August 29, 2023 • 33 mins
He played the sport he loved for over 2 decades and was eventually told by two NFL teams that he wasn’t good enough. Those words hurt, but Derek West didn’t allow football to be his only identity.
Derek is a 5th generation Arvada, Colorado native. He won a state championship in high school at Pomona and was a freshman at CU when the Buffs won the National Championship. After a solid career at CU, the 6’7” offensive lineman went to the NFL Combine and was drafted by the Colts. He was bit by the injury bug for most of his time in Indi and was released after 3 seasons. After a stint in NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire, Derek got some game tape and came back to the states where he was briefly signed by the 49’ers then the Cardinals. Both teams told him he wasn’t good enough to play in the NFL anymore.
So Derek started retirement and has spent the majority of it in the sports supplement industry. He also met his wife Khara, who grew up in Boulder and played softball at Nebraska. They have two daughters who are currently college athletes themselves: Jordan plays softball at Colorado State and Ashley plays volleyball at Utah. For the record, Derek did get long time CU Coach Bill McCartney’s blessing to marry a girl who went to Nebraska.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
Derek is a 5th generation Arvada, Colorado native. He won a state championship in high school at Pomona and was a freshman at CU when the Buffs won the National Championship. After a solid career at CU, the 6’7” offensive lineman went to the NFL Combine and was drafted by the Colts. He was bit by the injury bug for most of his time in Indi and was released after 3 seasons. After a stint in NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire, Derek got some game tape and came back to the states where he was briefly signed by the 49’ers then the Cardinals. Both teams told him he wasn’t good enough to play in the NFL anymore.
So Derek started retirement and has spent the majority of it in the sports supplement industry. He also met his wife Khara, who grew up in Boulder and played softball at Nebraska. They have two daughters who are currently college athletes themselves: Jordan plays softball at Colorado State and Ashley plays volleyball at Utah. For the record, Derek did get long time CU Coach Bill McCartney’s blessing to marry a girl who went to Nebraska.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It was just the phone call.Hey, coach so and so it needs
to see you and bring your playbook. And you're just like man, and
it's tough. I mean, you'vebeen doing some, like I said,
since I was five years old,and now I'm having another guy tell me
you're not good enough. You're justnot good enough for us. Maybe another
team, but for us, you'rejust not good enough. And when you've
been told that a couple of times, you start thinking that, yeah,
(00:21):
maybe I'm not good enough. Andit took me a while to really accept
that. Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a weekly podcast featuring
conversations with professional athletes and coaches ina variety of sports. My hope is
that you'll gain a strategy or perspectivefor your own life on how to handle
setbacks and move forward. I'm yourhost, Susie Wargin. Another one of
my goals with this podcast is tobring stories to light from athletes that may
(00:44):
not have the biggest names, butthey still endured the grind and the ups
and downs it takes to make itto professional sports. This episode's guest was
a big deal literally and figuratively onthe offensive lineup Pomona High School and the
University of Colorado. Dary West wasalso drafted in the NFL, and while
he was on the Colt's roster,he didn't play much due to injuries.
(01:04):
After Indy released him, Derek neededgame film, so he went to NFL
Europe and then was able to signbriefly with two more NFL teams, but
eventually he was told he wasn't goodenough anymore. In retirement, he's worked
mainly in the sports supplement industry andalso now follows the college athletics careers of
his daughters, who got some prettyimpressive jeans and work ethic from not only
(01:26):
Derek but also his athletic wife Kara. Ladies and gentlemen. Derek West cut
trading fired retired podcasts with Susie Wargin. Hello, Derek West says, how
you doing. I'm good. Howare you great? It's great to have
you in. Thanks, thanks forhaving me. Absolutely So. You're one
of those guys that I think peoplebe like when they hear your name.
(01:48):
Oh wow, Yeah, that's right. I remember him and I kind of
remember him. I was an offensivelineman, so we didn't get all the
glory, but which is what youguys want, right, If your name's
out there, that's bad. That'sa bad thing. Yeah, exactly,
all right. So you are ahomegrown kid though, fifth generation Colorado native.
I thought I had it with thefour but I'm like, up,
you got me beat. Fifth generationborn and raised in our Vada, Colorado.
(02:10):
A funny story about that. Mydad's side of the family, they
moved here in the eighteen fifties.So there's a place in our Vada called
Apex Center. It used to bemy family's original homestead. No kidding,
I lost that like after the FirstWorld War, I kind of the depression,
so they lost that property during there. But yeah, a proud fifth
generation or Vada my daughters or sixthgeneration or Vadan so and all in our
Vada. That's even more impressive.Yeah, a lot of family history there,
(02:34):
so it's fun. It was funto grow up in our Vada,
stay local, play my college balland Boulder, so a lot of family
and friends were able to come upand watch the games. Well, and
it's funny me growing up in Broomfieldand we graduated just a couple of years
apart from each other. I knowa few people from Pomona from a West
our Vada, like we all kindof even though we weren't in the same
league because we were three A andyou guys were all four A, you
still end up knowing a lot ofthe same people, do you do.
(02:57):
It's a small community, felt bigat times, but when you dumb it
down, it's it's a small,tight community, very small world out there.
So you go to Pomona High School. When did football come into play
for you? And what other sportsdid you play growing up? Oh?
Gosh, I was always a basketballplayer and a swimmer growing up. My
best sport actually growing up with swimming. Really were you always this tall?
I was. I was always atall, lanky kid, Okay. And
(03:19):
it got to the point when Iwas about twelve years old, sat down
with my swimming coach. He's like, you've got to give up all these
other sports. I was playing football, baseball, basketball at the time.
He's like, you gotta start focusingon the eighty four eighty eight Olympics.
And that was because I was outthe level of swimming, and at the
time I was a twelve year oldkid, I just couldn't put that vision
in my head of giving up allthese other sports. Because I love playing
all these other sports. I'm abig believer in multi sport athletes. And
(03:43):
I know it's popular nowadays to kindof specialize in one sport, but back
then it really wasn't and I justwasn't willing to do that at the time,
so gave up swimming focus more onbasketball. To answer your question,
I started playing footall when I wasfive years old, flag football and sure
and all that stuff, and startedplaying padded football, if you want to
call it that. When I waseight been playing football quite Were you always
on the line though, or wereyou more of a I was just because
(04:08):
I was a bigger kid. SoI was a patchman, right. So
back then, I don't know ifthey still do it nowadays, but if
you were over a certain weight withinyour age group, you had to wear
a patch on your sleep, whichmeant you had to be an interior designated
as with the patch kid. Butthe funny thing about that was they could
kind of hide you if you ifyou will. So I always played tight
end or tackle, so I playedeach so I could still throw the ball.
(04:29):
If you had a kid at eightor nine years old, they could
throw the ball to you. SoI was able to get involved the offense
in that I guess aspect, butfor the most part, I was always
an offensive lineman. When you wentto Pomona, were you ever a tight
end there as well? As alwaysoffensive and defensive line? Defensive line as
well? What did you prefer?Oh? I love playing defensive line,
but probably offensive line. I lovejust the mentality side of the offensive line,
(04:51):
having to read defenses. Maybe I'ma little biased, but outside of
quarterback, I would say your smartestfootball players are offensive lineman. Oh.
I have to totally agree with youon that one. Yeah, because we
have to know what the guy nextto you is doing. We have to
be able to read the defenses,the blitz reads, hot reads on you
know, corner crashes, whatever.So there's a lot that goes into offensive
line play. It's more than justyou know, line it up and hitting
(05:13):
someone across from me. There's alot of pre snapper eas that you have
to go through. So always prideof myself and the mental side of the
game. You're the very front lineof the chess match. We are,
Yeah, we are, which isscary at times, but it's exciting and
it's funny. Whenever I go likeif I go up to see you and
watch their practice, I always honean offensive line, like how good are
they going to be this year?And is that going to give the team
a chance to win? I mean, that's where teams are built. They'll
(05:33):
build from the inside out, andyou can have all the scale positions you
want, but if you don't havethat interior line, whether it's offense or
defensive line, you're gonna be introuble. That is so true. And
people forget that because they want tofocus on the flashy everything. And it's
so those guys right there lined upon the line. Like we said before,
the guys get the headlines right allthe skill posits, the guy's making
(05:54):
the touchdowns. But yeah, itis. It's it's an integral part of
the game and something I was tookpride in. You get the headline when
it's holding, holding or a sackor we couldn't run the ball or the
quarterback and have time to throw it. Yeah, that's when you get in
the papers. Yeah. All right, So while you're at Pomona, Derek,
you win a state championship nineteen eightyeight against mont Below. Yeah,
that was a lot of fun.That was so my head coach. I've
(06:16):
been blessed with great coaches in mylife. Gary Klatt was my head coach
there, whose son Joel now wasa top college football announcer. But we
did win the state championship against coachGregor, who ended up being a running
backs coach for US at SEU,And I played with a handful of guys
from that team off Montbello up atSeeU. Really Billy pol Yeah, yeah,
there's there's a lot of guys thatcame up and played with US,
so Aaron Shaw, but yeah,it was fun. Those were great memories.
(06:39):
And coach Clatt, he was militarybackground, he was a former marine.
Cool story about that season. Sothe beginning of the season, we
went up on the side of ourpractice field at Pomona and we dug fourteen
graves. We had fourteen games towin that year to win the state championship.
So after every game we'd go upthere the following week and we would
bury the scattering reports. We'd alwaystake a chunk of sad from the field.
(07:00):
We take that sad, throw itin the grave site, and we'd
bury that. Oh my god,move on to the next week. So
that's cool. We ended up goingfourteen. I know that year. Our
goal for the season was not tohave an empty grave on the side of
our playing field. So that wassomething that coach clad drempt up and he
was a great motivator. And thento go on to see you and played
for coach McCartney, who was thebest motivator I've ever played for in my
life. It was it was cool, it was I was blessed to be
(07:23):
around those head coach I bet itwas. So that was you won the
state championship your junior year. Whendo colleges start contacting you and reaching out
to you? Yeah? I didn'treally Like I said, I was a
basketball player, so always had aspirationsof playing college basketball, and I had
offers to go play college basketball.But I started thinking about it. I
was like, all right, sosuccess at the next level for a six
seven, six to eight kid hadpretty good outside jump shot. I was
(07:46):
always a power forward. Or doI go play football? So I went
to a SEU football camp. Itwas the summer going into my senior year,
and Rick George at the time,who's now the athletic director up there,
was the recruiting coordinator. So Iwent to this camp. I had
a great camp with Mike Barry,who's offensive line coachs there. That's when
they started talking to me. RickGeorge came up to me. I'll never
forget this. He grabbed my wristand put in his hand if you can,
(08:07):
around my wrists, and he alwayscould tell how much growth the kid
would have, because back then Iwas like six five six six, about
two fifteen, two hundred and twentypounds, and he's like, you're gonna
grow, You're gonna get much bigger. So they started recruiting me pretty heavily.
Back then. You know, seeyou was on their way to an
eleven oh season going to play NotreDame in the National championship. So a
(08:28):
pretty easy decision to go play fora top tier university at the time and
still now I think, even thoughthe record is whatever the last twenty years,
but at the time, one ofthe top programs in the country in
my backyard, able to play infront of all my family and friends,
it was a no brainer for me, and I kind of gave up that
whole basketball dream, if you will, because I truly saw the vision that
my future would be in football.Did you ever try and play basketball at
(08:48):
see you and do both. Ididn't. I mean we had we had
our pretty fun Like Michael Westbrook,there's a lot of us to play basketball.
Alfred, Yeah, I think Alfredplayed a season. He played I
think a game a game and thenrodel guess, so he was a basketball
player. He came and played acouple of seasons with us in football as
a defensive lineman. So there wassome overlap there between football and basketball.
(09:09):
But now we've played some like offseasonpick up games at the Red Center and
stuff, so which were pretty competitive. But so the national championship is in
nineteen ninety you red shirt that,yeah, So did you have anything to
do with the team as far asdid you feel like you were a part
I mean, obviously had something todo with the team, but did you
feel like you were a part ofthat? Absolutely? I mean as as
a red shirt. So I'm onthe scout team right, so quick introduction
(09:30):
to D one football. I'm havingto block Alfred Williams, Knavis McGee,
Joel, Steve, Gary Howe,Greg Beakert. I mean our defense was
loaded and I'm on the scout teamtrying to give these guys a look.
So I remember calling my dad waslike that, I don't know if I
can do this because I'm having toblock Alfred Williams every day in practice and
I'm getting my butt handed to me. Doesn't do a whole lot for you,
but was great. Alfred was greatafter practice. He's always grabbed me.
(09:52):
Hey, let's go work on this. Here's your footwork. You gotta
be doing this. Here's what thekind of moves I'm trying to do that.
Alfred was great, but it wasa good introduction to big time college
football. And then it was youknow, I was able to put on
some weight and came back my freshmanyear and I started my second game and
never missed a start after that.So I think I left See You.
I'd started forty seven games in arow, had a nice career at See
You. And you mentioned that defensewas loaded. Offensively, you're loaded as
(10:15):
well when you get there. Imean, Darien Hagen's there, Eric b
Enemy, you've mentioned, Michael WestbrookVance is there, VJs there, Mike
Pritchard's there. I mean it waswe forget sometimes how many freaking great guys
were on that team, and DavePlatty would have to back me on this
and I may have it messed up, but I think from nineteen eighty eight
to nineteen ninety five, see,you put more guys in the pros than
(10:37):
any other college program in the country. Oh, I believe that. So
we actually my senior year fast forwardthere, our entire offense went pro.
So we had it was myself atright tackle, Chris Naoli, Brian Stollenberg
was our center, heathrow On ourleft guard, Tony Bertie our left tackle,
our two times where Matt Lapsus whowent on to play left tack for
the Broncos, Christian Foe who wonI think three Super Bowls with the Patriots,
(10:58):
Ray Ruth and Chel Westbrook ur receivers, and Cordell and then Rashawn Salam
was our Heisman Trophy winning tailback.So yeah, our offense was everybody went
pro. Everyone went pro. Wow, that's pretty impressive, and including yourself
myself. After you you are donewith CU, you get drafted by the
Colts in the fifth round. Yetalk about your draft story and kind of
(11:18):
what happened there. I love hearingthe just waiting for the phone call and
the draft is so different now thanit was back then. It is so
rewind a little bit, so Iwas invited to the combine, which was
a whole another story. I meanit truly is they use the term meat
market. It is, you're you'repred it around in shorts and a T
shirt. It's like the Miss Americapageant, right, It's just crazy.
So at the time my freshman year, so halfway through my red shirt year,
(11:41):
I dislocate my left shoulder, soI had surgery there. So fast
forward to the combine. I hadup to eighteen different orthopedic surgeons yanking on
my arm, testing it, seeinghow the strength is, blah blah blah.
So by the time I get tothe tenth, eleventh, twelfth doctor,
they're like, how's your shoulder feelingsthat hurt? I'm like, well,
yeah, it hurts you guys beenyanking on it for the last three
hours. Slightly sore. So thecombine was pretty cool. And then yeah,
(12:03):
to the draft. I was projectedmid round guy, so I didn't
really worry about the first round obviously, or at second round. Third round.
I get a call from the ChicagoBears and they're like, we're next
step, We're gonna take an offensivelineman. And it's down between you and
a guy named Evan. I wantto see his name. The last name
was Pilgrim. He was a guardfrom BYU, and so I'm like,
oh, my gosh, okay,this would be kind of cool because back
then it was just a two daydraft. Round one through three were first
(12:24):
day, and then four through sevenwith the next day. So I'm sitting
there and the phone didn't ring,and then I see Evan's name go across
the bottom. I was like,oh, well, so I wake up
the next day. My parents livedon a golf course out in our Vado
Westwoods, and so the next dayI knew I'd be drafted, but I
couldn't just sit around and wait,So I jumped the fence I can behind
the house, and I'm back beyondthe house just chipping and putting and just
trying to get my mind off ofit, right, and then my dad
(12:46):
yells from the back porch, Hey, you got a phone. So I
go running back in for a phonecall, and it was the GM from
the Colts said Hey, Derek,just want to let you know we're gonna
draft to you the next pick.And it was cool. And then so
that went crazy the house and mymom and down were there all my brothers.
We had a big celebration. Thenthen we went to a Rockies game
that night. We go to Ithink back then it was even Gart Brothers.
It might have been Sports Authority,but so we were trying to cook.
Yeah, it might have been DaveCook, right, So we're trying
(13:09):
to find Colts gear. There wasonly one Colts hat left, so we
bought. Why there was a Coltshat there, I don't know, but
anyways, we bought. It didn'teven fit my head, but I just
wanted to wear something to the Cruisfield and stuff watch the Rockies game and
we had nice little celebration. Itwas fun. That is really cool,
okay, and then how soon doyou report to them? And what is
that welcome to the NFL moment?Like? Yeah, So the draft was
(13:30):
in April, and then you know, I had to go back. Then
there wasn't the OTAs that they havenowadays, So we had to go out
for a quick rookie camp, justa quick introduction and it was just the
rookies and I think they had acouple of second third year guys there too,
and that was just the basic workout. And then came back home,
finished up my training and it wentout for training camp, and yeah,
that was a welcome to the NFL. It was as fast as you thought
college ball was. Pros were evenhigher. So quickly learned that, yeah,
(13:54):
okay, my footwork, I needto get better at that. I
came from a run dominated offense atCEU. We didn't throw it, not
much, and when we did throwit was all play action, so you
know, I had to learn howto pass block and that's where my basketball
background really helped with my footwork andall that. But it was a pretty
eye opening experience for who was yourcoach. My head coach was Ted Marchibrodo
and then my line coach was Ronblack Ledge. We had great veteran leadership
(14:16):
on that team, and we actuallymade it to the AFC Championship my rookie
year. We lost to Pittsburgh,which was a fun story because Cordell was
on the team, so and ArielSolomon and I think Joel Steve was still
there, Chad Brown was there,so a lot of Sea You guys were
playing for Pittsburgh at the time.So I was a fun experience to make
the AFC Championship my rookie year,I bet it was. How much did
you end up playing your rookie season? Quite a bit. I mean not
a ton. I wasn't a starter, but we had like jumbo packages where
(14:37):
our left guard would go out totight end. I'd come in at left
guard. Actually, my first snapfrom line of scrimmage my rookie year was
against Bruce Smith. We were playingin Buffalo and he was he was pretty
good. So yeah, and thenI was, you know, on field
goal, and did you show upon film the next week? Yeah?
I did. Okay, I heldmy own good. I didn't to embarrass
(14:58):
myself. That's good. Yeah.So then as you go through your rookie
season, you end up getting theinjury bug, which tends to happen sometimes.
I did heading in my second year. About two weeks before training camp,
I break my left foot. Hadto have surgery out of a pin
put in my foot, and thenso I started the season on the pup,
which is physically unable to perform list. So I was out for the
(15:18):
first six weeks of the season andthen came back and then yeah, I
was a backup. So I didn'tplay it much my second or third year.
So going in my third year,have a torn growing. I ripped
up my left shoulder, same shoulderthat you had a problem before. Okay,
it just tweaked it, nothing major, but tweaked it a bit in
training camp. So again start thethird season on the pup again. So
my second third year were tough.Wasn't playing much. I was in the
(15:41):
training room more than I was onthe practice field. And then that's when
I went to the NFL year plaguethe following year. Yeah, let's go
back, though, Derek, tothe injury time, because I'm always curious
the mental state. It's a reallylonely place being injured when you're in any
kind of sport, but especially ina pro sport where that's your lifeline.
Yeah, it's tough because you reallydon't feel part of the team. You're
(16:02):
coming in before the team shows upto get your rehab done because you got
to make room for the guys thatare practicing that day, and then once
they go out to the field,you go continue your rehab and then you
may walk out on the field andwatch a little bit of practice, but
your life is spent in the trainingroom. So it's tough. It's a
mental grind because you just don't feelpart of the team. You're not part
of the chemistry. You're not you'renot one of the guys, like you're
somewhat of an outcasts. It's theold saying you can't make the club in
(16:25):
the tub, and even if you'reon the team, you just don't feel
like you're part of something. Andin football, it's an ultimate team sport.
Yes, it is a mental grind. It's a lot of phone calls
home like one, am I doinghere? Like you know, but you
know, you just got to keepthe big picture in mind and hey,
listen, you've got to get healthy, get back on the field and somehow
help contribute to the team. Yousee a lot of camaraderie on the field
with guys, but I think thecamaraderie in football and any sport is the
(16:49):
locker room, the clubhouse and inbaseball, and that's where you guys hang
out and we get to see alittle bit of it. They'll have open
locker room, you know, foran hour or a few times a week
during the season, so we seethe guys playing dominoes, playing cards,
doing all that stuff, and youjust got a smile on your face,
like those are the things that that'sthe cool part of being on a team.
Probably the most asked question I getis do you miss football? And
(17:11):
I don't miss football at all.I don't miss the practices. You don't
miss getting beat up, But youmiss the guys. You missed that locker
room environment, and you hit itjust right on the head. It's those
are the times you miss. Youmissed the guys in the locker room,
whether it's in the off season,you know, working out together, going
and playing golf together, playing cards, just getting together with the guys.
You miss that. And there's noother industry in the world or that can
(17:33):
be replicated. There's nothing in thebusiness world where you sit. It's not
so you miss that. HR wouldhave a problem. They would have a
big problem, big problem. IfI could tell some stories, yeah I'd
be sent right to HR. Butit's tough and it's hard, like you
said, when you're going through injuries, when you don't feel like you're part
of that group, and yeah,you can still go hang out the guys
a little bit, but they're likeDerek, you were not on practice today,
(17:56):
Like you didn't go through where wejust went. You didn't, So
it's tough. You feel somewhat ofan outcast, like you're still one of
the guys, but you're not contributingon a daily basis and you're not as
relatable. Probably, right, Yeah, that game was tough, or that
practice was a grind or well,Derek, you didn't even go through it,
so what you have no opinion onthis matter? Right? So having
said that, Derek, who weresome of the guys that you were the
(18:18):
closest with, whether it be evensome of your teammates from Pomona, who
I'm sure you're still in touch withor see you or even into the pros.
I'm really close with Tony Birdie.He was the left tackle at CEU,
So Tony and I still talk allthe time. I still see a
lot of guys up and like BlakeAnderson, I see a lot. Christian
Foyer still comes back now that hisson's playing up there. I still see
Alfred a lot. Did a barbecuelast summer at his house. So yeah,
I still see a lot of theguys in the pros. I don't
(18:41):
talk. I talked to Steve Morrison, he was a linebacker at Indianapolis with
me. Probably the close im withis Chris Heatherington. He was a fullback
with me in Indianapolis and he wenton to play for I think six other
teams. But Chris and I've beenin business together lately, so I've still
stayed pretty close with Chris. Alfredis another one that I've talked to,
and he said that he checks inwith guys a lot, and I've heard
(19:02):
that from more and more guys howimportant it is to check in and make
sure people are doing okay, andespecially as we tend to get older and
life becomes a little more clearer abouthey, we're not going to be here
forever, and injuries set in andyour body hurts more, and that whole
mental aspect that we talked about.So I do think it's important that you
guys stay close and stay in touch. We do. And then there's a
(19:23):
program at SEU called Bus for Life, and we've lately over the last three
years. Sean Tufts now is thepresident there. John Embry start at the
program. I was actually president fora year, but Sean's taken over and
the focus of buff Life now ismental health, which is fantastic huge.
You know, we've lost some teammatesfor Sean, the closest one to me,
but we've lost some teammates to suicide. I think Gary Barnett told me
it was either I want to sayit was like nine and eleven years or
(19:45):
eleven and nine years something. Imean, it was a horrible stat It's
sad. It's sad, and youknow, everyone's got their own story and
their rhyme or reason for doing whatthey have to do. But mental health
is a big part of it.When football is no longer part of your
life, part of your patient,your job, you know, a lot
of people grow up and that's theiridentity and unfortunately they feel like once that's
taken away from them, what elseis there. I've always told myself,
(20:10):
if I'm defined as being a footballplayer, if my tombstone read here lize
Derek football player, I didn't dolife right. I didn't do what I
was meant to do in this life. And so I just try to keep
that that mindset. But it's tough. I've seen a lot of guys struggle
through it. I bet you mentionedBill McCartney and I'm going back and I
want to do want to talk aboutNFL Europe, But what was coach Mac
for you? As far as acoach and he was that too, so
(20:33):
many football players and student athletes.I say, outside of my father,
coach McCartney was probably the most influentialamount of my life. And I don't
see him as a coach. Hewas my second father. He always had
an open door policy. If Ihave everything going wrong, I could always
go in and talk to him andhe would counsel me or just talk me
through issues, whether it was schoolrelated or football related or just social life
related. Right. So he wasjust a great guy. I always had
(20:56):
words of wisdom, always kind ofkept your mind mind right, kept your
focus, your vision where it neededto be. And I could go on.
We could do a whole podcast oncoach. It's so hard to find
coaches like that. Yeah, hewas truly and still truly an amazing man.
Absolutely all right, So now let'stalk NFL Europe. You get done
with the Colts, you don't haveyour contractor it's so basically you're kind of
(21:18):
released, right or contract is up. So then you go to NFL Europe.
What was that experience? Like?Amazing? Like I said, for
my second and third year, Ididn't get much playing time, so I
had to get film. You know, I was released from the Colts.
My contractory expired and I still hadto find a job. Well, the
great way to do that is gettingmore film and showing teams that, hey,
listen, I can still play.So I go over to Dusseldorf,
Germany played for the rhine Fire atthe time. They had a training camp
(21:41):
for a month in Atlanta. Theteam was nice enough to let me skip
that because I had just come offa season. So I show up in
Atlanta fly over with the team.Our first game. We show up and
I'm out doing stretching and just gettingready for the game. There's maybe seven
eight hundred people in the stands andI'm sitting there thinking to myself, what
have I done? Why am Ihere? And then I quickly kind of
refolks on like the reason you hearsget film, you idiots. So we
(22:03):
go back in the locker room,we do our pregame adjustments, we go
back out on the field for introductionsand the place is absolutely packed. And
I quickly learned that the German fanslove the tailgate right. They take tailgating
to a whole new they. Imean, do you think the SEC has
Yeah, they're out there. Theygot the barbecues, all the braw wars
going, the beers flowing and allstuff, and they come in and sticks
(22:23):
on the stands and there's like thirtyto thirty five thousand people where we played.
It's an old soccer stadium, andthese thirty thousand fans sound like eighty
thousand because there's no rules of whatthey can bring into the stadium. So
there's whistles, there's air raid sirens, there's flares, there's those little clappy
you know clackers. I mean itis so loud, and they don't really
(22:44):
know home field advantage, right,so noise control. So we're at home
and we can barely hear the snapcount. But it was a great experience.
I mean we're in dusseldor if Imean, it's a ninety minute train
ride to Amsterdam, three hour bullettrain ride up to Paris. Would you
guys take the train? Yeah?Well when we travel week, I'm just
saying, like on our days offwe could travel around and go see things.
But you know, played down inBarcelona. I went up to play
(23:07):
a team in Amsterdam. Who thequarterback that Brampston and that your was Kurt
Warner heard him? Yeah, LondonBerlin didn't have a team then, but
frankfort have. So yeah, wetraveled all over Europe playing football. And
did you get your film? Yeah? I did, and so came back.
I signed with the forty nine ers. I always say I was there
for a couple of coffee. Igot released out of training camp, but
that's when I signed with the Cardinals. And then how long we with the
Cardinals. I was with the Cardinalsfor that whole off season. Then I
(23:29):
went into training camp the following year, and that's when I was released from
the Cardinals. And that's when itkind of started setting that might start be
time to start thinking about what you'regonna do with your life, Derek.
I think football might be done foryou. And at the time I'm twenty
Let's say I was twenty eight yearsold at the time, and I'm like,
all right, you still have along life to live, and you
know football is no longer probably inthe cards. So let's let's look at
(23:49):
the next stage in your life.When you got released, whether it was
with San Francisco or with the Cardinals, what was that moment like, was
it a bring your playbook? Wasit devis? It was absolutely that,
So it was the phone call.I'm at my apartment both times, and
I made it to the final cutwith both teams. It was just a
phone call, Hey, coach soand so it needs to see you and
(24:10):
bring your playbook. And you're justlike, oh man, and it's tough.
I mean, you've been doing something, like I said, since I
was five years old, and nowI'm having another guy tell me you're not
good enough. You're just not goodenough for us. Maybe another team,
but for us, you're just notgood enough. And when you've been told
that a couple of times, youstart thinking that, yeah, maybe I'm
not good enough. And it tookme a while to really accept that.
(24:30):
It was about a year where I'msitting there going, I know I can
still play, but I've had theseguys tell me that I'm not good enough
to do it, so maybe I'mnot. And I was okay. It
took me a while to accept thatthat I was a great college player.
I made it to the pros,lived out a childhood dream, drafted in
the NFL, but you know,I just wasn't good enough to make it
at that level. And I'm okay, I'm perfectly fine with that now to
(24:53):
tell people. Yeah. Well,at the time it was to it was
tough, but then I quickly realizedthat, hey, listen, you get
if you're all you tried the bestand with your guy given ability, you
just weren't able to do it.Yeah, and it can't last forever no
matter how good you are. Noone, I mean very, very,
very few people get to go outon their own terms. We're not all
John Elway, we're not all paidTom Brady, when all go out on
(25:14):
in terms, Everyone at some pointin time during their career gets that phone
call where you're just not good enough. And whether you last I got I
got three credited season, played fivetotal, but you know some guys played
ten plus years and at some pointtime they're told you're no longer good enough.
That's a hard line to hear fromanybody, absolutely at ball or whether
it's in business or whatever you're doingin your life. For someone else to
tell you you're just not good enough, it's a hard pill to swallow.
(25:37):
But I'm totally fine with it.So you're told that for a second time,
and then what do you decide todo? So at the time I
was dating this gal, her dadwas a crew chief for a Winston Cup
team in NASCAR and they needed asports marketing director. And my degree from
CEU was in marketing. So Iwas like, yeah, yeah, let's
give this a shot. So Imoved out to Charlotte, North Carolina.
I become a sports marketing director fora Winston Cup team. That's pretty sweet.
(25:57):
First, John, Derek Cool,I tell you what, anyone listening
here, if you haven't had achance to stand on pit row of the
Daytona five hundred when they brought thegreen flag. It was one of the
coolest experiences ever. And so welasted. We lost our sponsor. We
were with the Island Oasis race team. We lost our sponsorship. Things with
South with the Girl, I movedback home here to Colorado, and then
(26:17):
I landed job at EAS, whichwas a sports supplemented company, and I
become head of sales for YS,and I've spent the last twenty plus years
in that industry. You stayed withthe AS for a little while, and
then I was with the AS forabout four years and then I left there.
I went to work for a companycalled Europa Sports. They were a
multiline sports supplement distributor. Left there, my business partner Brad Piott, who
had started Muscle Farm. I cameon board to help him run his sales,
(26:41):
and he's been a guest on theshow. They're on the podcast.
Brad's a dear friend of mine.We played a lot of golf together.
Still, So yeah, I wentand ran sales at at Muscle Farm and
then a handful of companies since then. And you love it. I love
it. That's great. And thenyou married a Husker I did. That's
another funny story. So I movedback. I didn't even meet one.
Yeah, so I moved back fromCharlotte, got the job with the AS
and it was funny at the time. Let's see, this would have been
(27:03):
late March. It was in twothousand, so it's going into spring ball.
It was alumni weekend, so alot of guys who I played college
football with we're back in town forthat weekend. It was the ten year
anniversary of the national championship team,so a lot of guys are back in
town. I get a call,Hey, Derek, so and so and
so and so, I was gonnabe up in Boulder. You should come
up and meet everybody. Great.I haven't seen these guys in five years.
So I go up to Boulder.There's a bunch of us at a
(27:23):
place called the Foundry. So we'reall in this bar area, just kind
of catching up. This girl walksin with her friend and she looks over
and she goes, wow, that'sthe guy like to meet, you know.
So she thought it was so worksas a bunch of guys around a
bar taking pictures of each other andthis kind of like kind of cell phone
time, but we had like thedisposable cameras were all taking pictures. And
(27:44):
so later on that night I metmy wife, and so you met her
at the Foundry. You met herat the Foundry later that fall. The
funny story is, so this issix months into us dating. We go
to a big banquet at the Omni, the celebration for the ten year anniversary
of the Nation Championship team, andI introduced my now wife to coach McCartney
and I said, hey, coach, just want you to meet Kara's she's
a Husker. So I just gotto know that that I have your blessing
(28:06):
to marry it possibly marry a husker. We were engaged at the time,
but things were getting serious and hegave us his buzz guy. It seems
like a good girl, Derek.So I think you got a good one
here well, and you needed that. He's a second father to you.
You need that blessing, the blessingthat I could marry a Husker. And
she played sports at Nebraska. Shedid. She was a softball player in
Nebraska. Okay, she grew upin Bowlder, Colorado, kind of wanted
to leave town. She had offersup at CSU, but she wanted to
(28:27):
get away from home and went toNebraska played softball there. So she's still
a Colorado girl. So she's gotthat going for And then you two have
two daughters, who I mean,you guys just breed athletes. The obviously
between the two of you, becauseyou've got one Jordan, who's in softball
up at CSU, and then Ashley'sat USHI playing volleyball. So talk about
(28:48):
watching your girls do that. Andthen now they're in college athletics. After
your experience and also Carra's experience withcollege athletics, I'm sure it's different yet
the same. It's different because nowI'm no longer you know, Derek,
and they're no longer my daughters.I'm now Ashley's dad or I'm now Jordan's
dad, which I'm totally cool with. And they they're just such great young
ladies and I'm so proud of whatthey've blossomed into. And we didn't carry
(29:11):
their way. If they got inathletics, we just we're just athletic people.
So growing up, we just exposedthem to everything. They played soccer,
they played basketball, volleyball, andsoftball. Obviously Ashley was in gymnastics
for years, she did dance,and so we just exposed them all kinds
of different things and then just gravitatedtowards the sports. Right now, being
that you are a CU guy,do you have any problem with the CSU
(29:32):
affiliation with your daughter or do youhave a separation of church and state there?
I don't. It's so funny.So I was just planning a member
guest golf tournament last week, andone of the days I wore all CSU
gear, I had a couple ofguys come up to me and say,
dare how can you wear that greenand gold. I'm like, pretty easy,
because my daughter means a heck ofa lot more to me than my
time's up at CU. So Iprobably were the CSU gear. I love
(29:53):
it. I know your Twitter picture, You're in your Colorado State show and
I'm like, wow, look atthat. That's saying something. And I
love for Collins too. It's agreat town, great school. So I'm
a very proud buff but happy tosupport the CEA issue and also Utah as
well. Oh yeah yeah Utah.Now now with the move to the Big
twelve, it's so funny. Mydaughter called me and she's freaking out.
This is after Sea. You wouldalready been announced the Big twelve. Not
(30:15):
sure what's going on with Utah,so she's freaking out. We're going to
be at a conference with nobody andthen they get announced later that day to
the Big twelve. So it's kindof cool that now see you in Utah
are back when you were at CUwas the Big eight y right, So
how weird is it for you watchingall of these conference realignments because I feel
like when we were growing up,it was so pure. You knew where
everybody was, nobody moved, andthe great rivalries were made from that as
(30:38):
well. They were in good lucktrying to name all the teams now and
what corps is there? And it'sno more numbers. I know, it's
interesting. I mean my daughter,actually she's got some nil stuff going on.
I mean the landscape, that's right. Yeah, the landscape of college
outlets has just changed so much.And we talked about the time I've been
bolder, like when Westbrook was backin Cordell, they were back for the
spring game. We were just sittingaround talking about it. You imagine what
(31:00):
they would have made. Oh mygosh, right, So I mean,
I mean, they would have madea killing. And but you worry about
the deviceiveness in a locker room,and we talked about offensive linemen not really
getting the notoriety. Would we havemade any money? I don't know.
But we're the ones kind of doinghonestly for all the word honestly. Probably
not because people didn't know you.But you are doing a lot of the
work, right, whereas Westbreak andCordel would be making a killing. Yes,
(31:22):
you worry about the devisiveness. It'llbe interesting to see if that starts
to happen with some of these teams. And hopefully the good teams will say,
Okay, everybody gets X, soat least everybody's getting something, but
your marquee guys and gals are stillgoing to get a big lion share of
something. But and that's life,right, I mean, looking at pro
sports, I mean there's the quarterbacksmake quarterback money, and you know,
obviously left tackles are making good money, but they're still that big separation of
(31:45):
salaries and pro sports too. Butso you'll always deal with that. Even
in business world, there's a reasonCEOs make X money and the managers and
I don't want to say the grunts, but they make less. And that's
just life. We're just not usedto it at the college yet. Right,
It'll be interesting to see what happens. Yeah, all right, Derek,
as we wrap this up, whatdo you tell people when they are
going through tough times in life?You've gone through a few. You're very
(32:06):
descriptive about saying, you know,you're not good enough when you get told
that and somebody tells you that,whether it's sports or whether it's business.
What's your advice to people on howto get through those times. You just
have to have a solid foundation,and whether it's spiritual, family, friends,
I think you just have to havea great foundation and have a vision.
I'm a big believer in goal setting, so you know, I start
every day starting like, what aremy tasks for the day, and just
(32:29):
keep ground and keep your vision forward. Listen, there's an old saying tough
times don't last, tough people do. And I just think, listen,
life's gonna throw curveballs at you allthe time, you know, whether it's
family, friends, business, Keepyour vision focused and keep the big picture
in mine. I love it.This has been awesome. Thank you for
the time today to get to knowyou a little bit more. And I
(32:51):
love that you were bringing you overfrom the black and gold side to the
green and gold. Well, there'llbe a day this fall where I will
not be green and gold. Sooh I know which day that is.
Thanks Eric, Thanks, thank you, Derek West. We'll keep that green
and gold on him for as longas we possibly can. New episodes of
Cut, Traded, Fired, Retiredcome out every Tuesday on nearly every podcast
platform. Please follow, download,and review this podcast wherever you listen to
(33:15):
podcasts, and remember you can getsocial and find out about new episodes on
Twitter and Instagram at CTFUR podcast andcheck out the website CTFR podcast dot com.
To find out more about me.Visit Susiewargin dot com. Thank you
again for listening and until next time, please be careful, be safe and
be kind. Take care,
It was just the phone call.Hey, coach so and so it needs
to see you and bring your playbook. And you're just like man, and
it's tough. I mean, you'vebeen doing some, like I said,
since I was five years old,and now I'm having another guy tell me
you're not good enough. You're justnot good enough for us. Maybe another
team, but for us, you'rejust not good enough. And when you've
been told that a couple of times, you start thinking that, yeah,
(00:21):
maybe I'm not good enough. Andit took me a while to really accept
that. Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a weekly podcast featuring
conversations with professional athletes and coaches ina variety of sports. My hope is
that you'll gain a strategy or perspectivefor your own life on how to handle
setbacks and move forward. I'm yourhost, Susie Wargin. Another one of
my goals with this podcast is tobring stories to light from athletes that may
(00:44):
not have the biggest names, butthey still endured the grind and the ups
and downs it takes to make itto professional sports. This episode's guest was
a big deal literally and figuratively onthe offensive lineup Pomona High School and the
University of Colorado. Dary West wasalso drafted in the NFL, and while
he was on the Colt's roster,he didn't play much due to injuries.
(01:04):
After Indy released him, Derek neededgame film, so he went to NFL
Europe and then was able to signbriefly with two more NFL teams, but
eventually he was told he wasn't goodenough anymore. In retirement, he's worked
mainly in the sports supplement industry andalso now follows the college athletics careers of
his daughters, who got some prettyimpressive jeans and work ethic from not only
(01:26):
Derek but also his athletic wife Kara. Ladies and gentlemen. Derek West cut
trading fired retired podcasts with Susie Wargin. Hello, Derek West says, how
you doing. I'm good. Howare you great? It's great to have
you in. Thanks, thanks forhaving me. Absolutely So. You're one
of those guys that I think peoplebe like when they hear your name.
(01:48):
Oh wow, Yeah, that's right. I remember him and I kind of
remember him. I was an offensivelineman, so we didn't get all the
glory, but which is what youguys want, right, If your name's
out there, that's bad. That'sa bad thing. Yeah, exactly,
all right. So you are ahomegrown kid though, fifth generation Colorado native.
I thought I had it with thefour but I'm like, up,
you got me beat. Fifth generationborn and raised in our Vada, Colorado.
(02:10):
A funny story about that. Mydad's side of the family, they
moved here in the eighteen fifties.So there's a place in our Vada called
Apex Center. It used to bemy family's original homestead. No kidding,
I lost that like after the FirstWorld War, I kind of the depression,
so they lost that property during there. But yeah, a proud fifth
generation or Vada my daughters or sixthgeneration or Vadan so and all in our
Vada. That's even more impressive.Yeah, a lot of family history there,
(02:34):
so it's fun. It was funto grow up in our Vada,
stay local, play my college balland Boulder, so a lot of family
and friends were able to come upand watch the games. Well, and
it's funny me growing up in Broomfieldand we graduated just a couple of years
apart from each other. I knowa few people from Pomona from a West
our Vada, like we all kindof even though we weren't in the same
league because we were three A andyou guys were all four A, you
still end up knowing a lot ofthe same people, do you do.
(02:57):
It's a small community, felt bigat times, but when you dumb it
down, it's it's a small,tight community, very small world out there.
So you go to Pomona High School. When did football come into play
for you? And what other sportsdid you play growing up? Oh?
Gosh, I was always a basketballplayer and a swimmer growing up. My
best sport actually growing up with swimming. Really were you always this tall?
I was. I was always atall, lanky kid, Okay. And
(03:19):
it got to the point when Iwas about twelve years old, sat down
with my swimming coach. He's like, you've got to give up all these
other sports. I was playing football, baseball, basketball at the time.
He's like, you gotta start focusingon the eighty four eighty eight Olympics.
And that was because I was outthe level of swimming, and at the
time I was a twelve year oldkid, I just couldn't put that vision
in my head of giving up allthese other sports. Because I love playing
all these other sports. I'm abig believer in multi sport athletes. And
(03:43):
I know it's popular nowadays to kindof specialize in one sport, but back
then it really wasn't and I justwasn't willing to do that at the time,
so gave up swimming focus more onbasketball. To answer your question,
I started playing footall when I wasfive years old, flag football and sure
and all that stuff, and startedplaying padded football, if you want to
call it that. When I waseight been playing football quite Were you always
on the line though, or wereyou more of a I was just because
(04:08):
I was a bigger kid. SoI was a patchman, right. So
back then, I don't know ifthey still do it nowadays, but if
you were over a certain weight withinyour age group, you had to wear
a patch on your sleep, whichmeant you had to be an interior designated
as with the patch kid. Butthe funny thing about that was they could
kind of hide you if you ifyou will. So I always played tight
end or tackle, so I playedeach so I could still throw the ball.
(04:29):
If you had a kid at eightor nine years old, they could
throw the ball to you. SoI was able to get involved the offense
in that I guess aspect, butfor the most part, I was always
an offensive lineman. When you wentto Pomona, were you ever a tight
end there as well? As alwaysoffensive and defensive line? Defensive line as
well? What did you prefer?Oh? I love playing defensive line,
but probably offensive line. I lovejust the mentality side of the offensive line,
(04:51):
having to read defenses. Maybe I'ma little biased, but outside of
quarterback, I would say your smartestfootball players are offensive lineman. Oh.
I have to totally agree with youon that one. Yeah, because we
have to know what the guy nextto you is doing. We have to
be able to read the defenses,the blitz reads, hot reads on you
know, corner crashes, whatever.So there's a lot that goes into offensive
line play. It's more than justyou know, line it up and hitting
(05:13):
someone across from me. There's alot of pre snapper eas that you have
to go through. So always prideof myself and the mental side of the
game. You're the very front lineof the chess match. We are,
Yeah, we are, which isscary at times, but it's exciting and
it's funny. Whenever I go likeif I go up to see you and
watch their practice, I always honean offensive line, like how good are
they going to be this year?And is that going to give the team
a chance to win? I mean, that's where teams are built. They'll
(05:33):
build from the inside out, andyou can have all the scale positions you
want, but if you don't havethat interior line, whether it's offense or
defensive line, you're gonna be introuble. That is so true. And
people forget that because they want tofocus on the flashy everything. And it's
so those guys right there lined upon the line. Like we said before,
the guys get the headlines right allthe skill posits, the guy's making
(05:54):
the touchdowns. But yeah, itis. It's it's an integral part of
the game and something I was tookpride in. You get the headline when
it's holding, holding or a sackor we couldn't run the ball or the
quarterback and have time to throw it. Yeah, that's when you get in
the papers. Yeah. All right, So while you're at Pomona, Derek,
you win a state championship nineteen eightyeight against mont Below. Yeah,
that was a lot of fun.That was so my head coach. I've
(06:16):
been blessed with great coaches in mylife. Gary Klatt was my head coach
there, whose son Joel now wasa top college football announcer. But we
did win the state championship against coachGregor, who ended up being a running
backs coach for US at SEU,And I played with a handful of guys
from that team off Montbello up atSeeU. Really Billy pol Yeah, yeah,
there's there's a lot of guys thatcame up and played with US,
so Aaron Shaw, but yeah,it was fun. Those were great memories.
(06:39):
And coach Clatt, he was militarybackground, he was a former marine.
Cool story about that season. Sothe beginning of the season, we
went up on the side of ourpractice field at Pomona and we dug fourteen
graves. We had fourteen games towin that year to win the state championship.
So after every game we'd go upthere the following week and we would
bury the scattering reports. We'd alwaystake a chunk of sad from the field.
(07:00):
We take that sad, throw itin the grave site, and we'd
bury that. Oh my god,move on to the next week. So
that's cool. We ended up goingfourteen. I know that year. Our
goal for the season was not tohave an empty grave on the side of
our playing field. So that wassomething that coach clad drempt up and he
was a great motivator. And thento go on to see you and played
for coach McCartney, who was thebest motivator I've ever played for in my
life. It was it was cool, it was I was blessed to be
(07:23):
around those head coach I bet itwas. So that was you won the
state championship your junior year. Whendo colleges start contacting you and reaching out
to you? Yeah? I didn'treally Like I said, I was a
basketball player, so always had aspirationsof playing college basketball, and I had
offers to go play college basketball.But I started thinking about it. I
was like, all right, sosuccess at the next level for a six
seven, six to eight kid hadpretty good outside jump shot. I was
(07:46):
always a power forward. Or doI go play football? So I went
to a SEU football camp. Itwas the summer going into my senior year,
and Rick George at the time,who's now the athletic director up there,
was the recruiting coordinator. So Iwent to this camp. I had
a great camp with Mike Barry,who's offensive line coachs there. That's when
they started talking to me. RickGeorge came up to me. I'll never
forget this. He grabbed my wristand put in his hand if you can,
(08:07):
around my wrists, and he alwayscould tell how much growth the kid
would have, because back then Iwas like six five six six, about
two fifteen, two hundred and twentypounds, and he's like, you're gonna
grow, You're gonna get much bigger. So they started recruiting me pretty heavily.
Back then. You know, seeyou was on their way to an
eleven oh season going to play NotreDame in the National championship. So a
(08:28):
pretty easy decision to go play fora top tier university at the time and
still now I think, even thoughthe record is whatever the last twenty years,
but at the time, one ofthe top programs in the country in
my backyard, able to play infront of all my family and friends,
it was a no brainer for me, and I kind of gave up that
whole basketball dream, if you will, because I truly saw the vision that
my future would be in football.Did you ever try and play basketball at
(08:48):
see you and do both. Ididn't. I mean we had we had
our pretty fun Like Michael Westbrook,there's a lot of us to play basketball.
Alfred, Yeah, I think Alfredplayed a season. He played I
think a game a game and thenrodel guess, so he was a basketball
player. He came and played acouple of seasons with us in football as
a defensive lineman. So there wassome overlap there between football and basketball.
(09:09):
But now we've played some like offseasonpick up games at the Red Center and
stuff, so which were pretty competitive. But so the national championship is in
nineteen ninety you red shirt that,yeah, So did you have anything to
do with the team as far asdid you feel like you were a part
I mean, obviously had something todo with the team, but did you
feel like you were a part ofthat? Absolutely? I mean as as
a red shirt. So I'm onthe scout team right, so quick introduction
(09:30):
to D one football. I'm havingto block Alfred Williams, Knavis McGee,
Joel, Steve, Gary Howe,Greg Beakert. I mean our defense was
loaded and I'm on the scout teamtrying to give these guys a look.
So I remember calling my dad waslike that, I don't know if I
can do this because I'm having toblock Alfred Williams every day in practice and
I'm getting my butt handed to me. Doesn't do a whole lot for you,
but was great. Alfred was greatafter practice. He's always grabbed me.
(09:52):
Hey, let's go work on this. Here's your footwork. You gotta
be doing this. Here's what thekind of moves I'm trying to do that.
Alfred was great, but it wasa good introduction to big time college
football. And then it was youknow, I was able to put on
some weight and came back my freshmanyear and I started my second game and
never missed a start after that.So I think I left See You.
I'd started forty seven games in arow, had a nice career at See
You. And you mentioned that defensewas loaded. Offensively, you're loaded as
(10:15):
well when you get there. Imean, Darien Hagen's there, Eric b
Enemy, you've mentioned, Michael WestbrookVance is there, VJs there, Mike
Pritchard's there. I mean it waswe forget sometimes how many freaking great guys
were on that team, and DavePlatty would have to back me on this
and I may have it messed up, but I think from nineteen eighty eight
to nineteen ninety five, see,you put more guys in the pros than
(10:37):
any other college program in the country. Oh, I believe that. So
we actually my senior year fast forwardthere, our entire offense went pro.
So we had it was myself atright tackle, Chris Naoli, Brian Stollenberg
was our center, heathrow On ourleft guard, Tony Bertie our left tackle,
our two times where Matt Lapsus whowent on to play left tack for
the Broncos, Christian Foe who wonI think three Super Bowls with the Patriots,
(10:58):
Ray Ruth and Chel Westbrook ur receivers, and Cordell and then Rashawn Salam
was our Heisman Trophy winning tailback.So yeah, our offense was everybody went
pro. Everyone went pro. Wow, that's pretty impressive, and including yourself
myself. After you you are donewith CU, you get drafted by the
Colts in the fifth round. Yetalk about your draft story and kind of
(11:18):
what happened there. I love hearingthe just waiting for the phone call and
the draft is so different now thanit was back then. It is so
rewind a little bit, so Iwas invited to the combine, which was
a whole another story. I meanit truly is they use the term meat
market. It is, you're you'repred it around in shorts and a T
shirt. It's like the Miss Americapageant, right, It's just crazy.
So at the time my freshman year, so halfway through my red shirt year,
(11:41):
I dislocate my left shoulder, soI had surgery there. So fast
forward to the combine. I hadup to eighteen different orthopedic surgeons yanking on
my arm, testing it, seeinghow the strength is, blah blah blah.
So by the time I get tothe tenth, eleventh, twelfth doctor,
they're like, how's your shoulder feelingsthat hurt? I'm like, well,
yeah, it hurts you guys beenyanking on it for the last three
hours. Slightly sore. So thecombine was pretty cool. And then yeah,
(12:03):
to the draft. I was projectedmid round guy, so I didn't
really worry about the first round obviously, or at second round. Third round.
I get a call from the ChicagoBears and they're like, we're next
step, We're gonna take an offensivelineman. And it's down between you and
a guy named Evan. I wantto see his name. The last name
was Pilgrim. He was a guardfrom BYU, and so I'm like,
oh, my gosh, okay,this would be kind of cool because back
then it was just a two daydraft. Round one through three were first
(12:24):
day, and then four through sevenwith the next day. So I'm sitting
there and the phone didn't ring,and then I see Evan's name go across
the bottom. I was like,oh, well, so I wake up
the next day. My parents livedon a golf course out in our Vado
Westwoods, and so the next dayI knew I'd be drafted, but I
couldn't just sit around and wait,So I jumped the fence I can behind
the house, and I'm back beyondthe house just chipping and putting and just
trying to get my mind off ofit, right, and then my dad
(12:46):
yells from the back porch, Hey, you got a phone. So I
go running back in for a phonecall, and it was the GM from
the Colts said Hey, Derek,just want to let you know we're gonna
draft to you the next pick.And it was cool. And then so
that went crazy the house and mymom and down were there all my brothers.
We had a big celebration. Thenthen we went to a Rockies game
that night. We go to Ithink back then it was even Gart Brothers.
It might have been Sports Authority,but so we were trying to cook.
Yeah, it might have been DaveCook, right, So we're trying
(13:09):
to find Colts gear. There wasonly one Colts hat left, so we
bought. Why there was a Coltshat there, I don't know, but
anyways, we bought. It didn'teven fit my head, but I just
wanted to wear something to the Cruisfield and stuff watch the Rockies game and
we had nice little celebration. Itwas fun. That is really cool,
okay, and then how soon doyou report to them? And what is
that welcome to the NFL moment?Like? Yeah, So the draft was
(13:30):
in April, and then you know, I had to go back. Then
there wasn't the OTAs that they havenowadays, So we had to go out
for a quick rookie camp, justa quick introduction and it was just the
rookies and I think they had acouple of second third year guys there too,
and that was just the basic workout. And then came back home,
finished up my training and it wentout for training camp, and yeah,
that was a welcome to the NFL. It was as fast as you thought
college ball was. Pros were evenhigher. So quickly learned that, yeah,
(13:54):
okay, my footwork, I needto get better at that. I
came from a run dominated offense atCEU. We didn't throw it, not
much, and when we did throwit was all play action, so you
know, I had to learn howto pass block and that's where my basketball
background really helped with my footwork andall that. But it was a pretty
eye opening experience for who was yourcoach. My head coach was Ted Marchibrodo
and then my line coach was Ronblack Ledge. We had great veteran leadership
(14:16):
on that team, and we actuallymade it to the AFC Championship my rookie
year. We lost to Pittsburgh,which was a fun story because Cordell was
on the team, so and ArielSolomon and I think Joel Steve was still
there, Chad Brown was there,so a lot of Sea You guys were
playing for Pittsburgh at the time.So I was a fun experience to make
the AFC Championship my rookie year,I bet it was. How much did
you end up playing your rookie season? Quite a bit. I mean not
a ton. I wasn't a starter, but we had like jumbo packages where
(14:37):
our left guard would go out totight end. I'd come in at left
guard. Actually, my first snapfrom line of scrimmage my rookie year was
against Bruce Smith. We were playingin Buffalo and he was he was pretty
good. So yeah, and thenI was, you know, on field
goal, and did you show upon film the next week? Yeah?
I did. Okay, I heldmy own good. I didn't to embarrass
(14:58):
myself. That's good. Yeah.So then as you go through your rookie
season, you end up getting theinjury bug, which tends to happen sometimes.
I did heading in my second year. About two weeks before training camp,
I break my left foot. Hadto have surgery out of a pin
put in my foot, and thenso I started the season on the pup,
which is physically unable to perform list. So I was out for the
(15:18):
first six weeks of the season andthen came back and then yeah, I
was a backup. So I didn'tplay it much my second or third year.
So going in my third year,have a torn growing. I ripped
up my left shoulder, same shoulderthat you had a problem before. Okay,
it just tweaked it, nothing major, but tweaked it a bit in
training camp. So again start thethird season on the pup again. So
my second third year were tough.Wasn't playing much. I was in the
(15:41):
training room more than I was onthe practice field. And then that's when
I went to the NFL year plaguethe following year. Yeah, let's go
back, though, Derek, tothe injury time, because I'm always curious
the mental state. It's a reallylonely place being injured when you're in any
kind of sport, but especially ina pro sport where that's your lifeline.
Yeah, it's tough because you reallydon't feel part of the team. You're
(16:02):
coming in before the team shows upto get your rehab done because you got
to make room for the guys thatare practicing that day, and then once
they go out to the field,you go continue your rehab and then you
may walk out on the field andwatch a little bit of practice, but
your life is spent in the trainingroom. So it's tough. It's a
mental grind because you just don't feelpart of the team. You're not part
of the chemistry. You're not you'renot one of the guys, like you're
somewhat of an outcasts. It's theold saying you can't make the club in
(16:25):
the tub, and even if you'reon the team, you just don't feel
like you're part of something. Andin football, it's an ultimate team sport.
Yes, it is a mental grind. It's a lot of phone calls
home like one, am I doinghere? Like you know, but you
know, you just got to keepthe big picture in mind and hey,
listen, you've got to get healthy, get back on the field and somehow
help contribute to the team. Yousee a lot of camaraderie on the field
with guys, but I think thecamaraderie in football and any sport is the
(16:49):
locker room, the clubhouse and inbaseball, and that's where you guys hang
out and we get to see alittle bit of it. They'll have open
locker room, you know, foran hour or a few times a week
during the season, so we seethe guys playing dominoes, playing cards,
doing all that stuff, and youjust got a smile on your face,
like those are the things that that'sthe cool part of being on a team.
Probably the most asked question I getis do you miss football? And
(17:11):
I don't miss football at all.I don't miss the practices. You don't
miss getting beat up, But youmiss the guys. You missed that locker
room environment, and you hit itjust right on the head. It's those
are the times you miss. Youmissed the guys in the locker room,
whether it's in the off season,you know, working out together, going
and playing golf together, playing cards, just getting together with the guys.
You miss that. And there's noother industry in the world or that can
(17:33):
be replicated. There's nothing in thebusiness world where you sit. It's not
so you miss that. HR wouldhave a problem. They would have a
big problem, big problem. IfI could tell some stories, yeah I'd
be sent right to HR. Butit's tough and it's hard, like you
said, when you're going through injuries, when you don't feel like you're part
of that group, and yeah,you can still go hang out the guys
a little bit, but they're likeDerek, you were not on practice today,
(17:56):
Like you didn't go through where wejust went. You didn't, So
it's tough. You feel somewhat ofan outcast, like you're still one of
the guys, but you're not contributingon a daily basis and you're not as
relatable. Probably, right, Yeah, that game was tough, or that
practice was a grind or well,Derek, you didn't even go through it,
so what you have no opinion onthis matter? Right? So having
said that, Derek, who weresome of the guys that you were the
(18:18):
closest with, whether it be evensome of your teammates from Pomona, who
I'm sure you're still in touch withor see you or even into the pros.
I'm really close with Tony Birdie.He was the left tackle at CEU,
So Tony and I still talk allthe time. I still see a
lot of guys up and like BlakeAnderson, I see a lot. Christian
Foyer still comes back now that hisson's playing up there. I still see
Alfred a lot. Did a barbecuelast summer at his house. So yeah,
I still see a lot of theguys in the pros. I don't
(18:41):
talk. I talked to Steve Morrison, he was a linebacker at Indianapolis with
me. Probably the close im withis Chris Heatherington. He was a fullback
with me in Indianapolis and he wenton to play for I think six other
teams. But Chris and I've beenin business together lately, so I've still
stayed pretty close with Chris. Alfredis another one that I've talked to,
and he said that he checks inwith guys a lot, and I've heard
(19:02):
that from more and more guys howimportant it is to check in and make
sure people are doing okay, andespecially as we tend to get older and
life becomes a little more clearer abouthey, we're not going to be here
forever, and injuries set in andyour body hurts more, and that whole
mental aspect that we talked about.So I do think it's important that you
guys stay close and stay in touch. We do. And then there's a
(19:23):
program at SEU called Bus for Life, and we've lately over the last three
years. Sean Tufts now is thepresident there. John Embry start at the
program. I was actually president fora year, but Sean's taken over and
the focus of buff Life now ismental health, which is fantastic huge.
You know, we've lost some teammatesfor Sean, the closest one to me,
but we've lost some teammates to suicide. I think Gary Barnett told me
it was either I want to sayit was like nine and eleven years or
(19:45):
eleven and nine years something. Imean, it was a horrible stat It's
sad. It's sad, and youknow, everyone's got their own story and
their rhyme or reason for doing whatthey have to do. But mental health
is a big part of it.When football is no longer part of your
life, part of your patient,your job, you know, a lot
of people grow up and that's theiridentity and unfortunately they feel like once that's
taken away from them, what elseis there. I've always told myself,
(20:10):
if I'm defined as being a footballplayer, if my tombstone read here lize
Derek football player, I didn't dolife right. I didn't do what I
was meant to do in this life. And so I just try to keep
that that mindset. But it's tough. I've seen a lot of guys struggle
through it. I bet you mentionedBill McCartney and I'm going back and I
want to do want to talk aboutNFL Europe, But what was coach Mac
for you? As far as acoach and he was that too, so
(20:33):
many football players and student athletes.I say, outside of my father,
coach McCartney was probably the most influentialamount of my life. And I don't
see him as a coach. Hewas my second father. He always had
an open door policy. If Ihave everything going wrong, I could always
go in and talk to him andhe would counsel me or just talk me
through issues, whether it was schoolrelated or football related or just social life
related. Right. So he wasjust a great guy. I always had
(20:56):
words of wisdom, always kind ofkept your mind mind right, kept your
focus, your vision where it neededto be. And I could go on.
We could do a whole podcast oncoach. It's so hard to find
coaches like that. Yeah, hewas truly and still truly an amazing man.
Absolutely all right, So now let'stalk NFL Europe. You get done
with the Colts, you don't haveyour contractor it's so basically you're kind of
(21:18):
released, right or contract is up. So then you go to NFL Europe.
What was that experience? Like?Amazing? Like I said, for
my second and third year, Ididn't get much playing time, so I
had to get film. You know, I was released from the Colts.
My contractory expired and I still hadto find a job. Well, the
great way to do that is gettingmore film and showing teams that, hey,
listen, I can still play.So I go over to Dusseldorf,
Germany played for the rhine Fire atthe time. They had a training camp
(21:41):
for a month in Atlanta. Theteam was nice enough to let me skip
that because I had just come offa season. So I show up in
Atlanta fly over with the team.Our first game. We show up and
I'm out doing stretching and just gettingready for the game. There's maybe seven
eight hundred people in the stands andI'm sitting there thinking to myself, what
have I done? Why am Ihere? And then I quickly kind of
refolks on like the reason you hearsget film, you idiots. So we
(22:03):
go back in the locker room,we do our pregame adjustments, we go
back out on the field for introductionsand the place is absolutely packed. And
I quickly learned that the German fanslove the tailgate right. They take tailgating
to a whole new they. Imean, do you think the SEC has
Yeah, they're out there. Theygot the barbecues, all the braw wars
going, the beers flowing and allstuff, and they come in and sticks
(22:23):
on the stands and there's like thirtyto thirty five thousand people where we played.
It's an old soccer stadium, andthese thirty thousand fans sound like eighty
thousand because there's no rules of whatthey can bring into the stadium. So
there's whistles, there's air raid sirens, there's flares, there's those little clappy
you know clackers. I mean itis so loud, and they don't really
(22:44):
know home field advantage, right,so noise control. So we're at home
and we can barely hear the snapcount. But it was a great experience.
I mean we're in dusseldor if Imean, it's a ninety minute train
ride to Amsterdam, three hour bullettrain ride up to Paris. Would you
guys take the train? Yeah?Well when we travel week, I'm just
saying, like on our days offwe could travel around and go see things.
But you know, played down inBarcelona. I went up to play
(23:07):
a team in Amsterdam. Who thequarterback that Brampston and that your was Kurt
Warner heard him? Yeah, LondonBerlin didn't have a team then, but
frankfort have. So yeah, wetraveled all over Europe playing football. And
did you get your film? Yeah? I did, and so came back.
I signed with the forty nine ers. I always say I was there
for a couple of coffee. Igot released out of training camp, but
that's when I signed with the Cardinals. And then how long we with the
Cardinals. I was with the Cardinalsfor that whole off season. Then I
(23:29):
went into training camp the following year, and that's when I was released from
the Cardinals. And that's when itkind of started setting that might start be
time to start thinking about what you'regonna do with your life, Derek.
I think football might be done foryou. And at the time I'm twenty
Let's say I was twenty eight yearsold at the time, and I'm like,
all right, you still have along life to live, and you
know football is no longer probably inthe cards. So let's let's look at
(23:49):
the next stage in your life.When you got released, whether it was
with San Francisco or with the Cardinals, what was that moment like, was
it a bring your playbook? Wasit devis? It was absolutely that,
So it was the phone call.I'm at my apartment both times, and
I made it to the final cutwith both teams. It was just a
phone call, Hey, coach soand so it needs to see you and
(24:10):
bring your playbook. And you're justlike, oh man, and it's tough.
I mean, you've been doing something, like I said, since I
was five years old, and nowI'm having another guy tell me you're not
good enough. You're just not goodenough for us. Maybe another team,
but for us, you're just notgood enough. And when you've been told
that a couple of times, youstart thinking that, yeah, maybe I'm
not good enough. And it tookme a while to really accept that.
(24:30):
It was about a year where I'msitting there going, I know I can
still play, but I've had theseguys tell me that I'm not good enough
to do it, so maybe I'mnot. And I was okay. It
took me a while to accept thatthat I was a great college player.
I made it to the pros,lived out a childhood dream, drafted in
the NFL, but you know,I just wasn't good enough to make it
at that level. And I'm okay, I'm perfectly fine with that now to
(24:53):
tell people. Yeah. Well,at the time it was to it was
tough, but then I quickly realizedthat, hey, listen, you get
if you're all you tried the bestand with your guy given ability, you
just weren't able to do it.Yeah, and it can't last forever no
matter how good you are. Noone, I mean very, very,
very few people get to go outon their own terms. We're not all
John Elway, we're not all paidTom Brady, when all go out on
(25:14):
in terms, Everyone at some pointin time during their career gets that phone
call where you're just not good enough. And whether you last I got I
got three credited season, played fivetotal, but you know some guys played
ten plus years and at some pointtime they're told you're no longer good enough.
That's a hard line to hear fromanybody, absolutely at ball or whether
it's in business or whatever you're doingin your life. For someone else to
tell you you're just not good enough, it's a hard pill to swallow.
(25:37):
But I'm totally fine with it.So you're told that for a second time,
and then what do you decide todo? So at the time I
was dating this gal, her dadwas a crew chief for a Winston Cup
team in NASCAR and they needed asports marketing director. And my degree from
CEU was in marketing. So Iwas like, yeah, yeah, let's
give this a shot. So Imoved out to Charlotte, North Carolina.
I become a sports marketing director fora Winston Cup team. That's pretty sweet.
(25:57):
First, John, Derek Cool,I tell you what, anyone listening
here, if you haven't had achance to stand on pit row of the
Daytona five hundred when they brought thegreen flag. It was one of the
coolest experiences ever. And so welasted. We lost our sponsor. We
were with the Island Oasis race team. We lost our sponsorship. Things with
South with the Girl, I movedback home here to Colorado, and then
(26:17):
I landed job at EAS, whichwas a sports supplemented company, and I
become head of sales for YS,and I've spent the last twenty plus years
in that industry. You stayed withthe AS for a little while, and
then I was with the AS forabout four years and then I left there.
I went to work for a companycalled Europa Sports. They were a
multiline sports supplement distributor. Left there, my business partner Brad Piott, who
had started Muscle Farm. I cameon board to help him run his sales,
(26:41):
and he's been a guest on theshow. They're on the podcast.
Brad's a dear friend of mine.We played a lot of golf together.
Still, So yeah, I wentand ran sales at at Muscle Farm and
then a handful of companies since then. And you love it. I love
it. That's great. And thenyou married a Husker I did. That's
another funny story. So I movedback. I didn't even meet one.
Yeah, so I moved back fromCharlotte, got the job with the AS
and it was funny at the time. Let's see, this would have been
(27:03):
late March. It was in twothousand, so it's going into spring ball.
It was alumni weekend, so alot of guys who I played college
football with we're back in town forthat weekend. It was the ten year
anniversary of the national championship team,so a lot of guys are back in
town. I get a call,Hey, Derek, so and so and
so and so, I was gonnabe up in Boulder. You should come
up and meet everybody. Great.I haven't seen these guys in five years.
So I go up to Boulder.There's a bunch of us at a
(27:23):
place called the Foundry. So we'reall in this bar area, just kind
of catching up. This girl walksin with her friend and she looks over
and she goes, wow, that'sthe guy like to meet, you know.
So she thought it was so worksas a bunch of guys around a
bar taking pictures of each other andthis kind of like kind of cell phone
time, but we had like thedisposable cameras were all taking pictures. And
(27:44):
so later on that night I metmy wife, and so you met her
at the Foundry. You met herat the Foundry later that fall. The
funny story is, so this issix months into us dating. We go
to a big banquet at the Omni, the celebration for the ten year anniversary
of the Nation Championship team, andI introduced my now wife to coach McCartney
and I said, hey, coach, just want you to meet Kara's she's
a Husker. So I just gotto know that that I have your blessing
(28:06):
to marry it possibly marry a husker. We were engaged at the time,
but things were getting serious and hegave us his buzz guy. It seems
like a good girl, Derek.So I think you got a good one
here well, and you needed that. He's a second father to you.
You need that blessing, the blessingthat I could marry a Husker. And
she played sports at Nebraska. Shedid. She was a softball player in
Nebraska. Okay, she grew upin Bowlder, Colorado, kind of wanted
to leave town. She had offersup at CSU, but she wanted to
(28:27):
get away from home and went toNebraska played softball there. So she's still
a Colorado girl. So she's gotthat going for And then you two have
two daughters, who I mean,you guys just breed athletes. The obviously
between the two of you, becauseyou've got one Jordan, who's in softball
up at CSU, and then Ashley'sat USHI playing volleyball. So talk about
(28:48):
watching your girls do that. Andthen now they're in college athletics. After
your experience and also Carra's experience withcollege athletics, I'm sure it's different yet
the same. It's different because nowI'm no longer you know, Derek,
and they're no longer my daughters.I'm now Ashley's dad or I'm now Jordan's
dad, which I'm totally cool with. And they they're just such great young
ladies and I'm so proud of whatthey've blossomed into. And we didn't carry
(29:11):
their way. If they got inathletics, we just we're just athletic people.
So growing up, we just exposedthem to everything. They played soccer,
they played basketball, volleyball, andsoftball. Obviously Ashley was in gymnastics
for years, she did dance,and so we just exposed them all kinds
of different things and then just gravitatedtowards the sports. Right now, being
that you are a CU guy,do you have any problem with the CSU
(29:32):
affiliation with your daughter or do youhave a separation of church and state there?
I don't. It's so funny.So I was just planning a member
guest golf tournament last week, andone of the days I wore all CSU
gear, I had a couple ofguys come up to me and say,
dare how can you wear that greenand gold. I'm like, pretty easy,
because my daughter means a heck ofa lot more to me than my
time's up at CU. So Iprobably were the CSU gear. I love
(29:53):
it. I know your Twitter picture, You're in your Colorado State show and
I'm like, wow, look atthat. That's saying something. And I
love for Collins too. It's agreat town, great school. So I'm
a very proud buff but happy tosupport the CEA issue and also Utah as
well. Oh yeah yeah Utah.Now now with the move to the Big
twelve, it's so funny. Mydaughter called me and she's freaking out.
This is after Sea. You wouldalready been announced the Big twelve. Not
(30:15):
sure what's going on with Utah,so she's freaking out. We're going to
be at a conference with nobody andthen they get announced later that day to
the Big twelve. So it's kindof cool that now see you in Utah
are back when you were at CUwas the Big eight y right, So
how weird is it for you watchingall of these conference realignments because I feel
like when we were growing up,it was so pure. You knew where
everybody was, nobody moved, andthe great rivalries were made from that as
(30:38):
well. They were in good lucktrying to name all the teams now and
what corps is there? And it'sno more numbers. I know, it's
interesting. I mean my daughter,actually she's got some nil stuff going on.
I mean the landscape, that's right. Yeah, the landscape of college
outlets has just changed so much.And we talked about the time I've been
bolder, like when Westbrook was backin Cordell, they were back for the
spring game. We were just sittingaround talking about it. You imagine what
(31:00):
they would have made. Oh mygosh, right, So I mean,
I mean, they would have madea killing. And but you worry about
the deviceiveness in a locker room,and we talked about offensive linemen not really
getting the notoriety. Would we havemade any money? I don't know.
But we're the ones kind of doinghonestly for all the word honestly. Probably
not because people didn't know you.But you are doing a lot of the
work, right, whereas Westbreak andCordel would be making a killing. Yes,
(31:22):
you worry about the devisiveness. It'llbe interesting to see if that starts
to happen with some of these teams. And hopefully the good teams will say,
Okay, everybody gets X, soat least everybody's getting something, but
your marquee guys and gals are stillgoing to get a big lion share of
something. But and that's life,right, I mean, looking at pro
sports, I mean there's the quarterbacksmake quarterback money, and you know,
obviously left tackles are making good money, but they're still that big separation of
(31:45):
salaries and pro sports too. Butso you'll always deal with that. Even
in business world, there's a reasonCEOs make X money and the managers and
I don't want to say the grunts, but they make less. And that's
just life. We're just not usedto it at the college yet. Right,
It'll be interesting to see what happens. Yeah, all right, Derek,
as we wrap this up, whatdo you tell people when they are
going through tough times in life?You've gone through a few. You're very
(32:06):
descriptive about saying, you know,you're not good enough when you get told
that and somebody tells you that,whether it's sports or whether it's business.
What's your advice to people on howto get through those times. You just
have to have a solid foundation,and whether it's spiritual, family, friends,
I think you just have to havea great foundation and have a vision.
I'm a big believer in goal setting, so you know, I start
every day starting like, what aremy tasks for the day, and just
(32:29):
keep ground and keep your vision forward. Listen, there's an old saying tough
times don't last, tough people do. And I just think, listen,
life's gonna throw curveballs at you allthe time, you know, whether it's
family, friends, business, Keepyour vision focused and keep the big picture
in mine. I love it.This has been awesome. Thank you for
the time today to get to knowyou a little bit more. And I
(32:51):
love that you were bringing you overfrom the black and gold side to the
green and gold. Well, there'llbe a day this fall where I will
not be green and gold. Sooh I know which day that is.
Thanks Eric, Thanks, thank you, Derek West. We'll keep that green
and gold on him for as longas we possibly can. New episodes of
Cut, Traded, Fired, Retiredcome out every Tuesday on nearly every podcast
platform. Please follow, download,and review this podcast wherever you listen to
(33:15):
podcasts, and remember you can getsocial and find out about new episodes on
Twitter and Instagram at CTFUR podcast andcheck out the website CTFR podcast dot com.
To find out more about me.Visit Susiewargin dot com. Thank you
again for listening and until next time, please be careful, be safe and
be kind. Take care,
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