April 24, 2024 • 44 mins
Have you ever taken a stroll down memory lane and found yourself embroiled in the heartwarming tales of a small-town hero? That's exactly what happened when I sat down with coach Matt Altomare, the pulse of Leetonia High School football, whose story is as deeply woven into the fabric of Leetonia, Ohio, as the gridiron itself. Our conversation traverses the cherished corridors of community bonds, Italian heritage, and the legacy of following in his father's coaching footsteps, a poignant reflection that's sure to resonate with anyone who holds their hometown close to their heart.
It's a gripping tale of destiny and determination as we unearth the serendipitous paths our careers have taken. You'll be privy to the twists of fate that saw me sidestep from a 2.0 GPA college graduate to a stand-up comedian, and Matt's journey from the field to the sidelines, molding young athletes with the same vigor his father did. We swap stories of Fiddys legendary networking skills, a testament to the power of connections that bind us, whether in comedy clubs or coaching huddles.
As we wrap up, you'll feel the grit and passion of high school football coaching coursing through your veins. Matt opens up about the ebb and flow of his career, the hiatus he took for his family, and the drive that led him back to the game. The candid tales of navigating through a losing streak and aiming for a triumphant return to Leetonia's glory days will leave you cheering from the sidelines. So if you've ever wondered about the life lessons sports impart or simply enjoy a good chronicle of redemption and revival, this episode is a score for your listening playlist. Share it with friends, family, and the guy next door – because stories like these are the touchdowns of the human spirit.
Stupid Should Hurt
Link to my Merch store the Stupid Should Hurt Line!
Reaper Apparel
Reaper Apparel Co was built for those who refuse to die slowly! Reaper isn't just clothing it’s a lifestyle!
Subscribe for exclusive content: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1530455/support
Tactical BrotherhoodThe Tactical Brotherhood is a movement to support America.
Dubby Energy
FROM GAMERS TO GYM JUNKIES TO ENTREPRENEURS, OUR PRODUCT IS FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BE BETTER.
Shankitgolf
Our goal here at Shankitgolf is for everyone to have a great time on and off the golf course
Bono's Brew
Fresh ground coffee, in a variety of flavors, shipped right to your door within 3 days!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,mike Bono.
I have a great guest for ustoday.
He comes all the way from oneof my favorite towns to do
comedy and I've done it a lot oftimes in Latonia, ohio.
Matt Altimore, the head coachof Latonia High School, joins
(00:22):
the show.
Matt, thanks for joining.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it forjoining.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it,love it.
Hey, not a problem at all.
So, like I said, I mean yougrew up in Latonia and you know
you're from there and you know,tell the listeners that may not
know, but I've been to Latonia abunch.
I've done a lot of comedy showsat the Tipsy Cal there I love
that little place.
(00:43):
Pepsical there I love thatlittle place.
It's a great little bar.
But you know, tell peoplewhat's it like in the town of
Latonia Ohio.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You know it's an old town, it's an Italian town.
That was the identity you know,a long time back In fact.
You know my grandfather cameover in 1912 when he was six
years old.
So the town kind of had itsidentity now, just like a lot of
small towns in Ohio probably,where a lot of your listeners
(01:12):
are from or where you're from.
You know they went through asort of I don't know crisis of
identity there for a little bit,but you know we're still
striving to thrive.
I guess you could say it's atiny town.
Uh, we're the smallest schooldistrict in the county, uh, the
third smallest in the tri-countyarea.
So, uh, we're just trying tokeep on, keep on.
(01:32):
It's a great town, uh, you know, uh, the doors aren't locked
right now, so I don't want to.
I know this is going on the airlater, so but uh, yeah, door
leave, doors open, garage open.
You know it's, uh, everybodyknows everybody kind of feeling.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I definitely get that.
I live in a small town now inOhio.
It's called Philo.
It's actually considered avillage.
There's that little people init.
Oh, yeah, we live here.
I'm originally born and raisedin West Virginia, a little small
town, fonesby, west Virginia.
I called it Little Italy.
You know, like you said, littlePetonia, it was nothing,
(02:09):
everybody's naming it in a vowwhen you went there.
So, but yeah, a town of like1,200 people, if that.
And you know, like you said,leave the doors unlocked.
Everybody knows, like, we haveneighbors that still to this day
don't even knock.
They just kind of they.
If they see the cars in thedriveway, the doors open,
they're coming in.
(02:29):
They don't, they don't need toknock and you know you greet
them with open arms becauseeverybody knows everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I love it.
Yeah, I've been to fallingsbybefore.
Uh, you know, probably for amaybe another podcast, but uh
had a girl that I I was prettysweet on back in the day from
Follinsby and you know I spentsome time there and I love that
town.
Love that town.
You know you go down that area,you know Steubenville South and
(02:55):
it's, you know it's a nice,it's a nice area and you're
right, there are a lot ofItalian communities there.
So, yeah, follinsby I'veactually believe it or not uh,
uh, have been to before.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You're one of the first listeners in four years of
doing this show that actuallyknows my hometown one, and
actually you've been there, so Iappreciate it, I love it, I
love it.
But yeah, you know, growing up,you know, in Latonia.
You know your dad was alegendary football coach there.
You know what was it likegrowing up with him as a coach
and then ultimately replacinghim as the head coach of Latonia
(03:28):
.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
High School.
Sure, that's a lot to unpack,but I grew up around the sport
of football.
My dad started coaching as ahead coach at Latonia in 1975,
and I was born in 1976.
I was born on a Tuesday night,I believe, and they played their
final football game of theseason on Thursday and I still
(03:50):
have the ball right behind mehere.
You know that's the first thingthat ever came in my trophy
case for coaching and it'sprobably the last thing I'll
ever take out of it Kind ofproud of that.
You know they signed the ballfor me.
So you know, growing up, um, mydad being a football coach, with
being such a small town too,you know you knew everyone and
uh, you still do know everybody.
(04:10):
And uh, you know I really enjoythat and there's a lot of times
where, you know, sometimes,depending on how the game goes
on friday, you might be at thelocal family dollar or somewhere
and they might turn down theother aisle to try to avoid
voyage.
Or other times, you know, theymight be like, hey, let me buy
you a pop or a beer or something, and uh, you know that's what
(04:31):
it's about.
But you, you know everybody, um, you can connect every and not
just knowing everybody, but youcan connect everybody within a
couple or two degree.
You know two or three degrees.
You know, even if you don'tknow somebody, you know somebody
that knows somebody.
That and that's why they endedup in Latonia, you know, because
of those connections.
So, you know, it's a great,great experience.
(04:52):
And sometimes, you know, I leftcoaching.
I still taught it Latonia, butI left coaching at Latonia for
about nine years.
So this coming season will bethe first year in 10 years that
I'll be back and, uh, you knowI'll be the first to admit
sometimes you need to leave alittle bit, uh, to kind of
(05:12):
appreciate both the town, boththe sport, both, um, you know
everything that comes along withit.
So, you know, coming back, um,after my last time in 2014, I've
got a new and differentperspective about things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, I actually get that 100%.
I mean I grew up playingfootball.
I love the sport of football.
Back in the day every highschool kid is like, oh, I'm
going D1.
Football is going to be it forit.
I mean that didn't pan out forme at all, but I love the sport
of football and now that myson's finally in high school he
(05:50):
was a freshman this past yeargetting back into going to the
high school football games andeverything like that, it's like
man.
Now I really want to get intocoaching.
I just wish I had the time toget into coaching.
I might actually I've beenthinking about it, I've been
kicking it around this yearprobably be able to volunteer a
(06:12):
few days here and there with thehigh school team and help out
where I can.
As a former high school receiverI know a little bit.
I can help out where needed.
I wish I could help.
My son know he's a lineman.
I do not know how to coach alineman.
He's the center.
Now he got moved to center fora guard.
It's just like dude, make surethe quarterback gets the ball
(06:35):
and hits somebody.
That's all I can do is just hitsomebody.
That's all I can tell you to do.
He loves it and it's making mewant to get into it.
So, yeah, I definitely knowwhat you mean by.
You know being away from thegame for as long as I have.
I miss it, I miss it, and mywife yells at me every Sunday
during football season is thiswhat you're going to?
(06:56):
do all day.
Absolutely, this is what I'mgoing to do all day.
It's my only day off.
Of course I'm going to sit andwatch some football all day.
But yeah, steelers fan, yeah,steelers fan.
I root for the Steelers.
Growing up in Fulham's B,there's no pro teams in West
Virginia and being 45 minutes toan hour away from the stadium,
(07:20):
I root for all the Pittsburghteams Pirates, penguins and
Steelers.
I am a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fannow because when I was real
young they still had thosecreamsicle orange jerseys.
Love them, I love those jerseysand as a kid I was like those
are sweet and it just kind ofstuck.
And I've been a fan ever since,even through the tough years.
(07:40):
Wow, that's impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Now my daughter's uh, nine years old.
Uh, she started becoming uh andshe is now a diehard baltimore
ravens fan, to my much mychagrin.
So we are brown's family, um, Ithink, um one of the.
There's only been two argumentsI ever won with my wife over
the years okay, argument numberone, she's from pittsburgh, our
family's from pittsburgh.
Okay, and uh, of course youknow being in this from the city
(08:08):
, uh, which I don't understandabout pittsburgh either, because
you know people that are frompittsburgh say the neighborhood
they're from, but then thepeople from the suburbs say
they're pittsburgh, so that's awhole nother story yeah, that,
yeah that.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That could be a whole show in itself.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, so my wife, you know their parents are from
Troy Hill, she's from Bloomfield, which are still right by the
Strip District.
But, yeah, another podcast.
So, anyway, the point isthey're diehard Pittsburgh.
But our family, leetonia, we'rediehard Browns fans and, you
know, raised my son, right, he'sa diehard Browns fans.
(08:44):
And, um, you know, raised myson, right, he's a diehard
Cleveland fan.
So that's good.
Um, my daughter was the same way, just like you, uh, love the
color purple, and she saw theVikings when she was like about
four years old on the TV, said,ah, I like that's my favorite
team.
Well, the Vikings reallyweren't on TV too much, but you
got to see the Ravens and nextthing, you know Ravens wearing
(09:07):
purple at home and she's adiehard Ravens fan.
So well, yeah, that's one ofthe arguments I won against.
My wife was converted to atleast my son to Cleveland fan.
The other argument is I got atruck.
So there, that's it the onlytwo things I so there, there,
that's it.
There's the only two thingsI've ever won, that's it it
(09:30):
reminds me of my, of my parents.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
My dad makes this joke all the time and it's
because he did not want to nameme michael.
I'm actually a junior.
I'm named after my father.
Okay, yeah, and he didn't.
He didn't want to name me afterhim.
My mom did.
He wanted to name me GianniAntonio was what he wanted to
name me.
Very Italian name, I mean.
Yeah, but he said that my namewas the first argument he lost
(09:58):
with my mother and she has beenundefeated, unscored upon, and
she's done.
He hasn't even sniffed the goal, he hasn't had anything.
So he always makes the jokethat he wanted to call me Gianni
Antonio so he can call me G,which he still does to this day.
Like, every time I call him, hestill calls me G.
(10:20):
So it's just his way of gettingback to her.
Well, good for him.
I definitely understand thatyour mother.
She's undefeated, she'sunscored upon, and it started
with your name.
I did not want you to be ajunior and here we are.
That's great.
So you're a teacher in theschool district in Ohio.
(10:41):
I believe you had to be atleast in the school system in
some sort to be a high schoolcoach.
So you know how long where didyou go to college?
And you know is that what yourdegree was in was in teaching,
sure.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, so you know, like you said, I was born and
raised in Latonia.
I did get to take a littlesabbatical.
Uh, I went to um, a smallcollege in canton, ohio, um,
alone college.
It was called malone collegeback then.
Um that they just startedfootball team.
Um, I was fortunate enough toplay football in college from
alone, um, fortunate enough justto learn a lot of life lessons
(11:18):
but also, you know, a lot oflifelong friends.
And uh, I got to the pointwhere I was done and I actually
had an opportunity to startcoaching with Coach Trestle at
Youngstown State, first as astudent coach and then as a
graduate assistant.
And it just so worked out thatI was a health and physical
(11:39):
education major at Malone.
But whenever the creditstransferred they said, hey, you
have more, more credits forbeing an elementary teacher.
I said okay, well, that's fine.
Whatever I didn't, I'm gonna behonest with you.
I hope I'm not gonna give toomuch of a uplifting message here
to your viewers, but I probablycan self-deprecate and say here
(12:02):
I have the lowest GPA ofprobably any school teacher in
our school district right now.
Um, you know just, uh, but Imade it through and uh made it
through with an elementaryeducation degree and I was very
fortunate, um, my father hadtaken a few years off of
coaching came back and when hecame back, he, he kind of he
(12:23):
asked me.
He said, I'm going to come backif you come back.
And I said, well, sure, I'dlove to.
And uh, happened to be ateaching position open at
litonia, um, jumped in on that,um, that was where my student
teaching was.
And uh, I've never actuallytaught in another district.
Uh, it's very rare you know.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
so that's very rare to to hear that, but I kind of
get it that, like you said, withthe schooling and you know well
, you have these credits to todo this and that.
And you know, I started as abusiness major in college and I
tell everyone you don't get tobe a comedian if you're book
smart.
So, um, yeah, I started as abusiness major.
(13:03):
Then my my advisor, like mysophomore year, was like all
right, so, mike, here we havetwo options here for you.
You can either A stay as abusiness major and fail out, or
we can change your major andbasically start over.
I was like I'm paying a lot ofmoney to be here and I'm on the
swim team here.
So, yeah, that's kind of.
What was that second optionthat you had there for me?
What was that second optionthat you had there for me?
(13:26):
And, lo and behold, I had takenenough business classes that my
senior year my advisor was likeyou know, you have enough
credits to have an accountingminor on your diploma, right?
I was like no one's evermentioned that to me.
I had to do a victory lapbecause I changed my major
within the five years I've beenhere.
No one's ever said that.
So yeah, so I get it.
(13:47):
Like you know, you have thosecredits and I was like, do I
have to do anything else forthat?
Like no, you have it, it's doneand it's on your diploma.
And I was like that's awesome.
Yeah, thank you for yeah, I getit.
I graduated college with a 2.0,which is the bare minimum at
(14:10):
Bethany College that will allowyou to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Good old, bethany Good old.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Bethany College yeah, they let me graduate somehow.
But I got the degree.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, I got you a little bit, I think, but it's
been a long time.
I mean, you're 25 now, sonobody cares now, right.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, I mean I could go into college.
About being in college andgoing to school there, I mean
it's not for everybody.
I get that.
You know, now, looking back,being a comedian, yeah, I'm a
comedian, don't really need acollege degree to be a stand-up
comedian, so, but you know it iswhat it is and you know I
(14:53):
wouldn't change it for the world.
I had a lot of life experiences.
Met johnny uh, there too aswell, mutual connection who
connected us here together.
So, um, good old johnny falconeuh, you know, met.
He knows a lot of people too.
Yeah, he knows so many people.
Like there's times I'm like,how do you know them?
How do you know this manypeople?
He's like I don't know, I justmeet people and I like to talk
(15:15):
to people.
I was like, clearly, becauseyou know more people than me and
I travel around doing stand-upshows, how do you know more
people than me?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
That's the truth too.
It could have been a whole halfa podcast.
If, uh, uh, I would ask them,hey, where, where you been, what
you've been doing?
Because there's alwayssomething going on with him and
he's always somewhere and youknow, uh, it's, it's he's hard
guy to keep track of too.
Once you, uh, you know, try togo through his resume, I guess,
oh, yeah yeah, yeah for sure,trying to go through his resume.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I mean, speaking of resume, like you you mentioned a
little bit before here.
You know you ran Latonia, youresigned for a little bit and
then you came back.
So take us through a little bitof your coaching journey.
You know for the listeners outthere and you know how it all
basically got started andeverything like that, and you
know where you're at nowno-transcript, and that was it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
so I didn't really have a lot of choices there, um,
but yeah, so I played ballMalone wanted to keep stay
around the game.
My dad was still around thegame.
Um, you know, I went toyoungstown state for a year and
a half, two years uh, over twoyears, excuse me and uh, great
experience there.
You know, I could going onabout the stuff I learned, the
(17:03):
stuff I experienced, um, but youknow, like being a college
coach is is tough, you know, anduh, I always had in the back of
my mind, you know, I wanted tosettle down, I wanted to uh, you
know, start a family.
And you know, I kind of knew,even at 22 years old, maybe not
the best, uh, career choice Ifyou wanted to find a good,
(17:25):
wholesome woman and, uh, start afamily with.
So, like I said, my father cameback, asked me to come back
with him, loved spending timewith my family.
Family's the most importantthing, I mean.
In fact, you know I'll get intohow I ended up at Leetonia, but
you know, I know it's coming up.
That was strictly a familydecision, you know.
(17:47):
And so I came back.
I was assistant coach for a fewyears with my dad and then, uh,
you know, he said, all right,you know, after 30 years, hey,
it's time for you, time for youto take over and and and shine.
And uh, I was head coach atLatonia first time around.
I was assistant for eight yearsand a head coach for eight
years.
(18:07):
So I spent the first 16 yearsof my high school coaching
career at Leetonia and you know,I had some great times.
I'll tell you what the firsttwo years, we won a league
championship Boy.
I tell you what, when you'reyoung and your first two years
of coaching boy, you think youknow everything, especially
after you have success like that.
And then, you know, I had acouple bad years in there, in
(18:36):
between there, you know years,you didn't win as many games as
you wanted, but uh, um, you know, I stepped away and I needed to
.
At the time I wasn't sure if itwas the right decision, wasn't
sure if I wanted to.
I needed a couple nudges tojust, uh, refresh and recharge
my batteries.
And, uh, I have two children,um, less than two years apart.
And, and you know, I made itthrough when my son was born and
he's 11, almost 12, probably 12, a couple of weeks from now.
I made it through him.
(18:56):
When my daughter was bornthere's something about
daughters, man it was just likeI don't know my baby girl, I
didn't want to be apart from her.
I mean, that was all you couldthink of and you know it was the
best life decision for me atthe time.
To, you know, step back and,you know, be a husband, be a
good husband, be a good father.
Took a year off, but not really.
(19:18):
I went around different schools, kind of helped out how I can
did what I, you know, said heywhat can?
I do to help, you know, becausecoaching is close fraternity,
you build a lot of goodrelationships.
So then after that I, uh I wentto Canfield, uh, which is just
a little bit up North, uh, for acouple of years and, uh, then I
went to Salem, um, for a coupleof years and, uh, both, both of
(19:43):
those schools were because ofthe people that were in charge.
You know, you got to coach withgood people, you got to hire
good people.
Now you know your head coachand you know Mike Pavlansky was
at Canfield at the time, one ofmy closest friends.
Ron Johnson is at Salem, stillOne of my closest friends.
So I wanted to, you know, enjoythat part of coaching Came up,
(20:05):
the opportunity came up atLisbon.
I had past relationship withtheir administration, um, they
kind of nudged me to uh go downand and uh check things out and
spent, uh, you know, fourseasons, four and a half years,
down in lisbon, great town, um,I don't know if you ever did any
comedy down there.
There's, uh, probably not a lotof opportunities, but uh, it's
(20:28):
a great little town.
Um, I always say our little try, little corridor here.
Lisbon, litonia and salem areall pretty much the same places.
You know, you just got to readthe road signs to know.
So I'll spend time four yearsthere.
A lot of build, a lot of greatrelationships, had some great
kids, had some good seasons.
And, uh, you know, theopportunity came up to come to
(20:51):
litonia and, uh, you know, mykids go to school here.
I live here, um, you know, Ishrunk my commute from 10
minutes down to 1800 feet.
So, um, and it's great, but Idon't know how you are.
Um, I could say this, you know,now, since it's not like an
official teaching podcast orwhatever, the closer I get to my
(21:13):
workplace, the more likely I amto be late every single day.
So I'm always up there, I'm upthere all the time, you know,
being a coach and a teacher, youknow, today we had baseball
practice up there.
We had, you know, picked a kidup for baseball.
Then I was watching the highschool baseball game.
(21:35):
Um, they were playing jefferson, county christian, which is
down from where you're from.
You know where you're fromoriginally.
But uh, um, so watch out alittle bit, come home, tried to,
I don't know, I didn't even geta chance.
I don't know if my hair looksgood or not.
No, you're good and should haveknown it was a hat man and I
would have worn my hat.
I didn't know what the properprotocol is we're not that
serious here at the show.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Here we're.
We keep it light here as muchas we possibly, can you know
good, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know, and I and I listen to, uh, some of your
stuff and that's, I love that.
I love that about the podcast.
I can't wait to keep checking,keep checking it out, because
that's that's uh, I think that'sgreat, it's needed.
You know, you need some lightand entertaining stuff to listen
to.
Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I don't.
Honestly, if it wasn't forCOVID, I probably wouldn't be
podcasting, because I was one ofthose people Like I fought
podcasts, like I don't want tolisten to this, I don't need
this on my phone, don't want todo get into all this.
But you know covet opens youreyes to a lot of gloating.
You know, especially people inthe entertainment world like me,
(22:38):
you know our jobs aren'tessential.
You know the the world's justdown yeah, I'm out of work so.
So it was rough and you know,had a lot of people you know
telling me um, they were wantingto sign me as a comic, to be,
you know, a full-timeprofessional comedian, leaving a
day job, all this other stuff,um, and then the world shut down
(23:02):
and then they all backed outand they said it was because I
didn't have an online presence.
So so, in true Paisan fashion,out of spite, I started this
show to grow an online presenceand it's gone pretty well.
So I can't say that I'm mad atit.
(23:24):
But you mentioned something,eddie my wife and I live by this
.
Laughter is the best medicineyou need that break to just
times get tough.
Everyone goes through it atsome point or another.
You got to find the funny inevery situation, otherwise
you're not going to make it.
So you mentioned that and Ilike to at least mention that on
(23:47):
as many shows as I can andremember too.
But you know, laughter is thebest medicine in the world for
me, exactly, exactly and justtalking.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, you know, just talking.
You know, just like what we'redoing, just talk, just talking
and cracking jokes, crackingwise a little bit, I mean,
that's, that's what it's about.
You know, the human interactionpart of 2024, I think could
always be improved on.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely For sure.
You know I I've worked in sales.
You know you get to talk to adifferent person every, every
interaction.
It's a different person comingin and it's, it's, it's fun, I
love it.
And you know it's something youknow, trying to to teach my son
, who's always just in in his,in his phone at 15, you know
(24:30):
he's like, how about we put thataway and you come sit down and
have a talk with your mother andI and we'll just, we'll, just,
we'll just hang out.
We're not even, it's not eventhat serious, let's just hang
out and have a conversation.
He's like, oh, but I'm, I'm God, whatever.
Oh, but I'm got to whatever.
Dude, go ahead, see you later.
No, we're on the back burner atparents at 15.
(24:55):
We're on the back burner.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
When did the phone start?
Because we're right at, we'reright in the Fortnite kind of
deal right now.
Everything is Fortnite, youknow, but we haven't gotten into
the phones yet.
When did the phone start?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You said your son was 15.
When did yeah, when did thathappen?
I mean, we, we got him his hisfirst little phone.
My wife and I met we wereworking at at&t at the time.
So we know, we, we got him hisfirst phone.
I think he was like nine or tenand it was because we weren't
home a lot at sales jobs so, uh,we needed to be able to get a
hold of him and stuff like that,given he was just at his
(25:36):
grandmother's.
But you know, we just we neededto be able to get a hold of him
or just check in on him.
But he really really got intohim.
I'm gonna say it was like 11 or12.
He was really just non-stopgames, texting friends that had
(25:57):
it snapchat now and it's justlike I mean, dude, I I get it,
it's cool, it's fun.
But you got to put that downand check out from it for a
little bit, trust me, because hedoesn't quite understand.
When I come home my phone goesdown and it's family time.
(26:23):
If it buzzes because being inthe entertainment industry it
could buzz for shows all thetime I'll quickly peek at it
just to see.
If it's important, I'll answerit, obviously, but if it's not,
you can wait until tomorrow.
I'm not answering it if I don'thave to, that's great.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I wish I was better at that.
I'm starting a new program herewhich I mean I know I was here,
but you know, came back tolitonia.
You're always answering thephone or picking your phone, you
know, and, uh, I wish I wasbetter at that.
You know, we try, we try to eatdinner as a family as often as
possible, but you know, doesn'thappen you know, but we try,
(27:05):
yeah, like we, we get it.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Like, my wife and i's work schedules are all over the
place, and especially with mewith shows and stuff like that.
I still do work a day job, uh,but like, yeah, today, like you
know, wife doesn't get home tillprobably 9 30 tonight.
So, wow me, me and the son,we're going to eat something,
I'm going to make something forher, I'm going to have it, you
(27:28):
know, warmed up by the time shegets home.
But yeah, we, we don't get alot of times to to eat as a
family, as we should.
But, as you know, as a paisan,sundays we're both off, so it's
pasta day and we have, we haveour sunday sauce and that's our
family did dinner that we get tohave as we finally get it in my
(27:51):
son, he looks forward toSundays because pasta and
spaghetti is by far his favoritemeal.
He could eat it seven days aweek.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I was able to make my homemade linguine with white
clams last night.
That's what my son wants.
That sounds really good.
It turned out pretty well,pretty well.
You know, uh, I don't know, youknow what your background your
wife has, but, um, you know, mywife's a polish, german, from
pittsburgh, and there are nospices that she'll put in her
and her whenever she cookssomething.
(28:24):
So, uh, when it comes to youknow, the sundae sauce or
lasagna, or even a baked fish,that's on me, I do take pride in
my cooking.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I do too.
I love to cook.
My wife didn't realize thatwhen she met me that I actually
like to cook.
That's a little bit of therapyfor me.
She's full Irish and I'm fullItalian.
We're a very loud household.
I was going to say, yeah, we'rea very loud household, that's
just saying that I was going tosay yeah, we're a very loud
household, but my wife's cookingis phenomenal.
(28:59):
I'll tell you that I graduatedcollege at 165 pounds, at 6'5".
I was just a little stick of aswimmer.
I swam, so I couldn't reallybulk up.
I am now 220 pounds and that isall her.
That is awesome.
(29:21):
That is all her.
I love it.
That is all her, for sure.
I love it.
But I want to get into this.
We mentioned it a little bitthere before.
You know, knowing the wonderfulmanager of the podcast here,
johnny Fitty Falcone, whocoached at Lowville, you know,
and apparently you two had acouple of runs in with Latonia
(29:41):
and Lowville and had some goodgames back when they played each
other.
Can you take me through some ofthe games and what it was like
coaching, uh, against, uh.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Good old fitty well, he is an interesting character
to coach against.
I'll say that you know, um, andand now that I'm in, you know
my 40s, have been in it 25 years.
I I'm not the same coach as Iwas, as far as you know, maybe
showing all your emotions on thefield and on your side and all
that.
But uh, you know, you know, uh,coach Falcone there, uh, he's
(30:14):
going to be emotional, he goingto be excited and that's great.
You know, uh, if he was on, I'dlove him to join our staff if
he had the time.
But uh, uh.
So we had some intense battles,not just um, because there are
two good programs too.
You know, louisville andLatonia were kind of rolling,
both rolling at the time, and soyou know there's a lot of fans
(30:37):
in the stands and Louisville andLatonia are kind of similar
communities, or at least theyused to be.
You know, louisville has a bigItalian presence.
I believe they're the secondsmallest school in Moaning
County.
We're the smallest, but I thinkLouisville is pretty close to
our enrollment.
So you know, you had twoschools, similar size, similar
(31:00):
backgrounds, you know, and youknow I'm trying not to be
stereotyping or whatever, butyou know, kind of what we used
to do was we would look and seehow many names end in vowels and
they're like oh, you know, youknow they got all this.
You know and I know it probablywasn't right or probably isn't
a 2024 thing to say, but it'skind of what we looked at
(31:24):
because we knew there washard-nosed kids there we did
have some good battles.
I think I had the opportunity tocoach against Johnny when I
think he spent some time atLisbon actually too, where I was
just the head coach, and Ithink I remember coaching
against John then also.
So he'd been around.
(31:45):
I'd been a few different places, but not as many as him.
You know, I still remember oneday he just texted me.
He's like hey, I'm going to bethe head coach at Lakeview, pa,
and I didn't even know wherethat was.
I said congratulations.
I didn't know too much about it.
I didn't know too much.
I said, great, it sounds likean awesome opportunity, but I
(32:05):
know it's just across the border, but I don't know it could be a
world away when you cross thatstate border.
So yeah, we've had some goodbattles Over the years and 25
years of coaching there's beensome good games that I've been a
part of Okay, so that, allbeing said, what is the outlook
for the up-and-coming season forLatonia?
We're going to be better.
(32:27):
I can say that with 100%confidence.
It's a hard thing to answer and, believe me, people have asked
me this a hundred times, if nota thousand, already.
What are you going to do?
How are you going to be?
And you know you can'tsugarcoat it.
The bottom line is um, you know, uh, the program.
(32:48):
I was at a head coach at down inlisbon.
You know, we were leaguerunner-up last year.
The program was trending in theright direction, winning more
games each of the last fouryears.
Um, and you know, you know youcan't sugarcoat it Um, latonia
has lost 28 football games in arow.
Um and uh, so we're going to bebetter.
(33:08):
I can guarantee you we're goingto be better.
You know, um, you know, withwith a new coach whether it's me
or anybody else, you know youget some excitement.
Um, I'm in the school every day, you know, and that's basically
what I'm doing.
I've hired some great people asassistant coaches, you know,
and they can worry about thatstuff.
I just want to make thisprogram something that the
(33:30):
community can be proud of again,something that gets people in
the stands.
You know, coaching on theopposite end of the sidelines
last year looking up at thestands, you know, I'm like
there's so many things we couldbe doing to get the, you know,
the elementary kids to the games, to get some of the old timers
around town, you know.
(33:50):
So, really, that's, that'sreally my focus is trying to
breed enthusiasm, breedexcitement.
And you know, like I said, Igrew up around this sport, I
grew up around this town.
You know, I remember being awater boy in 1984, playing for
the league championship, week 10, and there's 5,000 people in
(34:11):
the in the stands, you know, andall around the stands.
So I mean I, I know we're notgoing to get to that point.
That's 2024.
It's just the way it is, youknow, over the course of, you
know, almost 50 years.
But you know we're going to tryand so I mean that's the
outlook.
We're going to have a JV teamfor the first time since I've
(34:34):
been gone.
We want to get these kids toplay football and enjoy what
they're doing, and that's whatit's about Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
I'll tell you this I will be trying to keep up as
much as I can with Latonia highschool football this year.
I follow everybody, if they'rea coach or a player.
I try to stay in touch andfollow as much as I can.
My phone literally dings allthe time and it's updates.
I've had players who playoverseas that were from here and
(35:07):
all hours of the night becausetheir games are different time
zones.
The one time my phone wasdinging was score updates and
stat updates from a guy thatplays in Iceland right now.
I think, oh, wow, and it was 3in the morning and my phone is
just dinging and my wife is likewhat is that and who is texting
(35:29):
you at 3 in the morning?
I was like that's a sportsupdate for Rashad, who's playing
over.
He has a game today.
It's in Iceland.
I forgot to mute that I couldnot stay up.
But yeah, I do stay up.
If I say I'm going to try tostay up with it, I will stay up
with it the best I can for youguys and I'll be rooting for you
(35:53):
this year.
Coach, getting off of thoselosing streaks is tough.
It is my high school.
When I played there they were apowerhouse.
Brook High was a powerhouse andit had the down years of, as
they called it, mediocrity at5-5 every year.
And my senior year we were ableto break that, go 6-4, and make
(36:21):
the playoffs for the first timein like ten years Wow, Just
seeing fans back in the stands.
So I get it your footballFriday night.
It's kidding around Ohio andWest Virginia and PA.
It's football Friday night.
You're right, everybody lovesit and I love it.
And getting to go back to thegames now Now my son's back in
high school has given me alittle bit more rejuvenated and
(36:43):
back into the football spirit.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Philo's got a good program too.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
They got a decent program.
First time really seeing it inhigh school with my son being a
freshman this year.
But I like what I saw from thecoaching staff and the players
and just, you know, it's alittle farm town.
You know, got a bunch ofcorn-fed boys here that are just
big boys.
So it's definitely good.
(37:13):
It's good for sure.
But I do have to get this onelast segment in here for you.
Yeah, um, because we arerunning down near the end of the
episode and, as someone who'slistened to the show before, I'm
sure you know what's coming in.
It is the fast 55.
And that is five randomquestions from the wonderful
manager of the podcast, johnnyFitty Falcone.
(37:34):
Uh, yeah, uh, matt, these havenothing to do with what we've
been talking about the entiretime.
So if you're ready, we'll getgoing with the Fast 55.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Here we go?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Question number one what came first, the chicken or
the egg Egg, okay, okay.
Question number two what's abetter color orange or yellow
Orange?
What's a better color, orangeor yellow Orange?
All right, what's moreterrifying a polar bear or an
elephant?
An elephant, okay, I did notsee that one coming as the
(38:11):
answer.
But question number four whatis your ideal breakfast meal?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Hashbrowns and all the meat I could fit on my plate
.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
That's probably the best answer to a food question
that we've had on this segmentin a long time.
And last but not least, oneword to describe grapes is.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Used to make one word .
Oh, now you're killing me Wine.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I was going to say I know where you're going with
that Wine.
Yeah, that was the fast, prettyfast.
I think he took it easy on youthere, Coach, for a little bit
he really did.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
That was a lot of either ors.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I don easy on you there, coach, for a little bit.
He really did.
That was a lot of either-ors.
I don't get a lot of either-orsout of him.
I think he took it a little tooeasy.
I might have to get on aboutthat.
I appreciate that.
It was a little too easy foryou, coach.
Yeah, hey, I like easy, yeah,but, like I said, we are running
down near the end of theepisode.
I give every guest thisopportunity at the end of the
show.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
If there's anything you want to get out there
whether it's a good message orwhy come play football at
latonia, or just anything ingeneral that you've got to get
out there, the floor is yours,coach hey, um, really, it's uh
just gonna be a matter of I'dlike everybody out there
remember to show gratitude andthanks uh to what other people
do and uh, uh, you know, everylittle thing matters and every
(39:42):
little thing counts.
So, you know, just look andshow some gratitude, that's it.
You know, that's all I got.
Uh, you know, uh, latonia willtake care of itself.
Uh, you know, I hope uh didn't.
Okay, maybe got some listeners,maybe check us out, but
realistically, let's, you know,let's look into showing some
gratitude I gotta tell you, man,I love it when there's a good
(40:04):
message to end the show.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I really do.
I love it when I'm all forguests coming on and helping
them promote what they got goingon, but when it's just a good
message like that, I love the,the way that makes the show end.
But that is going to do it forthis week's episode of the Ride
Home Rants podcast.
Once again, I want to thank myguest, coach Matt Altimore, from
(40:28):
Latonia, ohio and Latonia HighSchool.
Like I said before, I will bekeeping up with you, coach, so
hoping for good things for youand really rooting for you guys
this year to break out of thatslump and get back on the
winning tradition there atLatonia.
As always, if you enjoyed theshow, be a friend, tell a friend
.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just
(40:49):
because you didn't.
That's going to do it for meand I will see y'all next week.
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rants podcast.
This is, as always, your host,mike Bono.
I have a great guest for ustoday.
He comes all the way from oneof my favorite towns to do
comedy and I've done it a lot oftimes in Latonia, ohio.
Matt Altimore, the head coachof Latonia High School, joins
(00:22):
the show.
Matt, thanks for joining.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it forjoining.
Thanks, mike, appreciate it,love it.
Hey, not a problem at all.
So, like I said, I mean yougrew up in Latonia and you know
you're from there and you know,tell the listeners that may not
know, but I've been to Latonia abunch.
I've done a lot of comedy showsat the Tipsy Cal there I love
that little place.
(00:43):
Pepsical there I love thatlittle place.
It's a great little bar.
But you know, tell peoplewhat's it like in the town of
Latonia Ohio.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You know it's an old town, it's an Italian town.
That was the identity you know,a long time back In fact.
You know my grandfather cameover in 1912 when he was six
years old.
So the town kind of had itsidentity now, just like a lot of
small towns in Ohio probably,where a lot of your listeners
(01:12):
are from or where you're from.
You know they went through asort of I don't know crisis of
identity there for a little bit,but you know we're still
striving to thrive.
I guess you could say it's atiny town.
Uh, we're the smallest schooldistrict in the county, uh, the
third smallest in the tri-countyarea.
So, uh, we're just trying tokeep on, keep on.
(01:32):
It's a great town, uh, you know, uh, the doors aren't locked
right now, so I don't want to.
I know this is going on the airlater, so but uh, yeah, door
leave, doors open, garage open.
You know it's, uh, everybodyknows everybody kind of feeling.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I definitely get that.
I live in a small town now inOhio.
It's called Philo.
It's actually considered avillage.
There's that little people init.
Oh, yeah, we live here.
I'm originally born and raisedin West Virginia, a little small
town, fonesby, west Virginia.
I called it Little Italy.
You know, like you said, littlePetonia, it was nothing,
(02:09):
everybody's naming it in a vowwhen you went there.
So, but yeah, a town of like1,200 people, if that.
And you know, like you said,leave the doors unlocked.
Everybody knows, like, we haveneighbors that still to this day
don't even knock.
They just kind of they.
If they see the cars in thedriveway, the doors open,
they're coming in.
(02:29):
They don't, they don't need toknock and you know you greet
them with open arms becauseeverybody knows everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
I love it.
Yeah, I've been to fallingsbybefore.
Uh, you know, probably for amaybe another podcast, but uh
had a girl that I I was prettysweet on back in the day from
Follinsby and you know I spentsome time there and I love that
town.
Love that town.
You know you go down that area,you know Steubenville South and
(02:55):
it's, you know it's a nice,it's a nice area and you're
right, there are a lot ofItalian communities there.
So, yeah, follinsby I'veactually believe it or not uh,
uh, have been to before.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
You're one of the first listeners in four years of
doing this show that actuallyknows my hometown one, and
actually you've been there, so Iappreciate it, I love it, I
love it.
But yeah, you know, growing up,you know, in Latonia.
You know your dad was alegendary football coach there.
You know what was it likegrowing up with him as a coach
and then ultimately replacinghim as the head coach of Latonia
(03:28):
.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
High School.
Sure, that's a lot to unpack,but I grew up around the sport
of football.
My dad started coaching as ahead coach at Latonia in 1975,
and I was born in 1976.
I was born on a Tuesday night,I believe, and they played their
final football game of theseason on Thursday and I still
(03:50):
have the ball right behind mehere.
You know that's the first thingthat ever came in my trophy
case for coaching and it'sprobably the last thing I'll
ever take out of it Kind ofproud of that.
You know they signed the ballfor me.
So you know, growing up, um, mydad being a football coach, with
being such a small town too,you know you knew everyone and
uh, you still do know everybody.
(04:10):
And uh, you know I really enjoythat and there's a lot of times
where, you know, sometimes,depending on how the game goes
on friday, you might be at thelocal family dollar or somewhere
and they might turn down theother aisle to try to avoid
voyage.
Or other times, you know, theymight be like, hey, let me buy
you a pop or a beer or something, and uh, you know that's what
(04:31):
it's about.
But you, you know everybody, um, you can connect every and not
just knowing everybody, but youcan connect everybody within a
couple or two degree.
You know two or three degrees.
You know, even if you don'tknow somebody, you know somebody
that knows somebody.
That and that's why they endedup in Latonia, you know, because
of those connections.
So, you know, it's a great,great experience.
(04:52):
And sometimes, you know, I leftcoaching.
I still taught it Latonia, butI left coaching at Latonia for
about nine years.
So this coming season will bethe first year in 10 years that
I'll be back and, uh, you knowI'll be the first to admit
sometimes you need to leave alittle bit, uh, to kind of
(05:12):
appreciate both the town, boththe sport, both, um, you know
everything that comes along withit.
So, you know, coming back, um,after my last time in 2014, I've
got a new and differentperspective about things.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, I actually get that 100%.
I mean I grew up playingfootball.
I love the sport of football.
Back in the day every highschool kid is like, oh, I'm
going D1.
Football is going to be it forit.
I mean that didn't pan out forme at all, but I love the sport
of football and now that myson's finally in high school he
(05:50):
was a freshman this past yeargetting back into going to the
high school football games andeverything like that, it's like
man.
Now I really want to get intocoaching.
I just wish I had the time toget into coaching.
I might actually I've beenthinking about it, I've been
kicking it around this yearprobably be able to volunteer a
(06:12):
few days here and there with thehigh school team and help out
where I can.
As a former high school receiverI know a little bit.
I can help out where needed.
I wish I could help.
My son know he's a lineman.
I do not know how to coach alineman.
He's the center.
Now he got moved to center fora guard.
It's just like dude, make surethe quarterback gets the ball
(06:35):
and hits somebody.
That's all I can do is just hitsomebody.
That's all I can tell you to do.
He loves it and it's making mewant to get into it.
So, yeah, I definitely knowwhat you mean by.
You know being away from thegame for as long as I have.
I miss it, I miss it, and mywife yells at me every Sunday
during football season is thiswhat you're going to?
(06:56):
do all day.
Absolutely, this is what I'mgoing to do all day.
It's my only day off.
Of course I'm going to sit andwatch some football all day.
But yeah, steelers fan, yeah,steelers fan.
I root for the Steelers.
Growing up in Fulham's B,there's no pro teams in West
Virginia and being 45 minutes toan hour away from the stadium,
(07:20):
I root for all the Pittsburghteams Pirates, penguins and
Steelers.
I am a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fannow because when I was real
young they still had thosecreamsicle orange jerseys.
Love them, I love those jerseysand as a kid I was like those
are sweet and it just kind ofstuck.
And I've been a fan ever since,even through the tough years.
(07:40):
Wow, that's impressive.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Now my daughter's uh, nine years old.
Uh, she started becoming uh andshe is now a diehard baltimore
ravens fan, to my much mychagrin.
So we are brown's family, um, Ithink, um one of the.
There's only been two argumentsI ever won with my wife over
the years okay, argument numberone, she's from pittsburgh, our
family's from pittsburgh.
Okay, and uh, of course youknow being in this from the city
(08:08):
, uh, which I don't understandabout pittsburgh either, because
you know people that are frompittsburgh say the neighborhood
they're from, but then thepeople from the suburbs say
they're pittsburgh, so that's awhole nother story yeah, that,
yeah that.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
That could be a whole show in itself.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, so my wife, you know their parents are from
Troy Hill, she's from Bloomfield, which are still right by the
Strip District.
But, yeah, another podcast.
So, anyway, the point isthey're diehard Pittsburgh.
But our family, leetonia, we'rediehard Browns fans and, you
know, raised my son, right, he'sa diehard Browns fans.
(08:44):
And, um, you know, raised myson, right, he's a diehard
Cleveland fan.
So that's good.
Um, my daughter was the same way, just like you, uh, love the
color purple, and she saw theVikings when she was like about
four years old on the TV, said,ah, I like that's my favorite
team.
Well, the Vikings reallyweren't on TV too much, but you
got to see the Ravens and nextthing, you know Ravens wearing
(09:07):
purple at home and she's adiehard Ravens fan.
So well, yeah, that's one ofthe arguments I won against.
My wife was converted to atleast my son to Cleveland fan.
The other argument is I got atruck.
So there, that's it the onlytwo things I so there, there,
that's it.
There's the only two thingsI've ever won, that's it it
(09:30):
reminds me of my, of my parents.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
My dad makes this joke all the time and it's
because he did not want to nameme michael.
I'm actually a junior.
I'm named after my father.
Okay, yeah, and he didn't.
He didn't want to name me afterhim.
My mom did.
He wanted to name me GianniAntonio was what he wanted to
name me.
Very Italian name, I mean.
Yeah, but he said that my namewas the first argument he lost
(09:58):
with my mother and she has beenundefeated, unscored upon, and
she's done.
He hasn't even sniffed the goal, he hasn't had anything.
So he always makes the jokethat he wanted to call me Gianni
Antonio so he can call me G,which he still does to this day.
Like, every time I call him, hestill calls me G.
(10:20):
So it's just his way of gettingback to her.
Well, good for him.
I definitely understand thatyour mother.
She's undefeated, she'sunscored upon, and it started
with your name.
I did not want you to be ajunior and here we are.
That's great.
So you're a teacher in theschool district in Ohio.
(10:41):
I believe you had to be atleast in the school system in
some sort to be a high schoolcoach.
So you know how long where didyou go to college?
And you know is that what yourdegree was in was in teaching,
sure.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, so you know, like you said, I was born and
raised in Latonia.
I did get to take a littlesabbatical.
Uh, I went to um, a smallcollege in canton, ohio, um,
alone college.
It was called malone collegeback then.
Um that they just startedfootball team.
Um, I was fortunate enough toplay football in college from
alone, um, fortunate enough justto learn a lot of life lessons
(11:18):
but also, you know, a lot oflifelong friends.
And uh, I got to the pointwhere I was done and I actually
had an opportunity to startcoaching with Coach Trestle at
Youngstown State, first as astudent coach and then as a
graduate assistant.
And it just so worked out thatI was a health and physical
(11:39):
education major at Malone.
But whenever the creditstransferred they said, hey, you
have more, more credits forbeing an elementary teacher.
I said okay, well, that's fine.
Whatever I didn't, I'm gonna behonest with you.
I hope I'm not gonna give toomuch of a uplifting message here
to your viewers, but I probablycan self-deprecate and say here
(12:02):
I have the lowest GPA ofprobably any school teacher in
our school district right now.
Um, you know just, uh, but Imade it through and uh made it
through with an elementaryeducation degree and I was very
fortunate, um, my father hadtaken a few years off of
coaching came back and when hecame back, he, he kind of he
(12:23):
asked me.
He said, I'm going to come backif you come back.
And I said, well, sure, I'dlove to.
And uh, happened to be ateaching position open at
litonia, um, jumped in on that,um, that was where my student
teaching was.
And uh, I've never actuallytaught in another district.
Uh, it's very rare you know.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
so that's very rare to to hear that, but I kind of
get it that, like you said, withthe schooling and you know well
, you have these credits to todo this and that.
And you know, I started as abusiness major in college and I
tell everyone you don't get tobe a comedian if you're book
smart.
So, um, yeah, I started as abusiness major.
(13:03):
Then my my advisor, like mysophomore year, was like all
right, so, mike, here we havetwo options here for you.
You can either A stay as abusiness major and fail out, or
we can change your major andbasically start over.
I was like I'm paying a lot ofmoney to be here and I'm on the
swim team here.
So, yeah, that's kind of.
What was that second optionthat you had there for me?
What was that second optionthat you had there for me?
(13:26):
And, lo and behold, I had takenenough business classes that my
senior year my advisor was likeyou know, you have enough
credits to have an accountingminor on your diploma, right?
I was like no one's evermentioned that to me.
I had to do a victory lapbecause I changed my major
within the five years I've beenhere.
No one's ever said that.
So yeah, so I get it.
(13:47):
Like you know, you have thosecredits and I was like, do I
have to do anything else forthat?
Like no, you have it, it's doneand it's on your diploma.
And I was like that's awesome.
Yeah, thank you for yeah, I getit.
I graduated college with a 2.0,which is the bare minimum at
(14:10):
Bethany College that will allowyou to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Good old, bethany Good old.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Bethany College yeah, they let me graduate somehow.
But I got the degree.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Well, I got you a little bit, I think, but it's
been a long time.
I mean, you're 25 now, sonobody cares now, right.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, I mean I could go into college.
About being in college andgoing to school there, I mean
it's not for everybody.
I get that.
You know, now, looking back,being a comedian, yeah, I'm a
comedian, don't really need acollege degree to be a stand-up
comedian, so, but you know it iswhat it is and you know I
(14:53):
wouldn't change it for the world.
I had a lot of life experiences.
Met johnny uh, there too aswell, mutual connection who
connected us here together.
So, um, good old johnny falconeuh, you know, met.
He knows a lot of people too.
Yeah, he knows so many people.
Like there's times I'm like,how do you know them?
How do you know this manypeople?
He's like I don't know, I justmeet people and I like to talk
(15:15):
to people.
I was like, clearly, becauseyou know more people than me and
I travel around doing stand-upshows, how do you know more
people than me?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
That's the truth too.
It could have been a whole halfa podcast.
If, uh, uh, I would ask them,hey, where, where you been, what
you've been doing?
Because there's alwayssomething going on with him and
he's always somewhere and youknow, uh, it's, it's he's hard
guy to keep track of too.
Once you, uh, you know, try togo through his resume, I guess,
oh, yeah yeah, yeah for sure,trying to go through his resume.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I mean, speaking of resume, like you you mentioned a
little bit before here.
You know you ran Latonia, youresigned for a little bit and
then you came back.
So take us through a little bitof your coaching journey.
You know for the listeners outthere and you know how it all
basically got started andeverything like that, and you
know where you're at nowno-transcript, and that was it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
so I didn't really have a lot of choices there, um,
but yeah, so I played ballMalone wanted to keep stay
around the game.
My dad was still around thegame.
Um, you know, I went toyoungstown state for a year and
a half, two years uh, over twoyears, excuse me and uh, great
experience there.
You know, I could going onabout the stuff I learned, the
(17:03):
stuff I experienced, um, but youknow, like being a college
coach is is tough, you know, anduh, I always had in the back of
my mind, you know, I wanted tosettle down, I wanted to uh, you
know, start a family.
And you know, I kind of knew,even at 22 years old, maybe not
the best, uh, career choice Ifyou wanted to find a good,
(17:25):
wholesome woman and, uh, start afamily with.
So, like I said, my father cameback, asked me to come back
with him, loved spending timewith my family.
Family's the most importantthing, I mean.
In fact, you know I'll get intohow I ended up at Leetonia, but
you know, I know it's coming up.
That was strictly a familydecision, you know.
(17:47):
And so I came back.
I was assistant coach for a fewyears with my dad and then, uh,
you know, he said, all right,you know, after 30 years, hey,
it's time for you, time for youto take over and and and shine.
And uh, I was head coach atLatonia first time around.
I was assistant for eight yearsand a head coach for eight
years.
(18:07):
So I spent the first 16 yearsof my high school coaching
career at Leetonia and you know,I had some great times.
I'll tell you what the firsttwo years, we won a league
championship Boy.
I tell you what, when you'reyoung and your first two years
of coaching boy, you think youknow everything, especially
after you have success like that.
And then, you know, I had acouple bad years in there, in
(18:36):
between there, you know years,you didn't win as many games as
you wanted, but uh, um, you know, I stepped away and I needed to
.
At the time I wasn't sure if itwas the right decision, wasn't
sure if I wanted to.
I needed a couple nudges tojust, uh, refresh and recharge
my batteries.
And, uh, I have two children,um, less than two years apart.
And, and you know, I made itthrough when my son was born and
he's 11, almost 12, probably 12, a couple of weeks from now.
I made it through him.
(18:56):
When my daughter was bornthere's something about
daughters, man it was just likeI don't know my baby girl, I
didn't want to be apart from her.
I mean, that was all you couldthink of and you know it was the
best life decision for me atthe time.
To, you know, step back and,you know, be a husband, be a
good husband, be a good father.
Took a year off, but not really.
(19:18):
I went around different schools, kind of helped out how I can
did what I, you know, said heywhat can?
I do to help, you know, becausecoaching is close fraternity,
you build a lot of goodrelationships.
So then after that I, uh I wentto Canfield, uh, which is just
a little bit up North, uh, for acouple of years and, uh, then I
went to Salem, um, for a coupleof years and, uh, both, both of
(19:43):
those schools were because ofthe people that were in charge.
You know, you got to coach withgood people, you got to hire
good people.
Now you know your head coachand you know Mike Pavlansky was
at Canfield at the time, one ofmy closest friends.
Ron Johnson is at Salem, stillOne of my closest friends.
So I wanted to, you know, enjoythat part of coaching Came up,
(20:05):
the opportunity came up atLisbon.
I had past relationship withtheir administration, um, they
kind of nudged me to uh go downand and uh check things out and
spent, uh, you know, fourseasons, four and a half years,
down in lisbon, great town, um,I don't know if you ever did any
comedy down there.
There's, uh, probably not a lotof opportunities, but uh, it's
(20:28):
a great little town.
Um, I always say our little try, little corridor here.
Lisbon, litonia and salem areall pretty much the same places.
You know, you just got to readthe road signs to know.
So I'll spend time four yearsthere.
A lot of build, a lot of greatrelationships, had some great
kids, had some good seasons.
And, uh, you know, theopportunity came up to come to
(20:51):
litonia and, uh, you know, mykids go to school here.
I live here, um, you know, Ishrunk my commute from 10
minutes down to 1800 feet.
So, um, and it's great, but Idon't know how you are.
Um, I could say this, you know,now, since it's not like an
official teaching podcast orwhatever, the closer I get to my
(21:13):
workplace, the more likely I amto be late every single day.
So I'm always up there, I'm upthere all the time, you know,
being a coach and a teacher, youknow, today we had baseball
practice up there.
We had, you know, picked a kidup for baseball.
Then I was watching the highschool baseball game.
(21:35):
Um, they were playing jefferson, county christian, which is
down from where you're from.
You know where you're fromoriginally.
But uh, um, so watch out alittle bit, come home, tried to,
I don't know, I didn't even geta chance.
I don't know if my hair looksgood or not.
No, you're good and should haveknown it was a hat man and I
would have worn my hat.
I didn't know what the properprotocol is we're not that
serious here at the show.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Here we're.
We keep it light here as muchas we possibly, can you know
good, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know, and I and I listen to, uh, some of your
stuff and that's, I love that.
I love that about the podcast.
I can't wait to keep checking,keep checking it out, because
that's that's uh, I think that'sgreat, it's needed.
You know, you need some lightand entertaining stuff to listen
to.
Oh, 100%.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I don't.
Honestly, if it wasn't forCOVID, I probably wouldn't be
podcasting, because I was one ofthose people Like I fought
podcasts, like I don't want tolisten to this, I don't need
this on my phone, don't want todo get into all this.
But you know covet opens youreyes to a lot of gloating.
You know, especially people inthe entertainment world like me,
(22:38):
you know our jobs aren'tessential.
You know the the world's justdown yeah, I'm out of work so.
So it was rough and you know,had a lot of people you know
telling me um, they were wantingto sign me as a comic, to be,
you know, a full-timeprofessional comedian, leaving a
day job, all this other stuff,um, and then the world shut down
(23:02):
and then they all backed outand they said it was because I
didn't have an online presence.
So so, in true Paisan fashion,out of spite, I started this
show to grow an online presenceand it's gone pretty well.
So I can't say that I'm mad atit.
(23:24):
But you mentioned something,eddie my wife and I live by this
.
Laughter is the best medicineyou need that break to just
times get tough.
Everyone goes through it atsome point or another.
You got to find the funny inevery situation, otherwise
you're not going to make it.
So you mentioned that and Ilike to at least mention that on
(23:47):
as many shows as I can andremember too.
But you know, laughter is thebest medicine in the world for
me, exactly, exactly and justtalking.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, you know, just talking.
You know, just like what we'redoing, just talk, just talking
and cracking jokes, crackingwise a little bit, I mean,
that's, that's what it's about.
You know, the human interactionpart of 2024, I think could
always be improved on.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely For sure.
You know I I've worked in sales.
You know you get to talk to adifferent person every, every
interaction.
It's a different person comingin and it's, it's, it's fun, I
love it.
And you know it's something youknow, trying to to teach my son
, who's always just in in his,in his phone at 15, you know
(24:30):
he's like, how about we put thataway and you come sit down and
have a talk with your mother andI and we'll just, we'll, just,
we'll just hang out.
We're not even, it's not eventhat serious, let's just hang
out and have a conversation.
He's like, oh, but I'm, I'm God, whatever.
Oh, but I'm got to whatever.
Dude, go ahead, see you later.
No, we're on the back burner atparents at 15.
(24:55):
We're on the back burner.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
When did the phone start?
Because we're right at, we'reright in the Fortnite kind of
deal right now.
Everything is Fortnite, youknow, but we haven't gotten into
the phones yet.
When did the phone start?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
You said your son was 15.
When did yeah, when did thathappen?
I mean, we, we got him his hisfirst little phone.
My wife and I met we wereworking at at&t at the time.
So we know, we, we got him hisfirst phone.
I think he was like nine or tenand it was because we weren't
home a lot at sales jobs so, uh,we needed to be able to get a
hold of him and stuff like that,given he was just at his
(25:36):
grandmother's.
But you know, we just we neededto be able to get a hold of him
or just check in on him.
But he really really got intohim.
I'm gonna say it was like 11 or12.
He was really just non-stopgames, texting friends that had
(25:57):
it snapchat now and it's justlike I mean, dude, I I get it,
it's cool, it's fun.
But you got to put that downand check out from it for a
little bit, trust me, because hedoesn't quite understand.
When I come home my phone goesdown and it's family time.
(26:23):
If it buzzes because being inthe entertainment industry it
could buzz for shows all thetime I'll quickly peek at it
just to see.
If it's important, I'll answerit, obviously, but if it's not,
you can wait until tomorrow.
I'm not answering it if I don'thave to, that's great.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I wish I was better at that.
I'm starting a new program herewhich I mean I know I was here,
but you know, came back tolitonia.
You're always answering thephone or picking your phone, you
know, and, uh, I wish I wasbetter at that.
You know, we try, we try to eatdinner as a family as often as
possible, but you know, doesn'thappen you know, but we try,
(27:05):
yeah, like we, we get it.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Like, my wife and i's work schedules are all over the
place, and especially with mewith shows and stuff like that.
I still do work a day job, uh,but like, yeah, today, like you
know, wife doesn't get home tillprobably 9 30 tonight.
So, wow me, me and the son,we're going to eat something,
I'm going to make something forher, I'm going to have it, you
(27:28):
know, warmed up by the time shegets home.
But yeah, we, we don't get alot of times to to eat as a
family, as we should.
But, as you know, as a paisan,sundays we're both off, so it's
pasta day and we have, we haveour sunday sauce and that's our
family did dinner that we get tohave as we finally get it in my
(27:51):
son, he looks forward toSundays because pasta and
spaghetti is by far his favoritemeal.
He could eat it seven days aweek.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I was able to make my homemade linguine with white
clams last night.
That's what my son wants.
That sounds really good.
It turned out pretty well,pretty well.
You know, uh, I don't know, youknow what your background your
wife has, but, um, you know, mywife's a polish, german, from
pittsburgh, and there are nospices that she'll put in her
and her whenever she cookssomething.
(28:24):
So, uh, when it comes to youknow, the sundae sauce or
lasagna, or even a baked fish,that's on me, I do take pride in
my cooking.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I do too.
I love to cook.
My wife didn't realize thatwhen she met me that I actually
like to cook.
That's a little bit of therapyfor me.
She's full Irish and I'm fullItalian.
We're a very loud household.
I was going to say, yeah, we'rea very loud household, that's
just saying that I was going tosay yeah, we're a very loud
household, but my wife's cookingis phenomenal.
(28:59):
I'll tell you that I graduatedcollege at 165 pounds, at 6'5".
I was just a little stick of aswimmer.
I swam, so I couldn't reallybulk up.
I am now 220 pounds and that isall her.
That is awesome.
(29:21):
That is all her.
I love it.
That is all her, for sure.
I love it.
But I want to get into this.
We mentioned it a little bitthere before.
You know, knowing the wonderfulmanager of the podcast here,
johnny Fitty Falcone, whocoached at Lowville, you know,
and apparently you two had acouple of runs in with Latonia
(29:41):
and Lowville and had some goodgames back when they played each
other.
Can you take me through some ofthe games and what it was like
coaching, uh, against, uh.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Good old fitty well, he is an interesting character
to coach against.
I'll say that you know, um, andand now that I'm in, you know
my 40s, have been in it 25 years.
I I'm not the same coach as Iwas, as far as you know, maybe
showing all your emotions on thefield and on your side and all
that.
But uh, you know, you know, uh,coach Falcone there, uh, he's
(30:14):
going to be emotional, he goingto be excited and that's great.
You know, uh, if he was on, I'dlove him to join our staff if
he had the time.
But uh, uh.
So we had some intense battles,not just um, because there are
two good programs too.
You know, louisville andLatonia were kind of rolling,
both rolling at the time, and soyou know there's a lot of fans
(30:37):
in the stands and Louisville andLatonia are kind of similar
communities, or at least theyused to be.
You know, louisville has a bigItalian presence.
I believe they're the secondsmallest school in Moaning
County.
We're the smallest, but I thinkLouisville is pretty close to
our enrollment.
So you know, you had twoschools, similar size, similar
(31:00):
backgrounds, you know, and youknow I'm trying not to be
stereotyping or whatever, butyou know, kind of what we used
to do was we would look and seehow many names end in vowels and
they're like oh, you know, youknow they got all this.
You know and I know it probablywasn't right or probably isn't
a 2024 thing to say, but it'skind of what we looked at
(31:24):
because we knew there washard-nosed kids there we did
have some good battles.
I think I had the opportunity tocoach against Johnny when I
think he spent some time atLisbon actually too, where I was
just the head coach, and Ithink I remember coaching
against John then also.
So he'd been around.
(31:45):
I'd been a few different places, but not as many as him.
You know, I still remember oneday he just texted me.
He's like hey, I'm going to bethe head coach at Lakeview, pa,
and I didn't even know wherethat was.
I said congratulations.
I didn't know too much about it.
I didn't know too much.
I said, great, it sounds likean awesome opportunity, but I
(32:05):
know it's just across the border, but I don't know it could be a
world away when you cross thatstate border.
So yeah, we've had some goodbattles Over the years and 25
years of coaching there's beensome good games that I've been a
part of Okay, so that, allbeing said, what is the outlook
for the up-and-coming season forLatonia?
We're going to be better.
(32:27):
I can say that with 100%confidence.
It's a hard thing to answer and, believe me, people have asked
me this a hundred times, if nota thousand, already.
What are you going to do?
How are you going to be?
And you know you can'tsugarcoat it.
The bottom line is um, you know, uh, the program.
(32:48):
I was at a head coach at down inlisbon.
You know, we were leaguerunner-up last year.
The program was trending in theright direction, winning more
games each of the last fouryears.
Um, and you know, you know youcan't sugarcoat it Um, latonia
has lost 28 football games in arow.
Um and uh, so we're going to bebetter.
(33:08):
I can guarantee you we're goingto be better.
You know, um, you know, withwith a new coach whether it's me
or anybody else, you know youget some excitement.
Um, I'm in the school every day, you know, and that's basically
what I'm doing.
I've hired some great people asassistant coaches, you know,
and they can worry about thatstuff.
I just want to make thisprogram something that the
(33:30):
community can be proud of again,something that gets people in
the stands.
You know, coaching on theopposite end of the sidelines
last year looking up at thestands, you know, I'm like
there's so many things we couldbe doing to get the, you know,
the elementary kids to the games, to get some of the old timers
around town, you know.
(33:50):
So, really, that's, that'sreally my focus is trying to
breed enthusiasm, breedexcitement.
And you know, like I said, Igrew up around this sport, I
grew up around this town.
You know, I remember being awater boy in 1984, playing for
the league championship, week 10, and there's 5,000 people in
(34:11):
the in the stands, you know, andall around the stands.
So I mean I, I know we're notgoing to get to that point.
That's 2024.
It's just the way it is, youknow, over the course of, you
know, almost 50 years.
But you know we're going to tryand so I mean that's the
outlook.
We're going to have a JV teamfor the first time since I've
(34:34):
been gone.
We want to get these kids toplay football and enjoy what
they're doing, and that's whatit's about Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
I'll tell you this I will be trying to keep up as
much as I can with Latonia highschool football this year.
I follow everybody, if they'rea coach or a player.
I try to stay in touch andfollow as much as I can.
My phone literally dings allthe time and it's updates.
I've had players who playoverseas that were from here and
(35:07):
all hours of the night becausetheir games are different time
zones.
The one time my phone wasdinging was score updates and
stat updates from a guy thatplays in Iceland right now.
I think, oh, wow, and it was 3in the morning and my phone is
just dinging and my wife is likewhat is that and who is texting
(35:29):
you at 3 in the morning?
I was like that's a sportsupdate for Rashad, who's playing
over.
He has a game today.
It's in Iceland.
I forgot to mute that I couldnot stay up.
But yeah, I do stay up.
If I say I'm going to try tostay up with it, I will stay up
with it the best I can for youguys and I'll be rooting for you
(35:53):
this year.
Coach, getting off of thoselosing streaks is tough.
It is my high school.
When I played there they were apowerhouse.
Brook High was a powerhouse andit had the down years of, as
they called it, mediocrity at5-5 every year.
And my senior year we were ableto break that, go 6-4, and make
(36:21):
the playoffs for the first timein like ten years Wow, Just
seeing fans back in the stands.
So I get it your footballFriday night.
It's kidding around Ohio andWest Virginia and PA.
It's football Friday night.
You're right, everybody lovesit and I love it.
And getting to go back to thegames now Now my son's back in
high school has given me alittle bit more rejuvenated and
(36:43):
back into the football spirit.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Philo's got a good program too.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
They got a decent program.
First time really seeing it inhigh school with my son being a
freshman this year.
But I like what I saw from thecoaching staff and the players
and just, you know, it's alittle farm town.
You know, got a bunch ofcorn-fed boys here that are just
big boys.
So it's definitely good.
(37:13):
It's good for sure.
But I do have to get this onelast segment in here for you.
Yeah, um, because we arerunning down near the end of the
episode and, as someone who'slistened to the show before, I'm
sure you know what's coming in.
It is the fast 55.
And that is five randomquestions from the wonderful
manager of the podcast, johnnyFitty Falcone.
(37:34):
Uh, yeah, uh, matt, these havenothing to do with what we've
been talking about the entiretime.
So if you're ready, we'll getgoing with the Fast 55.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Here we go?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Question number one what came first, the chicken or
the egg Egg, okay, okay.
Question number two what's abetter color orange or yellow
Orange?
What's a better color, orangeor yellow Orange?
All right, what's moreterrifying a polar bear or an
elephant?
An elephant, okay, I did notsee that one coming as the
(38:11):
answer.
But question number four whatis your ideal breakfast meal?
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Hashbrowns and all the meat I could fit on my plate
.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
That's probably the best answer to a food question
that we've had on this segmentin a long time.
And last but not least, oneword to describe grapes is.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Used to make one word .
Oh, now you're killing me Wine.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I was going to say I know where you're going with
that Wine.
Yeah, that was the fast, prettyfast.
I think he took it easy on youthere, Coach, for a little bit
he really did.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
That was a lot of either ors.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I don easy on you there, coach, for a little bit.
He really did.
That was a lot of either-ors.
I don't get a lot of either-orsout of him.
I think he took it a little tooeasy.
I might have to get on aboutthat.
I appreciate that.
It was a little too easy foryou, coach.
Yeah, hey, I like easy, yeah,but, like I said, we are running
down near the end of theepisode.
I give every guest thisopportunity at the end of the
show.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
If there's anything you want to get out there
whether it's a good message orwhy come play football at
latonia, or just anything ingeneral that you've got to get
out there, the floor is yours,coach hey, um, really, it's uh
just gonna be a matter of I'dlike everybody out there
remember to show gratitude andthanks uh to what other people
do and uh, uh, you know, everylittle thing matters and every
(39:42):
little thing counts.
So, you know, just look andshow some gratitude, that's it.
You know, that's all I got.
Uh, you know, uh, latonia willtake care of itself.
Uh, you know, I hope uh didn't.
Okay, maybe got some listeners,maybe check us out, but
realistically, let's, you know,let's look into showing some
gratitude I gotta tell you, man,I love it when there's a good
(40:04):
message to end the show.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I really do.
I love it when I'm all forguests coming on and helping
them promote what they got goingon, but when it's just a good
message like that, I love the,the way that makes the show end.
But that is going to do it forthis week's episode of the Ride
Home Rants podcast.
Once again, I want to thank myguest, coach Matt Altimore, from
(40:28):
Latonia, ohio and Latonia HighSchool.
Like I said before, I will bekeeping up with you, coach, so
hoping for good things for youand really rooting for you guys
this year to break out of thatslump and get back on the
winning tradition there atLatonia.
As always, if you enjoyed theshow, be a friend, tell a friend
.
If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just
(40:49):
because you didn't.
That's going to do it for meand I will see y'all next week.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.