cause they're up so early. But it's fun and they get together and it's, there's all different types of ways to get your team together and sometimes, and. A common enemy might help as well. I think telling freshmen Hey, prepare yourself slowly. Like I, you can't just turn that switch on and off when you want. You gotta gradually, increase the intensity on that switch until you're ready to turn it all the way on. I love that. It's that Herb Brooks mentality, from the US Olympics hockey, I can't get'em to buy into each other. I gotta give'em something they can do together. And if they gotta hate me, they gotta hate me. I, I've been down that road plenty. Oh yeah. We all want Dan Gable. We all want that kid that's never, that's undefeated 130 and oh through high school, everything you. Everything he's done on the Maddy's won. Yeah. How important is it for you to see a recruit handle losing before they get it's big. I, I think out here wrestling is a bit different culture wise than where I was at in that part of the United States where I was previously at. I always tell kids, like for me, I'm recruiting kids who are really good people, right? And I have parents ask me all the time, and I don't think they're like fishing for compliments, but they're like, why my son? And I'm always like, and I probably, this is probably like a bad answer. To them at the time, but I'm always like,'cause I think it's the right thing to do. Like my gut tells me this is good. I look for kids that like I like spending time with, right? Because I've spent a lot of time with'em over the next four or five years. Finding the good high quality kids who handle adversity well, who handle everything that life throws at them, who have good grades, who are doing everything right. I say, Sam, if Sammy and I can't develop kids at wrestling, we shouldn't be coaching college wrestling, right? Like that. That's to me the fun part. Adult recess happens from four to six in this facility every day. Six to four is like my job. That's helping them become better people. But I have to have a really good person to start with. I don't like, look, they have to have some credentials, right? Like one of our things right now is that you gotta be placed at the Virginia State Tournament or your high school state tournament by the time you're a junior. Or else you got some other things about you that we see a good upside on. But most of the time, like these kids are pretty good, but I'm looking for really high character kids. And I, and it is important'cause I, everyone's like. What do you see that I do good in a wrestling match? And I'm like it's the things that I see that you don't do that I like, if you lost, you didn't throw your headgear, like your mom and dad aren't in the stands screaming at the ref like a maniac or the coach, right? Those are things and I think that's sometimes what people lose sight on in recruiting is, oh my, there's a super high level wrestling recruit that recently signed and. It was a weird process for them, I just heard through the grapevine that that the family had a little bit was a bit much. And this is a pretty high level kid, and it's like limited as options, right? Because again, I don't wanna recruit somebody who's got crazy parents, right? Or parents that are gonna call me every day or call my ad and complain or I'm looking at the biggest picture. My job is getting the kids here who I can have a really good relationship with. And between Sammy and I, we develop'em at wrestling.'cause there's gonna be days that I've really hard conversations with them and they gotta know that I care about them. So I can break down that barrier and get them to the next level. But they don't wanna listen to me if they don't think I care and I can. I can pretty much like our commits already, like they were up here visiting the other day and it's like one of'em, like every time he was like a handshake and a hug and it felt, I was like, this kid, he digs me, right? And I think this kid, he's cool, family's cool, everything's awesome, but it's oh, I know in two years I'm gonna have a hard conversation with this kid, but I know that I'm gonna be able to just already, and is he the four time Virginia State champ? Nope. I don't know if like I'm not looking for just that. I want kids who are really high quality people who I connect with at a level that matters when like the going gets really rough and it won't surprise me if that's the type of kid that's got their name on the banner first. Yeah. Oh yeah. I agree. Yep. I agree. The kid that's just got that drive and work ethics, just coach, whatever you tell me to do, I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna do it again. Yep. And I'm gonna do it again. And I'm gonna do it again. That's, and that's probably one thing I learned at my last university is, and again, I'm not throwing shade, but that part of the United States is just a little bit behind for wrestling. Last year we finished top 25 in the country and we had five guys on our starting lineup from Arkansas, Louisiana, which on paper, if you ask most wrestling community, are probably two of the lower ranked states, probably the lowest in the country for wrestling. Now they're getting better. It's just the truth, right? When you look at that state's nationals results at the Fargo National Tournament, super 30 twos, like they're sparsely successful as a whole. And so to see that 50% of my lineup last year was from those states, and we did very good. We did better. We were up there academically. We schools like U Chicago and finishing top 25 in the ranking to schools like Warburg, right? That was telling because what that was a product of was 35 guys. Who loved working hard, who loved each other, and we could connect with at a high level, and always to expect a high level of performance from them. And it didn't matter. I don't think there was a single, there might've been like one state champ on that whole starting lineup, and that's, yeah. And I've unheard of, I'm gonna flip the switch a little bit, what you were talking about. What you're looking for in a recruit and what you hope it'll be there and the things that you don't wanna see. Yeah. When a family comes visits, they leave, they get in their car on the way home, what do you want them talking about? Huh. It's funny you say that.'cause I just thought about that recently. It's how do I want them leaving? I want them leaving thinking this can be a place that I can be every single day for the next four or five years. Waking up even on my worst day, I'm happy that I chose Lynchburg and Coach Barber and Coach Hilligoss and Lynchburg Wrestling and that university and that place. Even when it's man, am I even making the right choice at the end of the day, like I, I wake up and it's yeah, I'm still happy I'm here. I tell kids all the time, you gotta love it more. You gotta love it when you hate it the most, right? And so when that outweighs it, it's good.'cause there are gonna be times you hate this. I want them talking about, how they felt about the relationship and I'm honest, sometimes kids leave here. They might be like, I don't know if I like that guy. Good. Great. That's fine. I don't mean that to be brash. At least we got to that point pretty quick. Because I'm pretty honest. And I'm okay. I tell families that all the time. You might walk and drive home and say, not to fit. Good. That's okay. Tell me and we'll move on. That's part of life. I want people leaving here knowing like it's funny, I my first ever visit. I remember dropping him off at admissions and going to meet him at the field and he had a already bought, like himself a Polo and a Lynchburg bookstore bag, and I was like, oh, this place sells itself. This is easy. But it's like that, right? Like that, the time that they're back in the car, it's. Okay. What's, how far of a drive is it to come? See you on the, come see you when we wanna see you wrestle, because this is where you'll be. I want you leaving. Knowing I just left my home for the next four or five years. Like I want, I like committing on the spot. I never put a deadline on it, but I want people to go home and not really question what they're getting. Hey, that coach is this, Lynchburg, is this, that place is exciting. This is what this is about. This is what they do there. And they have the full picture of everything we do here, and they like it or they don't. But most times I want them, hopefully they're driving away saying yeah, this is, I'm filling out my application as I'm driving out, I'm putting my documents into Lynchburg as we're leaving the entrance. As a dad with two kids, knowing you, as long as I have, I would be in the car going, and I might not say this to anybody myself, but like I've got the surrogate father I'm looking for my dad. Yeah. Person who can help them grow where I've. I'm done. I, there's not much more I can do for this kid. I got somebody in Coach Vinny Barber that's going to help them get to that next stage of their life. That's how I feel about you. So I can imagine the conversations the parents are having when they get in the car, that guy's gonna take care of you, that guy's gonna guy have your back. Yeah, and it's important I think, because I mean it, right? Yeah it's funny sometimes, and I'm not being rude when I say this, but sometimes people will leave a visit and be like, man. That I, we didn't hear something like that from another coach or a coach of a school recruiting against. One thing I try to really do, and it's not the game, I do this'cause it's genuine. It's like when you vi like I have a way to schedule visits directly with us that blocks out anybody else that day. The most I'll ever have is too, because I need to have time with you. I want, I might be one of the only head coaches in division three wrestling. Spending eight hours with every single recruit that every hour they're here. Every minute that they're here. I do the tours myself. I do it all myself because I want them to see that. And not that I don't have the support from others to do it. I want them to see, Hey, I'm serious right now. You are the center of my day. You are the center of my world today is recruit. You are the recruit, you are the kid that I want to coach. And I'm gonna show you that not just 15 minutes in my office. And some pictures in a singlet because I'm gonna get bring you to lunch. We're gonna talk, we're gonna talk about things like that you want to talk about. I'm gonna give you the floor to talk and I'm gonna learn about you.'cause I'll tell you, it doesn't happen as often as you would think, but as I'm, as I might make it sound, sometimes I leave those and I'm like, Ooh, that wasn't what I thought it was gonna be. But I need that too. Yeah. Yeah. I'll give you a piece of unsolicited advice that I give to all coaches about visits.'cause I was the same way. I wanted them to know that I'm here for you. This isn't gonna be, I'm not passing the buck to my assistants about your visit, but one thing I always say, give'em half an hour to an hour with just your players. Just your athletes. Yeah. Yep. Because I think a family needs to go. All right, coach Barber's. Awesome. Now I wanna find out from the kids. We ask him, why'd you come here? Why have you stayed? What do you think of Coach Barber? What do you like, what do you don't like? I always wanted my guys be completely honest. Yeah. Be completely honest with them because if you tell'em, coach Barber's gonna push you harder than you've ever been pushed before, and they don't want that, that just saved you four years of pain with that kid. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's, that was something we were good at my last place too. Like we would have big. Like right before they were like officially gonna commit, we'd have them all up at once and do an overnight and yeah. I remember there was like one kid I really want, I wanted bad and then my guys were like, coach, I just don't think so. And I was like, yeah. I believe you. And I think in the long run it worked out better for both parties. But yeah, spending time with the athletes.'cause they're the ones, and I'm tell my guys like exactly what you're saying. Hey, tell'em what's up man.'cause I don't want, I'm sporty to wrestle for, it's hard to wrestle for me. And I don't want them being shocked when they get here because that's just more drama than I need. That's fantastic. I it is just, it's. It's such a fun world to figure out the puzzle pieces of what you want it to look like, and you've built, you're building a brand new home and you get to pick the furniture and the wallpaper and the what appliances you want. And that's what's cool. You've learned a lot. You've had great success and now you got to go. A perfect world. What do I want this to look like? Yeah. Can you get to do the same thing with the classes you bring in now? I wanna talk recruiting with you in a second segment, but I wanna do a little rapid fire with you first. Yeah. Do some fun stuff. What's the first thing you notice when you watch a high school wrestler compete? What's the first thing you notice when you sit down? The first thing I look for is how is their body language and how do they interact with their teammates? Okay. Favorite quality in a recruit, grit talent or coachability? Coachability. Somebody who can take criticism.'cause I can dish it out. Somebody who can, who's not gonna be shocked when I tell'em what's up. Yeah. Grit seems to come along with that, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. You gotta be tough to take the criticism. Better sign of a potential athlete who hates to lose, or an athlete who loves to train. I think one who loves to train'cause they're pretty process oriented. If you hate to lose, you become really goal focused. Wrestling's a sport, you need to be process or every sport, but you need to be fall in love with the process. Guys who love training they're like, you just become like a natural competitor. But that's very process, like a very process oriented mind. And you fall in love with the process and training you're gonna, your outcomes. You can never let be let down if you just love the process. What's one word you want recruits to use when describing Lynchburg wrestling? Wow. There's so many that comes to mind. I think I would want them to be like, unforgettable. Yeah. Unforgettable is great. Love that. Yeah. Harder to teach technique or toughness. Toughness all day. So hard to teach toughness. What's the most honest thing a recruit's ever told you? Wow. I think the most honest thing a recruit ever told me was that they don't foresee themselves ever being as passionate as the sport as I can be. So they don't think it would be a good fit. Wow. I can't imagine anybody ever saying that to you. I just can imagine. Yeah. I was like, I guess I need to tone it back a little bit. Wow. That's wild. Yeah. Then as always, it's great to see you. So happy for you, so proud of you. For those of you listening, come back for segment two. We're gonna talk some recruiting and get coaches' advice on this great program he is building. We'll talk to you soon. Huge thanks to Coach Vinny Barber for the inside. Look at building Lynchburg wrestling from the ground Up. Next up is part two. Coach Barber goes deep with us on recruiting what he's looking for in the first Lynchburg roster, how athletes should be communicating with coaches. We're gonna talk about timelines, visits in the habits that actually move you up. A coach's board. Make sure you've subscribed so you don't miss an episode. And look out for our weekly blogs recruiting tools, my significant recruiting books, launchpad classes, and speaking info@coachmattrogers.com. Until next time, we'll see you at part two with Coach Vinny Barber. Stay focused, stay humble, and keep chasing significance.