John Mosley: Last Chance U Basketball Coach on Servant Leadership, Surviving Drive-By Shootings, and His Faith-Driven Calling

Phil White  00:45

Yeah. Well, we want to get all the good stuff coach. So I'm already recording on the box. I'm just changing this TD I'm not even asking people if it's cool. I'm just hitting record. Because suppose he knows the drill. So yeah. So Coach, I have hit record here. And in a sec, I'll give Tim a 321 Countdown, I'll see we are live. And I'll just let him rock with the first question. If that's cool. Absolutely. Good. You do have a hard stop today, coach, or can we? Can we just go and see where we're at?

John Mosley  01:14

Not Yeah, we can go. I mean, I probably I mean, someone I had individual coming in, one of my recruits just flew in town. But whenever he gets here, he gets here. So he sat around 11. So

Phil White  01:26

I'm like, okay.

John Mosley  01:28

Yeah, it's supposed to be a quick stop, man. I mean, I'm in between Division One jobs and thought that that's where I was supposed to be. But you know, and essentially, they said, You'll never get hired here. These are hard jobs to get hired at in terms of full time faculty. So but I'm here, and initially, they were saying, hey, just come here. Just come do your service, have some, you know, help the young man out. And I was like, Hey, I'm between jobs. I'll do it just so that I don't miss a year of coaching. And I get a chance to be a head coach, which was my first time being a head coach. So I'm going into this thing. They're like, hey, just give the kids a good experience. And we'll be fine. I'm like, Nah, I heard that before, man, we're gonna try to win. And we came out right away. And I think we've set tons of records first year in like, 15 years, we made the playoffs first playoff win ever in the school's history. And you know, and just many first time ranked in the top, we were like, in the top, we're number six in the state at one point. But I just was like, Nah, I don't believe that Manny, you know, and even more so in today's society and our basketball goals. If you don't win, if you don't have success, then you know, you're out the door. And that's just the way the market is it has nothing to do with being cruel or unusual, cruel or unusual punishment. That's just the way it is. If you don't win, you lose. So I'd say even though this is part time, I was making pennies. I was like, I'm still I'm still trying to win. And we won. We had some success, a few things, and I'm sticking around and few things on campus pop open, I get some other part time gigs on campus and did a male leadership academy and that brought in some income. And then ultimately, some things happen. Where was interesting, they had accreditation team and they were looking to hire African Americans. They said, We gotta hire out and everything goes fast, you know, they gotta meet a certain standard, right? Yeah, hire African American? Well, Mosley is doing a good job with these African American men group on our campus. He's two professors, one retired and one passed away in our department. And you know, that's just how God works. Everything just fell into place, man, it was kind of magical. And this is where I'm supposed to be. So I'm like, okay, snow, do it for a couple of years. And I think I've just realized, you know, what, I'm gonna hit home with family, and it's a decent salary now, because I'm a faculty. So I'll just ride this out. And then all of a sudden, man, things just start piling on more successful in the players. We got a lot more attention getting more popular and then all of a sudden Netflix come in, it's like, I'm not doing that. But then we do it and then ultimately, this you know, the seeds have been planted and just a lot of come come out of that. So all Yeah, I don't know. Not doing that. I'd like I was like doing it my buddies all, bro, don't do it, you're gonna get fired. Looking at the other shows, and I'm like, I cannot perform like, I can't be like those guys. I'm not going to really be that way. And I thought that's what needed to be to be entertainment. So I said he probably won't work out. You shouldn't do it. And ironically, my pastor is the one that told me to do it. He said, No, you you should do it. And I'm like what, you know of all people. Right? So like all of the people who are expected to say Yeah, do it man make a lot of money. And you know, they said no, and then the people will I expect to say no, just stay humble. You don't need cameras. Continue to do the great work that you're doing without all that. And they're the ones that told me yeah, go and do it. I'm like, okay, Got it. And I literally was in a panic upon agreeing to it. And I got comfortable. And then afterwards, I was in a panic when they said, Okay, it's gonna come out in a month, I saw the trailer, I was like, What did I just commit to us? It was wrong with me, man. I said, I share with people my life was perfect before. My kids are doing great. Everything's going, right. My life was perfect. When in a few basketball games, I'm not gonna get fired. I'm enjoying students, I'm enjoying teaching. My kids are growing up, my son and daughters are doing well in sports, man, this is great. And then this comes along. And it's a challenge. Like, do I do it? Or don't I do it? And you know, and I do it. And now it adds an extra level of extra challenge to the family to my faith to to all of us and, you know, it worked out but I was in a panic right? Before it came out. I said, Oh my gosh, I was gonna in a cold sweat. Like, why did I do this? Like, dude, they're gonna pick my life apart. And we know how society is today, man, they will pick it apart. Yeah, he will just be canceled for waving at somebody and smile. And he's like, why did you wave like this? You should have wave like this. You know, it's like, you're invading. Like, and so I am so fortunate. The editors did a great job. They pieced it together. Well, I was dogmatic with some views. And they did a good job of just chopping it out and put it together, man, I can't, you know, it was divine. I was put together and so I've gotten more good. And then bad. That's come out of it.

Tim DiFrancesco  06:31

Right. Right. But what are the you mentioned? There's now added challenges I have to imagine just from the notoriety. But then also there's there is this challenge of having cameras around like that in a in a team setting and making sure that it's what's sacred is sacred, and yet what they're trying to get on air is what's sacred.

John Mosley  06:54

Yeah. And I think what came across? And why I think a lot of people, you know, they, they kind of gravitated to the show and liked the show. I think that's just who we were and who I was. And I thought about it, I said, You know what, I don't think I'm gonna do anything. You know, I had some friends that maybe they would do something and they would get themselves fired. And I like, you know, what, I went into this thing with this, this, the intentions of really kind of ministering to guys, and really trying to help them grow as young man is showing them a lifestyle that they can, you know, mimic like, someone I'm being an example for him. And so I was being an example. I was trying to be have that lifestyle before I just thought when the cameras Come on, be, you know, going crazy. But ultimately, I thought about it. And I said, You know what, we all have a camera on us. 24/7 Anyway, and me, being a man of faith, I have a camera on me. I feel like I'm being watched. I feel like my, my, my, I'm always had a camera on me, you know, because I want to set an example and let them know that you know what, I'm different. I want to let them know that look, my life has changed, my life is better. These are some of the things I'm doing. And so I've been under a microscope. I felt like before the cameras came. And then ultimately, God is watching me. So I feel like I'm I've been under a microscope. So it really didn't. It really didn't faze me as much. Other than when I went to the restroom, I mean, other NAD get to turn the mic off sometimes. Right? Right. I think that's what came off well, is the fact that I just said you know what, I'm gonna just be me and yes, and I'm not. I'm not I don't I don't swear I don't curse. Well, how did you not curse for the camera? How could you do that? It's like, I don't curse. Well, you know, I truly do pray for my guys. I truly do love on them. I truly everything you saw I am crazy. Sometimes I go like this. My wife says the Gemini and she says because you're a Gemini you your personalities flip one way or the other. I don't know that. That's that's, that's yeah,

Tim DiFrancesco  09:00

that I mean that's what I love. And that is like within minutes of being immersed in that show and seeing episode two episode kind of your you come across that screen it is I mean, you ever you know immediately like this, you cannot fake this. This is really him. And that's what you know, that's what makes it amazing. I there's some things that we're going to now circle back to eventually in this but let's now let's now bounce back to your childhood. What is it about your childhood? Tell us about some of what you went through there and kind of what that upbringing was like and what is it about that? That again, seems to me like it lends to and it it sort of translates into your superpower or one of your superpowers of being able to relate at a very deep level with your players.

John Mosley  09:52

You know what I think it's I was able to get the best of both worlds man I'm living in the hood in the city. With You know, it's diverse, I get to see the bottom of the bottom. And to see the bottom of the bottom come out, I get challenges where my back is against the wall, most of the majority of my young life, and I got to fight my way out of some stuff I'm dealing with, you know, seeing now I don't want to, you know, embellish and say, oh, man, it was guns, bullets going across my face every day. Like, I'm not going to embellish that. But I did see it. You know, I'll watch the neighbor across the street. And I'll just tell the story I watched the neighbor cross through to drive by they came and shot him sitting on the porch. And I'm literally across the street looking like, oh, man, Jr. Got shot. And like, it didn't faze me because it was like it was it was normal. It was still frightening. But it was it was it was more normal than it would be. It would be. It wouldn't be normal if it didn't happen, but once a year, but you know, what's going to happen once a month, whether I can hear the gunshots and ways away or not, you know, so I don't want to overstay my hood was just super tough. But it was but in the same light I had, I had good parents. So in some cases, there are some that they live in that, and they don't have the not that they don't have good parents, they just don't have enough support. And I think my parents gave me enough support. And I had enough that I was able to overcome it. You know, maybe if I was with single parent or something, I don't know. But I was able to overcome it. Not that I didn't get ingrained in it a little bit I did I get got caught up, I did some things I shouldn't. And when I share in prison ministries, I say the difference between you and me is you guys got caught and I didn't like there's some things that I probably shouldn't be in here for we're all the same, you know, but essentially, I just didn't, and I was able to overcome. And then once I got over the hump in which I'm trying to do with these young men, once you get over, and you get to see the rest of the world you get enlightened what basketball can do and what the world has to offer, then you gravitate towards that. But sometimes it's just getting these young men. And I think that's what my parents did. They said, Okay, get out of the mud. Let's get out. Let's get out. Let's get out. And sometimes these young men don't have enough support to pull them out. They think this is it, they got to survive in the mud. They got to survive doing this and doing things that way. They got to survive being disrespectful or survive with poor response in order to get attention. So I know you don't have to do that. And so my parents was able to pull me out. And then when I saw the other side, I was like, oh, man, this is great. I'm traveling, I'm seeing the world. I see how other cultures live and like what am I doing? And that's kind of what I see from all the young man. I'm like, You guys are stuck in that. That place I had a young man. He didn't want to leave la last year. I said man, you need to go to Florida to go there's a scholarship and he was like Coach I want to stay wondering. I said man, let me tell you some you need to leave and pharmacy ever has gone to Vegas you know to Vegas right out to LA that's it. Man this dude went to Florida and literally lost his mind you know not that that's a good thing but he just is like hey, man, I'm loving it and it was just like do and it was like Miami I'm like bro I told you there's another world to live there and I think that's what my family what the difference but yet and still I was able to see everything that they go through and I can see why they're stuck. I can see why they respond poorly. I lived through it and I live with them and I can see it all I was just fortunate enough to have a good family and and even some will go families they fall by the wayside man environment even some with just the single mom who's working 24/7 Some of them do better to not do it just but to each his own man its effects different ways. But yeah, that's essentially how I grew up inner city high school. I was fortunate enough to when I was younger at private school, so I got some seeds planted. I went to private school. But then we went to high school it was walking down the street public school got challenge. I'm looking around making sure I don't get my Jordans stolen, which is a part of my testimony. I got almost got my Jordans taken from I think it was Jordan threes, you know, so no, yeah, the original Jordan threes. They were $105 and they pulled up and it was a cutlass or regal I never forget. That is a Hey, where are you from? And I said I don't bang man. It was like What size shoe you wear. And that means you got to take your shoes off, you know and give me your shoes and fortunately I was close to home and one of the ladies that lives on the block she said John John, are you okay baby? And then they and it was like they just respected like, they gotta respect it. Hell, this is funny how it goes man, they they respected her and they just kind of took off because they saw somebody was watching and I went home and they kind of shed some tears. I was tired. I was like, Man, I'm trying to get out of the hood. You know?

Tim DiFrancesco  14:48

Hey, that's, that's crazy. I you know, you talk about this. This idea that your parents you got caught in the mud you did get in that mode a little bit and and they pulled you out? Can you? Can you take us into that?

John Mosley  15:04

All right, hold on for a second before responding. Just

Tim DiFrancesco  15:05

take your time. Take your time.

John Mosley  15:07

Yeah, so my man just can't see too.

Tim DiFrancesco  15:42

All right. All right. Give me a question you coach in life, baby coaching life. Okay, great. Let me run it again. So coach you just talked about just just a bit ago there how you did get caught in the mud a bit. And you actually said your parents had to kind of pull you out? Can you talk about that?

John Mosley  16:00

Well, it's just the common teenage stuff, man, like I was sharing with some of the issues that Joe Hampton, he kind of went through, it was like, Well, you know, similar to some of the, you know, I was trying to do some little bank fraud stuff. So I put money in my pocket. And it was like normal. That's what all the kids were doing. I can remember being put on by a gang. They said, Man, you need to get put on I was getting put on. Fortunately, I saw a sign that said, basketball tryouts. But in my neighborhood, so I went to a private school, maybe a few miles away from my home. So a lot of the kids that went to private school, they were scattered to, you know, from here and there, you usually go to your local school in the area, and you know, all of those that are around and live on your block. And all of them were kind of caught up a little bit. And so when I go to high school, all I know is the guys that stay down the street and around. None of them are really athletes, they just kind of bang we kind of grew up, you know, and that way, and they started to get a little more hardcore as they got older. But I'm walking to school with him. And we all that's just what I knew. I'm from the hood now, like, John, we got to put you on. Because you you would ask now and so I'm hanging with them and sitting with them. And, and I never forget, I and I shared this all the time. And it was a drive by and front of our school board. And I'm hanging out with the guys and they were like, man, we know who it is. Let's go. Everybody starts to run because they're running to cocktail. I guess the big Oh, geez. You know, the big homies, like, hey, such and such gang came by and he was shooting, let's all hop in. And so I'm running like, Yeah, let's go I'm and I'm running behind the pack. And I'm looking, I'm like, What the heck am I doing? And literally, they're all running, we'd literally probably would have taken us five minutes to get to the, to the area where all the Oh, geez, was it? You know? And I just turn the corner and I said, What the hell am I doing? I said, if I hop in one of the cars, and that was the conviction that I've had in me, you know, from, from a young age, and that's that's what when you have, you know, good support, you know, I think that's, that's the fork in the road. Because if you don't have the good support, then you just go right in you even though your conscious feels that you will go. But my conscious was not only knowing that it was wrong, I was like, Man, my daddy can kill me. You know? I'm thinking about can I go home after this? Most kids who don't have the support, sometimes they can go home afterward, because there's nobody that really, they don't they don't have the time. I'm not saying that the parents don't care. They just don't have the time to absorb themselves in kids. Like if I go home, my dad will look at me and it's like, okay, something right. You know, something, right. And so I did that, and I can never forget that. And then I saw them the sign that said, basketball tryouts. And then I started to, you know, I tried out and I started to be, you know, with that group a little bit more and hanging out with that group, and it kind of built a separation. And all of the the guys that I was hanging out on my blog, they knew they already knew like, man, John shouldn't be with us anyway, you know, like, they saw me drift towards the basketball and I always played basketball. My dad was always like, advocate. He took a bunch of guys on my blog, and he started the Boy Scouts, the Cub Scouts. So he would do a Cub Scout and those kids drifted away. So we, you know, he tried to save some of those kids on our block as well. And I think that's where some of that, that that mentality comes from? My dad. Man, my dad when you come to my house, my dad soon as he sees dudes walking out and eat popping popcorn. And he did what he did when he was in the army. He said, I used to cut up potatoes so he would just cut the potatoes up. Put a big piece of paper on the floor. Now I think about it's a little country because he from Mississippi, but he will put them in water and then just cut him up. And then he would just pry him and we got fried like the big fat potato fries. The real deal. I'm thinking that was normal and he would do that. And when you looked back, I looked back and saw how the impact that he had. Were all of those young men who pass through I was just like, Yeah, whatever. They saw a man kind of sharing and helping them and encouraging them, and just providing a comfort space. That's really what he needed provided a comfort area where he wasn't. He saw him and he welcomed him, like, what's up what you're doing, you know, in any box of popcorn, and I think back and I'm just like, man, and I think I'd get a little bit out for me. I'm I think the second show talked about, you know, Mr. Mosley was a good man. And that's where I got some of some of that from, and then also because of the conviction of my faith, you know, that that faith conviction, having compassion for others and having a compassion for young man, because the same thing happened with me, you know,

Phil White  20:47

talk to us a little bit. And I want to dovetail what you just said about your mission. And I want to talk a little bit about First Peter, chapter four, verse 10.

John Mosley  20:57

Yes, yeah, well, ultimately, I believe our, we're called to some minister, and we call to serve. And so I've always used that as, as just kind of keeping that in mind. And we've all got these gifts. And I think that's just the gift of discernment that I have to be able to, you know, reach these young man and kind of, you know, see some of the things that they're going through so that I can be able to serve better, you know, and I think that's, like, what do we what are we doing? What are we doing, if we're kind of doing everything for, we sit all the time with all these those that are rich, and we sit all the time with those that, that kind of consume a lot, you know, financially, and they built this great wealth they built, you know, all of these things. But they don't have any with anybody to share it with what maybe with family, but what are all these accomplishments that coach mostly has like winning games and all that, and these young men aren't impacted and helped and move on. And so I've gotten over myself, to the point where all of the accolades and all that stuff, it really doesn't matter. It's just a trophy, but to be able to plant seeds and impact young men and be able to impact people. And then guess what, that moves a lot lot further than my trophy. Because once I get celebrated, right, that trophy is gonna sit on my mantle. And then that's it, that's as far as he goes. But if we, you know, we celebrate and, and getting these young men out and moving them on, that trophy goes a lot further, you know, then they're impacting people, and if they get fit, right, so, for me, that's, you know, that's kind of the call and it's to serve Him and even more so after going through the show. And that being highlighted, I really didn't know that. That's what I was doing. But that's what was happening. And so it's just coming out that you know, being able to serve and using our gifts to serve is, is really, is really what we call to do. And I think everybody should be on the same page. I mean, what good is it getting rich? If we can't share it? You know, I mean, yeah, it's good to have it with family. But I mean, you are you a billionaire, I'm just looking at all the billionaires, and that's good. You've done a great job. And I'm, you know, yeah, you deserve to do whatever you want. With your finances, which are riches is like, Hey, I worked hard. And you know, how society is today. There's this war against, you know, socialism, and there's war against capitalism, like, really building for my myself, and why should we be punished for growing our wealth? Why should we, and then there's this other side, where everybody's needs to be equal, we need to help the poor and all that. I don't have a problem with him growing. I don't have a problem with it. But there comes a point where, you know, having so much, and being able to share and let others experience and being able to serve others, you know, not just giving but being able to serve, not just giving and, and allowing someone to be irresponsible with it. But, but Sir, that goes a long way, because my trophy is gonna sit there and get dust on it. But if we can push these young men out, then I, you know, I celebrate I love those trophies a little bit more. And if I'm selfish, if I'm selfish, then I'll rather be selfish and say, look, look, look what I did. I got these. I got 100 young man to division one schools. So if I'm selfish, right? Why would it be like, well, look what I did, I won 500 games 1000 games, and I'm a Hall of Fame coach like that, that really doesn't. I would rather be selfish and say, like, I got, I got 1000 players to college, that would make me feel a lot better. If I'm so sorry.

Tim DiFrancesco  24:33

Yeah, that's so powerful. And, you know, what's the what's the bigger purpose right in in anything that we're doing and, and, and, and you not only talk the talk, but then you walk the walk. That's the important part. And, you know, Coach, I, I'm always curious if if, as as a listener, any of our listeners of the show from this topic and kind of understand the real true environment that As the guest is in and your case, can you, for anybody that doesn't hasn't paid a ton of attention maybe or just doesn't understand like where the where the place of the junior college sits in the in the basketball world, especially where it from from your your end, what's the sort of purpose there and and what that looks like for the typical person that is coming to you, and why they're coming to E lac, and what the purpose is there?

John Mosley  25:29

Well, first of all, it's not any fault. And I'm not knocking or I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus. But the community college in California, it's called Community College, which means it's for the community, which means they're focused on you know, vocational education. And they really, they don't, it's not like the Midwest sports where the whole town and the whole world revolves around like, you go to Kentucky, and if you're not wearing blue, you're gonna get shot from Kentucky shirt on, you have a Louisville shirt on in Kentucky, you're in Lexington, Indiana, you literally can literally get beat up. So from community colleges here, and I get it, you know, and I've tried to fight I've tried to ask for more support and this make this more meaningful. And even after the show, we're like, Hey, this is look at what we've done. Look at what we do. And still is just like crickets, you know, yeah, they say, What can we do to help it's like, man, you know, you can do to help is just just pay attention. You don't have to give us that and just pay attention. And that'll help in itself. But, you know, our community college is surrounded, it's, it's political. It's, it's vocational, it's education. And so the, there's, that's why this access, at least in California, that community colleges, isn't that great. And it's a handful of us coaches, I'm one of them. That said, No, I'm gonna be able to program for real, because most of the instructors out here are most of the coaches are faculty. And they no one's gonna get fired here in California. At some of the national goals, there's pressure to win, and you can get fired here, nobody's gonna get fired. You know, it's a typical public school system. It's just like, hey, just be good to the kids. And, you know, make sure you stay politically correct. And you'll be fine. But there's like, a handful of us that say, No, we're gonna compete at the highest level, and we're one of them, I still got the fire, you know, maybe in five years, I might be burned out, fighting against, like, literally, I think you saw on the first show, our basket was broken, it was it's the same again, it's like, it's two inches, and I keep telling them, that motor needs to be changed. So like, we've been going a month without it being changed. I can't like I literally, I will pay for it out of my pocket to get fixed. But if I do that, I can get in trouble because it has to go through contracts. And it's just a nicer so much red tape. It's got to be cleared. It's got to be go to the board before it's approved to get fixed. And it's just like, man, come on.

Phil White  27:57

Well, if anyone's listening, if anyone's listening with some serious coin, you send TD and ice and money will pass. Obviously, so Eli can get a Don Bosco get the basket. He

John Mosley  28:10

is like it's exhausting. It's exhausting. Right. But so that's from from my standpoint, through and then the young men, you know, that come in is diverse man, you have some good families, good parents, you have some that have been, you know, they're in Division one. And for whatever reason they left, like we see in our portal right now, whether it's they got kicked out, or they got pulled out or they did something wrong, or they didn't survive, or academically, they struggled, they're coming back. So I'm in the market where we're getting the high level players that are in those tough spots. So not only am I getting before, I was getting tired of, you know, players that were struggling, but I was they were average players. And we kind of built to a point where we're getting high level players where once they come here, if we kind of tweak them and get them right, they're going right back to division one, they're going to division one schools and so, so it draws a lot more so you get a high performer with some baggage in some some areas, you know, there's some that want to come in the situation where they shine more, you know, there's some that's that's in a situation where they just didn't work out. They didn't get the minutes and I said, You know what, I see value. Come here, you can shine more, because California isn't as strong in sports, except for us collective. And the reason being why because there's no pressure and it's really not the administration comes there's some administration, but there's 101 Basketball schools. But I mean, you could go with this probably 1/20 of them that are that really are saying we want to win, we want to win everyone else. They don't know what's going on. They just everybody's trying to get up and move up and move to politics and all that. So to be politicians, and so there's really not much care in it and it takes us coaches. So these young men, they come in and they come from all Different backgrounds, man, we have some that. I mean, yeah, they've gotten in trouble, we have some that weren't ready academically, there's some that weren't ready athletically. There's some of there's some that come that are great, great kids, great students, and they just want to be here. I got one young man, you know, this year, he's a great young man, great students from Orange County, like parents are, well, he just wants to come here and play. Because he didn't get that division one offer. And I'm like, Yeah, you'll be fine. You'll get it come on over. You know, so it's, it's so many. And they come in here, and we just kind of put it together. And, and then like, the first two weeks, next week is our first week of school. So I got him sitting, I got a young man right here, just walked in here from, from out of town, and, and, you know, we'll all get put in, thrown in together, and we'll have to figure out where the personalities are and discern who's who, I kind of sit back and learn people and then I start, I just go out on man and get it all to a point where not controlling but like, you know, conform a little bit so that you can be successful. But but, you know, we try not to tolerate anything, any gross. Anything that's gross that can harm these young man or get them in major trouble. And we talked about that and responsibilities right away, that they got an opportunity here to move on, we've proven that we can get you out and, and and that you can be be better than you thought you were gonna be. And all you got to do is just dial in. But it's a big fight, man, it is a fight. Because there's some baggage that comes with it, whether it's, they just don't respond well sometimes respond well to criticism, because maybe they didn't have a male in their life. And they don't know how to take criticism from a male and they've been taught that sometimes the male is the bad guy, you know? Or, you know, or whatever. I mean, who knows?

Tim DiFrancesco  31:48

A lot of stuff. Yeah.

John Mosley  31:51

Man. A lot of stuff. I don't agree in psychology, but I figured some stuff out. Yeah.

Phil White  31:58

For sure. Like you said off camera codes five, five plus problems times 15. Guys, right?

John Mosley  32:04

I got, yeah, well, until we get our, our team cut, I got 20 guys. And so I get 20 Guys texting me with this issue, that issue, some of them get it resolved. But we got five problems for each guy. So you got 20 thoughts, 100 problems I got to deal with. And I'll kill some of them, I got to hold the and some of them have good parents support. Some of them don't. And then you know, like, I got Shamar that was on the last show I made him redshirt until the God is his associate degree. I mean, his high school diploma. So he finally got it. And so I'm dealing with that, you know, like, he's all fired up smart problems, I gotta handle all five of them. You know, some of the other guys, the parents handle three, and I'll take care of two. But Shamar I got he got 10 problems I gotta handle adds another, I got 110 problems.

Phil White  32:56

And Coach, sometimes life, life throws us an extra massive problem that not you or coach can or or anyone can handle. Got, it's got to be a God thing. And I think we talked off camera a little bit about how recently when I was finishing up season two, my wife is down down in Denver picking up our son during the film program down there, and she's doing 110 miles of driving or something today, it's just crazy. If you want to ruin your car, live in the mountains and take your kid down to Denver, you know, back and back forth back for anyway, that aside. She come in she said, Are you alright? And I said well, kind of. I said, I've been crying in this episode. He said Why are you crying? And I said, Well, you know, explain it to us. So demand his dad calls. And he he's in this tornado. And he's literally saying this is the person at the insurance company you need to call follow up for my life insurance. And then the phone cuts out. Put us in that situation coach?

John Mosley  33:57

Yeah, I mean, you know, there's a lot of emotions that go on there. And as a coach, you got to just stop sometimes. If you you got to be human and the human side, I saw DeMonte crying. Like my dad, we were on the phone and he cuts out. He's telling me his life insurance. I'm putting myself in, like, I got I mean three different areas here. Number one, I'm in the, in the in the parent mode, where I'm like, my son's away from me and he's crying because something's going to happen to me. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, domani This is a kid this is my son. That's literally crying because he thinks I'm going to you know, he thinks something's going to happen to me. His rock his strength, you know, the dads are the strong ones will have those those dads. And then I saw myself as a friend so Dumanis dad I had a relationship with He's a former coach, and he decided to step away and do that. And I'm like, Dude, I know him too. And I'm like, dang. So like, those emotions come up in me. And then as a as as a as a kid as a player. I'm thinking like And if that happens to my parents, and it's all those emotions came with, all I could do was just stop him and pray for him and pray for his family that says nothing I can do, you know, we can sit there and I don't care if you can write all the books you want man in that situation, you know that, you know, we got all these quick fix bandaid things, man, the only one that can heal is God, you know, that's the only one who can provide peace. The Creator is the only one that can do that. So we got all these little help, remedies and these books we write how to, you know, deal with grief and how to deal with it, you know, it helps temporarily, but ultimately, the One who created the world and knows how emotions work and who can give you that peace. That's truly, you know, the source I go to. I was just out of words, there was nothing I can do. Now. Just gotta pray for you. Because I don't know what to say to you. I don't know what to say. But those things happen often. And I mean, young men are coming off as I coach, my girlfriend's pregnant, I'm just like, Dude, you just got to stop. Okay? Let me not a man, you gotta be tough. You. Let me think, okay, if I got a girl pregnant now, okay, okay, man, you're devastated. First, I gotta, you gotta like, help him in that moment of devastation, instead of being condemned. You know, I usually try to condense them before, like, man, if you haven't sat, you're gonna get somebody pregnant. But then when that happens, I got Okay, let me stop, let me get in that space with them. Because they need they really, truly do need to hear some level of, of how they gonna get through this. And we'll have to go that place. I think that that's, you know, to be a coach, or, you know, you got to be almost a parent in that in that situation. And in most cases, the parents, yeah, they'll say, okay, my, my son or daughter made a mistake. Or let's let me help my son or daughter through this. And I think that's the approach that we have to take. As not just as parents, but as leaders. Even in a corporate sense, even basketball, whatever it is. And I think some of the great coaches, when you hear stories about Bobby Knight, when you hear the stories about she Chesky, they're tough, they're hard nosed, but they talk about the stories about Bobby Knight and in the midst of crisis, Bobby Knight was at showed the most love in the midst of crisis. And I liked what Lou Holtz said, from Notre Dame, he says, when you deserve love, go those that deserve love the least needed the most, you know, so those that deserve love, love the least needed the most. And so those guys that have issues and drama and screwing up those ones that need love the most, you know, yeah, I'll give the guy who's doing all the jump stops. And yes, sir. No, sir. Yeah, we we give them all the love. But to be honest, the ones that need love the most are the ones that deserve it the least.

Phil White  37:40

And it brought me coach like, just looking at it and thinking, what if that had been my wife? I tell her like be be safe and be slow, driving down that hill back and forth in Denver rush hour twice a day, because I don't want a policeman coming and knocking on our door and saying, You Mr. White. I'm afraid I got some bad news. And it's real down there. I mean, there's wrecks, and then bad wintry weather and all this crap, man. And so to me, I felt like empathizing. That, that was me as a father of two and a husband in that moment, like, dang, man, that's heavy. And then she watched it and she cried, too. Yeah,

John Mosley  38:19

I've got I feel like my son, he's, you know, he just started college his first year. And I'm like, Man, what a mess. I'm calling my son and say, Hey, Jackson, man, I need you to handle this. Make sure your sisters, you know, you demanded a house now. It almost brings tears because my dad did me the same way. And he passed and he literally went on vacation with my mom and my aunt, for the weekend. And you know, the LA vacation is go to Vegas right now. It's the LA vacation. My dad, my mom and my heart. They drove the car. And my dad, they left on Friday. They left on Thursday or Friday. And my dad it was just me and my sisters or whatever at the house. And he said he's a homeboy take care of the house. And I was like, alright, and they left. And that was the last thing he said to me. He said take care of the house. And then he came back and he passed in his sleep in the bed at home is you know, they came back late driving in, I think Sunday night, or Saturday night. Because it was Sunday morning when we woke up and he was he had passed away in the bed. My mom said your dad won't wake up, come Come see what's going on. So that's the last thing he told me. And so those thoughts go through my head as well. When I'm thinking like, you know, your dad is telling your son like, hey, I need you to I need you to man up here. And it's a chance that this might happen. And so that that just all all that stuff just came to memory and I'm just like, Man, this is real. And this is real life. So that same thing with the shock. Yes. The Sean's mom. So the Shawn before his mom passed she came into the office and she was wearing a bandana. And you can see her she had lost her facial hair. And you know, just a beautiful lady and a beautiful looking lady. And you can tell that little bit of pride. She didn't want to come out of the house, you can tell there's a several people I mean, it's interesting man. And the same thing with Demetrius, Caleb Demetrius, Caleb's that, DC who was on the second show, his dad just passed in February as well. But he had been going through strokes as well. And he didn't want anybody you know, he's a former NBA player. And he didn't let anybody see him because, you know, his state. And I was one of the only places he came out to see me and look me in the eye. They were with the Sean's mom, she came in look, and she came in the shot said, Coach, I'm leaving Utah, I'm gonna come there and be closer to mom. You know, she's sick. And I'm like, okay, so mom comes, she takes a look at the campus. And the shine, we talk in my office, she does shine they get up was like, Alright, we're gonna have a good year, we're gonna get you enrolled, blah, blah, blah. And Deshawn kind of walks out the door first. And she turns and she looks at me dead in the eye. And you know, I can still see it. And I just told her, I said, Your son will be fine, I'm gonna take care of your son. And then she put her head down, and she walked out. And I knew that was the last time I was gonna, I probably would see her, because she was in stage four cancer, and it was. And so these are real situations. And, and just the same with Dimitri, his dad, they are, they're there. And it's almost like, I just need somebody to help me this last little I'm, I'm here, I'm supporting my kid all the way. And both of them like, Mommy was just him and his mom, like, they just like, I have nothing left. I need somebody who I need somebody to do this, somebody take my son. I've had my son all the way up until now. And it's the same thing with DC is that it just like He came like, this was the last time I'm gonna come out. This is this is it. And I saw him. And we would even talk on the phone after that. And he just was he didn't come out as much. We didn't talk as much. But he came that time. And he looked and he just felt like like, Okay, please. Because you know, you're a NBA player. And the type of person the player he was, he had a lot to offer. It wasn't like he was, you know, the superstar, where it's hard to relate to players. You know, Jordan, Jordan probably could never be a coach, you know, because it's like, he's just got this super crazy stuff, but DCS that won a national championship at Michigan, and then he a play with the Lakers. So he was kind of in that mode where he had to grind. And so we can teach DC some stuff. And that's what DC heard. And that's what got DC through. And then he kind of passed and it's just like, man, you get that? You get that. So it's real. It's real. And I think God had brought, you know, the majority of the guys here for for that reason. And that purpose. And his mom said the same was like, you know, we know what God is doing. And DC for whatever reason, it didn't work out to go back division one, but he goes down to Morehouse. And then I see these videos of him with like a brotherhood. It's like, this is what he needed. He needed more. He needed more. They do and you know, a lot of that brotherhood stuff down there. And so it's just amazing to see what what God does. But

Phil White  43:16

yeah, talk to us a little bit about, about both of your parents, you know, your auntie showed you go into your auntie's house, and they showed a little bit but my father in law passed before I even made it right. My wife's father passed of brain cancer a year before we met. And she still, you know, 23 years later is still haunted by seeing him said, Talk to us a little bit about losing your parents and the impact they had on you as a man your basketball trajectory, your faith, your mission.

John Mosley  43:47

Yeah. You know, I was still a little loose until my dad passed. I was 98. And my mom, 10 years after that in 2008. So my dad, it was, like we say it was abrupt. And I was still going through the phase of, I had just kind of came back from, like Australia or Brazil, when I came back from Australia. And I was still kind of playing around, like, what am I gonna do? I was, you know, kind of, you know, hey, let me go substitute teach here or whatever, I still had a class to finish. Well, my dad passed, all of a sudden, this switch just flipped. And so it kind of helped me in a sense, sometimes you spiral but he kind of helped me and it kind of flipped, like, oh my gosh, this is real. All of a sudden, I clicked in I went in and volunteered with my head coach with my former team and finished that one class that I needed to get my degree. You know, I went to graduation and everything like a year or two prior, but I didn't finish that I had one class and I finish my degree. And then I started working on a master's degree and I started coaching and all those things just got me on track. So it was really interesting that that point, but so To your point, when my mom passed, it was tough because my dad was taking care of my mom, she had brain surgery before my dad passed, he was taking care of her. And it's usually the caretaker that usually a struggle. So my mom really the caretaker, they usually pass, while the one who was being taken care of, you know, they gave me a string. So she gave her strength back, and then eventually, she, you know, because of the brain cancer and stuff, and throughout the years having strokes, and eventually, dementia, and different things like that kind of affected her. And so I watched her slowly, that was slowly and my family, me being probably the leader of that, and myself, and my aunt knew what you saw my literally live two minutes away from us, you know, and so she was always around. But my I, we had to make the decision myself in my heart and my sisters that we had to, you know, pull the plug on my mom. So because she had slowly the dementia and the strokes, and she just wasn't going to recover. So we had to make those decisions. And so that in itself, I mean, really financially and all that I just kind of kind of dialed in and locked in. And for some of us, we may spiral one way or the other. But I realized there's no one out there, I have no body. And I had to lean into pan and all my strength. The foundation, that's why it's important our our family and our parents, the foundation they gave us, they gave us they gave me the foundation, that that's where I can go. And I got it for myself, you know, and sometimes our parents, they'll hold us all the way through and but fortunately, I was able to get it for myself. And so that's where my foundation, my strength. And I tell my son today I said, Man, you by yourself now I said, don't rely on me, Yes, I'm here, but don't depend on me don't depend on a pastor don't depend on anybody, you have to have your faith for yourself, you'd have to have a process of planning for yourself, you know, because it can be gone pretty quick. My dad was gone, my mom and I had to handle the house, I had to handle all of this and, and you know not to throw him under the bus or my sisters weren't in a space to handle it at the time, they were kind of still just kind of we were just all young. And I think I was the only one that was I had my degrees done when my mom died. And I had a career I had already had a home purchased. And I was already on track. And so I was able to handle that at that moment. But it's there's a lot that we have to go through with young people that us it's our responsibility to prepare him for I tried to do it. So I'm here to make it hard. And like I'm, I got a young man here that I'm about to share with them how hard it's gonna be, right, I'm gonna make it super hard. Love you, but I'm gonna make it super hard so that you prepare for any circumstance beyond because innate human nature, it's hard for the parents to let you fall, they're really not going to, even if they say I'm gonna let them fall, you're gonna throw a little, you're gonna soften it a little bit. Yeah, so that's gonna always be there. But at some point, our parents won't be there to soften the cushion, our parents won't be there for a little bit of advice, I'm gonna make it hard so that we can see you perform without calling Mommy and Daddy, I'm gonna see you perform, while they're not around, and you're going to be challenged, I'm not going to degrade you, I'm not going to abuse you. But you're going to be challenged to where hopefully you can go to the next space. And then you can you can wean yourself off of you know what, I think I got it, I've learned some things, you know, I can't be, I can't be what the parents can offer and what they've done. But I can kind of simulate being the human side of, you know, not being a parent and being somebody that you're gonna see in the future. I'm gonna do it out of love. But, you know, you're gonna see this face this person is what you're gonna see at the next level. I'm not gonna let you fail, I'm not going to, but at the same time, I'm not gonna give up on you. But at the same time, this is what you're gonna see. But at the next level, if you don't perform, it's over there. It's over,

Phil White  48:55

man. We're getting ready for that. Yeah, we're Dez and D. I know you got plenty of questions. See the one last one and I'll let you jump in I promise for a young man that does have a child like Daz we you almost harder on him because you're trying to prepare him as a father figure and as a man as much as you are a leader for your, your your squat in practice and in game situations.

John Mosley  49:16

Yeah, I mean, he, that's what it was about, I really didn't care like, like, this is gonna go and play college and it's going to be over like, he might play some pro ball but he won't be anything that can have an impact on his family for you know, he's not gonna go to the NBA where he's he's got generational wealth. So I'm like, bro, you need to be prepared to look your son and I and provide me make sure when your son looks at you, he knows that you are responsible enough. You know, we're not perfect as fathers but we're responsible enough that he can look to you as an example. So what you need to do or go to you, Hey, Dad, what do I need to do? And Dad's didn't don't want no part of that. Jazz is the he wanted z so fun loving. He's a great kid, he wanted to still be dads and just clowning and joking. I'm like, I'm sorry, it's over for that, like, not around me, you can still be you, but not here, I'm gonna show you how you got to lock in and be a leader, and do all of that. And dance is playing with us in the summer here. He might be here next week playing with just a little bit. And he's, you could just see as a different disposition of leadership. And he's looking at the guys playing in here, and he's shaking his head like, man, these dudes don't get it. And I'm like, good. Same. Like, that's like you two years ago, there wasn't like that. I'm like, Yeah, you are. But I think they started to realize, and that's really what I want them to get. I'm not trying to be mean. But I'm just like, bro, you have no idea, the bills, you're gonna have to pay. And when your son looks at you, and you have you have something, that something that they need. And if you can't offer it, because you're not mature enough, then that's when that's, that's when you start to lose these young men. And that's when we, that's when we start to kind of lose, you know, that young man that we want them to grow to be, is when they look to who they should be looking to when it's not, you know what it should be. And it's, that scares me to death, I want to make sure my son always looks at me and, and sees what it should look like, you know,

Tim DiFrancesco  51:16

has that anchor, I mean, coaches do describe that I go to something that if you've ever listened to Simon Sinek talk, he talks about one of the greatest gifts you can give somebody if you're a friend, a family member, a coach, a mentor, anything is the willingness and the ability to sit in the mud with them. And you talked about being stuck in the mud and having your parents have to pull you out of it. But to have somebody that is going to take a handoff from a parent who's like I brought him this far. And I'm I this is this is all I could do. And in some cases, having months to live, when they're looking you in the eye and say, you know, I need you to take it from here. You know, there's, there's some great coaches out there in the profession. But not all of them have the the willingness to surf in the mud with those people in those moments to take that type of a handoff is a totally different deal. It's all I could think of is listening to Simon Simon Sinek talks about being in the mud with somebody and how you do that. Really, you know, like you said, and it's an art and a skill and a science of it all together. Because it's like it, that doesn't mean you're just going to coddle them and make it easy for them. And yet at the same time knowing in those moments, kid comes in and says coach, I got my girlfriend preg pregnant like you, you, you know, in those moments, it's a little bit of a different approach at that spot to be able to sort of dial into that spot, extremely unique, I tipped the cap, just so much admiration there. I want to get us back to sort of the the challenges of some of the team dynamic that you have year in year out, because as I understand you're talking earlier, I mean, if I'm just in that kid's shoes and kind of putting myself into there. I mean, let's kind of in my eyes, and you tell me if I'm wrong, they call it what it is. But it's like their, this is a stepping stone for them. And the time with you is like okay, I'm gonna, it didn't go great to this point or didn't it got off course or something went, you know, wrong to get me here, I'm gonna use this to catapult me if I'm able to, and you get 15 Guys, young men who are at that age and stage and they're thinking about a lot about kind of them. And they're walking in and you're thinking about, okay, how do we now take that and do that for them, get them to that place, but also create team success which creates which, which requires a ton of sacrifice. It's gotta be such a challenge to kind of do that. Can you talk about that?

John Mosley  54:02

Yeah. You know, I think that's probably the the, the one thing that I could like, focus on here, because, you know, at the division one level, and I'm like, I don't want to knock any of those guys, but when you're comfortable when you're Tommy is Oh, when you're Michael Chesky, you got job security, you have to next level, you got to win. And that's the focus, okay, he's not getting a gun. Let me move on. I don't care what you're dealing with. I'm a millionaire and I can't lose this contract. And so I think that's what you know. So to give them the benefit of the doubt at the next level is tough for them to, to say, let me get personal and find out what's really going on. So he can make a bucket or two, then he can come out of Golding or he can come out of you know, come out of the tank. They don't have time for you to be in the tank at the next level. Here I just kind of look and I you know, I counted as a privilege to have the opportunity where I can say, You know what, man, let me see what's going on with this do you because It is not all that important. But you're right, it is a challenge. I've been here long enough to where I know the dynamics of kind of what's going on in the head. And for me, it's a little, it's counted. It's kind of fun to say, Okay, here's another one. He thinks this, this and this and iconic and see it. And I like I think, the gift, if anything else, I don't know if it's X's and O's. I don't know if I'm a great coach from that sense, but I think the gift is to be able to read the room. And there's a lot of coaches to say, can you read the room and, and get a feel for what's going on when you walk in the gym every day? And I think that's the biggest thing is just to get a feel for what's going on what space is this young man and what space is here? Okay, he's pretty selfish today. Um, and let me just chop him up today because he's selfish. Or, you know what, man two days in a row he's struggling? That's not him, like what's going on? Now? I need to say, bro, come here. What's What's up you good? You know, that's, I think that's where we got to take it. If we want to really have an impact as a coach, you got to be able to rule you can't be as a coach, I can't be so consumed with myself, I got to think about serving. Young I can't think about just always Yeah, so you want to win. But I got we got to win because of them. And they won't happen unless I know where everybody's head is at. And I think taking the time to do that. I think that's, that's important. And you can see a lot I share, you can see a lot with how they play. Yes, all observe a lot. And through the observation, I'll respond accordingly. So like I said, I really don't know, man, that part is I'll say as a gift, if, if anything else, the coaching side, that's something that we all get from I can't take credit for coaching and all these drills and X's and O's man, nickel that comes from what I what I've learned and what I've observed, but the gift would be in I think some of the best coaches being able to read the room and having a good feel for people. And that's leadership to just having a good feel for people. And so all of us if I pat myself on the back for anything, I think the gift that God has given me his that just having to feel

Tim DiFrancesco  57:08

so good, so good. Can you can you identify or think too quickly? In the moment of the question here as I get into it, a player that you would consider one of the top examples of a kid that it was pretty touch and go on the wheels coming off and some combination of you using that gift that you have, and then meeting you because it requires that it let's give the credit to the to the kid when they deserve it. To sort of galvanize and say, You know what, we this is something that gives me goosebumps.

John Mosley  57:47

Yeah, I I remember we were in a weight room and Deshawn shot his funny man. He's like, he's just Sean is the reason why. I think everybody liked him. Because he him that's all shot. He's a punk. He's arrogant, but he's passionate. He wants to win. And he'll care about nobody. He's like, you know, he's light skinned, but he's gonna let you know I'm, I'm, I'm black too. And you know, he's mixed. But I'm black. And I'm, you know, I'm crazy. So I'll never forget, man. He's just like one of them dudes that I have to just okay. Let me figure out what's going on with him. Because, like when he loses it, he loses it. And he could care less about anything. He don't care. You know, Joe was a little bit like, when he loses it. It was just bad attitude, the Shawn intelligently. When he intelligently comes up with I don't care then he's like, I don't care because that don't matter. Coach, why are we jumping up in here? I can make the shot without jumps down. He'll just do a one leg jumper. I'm a better shooter off one leg coach. I'm gonna shoot off one leg.

Phil White  58:47

He goes. He went on the vid ski did me like,

John Mosley  58:52

yeah, he's one of those. So we're in a weight room. And then I'm looking around and you need him because he's a presence of leadership. And he's not in there lifting. He walks out and he's gone in the gym just sitting on the bench. He said, Coach, I'm tired, man, I'm done. I don't want to play anymore. And we sit there and rightfully, I mean, I get it in that moment. Just understanding because I'm trying to see like he is he's just like, tired is pointless. Like, this is before. You know, anything. This was actually before the first cameras came. And he was like, I'm tired. I'm done. I want to do some more man. Like Brahmas just go get a job and He's smart. He's gonna do well in business like, he's gonna do well, you know, he's a man. I'm just gonna do business and stop, man. I'm done. I don't go to school. And he's going off and I'm looking and I think the reason why he came to that space is because he was in there. And he's looking at all these guys. He's like, Man, y'all suck like, you know, and his mind. He's like, Man, y'all suck as people. All you guys are immature like, you guys. No, my level and I felt that I felt like he's just like, none of this is on my level. Right? And I get it like, Dude, you're kinda I'm in a space where like, these dudes ain't on his level y'all. Y'all don't get any don't dive into what I've been through. Y'all dumb y'all don't want to come play and who, right? Y'all don't want to compete. He's I'm gonna I'm dealing with this. There's no reason for me to do this. No division ones who recruited me right now, like, I'm done coach, I'm not going to like whatever. And so I got it. And I think I shared with him. I said, Ma'am, let me tell you something. And I think I said, we share the moment and I think once he saw that he shared that on a on a podcast, and I had no idea that that impacted him in that way that continue to go on. And I said to shine. Here's, here's what, here's what I know, bro. I said we crazy, bro. I said you crazy. I said but you got to know how to control crazy. And I say I get it. You know how to control crazy. And some people. I say you special in essence your mind is special. You crazy. I say you know I'll because I'm crazy too. Especially to I said we the same. I say we the exact same row. I say I know but I have to control that sometime. And I have to dummy down for some some people. And we share that moment and I can't remember exactly. But he shared that. And he said something to the degree he said Coach Mosley gives these move these one liner movie, these movie one liners and he said what I said at that moment, and I was like, wow, I didn't know that had an impact on it on him. But he said Yeah, I'm just I'm crazy. And we were talking about how crazy we are. I'd say yeah, I'm crazy, too. But you got to learn how to come forward in life. And sometimes you got to deal with it for that moment so that you can get out of that moment. And we were sharing that. And he shared that. And I was like, wow, it gave me goosebumps that he shared that on the podcast. And I kind of saw it. I was like, wow, he remembered that I didn't even remember it. But he shared how he went out. And I was just trying to get him out to quit. But I knew why he wanted to quit. And I was instead of saying oh man, you are pumped. You know, I knew why he wanted to quit. I read his energy. I didn't he just felt like Man, this is beneath me. I can do I can be a millionaire. And I felt like no shot can go and make money. Like he's doing the best out everybody on social media. And he's benefiting off of it. He's making tons of money off of all of it. You know all he knows how to do it. He's doing stocks. And you know, he's got rental property now like Jada is doing. Let's go. So I knew he was gonna be that way. And so he's like, Man, this is these dudes are dumb. Like coasts. What am I doing? I'm like, bro, I mean, just just lock and finish, man. And now, I did put the guilt trip on him. I said, Your mom wants you to finish that college degree. And that kind of really messed them up too. So

Tim DiFrancesco  1:02:36

all right. to it.

Phil White  1:02:39

I think it was on the against the grain podcast, which if people haven't less than that's a great show, too. And your interview on there was incredible. And TD and I've watched and listened to the whole thing together. And I think you said something like you told Deshaun and some and maybe all of them. Like too bad. Now once you make the cut months, you're you're not the 20 or the 15. Right? Yeah, your mind forever now. So buckle up.

John Mosley  1:03:03

Yeah. Well, I shared with him I should share with them. Once you once you're in. And once we decide this is the group and yeah, I told the shot. And I told to Sean that when I think he was crying after it was one of the episodes that they didn't put in and he was crying. After we won a tournament game. And it was down in San Diego. Everybody's family was there except for him. He didn't have any family. His girlfriend was out of town. And he was crying. We're ready to go in advance. And he's behind there. And I'm like, oh, man, what happens if somebody else died? What's going on? And then I went back there. And he's just like, Coach, I just want to talk to her. And he was talking about his mom. And he said, I just want to ask her some questions. And I hugged them. And we were sharing that, to be honest, that dude was sick. And he was so sick. And he was like, he got COVID at the time. We all like had COVID It was like December 2019. I mean, we all had COVID we were sick, we went down to San Diego and play this is before it came. Right? Because mom wasn't there his girlfriend, and nobody was there. And I said, bro, you can you can talk to me. I said, I'll take your mind forever. I said don't worry. Any questions you need. Mind for everything is the same. The relationship is the same. Now as it is back then we can text and do all that. And yeah, once you're in, once we decide that we can alter this thing in your life and your life is gonna go then your mind and then we're going to do this together all the way to the end. And I've helped them play professional ball. And, you know, he was with a former coach of mine over in Colombia. And so we're gonna still, you know, help these guys all the way through. You can't consume all my time because I got a new group.

Phil White  1:04:42

Yeah. The family just keeps expanding. Right? Yeah, yeah. Talk to us a little bit you told TD earlier when he talked about you first coming at you like and you thinking okay, this is a stepping stone, bro. I'm going to I'm going to come in here. I'm going to make a bigger impact than this. This minute. stration Sure, thanks. And then I'm going to get the heck on right to Deewan whatever the future holds, and that, you know, all these years later, you're still there. But both you and then coach Rob, you know, in season two, it shares a little bit about how coach Rob didn't have a job during COVID. So he was selling masks at a at a roadside store. Talk to us. And you know, and you said, there's a great moment and I showed my kids and they kind of laughed, and then I was like, No, this is what he means. So you called them out. You said, Coach, Rob should have had crackhead problems. He should have been an alcoholic. He is doing that. And then we find out why right? He doesn't have a job during COVID. It's not like someone was still paying his salary. Like it was a D one coach, there's no salary, there's no job. You're working spin class. You're a physiology professor. Now, you're missing your kids games. But you said, Coach, Rob, here is the reason we were 39 and 138. And one, and then you said, Coach Ken, he's here in this freaking wheelchair. He's stuck in this thing. And he's rolling up in this weight room before you falls like what the heck are you doing? Like, this is a man like this is a man. So talk to us a little bit about this is a man, this is a leader about Coach Ken and coach Rob and yourself and even just the financial sacrifices you've all had to make to have this impact and live out your measurement these young men?

John Mosley  1:06:18

Yeah, I mean, it was important to me even now, I just have a sense that I don't want anyone that doesn't get it around, you know, don't show up because you want to wear a Nike polo that says he's still a college. And I just kind of discourage anybody wants to show up. I've had 1000s of people email coach, I want to be a part of your staff. And I'm like, guy, you don't want to be a part of this, you're not gonna make no money. You're gonna be picking up players who you know, you, you're gonna be broke. And you still don't have to feed a player a burger. Like, bro, you don't want any part of this. And so what's interesting is Coach Rob, he lost his job and had been coaching at a private school making really good money. He was athletic director administrator for 20 years. You think about it, you're not going anywhere, you're gonna retire there. And, you know, they the private school gets new administration, they decide to go a different direction. And so he's just out of here, like he got crackhead problems. But he's handling it like a man. And even more than that I've, you know, I've shared it's even deeper than that, you know, he's got, he had some stuff going on. Nothing of his problem. But it was a high level issue intense that he had to go through, I will never share what he had to go through. It was nothing he did wrong. But it was an attack on his family. And, and it was really bad, and he was really stressed. But you would have never known it. And I'm gonna share with these guys, man, you don't know, this is how men handle things. This is what you guys need to see. Coach Hunter, you forget what he is going through, you know, and I think there was, I was going through some training and you know, the world is so crazy. And I was going through this training. And they say don't use I forgot what they call it. It was some term don't use. You know, his situation is handicap as a weight of whatever they say. And I forgot what I said I was using and coach cane is fine with it like, man, that's somebody who we should be looking at as an example someone who can come every day and show up to work no matter no matter what's going on in his life and it determination to get there every day. And to figure out how to organize to get that there every day. And you guys talk about well, Coach, I know guys, Monday I'm late. It's like man, get up out of here, man. You know, like, like, bro, y'all don't even know these are men. Well, they man like Yeah, but in order to be where they are right now they had to fight through that in the life is highs and lows. And so our lives are gonna go like go down, it's gonna go up, it's go down. And we got to continue to be able to handle that. And I really have a sense where I don't want to surround our young man with anybody who doesn't get it. You know, and there's some young men that I'll let come in and I'll kind of show them a little bit, but I won't let them be as hands on because I'm like, unless you really get it man. I'm not letting you tell these kids how to do a jump stop. I want men that they're going to respect and see men and you know in and you know, I because the salary or the stipend really only a young man is in their 20s can probably do it these adult

Phil White  1:09:18

man. Oh man T Yeah, he talked to Coach Mosley a little bit about and you know, Coach, they got the Bakersfield Jam TD. You were driving the bus, you were doing the laundry, you're probably cleaning the toilet. Take us inside that and as well as coach moseys talking here. What's that bubbling up in you from those days?

Tim DiFrancesco  1:09:36

Well, yeah, I mean, as I watched the show, I couldn't help but sort of, you know, the number of hats that you have to wear and when

Phil White  1:09:44

you're sweeping the floor,

Tim DiFrancesco  1:09:46

or doing the laundry but like that, I mean, that's just that's just the deal. And and you know where you are, and I think that just a lot of people probably don't realize, oh, playing college basketball like, Oh, you're college basketball. origin it's like you said it's the Polo we got the sweet gear, we got all this stuff we're going to this place and this place and all that. It's like yeah, that you know you have no idea what it you go through to kind of get just that those players in the van and over to the place and that kind of stuff and and the people from the outside like you said from the show you get it you get inundated with people thinking like I want to I want to part of that like

Phil White  1:10:27

they want to be on Netflix coach a lot of them

John Mosley  1:10:32

didn't want no part of I'm sweeping the floor because I didn't feel like anybody could do it. Do it the way that I want it done. So I know I'm gonna just sweep the floor. I'll do the floor because I look, it looks noble of him like, No, I'm doing the floor because I want it done. Right. Right. I'm gonna be really upset.

Phil White  1:10:49

But like Dr. King said, right? If a man is called to be a street sweeper, let him be such a good street sweeper that the angels cry out.

John Mosley  1:10:56

Exactly, exactly. And that's an example of coach Rob and coach. That's what resonated as well that they were in line coach Rob has teenage and adult sons, were two of them were in college, and he loses his job. But he, he throws himself into this where he was getting paid. Because like, this is what I'm into is like Okay, hopefully this I can get a job from this. And once he did, he got a job well gone because he gained the experience you but even situation, you know, regardless if you didn't pay it or not, you got to be in that moment. You got to understand that what's the most important thing at the moment. And there's got to be a commitment from everybody in his wife was committed as well. So I think a lot of people will get too concerned a lot of guys that want to go into coaching, they get concerned with okay, what's the salary first? It's like there's no salary. Just forget, there's no salary. You're not you might be the 1% that gets lucky your first job? Yeah, there's coaches making six figures and you know, you go to Kentucky to coach the assistant coaches are making a half a million and yeah, man

Phil White  1:12:00

like the strength coach Coach mostly like you look at was it Iowa TD where the football strength coaches making over a million like 1.1 1.2 A as a strength coach, like, Man, that's a nice gig.

John Mosley  1:12:13

But it's so you have to assume you're not going to jump into that. You can't be thinking it's so because you may be the greatest coach in the world. And you're stuck at making under 100 grand at some school, but you gotta love coaching. Or you could be the worst coach and you just get lucky and know somebody and you're making 100 grand a year, you get fired. From there, you hop to this university, you get fired from here. Now I'm an ACC you get fired from here. Now I'm in the Pac 12. Because you you got this resume versus what you've actually done. But then you got great coaches at some levels. And they're making they're making pennies, you gotta love what you do.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:12:49

Right? And also that part that is what anybody looking in thinks is coaching is like, ah, you know, I'm going to do this X's and O's stuff. I'm going to put in this defense that that and I'm gonna bring so much to the table now. It'd be so fun. Like, look at those practices on Netflix, they had rah rah, they're yelling at guys, this is awesome. Like, that's what they think coaching is. And that's just a little fingernail of what your day is because you're teaching physiology. You're you're doing the leadership courses that you're doing, you're doing all this other stuff, like sweeping the floor, everything. And that's really what the real day looks like.

Phil White  1:13:26

Giving is take a coach mosey take us inside that what is an average? Well, I say average

John Mosley  1:13:32

basketball. The basketball is right here. And it is so easy. Like Yeah. The basketball part is the machine that challenges what I'm telling you. I gotta get this basket fixed. Right by Monday like I'm, I'm like, Dude, the baskets mix and how am I figured out? How do I gotta make sure we got to figure out our schedule because the other jam is something going on being worked in here. And now we got three teams in the gym. Getting along with that and making that work getting everybody's

Phil White  1:14:00

right to that drive the van Gogh teach three classes coming back vanity

John Mosley  1:14:04

Street crowd. I mean, I had they made fun of me in the first show. I don't think they put that in. But they made fun of me. I had an accident because I'll try to spin class at eight in the morning. It was a rainy day. It was the day before Thanksgiving. I had to give all my finals because everybody's watching me, Coach, Coach Coach is going to try to skip out of his finals. The midterms the day not the finals, but the midterms the day before Thanksgiving. So everybody's watching me. Watch coach mosey skip out because he's got a game. I was like, No, I'm gonna show all you guys I'm gonna do my spin class. I'm gonna give my midterms the day before Thanksgiving. And then I'm gonna drive corn down storm and raining to play a game across town sit in 45 minutes traffic to go to Santa Monica and play by the time I get there. Which you know those big vans man this days now. So I'm thinking I'm still in my mind. I'm in the 12 passenger. I'm going to Spirit Day and I'm literally like in a coma, driving and live. Really I go into a parking structure. And I forget that it's higher in and I run it in my car in the Vegas stuck up top and all in all the players asleep, and they woke up. And they don't want to laugh because they they want to laugh, but they don't. Because Because finally COACH MURPHY did something wrong, right, right. Stuck in stock like the Martin show, when he pressed on the gas, like Eat my dust and he don't go to work. So we start laughing him and I pull out. Coach Rob pulls up next to me. When I pull out of the thing, and he grows down when he said, Man, I'm so glad that wouldn't be born. That's what we go through. That's what we go through. You don't? You don't? You don't want any part of that. Right now literally, like, literally, we got school starting on Monday, right? I'm not concerned about guys classes. I'm not concerned about how our team is gonna look. I'm not concerned about it. You know, what I'm concerned about, is we got like four guys that are supposed to be moving into an apartment. And the parents still haven't gotten word to the talent, like that's what I'm concerned about.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:16:11

Stuff that you wouldn't think is, is on your plate.

John Mosley  1:16:15

And the players. You know, you got two out of the four that are supposed to stay open. They're like, and they don't have word that they're they can when they can move in and school starts on Monday.

Phil White  1:16:25

No, they're gonna be on your floor or on.

John Mosley  1:16:28

You know what I'm just like, like, dude, the basketball everybody Whoa, are we gonna have a coach's meeting? I'm like, man got time for no coaches meet man. I got to talk about all the cute plays, we don't run. I mean, these dudes having a place to lay their head, right? Want to come to me. So and those coaches that I have with me, they're in the trenches with me on that? Yes. Okay, Coach, I got, we talked to so and so. And we're going back and forth. And we're going through that, you know, I get coached on the outside to say, I want to work for you. They're gonna come in and show me the playbook. Like, I don't want to talk to your playbook man. Go find these kids a place to live.

Phil White  1:17:08

And face my basket. Fears that

John Mosley  1:17:12

you can show me on autobalance place you got you know, yeah, coach,

Phil White  1:17:15

Coach, you talk about a wreck now there was a more serious wreck that you have with your family man, and that could have not ended up so well is just bumping into the top of his parking, Gary. So talk to us a little bit about that and why you think you met not only made it through that alive with your kids in the car, by the way, but what how that ties into your mission there at ELAC and in life.

John Mosley  1:17:38

Yeah, my my son and daughter are both basketball players, my youngest son's softball. So we come in literally from here from the gym at like 12 at night, you know, that's the best time for I get my kids here we come to work. We drive an old man in a car just literally literally. Normally, my kids are on the phone in the car. You know, for some reason. This is worship song comes on. And we all three of us are singing it. And I just felt like it was an attack. It just felt like an attack a car just rammed into the side of us. We went up the embankment. And we rolled down like six times onto the freeway. They were racing and just ran into us. And we literally we got out without any harm, and he scratch. But that that car that truck was like it was beyond total. And it looks like there should have been casualties. And we walked away and walked out of it. But I literally was rolling. I was crying. I was rolling like, oh, shoot, I gotta go to practice tomorrow. I'm rolling in the car, like, oh, man, where's that car at that hit me. Like, I literally didn't have any concern, because I've kind of felt protected. But I know coming out of that, that there's still a purpose for me and for us as a family. But I felt that peace throughout the whole situation was good. We didn't have any impact. But we rolled over because they pushed us back. So you know, having a we had side airbags, we had all of that. And we were able to get a lesson out of that with my kids and say, see how God has protected us and the worship. We were worshipping and you continue to worship, there will be an attack on those trying to be good and trying to do the right thing, especially to where we go in, in our society. So that's just how I felt in that moment. You know, the you can see it some other way. I just felt it was a spiritual attack as we were worshiping at that moment. And it is more work for us to do so. And I just went next day, I just went right about my business and said, Okay, grab my son's car. And then we went and, you know, we went in and went in and work and nobody knew what happened for about a week or two afterwards, you know. But as I look back, I see that there was some lessons to be learned there for my kids and for just for all of us. It can be gone in a second as well. So Right. And then when the players found out they were like, wow, you know that he goes through some things too, but but how to handle that and how to come out of that. How to handle it right from my my kids, my family. I had to handle it right for the players to see I'm here the next day and I'm the same as I was regardless I'm not saying oh I was in an accident, I need a week off. You know, it's just like, you know what some people do, but I just gave the example that hey, I'm, you know, I'm not okay. My body's okay. Okay, let's move on.

Phil White  1:20:13

And coach tell us what were the words you were singing at that moment.

John Mosley  1:20:17

We were saying, Father consume me, you can use me here on this altar. So we were singing that song. Father Khan, so so it's really a call it like, Lord, you can consume me you can take over my life. And you can use me however you want to use me. And it felt like it was like shut up.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:20:40

Right, right. Something pretty, pretty powerful on your side with that. So, Coach, I mean, you talk about the throw the playbook out. We'll deal with that. We'll figure that out. But I'm worried about where these kids are going to sleep. When they get here. I'm worried about, you know, as the van have gas in, and I worried about all this stuff, like, do you ever get to? Did you? Or have you ever hit a point in this 11 year run at ELAC? That you're just saying, I don't think I could keep going I mean, I give up like this is this, this BS is not stuff that I signed up for. And you know, this is like, I'm not even getting to the basketball stuff. And hands are up.

John Mosley  1:21:27

I say that every year, I'll say last week, I said, I said every five minutes. This morning, I was with my ad, my DS the football coach as well. And me and him are like, Dude, I can't do this anymore. Well, you know, is when I see the young man that look just like me that look, their eyes, and I'm not talking about necessarily physically, but I just feel that they need the same thing that I was looking for. And that's kind of what keeps me going. You know, like, there's so much to deal with, there's so much drama, there's so many people not focused on our youth. They're so consumed with their selves and what what they think is important, instead of thinking about serving, and it's becoming more and more like that, especially in a social media world, where everybody celebrates themselves on social media, how many likes do I get? It's about them, you know, not to what LeBron James said on him. But that's our focus is like, I'm a hill, you know, and it's like, I just remember you always saying I am, he said I am. God said I am. And sometimes we everybody's focused on on him, let me make myself him. And I think that's what we're focused on. And so I get exhausted every single day. But I see the young people and I see every single time I'm like, Well, let me help this last person. Everybody come in, I can hear the cry. You can hear what they've gone through. And I'm like, man, let me help them do this. And I kind of feel like we can help them through it. And I think that's what kind of keeps us keeps us going. And he called me to serve. And he called us to suffer too. So if we look at Scripture says we were not called to have a beautiful life. And and I mean, it depends on how we look at it. You know, so to me, I see if suffering is a is to me is a beautiful life because that's what he called to do. And that's what Christ did as well. He came here and he suffered to serve you all he did was to come here and serve in any suffered in the midst of that so So who's to say I'm not what Who am I not to suffer and have to grind and do like everybody else. So I look at it that way. Is it when I can get out of remove myself from me and feeling sorry for myself? Say well, you know what I'm called to suffer and help others.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:23:37

Amazing. Coach, we got to get you on with your day. We've got one final question. This is the basketball strong podcast. The question you can answer it from your mind, your gut, your heart all the above? What does it mean to you to be basketball strong.

John Mosley  1:23:56

You can you can put any title in front of that, you know, you'd be basketball strong, it's just so happens to be where you what catches your eye basketball strong, it can be faith strong, it can be family strong. I mean, that's, you know, in a sense, you know, we get strong you know, we can make Boston Strong. Let's you know, everybody has the Boston Strong you can be live strong. But it's just being grounded in what you believe in and staying locked in and staying focused. And when we talk about basketball, strong messages of failure, you can place anything in that in that area. And for me, it's being faith strong, so that others can see you example, and serving and all that so and I'll use basketball when I'm in the gym, I'll say be basketball strong, which let's stay locked in and stay focused when I go to church is let's be faith strong. You know, let's fellowship together and let's be strong in our faith and let's you know, rightly dividing the word of truth. So that when you talk about basketball, basketball, strong, whatever space that you in, you put that title in front of it and just be strong enough to be locked in it. And I tell our guys every day I'll text them winning is essential. We want to make sure we win at everything that we do in life. And we're forever man. That's kind of what it is just keep doing what you're doing. Do it at a high level. Nike says just do it, you know? Just just just keep grinding, keep doing what you do.