Tony Elliott: Building Culture, Leading Through Adversity & The Future of Virginia Football

0:00 Welcome to On the Line with Jim Pine. I'm Jim Pine. This episode is brought to you by PLS Aviation. Private Aviation perfectly executed. Now let's get on the line. So today on the line, we have a two-time national champions and offensive coordinator with Clemson. Last year's ACC Coach of the Year, 11-3 season with the Virginia Cavaliers.

0:20 Head coach Tony Ellen. Coach, welcome to the show.

0:23 No, it's a it's a privilege to be here. Thank you for having me.

0:26 Yeah, first off, I gotta say, you know, I'm I went to tech. Yeah, I know you went to Clemson. We're ACC guys, right? That's the common thread here, obviously. But uh again, UVA, Virginia Tech, big rivalry, great. You know, I always say to guys, like, you know, Ronde Barber, I played with, Terry Kirby, Ray Roberts, Michael Husted, Tony Covington, Herman Moore, friends with Chris Slade.

0:45 I mean, all great guys. You know, we we played in the NFL together, and you know, we always were good friends, a lot of guys from the same area. But you know, that one week a year, it's like, ah, yeah, we're gonna get you guys is the money. Let's let's do that. So, but very similar. A great rivalry, great thing to be part of.

1:00 And uh, you know, you you guys won last year, congratulations, and had a great year. So I guess, coach, I guess what how how do you feel coming off last year? Uh your take on last year going into this year.

1:12 Yeah, it's uh it's a a new frontier for a lot of the folks here in the organization, but it's a a familiar place uh for me. And it's something that I talked about from day one is chasing success is not the hard part, handling success is. And so, so really for me it's it's a reset, right? And and and I fully understand that nothing carries over, right?

1:35 Uh, you know, last year's victories don't win this year's battles, right? But the stats don't carry over. And so really trying to help everybody understand that where you want to live, if you want to live in that that upper echelon of consistency at a high level, it's pretty mundane, to be honest with you, right?

1:54 You just you just you just figure out how to get better at the things that you do, right? You tweak certain processes, you add a few things, but uh really you got to stay committed to what your core values are and what your standards are, and then try and find a way to just elevate them a little bit more.

2:09 Right, no, you had an amazing run at Clemson as as the coordinator there, and uh, you know, your history there at your player, you former walk-on came on and team captain, amazing success story. And uh, you know, I guess what did you you know, Clemson, two-time national champion. You know, what did you the great history, great success there?

2:29 Obviously, you want to try to bring that here with the same methods. And you know, your first few years at at Virginia, you guys have you've been building the program, which in today's world nobody's patient, right? I talk I had Doug Peterson, the former coach of the Eagles, you know, he went Super Bowl, playoff, playoffs, he won losing season, they fired him.

2:46 So it's like, you know, the the patience isn't there, but you know, you're building something there, hopefully building something great for the for the whole future for a bunch. But what are the keys to that, coach, in today's world?

2:56 I think the the the first thing, like from my perspective, is just staying true to your vision. And and so coming to Virginia for me, it was a was a vision, right? I I wanted to build something, I wanted to do it my way. Whether right or wrong, I wanted to have the ability to do that. So I think uh that's where it starts from my perspective, and then just you know, a ton of appreciation and gratitude to the administration for for believing in that same vision.

3:23 So I think, you know, first and foremost, if you if you want to step out and and build something on your own, you gotta have alignment. You gotta align with people that believe in your vision. And then regardless of maybe the results that you're seeing in the moment, stay stay committed to laying the foundation the the right way.

3:41 Because, you know, we all want to be sustainable, but in order to be sustainable, you got to be standing on something that's very solid, right? And so the first couple years for us, I know maybe the results didn't indicate, but we were laying a solid foundation, and I could see things that other people couldn't see because of my experience at Clemson, right?

3:58 So everybody talks about my time as the coordinator the last seven years, but I was there for four seasons before that. So I was there uh during the times uh when Coach Sweeney was really laying the foundation and building for that historic run. So I got to see that, and so I was able to take a lot of the that that experience, and then I had to make some mistakes, right?

4:18 I think I think making mistakes along the way is is part of it. Now it's the response to those mistakes, and and I'm proud of the staff and and and kind of some of the the changes that I had to make to myself personally for us to to lay the foundation and hopefully now we can be sustainable for years to come.

4:35 Now, does that mean it's gonna look exactly like it did last year? No. But really you're you're building something to year in and year out just maximize the potential of the group that you have.

4:46 Right, I don't know. Great answer. So in last season, I looked at four overtime wins, right? Four games, or four overtime games, one t double overtime. I think you won three of them, lost one of them, right? So to you know, tough games, tight, tight league, tight conference. I guess, you know, talk to me about that.

5:03 What going to overtime and how you prevailed three times, lost once.

5:07 Yeah, I I think that you you gotta go back to the year before where we we lost five games, you know, by one possessions uh late in the late in the game. And so so part of it was enduring and persevering through that adversity to really build the mental toughness and belief to win those games. Because you know, you've played ball and played it at the highest level and and and been around it your whole life.

5:31 You know, the the the key is is having the belief to be able to stay committed to your fundamentals when the pressure is the greatest. Right? But you gotta you gotta go through some some adversity, whether on the practice field or whether in a game, to build that mental toughness to be able to stay calm and believe.

5:49 And and that's really what it was. Even the game, you know, that we lost, uh, the guys still believe we had the ball in our hand, we're gonna go win the game. And I mean that's huge. Doesn't mean that you're automatically gonna win, but if you don't have that belief, uh first and foremost, and that's part of that foundation, you know, that we that we talked about.

6:06 And it was it's been so awesome just to watch the transition of the belief within the building, and then now it's it's kind of seeping out to the athletic department, to the community, and you know, hopefully it'll continue to grow because that's what's necessary for you to win close ball games. And college football is changing, right?

6:26 And so I think our approach, and and it naturally happened for us because we lost those five one possession games the year before. Uh but college football's changing in that I think you're gonna have a a lot more one possession games, games going down to the uh to the wire in the fourth quarter.

6:42 Yeah, absolutely. It brings me back memories to put myself in there. My junior year at Virginia Tech, we went two, eight, and one. We were winning seven of those eight games in the fourth quarter. Frank Beamer was the coach. And you know, though things at the end of that season were dicey, like hey, there was talk, hey, is coach gonna be here or not?

6:59 Yeah, we all say keep coach, we love coach. And we that next year we go nine and three, go to a bowl run, and we went to a bunch of bowls after. But to your point, that that turning that mentality and that belief, and I I say I've interviewed some people about it, but it was a guy, Phil Elmation, was the coach, came in my senior year.

7:16 He was actually here last week, though. Was he? Yeah, Phil is the best. He's he's an intense guy. He came in my senior year. We were in full pads four days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Saturday was the game. Five days a week, we were in full pads. So he hardened us up. We had the springtime, we had the match drills going on.

7:35 He changed the culture, changed his everything. That he was the right guy at the right time for tech. So to you, what what did you do, I guess, going into last year along those lines? Maybe you'll five of those games you didn't win the year before, but this year you've you prevailed. Anything you did, training in the guys, like extra drills or emphasis of that in practice, what did you do?

7:56 I think in in preseason camp, we did we did a really good job as a staff incorporating a lot more situational football in addition to you know our core installs, offense, defense, and special teams. And so we as a team we talked about and we used examples, you know, throughout from our own uh experiences and then also other things that we found around college football and pro football just to try and increase the football IQ and the intelligence piece of it.

8:22 I think one of the biggest things that helped us is we had a core nucleus of guys that were all about changing the mindset. They were eager, they were hungry for it, and then three of the transfers that we brought in all had played in a national championship. And so they were able to validate, right, what these guys, the direction these guys were pulling and headed in.

8:46 And I think it kind of took us over, took us over the top. And so the the mixture of what we were believing doing from a belief standpoint, and then also validation from some guys that and one guy won a national championship, other two guys came up short, but they had been in that game, they were able to partner up with those guys to really help us solidify that uh that belief.

9:06 That's great. And one thing I always ask, sorry, yeah, I gotta talk to Doug Peterson and Dan Quinn, the head coach of the commanders, and Dan talked through his stuff, adversity and things. You know, he's winning the Super Bowl, he loses the he lost the Super Bowl, won as a coordinator, twice lost to the Patriots, Bill Br uh Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, right?

9:23 So legendary games, legendary stuff. You know, you last year you played North Carolina, you beat him in overtime. But talk to me about his coach. Listen, this is a I know it's Virginia versus North Carolina, but it's you against Bill Belichick, right? I mean, Doug Peterson admitted to me, he goes before the Super Bowl playing them, he he was scared.

9:41 He was nervous. He was like, you know, you're playing a legend. Because Dan referenced that you know, the level of coaching you're coaching against, you know, it's one thing is as players were out there hitting that could beat this guy, physicality and all that stuff. Guys, players got to make plays, but you as the coach, you're there, you know that guy's buttoned up over there situationally.

9:59 He's not gonna make many mistakes, so there's no situation that's gonna happen that he hasn't seen. Talk to me about that, and then what you going into it because that's a special game. Uh you may you know it's against Bill Belichick, because we don't know how long he's gonna coach, but go ahead.

10:12 That's right. That's right. So so so it's a big game from that aspect. It's it's uh Carolina, Virginia, that that's a big rivalry. So going into it, you could see their team was getting better. The record wasn't reflecting it, but they were playing better. You could see it on film. And and so one, I had to make sure that the guys didn't lack any confidence without it becoming like arrogant.

10:41 It's like, all right boys, I've been there too. Right? So I know what's standing on the other sideline, but I've been there too. And so what we can't do, first and foremost, is we can't lose to ourselves because we're trying to beat them in particular. We gotta make sure we stay fundamentally sound, committed to our core values, right?

11:01 And then when we have an opportunity, we cannot miss the opportunity. Because that's which, if you watch him over his career, he did an unbelievable job of man finding that break in the game and then taking advantage of it. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, like, so so we had to make sure that that we had a heightened awareness, and it was a man, it was a it was a tough game.

11:22 It was back and forth. Uh, and what it came down to is those those four or five plays, and our guys found a way, right? And that's really what it comes down to is finding a way, and you never know when that play's coming, right? Like, that's so hard for the average fan to under understand. They see the big plays, they see all the the the stuff that wows you, but we know, man, it's it's that it's that ordinary punt return.

11:48 And matter of fact, we just watched it, right? So, so we watched it because we were installing our punt return scheme uh yesterday, and it was a big return. And you know what it was? It was our backup punt returner that instead of the ball being down on the 10-yard line, he pops like an 18-20 yard return, and now here we're rolling that leads us down the field.

12:08 So uh so so really it's it's trying not to elevate yourself to his level, but just stay focused on your job. And if you do your job well, then you have a chance to compete. And I think and we and we had that same effect that comes to when I was there, right? Like people would lose to the logo. Like they would they would lose to the logo before you walk out there, and so so for me it was our guys like, hey, this is a great opportunity.

12:36 I know all of the outside noise, but like let's it it can't live rent-free in our mind, right? We gotta get it out and we gotta focus on what we do. And so that was really the the the focus, trying not to make it something bigger than what it was and try not to make it personal, but also understand that man, we gotta make sure that we don't we don't put any blood in the water, because you put blood in the water, he's gonna he's gonna find it and he's gonna he's gonna capitalize on it.

13:01 He's gonna get it, yeah. Situational football, you back up punt returner, took it, took flipped the field or whatever, flipped the got more yards, and that was the key point in the game.

13:09 Hidden yards, hidden yards game, right? Yep. And that's that's kind of like like if you look at because I reference I referenced the the the Patriots a lot just in terms of you know philosophically how I would like to build the program, and they were a draft-oriented, you know, franchise. They got some some marquee free agents along the way, but they were more draft-oriented.

13:33 They knew what they wanted, they knew that they were looking for fit. They had established a culture that would allow them to go and take a chance on maybe a a a fringe, high profile guy that might not fit, but their culture was strong enough to be able to force that guy to assimilate. So we talk about it a lot that that we want to find the right fit, right?

13:54 That that that fits what we do, and that's how we build our roster.

13:58 Right, no question. No one did it better for the longest time than him building the team around guys who's smart, tough football players, and again, not the sexiest guys, but he got the good football players that fit into his program, his vision. And the funny thing, I coached for a few years in the NFL, and you know, I it was around when he was coaching, it was you know, it was the 2020-20 deal.

14:16 Like they said, boy, Bill Bellish, because I remember vividly I was coaching for the Saints. We had a bunch of old, you know, veteran coaches before the game, you kind of go out in the pregame, shake hands with the other coaches, talk, you know, Kabits. And like I remember Bob Palsick, who's retired now, he's a famous line coach.

14:31 He's like, Who are these guys? He's like, I don't even know who these guys are all young. And what Bill would do is hire a 20-year-old guy, work him 20 hours a day, and pay him twenty thousand dollars. He so we had all these young, grinding guys that were in the lab working and it worked for him, and Bill controlled the show, and obviously very successful, but uh you know, legendary stuff to but to do so.

14:51 Last year, too, you you you played, uh I always have a c uh thought on this. You played Duke, you beat him in the regular season, 34-17, pretty handedly. Then you play in the championship game, you lose in overtime to him, right? You know, yeah, I was just saying the NFL is great with this because you play your division guys twice here.

15:08 It's very hard to beat somebody twice in the same season. And even the way you won 34-17, I you know, we're all human beings. You're guys and you're teaming, I yeah, we beat these guys. We're just gonna do the same thing we did last time a few weeks ago, and we got this, we're gonna be ACC champs. What what did you learn there, Coach?

15:26 What what what did they do differently, I guess, that kind of got you at the end?

15:30 I thought first and foremost, uh Manny and and his staff had a great, great plan. And their their plan was to grind it out, keep the ball away from us. Right? Uh and and just which was which was different than how they had been winning, you know, prior to. So so I'm talking about I'm referencing the championship game.

15:47 So throughout the season, man, they were putting up a bunch of points, man, airing the ball out. And you could tell that philosophically, man, they wanted to slow the game down, minimize possessions, right, use the clock and not let us have a chance to to get the ball and go be explosive. Because it was more explosive plays in that first game, right?

16:05 That and really on the first try, there was a big explosive, you know, run that that really kind of I think set the complexion uh for the game. The other thing that that I learned was the guys were were prepared to play, but they were probably a little bit more ready to play. I probably had them a little bit too fired up.

16:24 So uh so I might have I might have pushed a little bit too hard in in trying to focus on what you just mentioned in your in your question about like, okay, we know it's hard to beat them twice. We can't we can't use last game as as an indicator. They're gonna come to play, and I might have had the guys a little bit too aggressive to start.

16:48 And you saw that in we had a couple of penalties, you know, that resulted in there was one on the on the punt, the punt safe that resulted in from I went from fourth and eight to fourth and three. Now they go for it, they convert, they go score. Right? And and so it's it's the guys were so eager to go prove that they could do it again, as opposed to just being present in a moment and playing the game that's in front of you, and then now we're playing from behind and trying to play catch up, and they got a good strategy, a good plan.

17:17 Then we then then we we we make another critical mistake where we we give up a fake punt. And so it was those. So that's really kind of what what I what I learned from from that one is is as much as I knew what that experience would be like in Charlotte, I might have had the guys a little bit too too amped up to go at first, and and it cost us sure, sure.

17:42 And that's that's funny, it made me think of something I remember guy old coach Jerry Glanville used to say, you know, you're coaching guys, you know, the old strength coach of mine would tell the story that you come in the game, guys get the playbooks out, they're looking at plays and all the stuff.

17:54 Jerry Glanville's big thing was guys, close the playbooks, turn the music up, get ready. So many some some guys are too in the in their head about the game plan. We're doing this, we're doing that. You know, if you don't have it on game day, right, by then, or you don't have it the mental part done, you know, it's then it's emotions, it's the it's that part.

18:10 I mean, what are your thoughts on that?

18:12 Yeah, it's a it's a fine line. So so now with this with the younger generation, everything is about stimulation, right? So you they have to have five things going on at once just to function. So so you go in the locker room before the game, man, the music's blurring, but we have we have a time period, right?

18:28 So initially there's some quiet time for guys that need quiet time, and then we you know we we ramp it up and and and like like a perfect example is the Florida State game, right? The Florida State game, we're playing at home, and and I'm used to that rivalry, right? Like, because you had South Carolina, then you have Florida State.

18:46 That was that was it at Clemson, right? And Florida State game always pretty much determined who would who would represent the division in the ACC championship for many years. And so like there was a a certain level of intensity and focus that you that you had to have because that game was gonna that game was gonna be faster than any other game of the year, just because of the the the athletes on the field and then just the intensity.

19:11 And so that's what I was looking for when we walked into the stadium to play like Florida State, right? Like, did the guys have that certain look in their eye? So when I saw it, I knew there was nothing that I needed to say. Then there's other games, like you, you, you come in and you're like, all right, hold on.

19:31 Like the the look's not quite where it needs to be. Crank the music up, let's try to create the energy. So, so like it's it's that's the that's the mental gymnastics that you play nowadays as a coach, trying to figure out what that what that fine line is. But but I'm also a believer too. Like, by the time you're done with your meetings on Friday, if they don't have what's going on in the playbook, it's it's almost too late.

19:54 Sure, sure.

19:55 You know, yeah, yeah, no, I got it. And then talking to you know, Virginia Tech in the conference, uh big rival, right? New coach, right? James Franklin. Tell me your thoughts on him. Penn State, you know, very successful there. I guess didn't win the big one and kind of cost him, and he lost the game at UCLA last year.

20:11 I remember seeing that. But what are your thoughts on him? He's he seems to be a high-energy guy and he's coming into Virginia Tech.

20:18 Ton of energy, unbelievable track record as a coach. Been fortunate to spend a little bit of time around him prior to him taking a job at Virginia Tech. We were both on the AFCA board for a little bit. Very, very intelligent, uh, very, very uh high football IQ, understands the landscape uh from top to bottom.

20:34 Man, he's he's relentless in what he does. You look what he did at Penn State. He kind of came in at a time where you know it was probably not many people were were excited about trying to take that job at that time, right? And then what did he do? He turned it around, and man, he's he's he had a stretch there that that'll stand up against any coach at that time.

20:53 And unfortunate the way it panned out, but uh excited I'm excited because here's what here's what I I know that that that every champion, and I learned this when I was at Clemson, every champion needs a rival. Right? Like you need you need a rival, and and you want a rival, and you want somebody to push you.

21:10 Now we're gonna do it our way, right? Uh we're we're two different, two different people, and and I don't know all the ins and outs about how he does his his program. And I would imagine that we we have our own philosophies and ways of doing things, and we're not gonna change uh because of of what they're doing, but I'm excited uh because the first thing that we had to do, and and I got to pay respect, right?

21:29 Where respect is due, it's a rivalry, but it hasn't been as competitive on the field uh over the years, right? You know, with with tech winning, I believe, what, 18 out of the last 20, right? So, first of all, we had to learn how to compete in that game. And that was one thing that that prior to Coach Franklin coming in that that I recognized that we needed to change is our approach to what rivalry is all about, right?

21:52 And and I can say that I felt that that on the other side they understood what it was. I think we needed to to have a refreshment. Pressure and it took us a couple years to change that mindset. And so I'm I'm I'm grateful uh that he's there because it's gonna force us and and everybody to be better.

22:09 So Yeah, no question. A lot of energy from him. I don't know him well, but it seems like he's doing a good job. Recruiting, he he seems like he's aggressive. He's pretty much took Penn State's class, I think, to Virginia Tech and took some guys as a quarterback. I I grew up in Massachusetts as a quarterback from Massachusetts.

22:25 I come in 27 down to Virginia Tech. I think uh do you see those you guys are out there in the state, state of Virginia, the Tidewater place where Bruce Smith, Michael Vick came from. That's that's kind of the thing. And for years, the people don't know this too, but people I'd hear this from my coaching circles.

22:41 You know, Clemson did a great job of coming into Virginia, that Tidewater area and recruiting some really good players that historically had gone to tech probably uh you know years before Virginia. And so you guys, Clemson came and took him. So I I hope you and Coach Franklin are cutting that that off saying, hey, Clemson.

22:58 We still got to keep them jokers out of uh out of the state of uh state of Virginia, right? So so and they had done a good job when he was at Penn State of Penn State coming into Virginia uh through the relationships that that they had. And and and you know, when we when it when it took over the program, you could tell that both schools, right, were battling to just try to keep guys home.

23:19 And North Carolina was doing a good job. You'd see Clemson come in, Penn State was coming in, and and then like Ohio State was coming in after the the the big fish, you know, in the state. And so a point of emphasis for me is is and really it's a it's a philosophy that we use with everything that we do is we want to be inside out.

23:36 So uh have made a tremendous effort to try and reestablish the the relationships, uh build the brand, right? I think I think for for both institutions, like you'd be surprised. I some of these guys don't know who Michael Vick is on my team. Like, like, Michael Vick? Are you as a matter of fact? I remember watching Michael Vick, my sophomore year, we played in a bowl game, and man, they destroyed us when I was at Clemson.

24:03 Uh, but you know, Michael Vick? And so some of the names. Oh my gosh, like like the names that were household names, there just hadn't been those type of household names, right? And that was one of the things that that we were fortunate at Clemson is like we had some household names. Like no matter where in the country, like you knew who Sammy Watkins was, you knew who Deshaun Watson was, you knew who Travis E.

24:27 T.N. Trevor Lawrence. And I apologize, I don't want to miss you know some of those household names, but that's one thing I noticed that that neither school really had, right? And so it's like now what I'm trying to do is I want to make Cam Robinson a household name, right? Young man from the state of Virginia, stayed home, you know, and and and so and I'm sure you know Franklin wants to do wants to do the same thing with with Brink, because you talked about Bruce Smith and and um Michael Vick and man, there's there's a ton of Tyrod Taylor and you know, bunch of other guys, but there just hadn't been that.

25:00 And then recruiting changed too, right? So so with the internet and the expansion of territories, you know, it became less about man really staying home. It was more like, hey man, I can go anywhere. And so where's the biggest, where's the hottest name? And that's that's kind of what helped those other schools get get into the state.

25:20 Yeah, and then it you mentioned recruiting exchange had Anthony McFarlane, Bulgar McFarlane on, and you know he told he went to LSU because he lived two hours away, was he could drive, he didn't the parents didn't have any money. He said that you know that made sense to stay home so my parents and family could come see me.

25:35 Whereas today's guys, right? I mean NIL, that's why guys that you know they come into Florida schools, the Big Ten are going everywhere. All the conferences going spying, guys. And so the money's kind of changed how the recruiting goes a little bit. And uh so I guess, coach, here's the thing too. Like you you walked on our at Clemson, then you became a captain, right?

25:53 I'm sure you had to deal with some adversity, some tough things. I know you you're growing up, you lost your mom, I believe, at nine. That's an adverse situation, right? How do you handle adversity? What you know you got you've held dealt dealt with it in your life, you're gonna deal with it again, right?

26:07 Adversity, we all deal with it. But if someone's listening, hey, how does how does Tony Elliott handle adversity? What do you tell yourself? What do you do?

26:14 Yep. So so I I've I borrowed this this line from from James Trapp, who was the team chaplain at at Clemson for for many years when I first got there. Great uh man, pro football player, track athlete, you know. And he said that adversity is the companion to the champion and the enemy to the weak. And and so throughout the course of my life, I've I've I've learned, right, to embrace that concept and that that mindset that adversity is necessary for growth.

26:44 And and really, in our game, the game of football, man, the only way you get better is it's gotta hurt. Some somewhere, whether it's in the weight room or on the field, it's gotta hurt. There's adversity, but you grow. And so that's that's how how I embrace it. That doesn't mean that that when it comes, like I have to find joy in it, because that's what the good book uh instructs us to do.

27:04 And that's my that's my life verse from the book of James. So so I try to find the joy in the adversity because I know there's there I know there's growth and and really just keep the right attitude. And that's really all you control. And and life is is is 90% what happens to you, you know what I'm saying?

27:21 But it's all about how you and 10%. I mean, it's really what is the 90-10, it's all about how you respond, you know what I'm saying? That uh that uh that that matters. So that's that's the approach that I take. I just I want to focus on on not running from it and hitting it head on, and then being anxious and looking forward to the growth.

27:39 And I think that's what we often forget a lot of times when adversity comes, because if we look at our lives and we're honest with ourselves, man, the person that we are and and the successes that we had usually were birthed in an adverse situation. Right? We learned something in an adverse situation that prepared us to maximize the moment that led to success.

28:00 And we want to skip that sometimes. Uh we just want to fast forward and say, all right, here's the adversity. I don't want to deal with all that comes with it. Just give me the success on the other side. But no, it's really the journey, it's the growth that takes place.

28:12 Absolutely. And I guess transition, you know, people listed in stuff, executives, CEOs, but players, former players, NFL, football guys, college guys, transition, there's a lot of transition now in college sports, right? But to put with the portal guys, sometimes transition every year, which is not good.

28:28 But how do you advise and coach your guys or anybody? Hey, you gotta it's it's kind of like adversity, but transition. You you're a football player today, now like you went, you you were engineer, then you went to worked at Michelin for a couple years, right? Then you got into coaching, so you got to transition.

28:44 Is this something you tell yourself or you were taught that this is how you gotta kind of reinvent yourself each time new new jobs, new roles, that type of thing?

28:52 Yeah, that's a great, that's a great question. Because I was I was very fortunate in my coaching career not to have a ton of transition, right? I was at Clemson for 11 years and then only two two stops prior to that. I then came here to uh to UVA. Uh you know, transition is is a part of life. You know, change is uh is a part of life.

29:11 I think you you adapt, right? But you try to adapt without losing your tether to your core. And that's that's what I think is the challenge now, is because there is a ton of transition and there's also a lot that comes with it, right? There's there's a lot of the superficial attached to the transition that you can easily in the process of transition lose sight of where you're headed, lose sight of what's most important to you, and then you lose your tether to to who you are.

29:41 And instead of it becoming transition, now you're wandering. You know, now you're out there kind of kind of just you don't know where you're headed. And that's the worst thing, right? Like you don't, you don't want to, you wanna kind of you don't want to take too many detours, you know. I think everybody's gonna have some detours along the journey of life, but you don't want to just keep having detour after detour after detour.

30:03 And so that's that's how I I try to coach my guys. And then in terms of this program, uh the way that I approach it is that you know, we have to adapt or we become extinct, right? But we don't have to do what everybody else does, right? We can adapt our way in a way that fits our organization so that we don't lose sight of of what the core of our responsibility is.

30:25 And you coached, and so so you know that that you coach because you love the game, you love the people that play the game, and you want to pour into their lives and try to help them maximize the time that they have associated with the game, right? So that is servant leadership. And so at the end of the day, regardless of what's happening in the industry, that doesn't mean that you s can't still run your organization with the approach of servant leadership.

30:55 Right? Now, do you have to do you have to adapt to function in the business? Yes, you do, but you can adapt in a way that you incorporate the aspects of the abyss of the business that align with how you you know truly view what your organization is is all about.

31:12 Sure, sure. Great answer. Last two questions, coach. What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

31:21 The best advice. Okay, so I'll I'll I'll do that from a from a coaching perspective because there may be some some young coaches that are that are listening. The best advice that I got was from from Coach Sweeney, and in terms of me becoming a head coach, he said, I want you to be an old head coach. And I didn't know what that meant at first.

31:39 Like, like an old head coach, like but what he meant was in your eagerness, right, and your and your and your desire to accomplish a goal, like make sure that it's the right time, it's the right fit, so that it truly gives you an opportunity to develop into an old coach. And not just take a job to take a job because you can take the right job that's gonna help develop you and prepare you and put you in a position to be an old coach.

32:09 And then another another thing that he told me is he said, I don't want to see you move your family to move your family. Right? I don't want to see you go go take a job just to go get another job. Man, take the job that that you believe you can become an old head coach and you don't have to move your family, you can be hunkered down and be invested.

32:31 And so that really is is what helped me to develop the patience to try and find uh the right you know situation uh for me. Because I I I I tell this to my players, I tell this to the staff, man, there's many facets to Tony Elliott, right? Like, yes, there's a there's a big nerd in me, right? I got I got the credentials academically to to prove that, right?

32:53 I was an I was an engineering student while playing. So like I like school. Like I was I was intrigued by that. Like I'm I'm a spiritual individual. Like I like I like learning from nature, right? I'm a I'm a competitor. Like I'm I'm a fierce competitor. Like, like the the adversity in my life is what helped me develop that that passion to compete, right?

33:15 And and I've had to learn how to like temper that a little bit. A lot of times people don't get to see that side of me because like in my job, I'm leading people, so there's times where I have to be calm and collected, but there's times on the practice field that it comes out. So I'm a fierce competitor, right?

33:30 I do have a passion for for helping others try to maximize their their potential. So so I wanted to find a place where like I resonated with everything about it, if that makes sense. But I think I think that advice is what helped me to develop the patience to be able to be secure in myself and who I am, and then go try to find me a place where it fit me and I fit the place so that I can not have to move my family and hopefully be successful enough to be an old coach.

34:03 Be an old coach, honestly, that's the that's a great answer. I guess in the last question, I always ask this one, you know, 30, 40, 50 years from now, you the kids okay, your former teammates, how do you want people to remember you? What do you say about hey Tony Elliott? What do you when your name comes up?

34:17 What do you want, what do you want, what do you hope they say?

34:20 I just hope they say he's a good man. Like I said, they say he was a he was a he was a good man, right? Uh that that and that that to be honest with you is is really what has driven me my whole life. Uh because after you referenced uh my mom passing away when I was nine in a uh in a tragic car accident, and and I made a vow.

34:42 And in that vow, there was two components. The the first one was mom, I'm gonna make you proud. I didn't know how, I'm nine years old. I don't know what that what that looks like. I'm gonna make you proud, and I'm gonna take care of my little sister. And and that drove me for a very, very long time. And and and I wandered and and I got off track, you know, at times, but at the end of the day, I always came back to man, everything that I do, I just want to make make my mom proud.

35:07 And for me, like I won't know that until the end, right? When I see her again. So so I'm driven by that, but I hope that and I've learned because for a while it was like, well, if I if I accumulate a bunch of stuff and I accomplish a bunch of things, then you know what, my mom would be proud of that.

35:27 But then as I've you know transitioned into a leadership role and you know, leading young men and being a part of of their journey and having relationships with their family, you learn that really all your mom wants is for you to be a good man, right? To just be a good man. And and that's really what what I want them to say.

35:48 Because funny thing is that we were having a conversation, side note. I was having a conversation with some of my whiteouts, and whiteouts said, All right, coach, give me your top three receivers in of all time in in college football. And and so I start like rattling off names. They have no idea who they are, right?

36:03 And and then they started talking stats, and I'm like, boys, I can't even remember the stats from my time at Clemson. Like, I I've I have no idea what they what they are. Like I and so if that's all that people say about me is they want to rattle off stats or wins and losses, then you know I haven't done a good job impacting the the people that I'm around.

36:27 And I want I want my sons to to say I'm not a perfect man, not not a perfect man, but just a good man.

36:34 That's right. Oh, that's great. That's great stuff, coach. And that's awesome. Thank you so much for being on and thank you for the time. And hey, best of luck this season. I hope you win every game, maybe except for one. Maybe it's a tie or whatever, but yeah, good luck to big things. You know, it's not good for Virginia Tech that you're you're there, Virginia, but it's good for Virginia and you you're big things ahead and look forward to it.

36:54 So we'll have you on again. I really appreciate it, coach.

36:56 No, I appreciate you, and and I tell you, you know what I'm envisioning? I'm envisioning that it's us in tech, undefeated, going into that last game of the season, right, with a shot to play for a championship, right? So that's what I'm envisioning. And so I'm I'm I'm I'm grateful that you gave me this opportunity, man.

37:13 It speaks speaks volumes of you uh to want uh me to be to be a part of of uh of your podcast. So man, I wish you much success as you continue to uh use this platform to impact people. And man, best of luck to your boys. Uh man, I I can tell from our opening conversation, man, you're a proud dad that's invested a lot uh in your boys, and and so I wish them the best.

37:34 Yeah, thank you. Same you all the best, coach. We'll talk soon. Take care. Talk to you later. See ya. All right.