Prospect NYS Podcast - Episode 1: (Part 2)  (Transcript only) Guest: Coach Keith Molinich

 

Today we have the pleasure of having high school football coach Keith Molinich from Pittsford Mendon High School as our guest. Molinich plays an integral role in Section V high school football recruiting. Although his efforts may go unnoticed, Molinich has helped countless student-athletes change the course of their lives. His unsung efforts, unrelenting loyalty to New York State high school and college football makes him a true icon in the arena of recruiting. Being able to share our home and to be able to shine a light on coach Molinich is a true privilege that I will always remember. This was the maiden voyage of the Prospect NYS videocast. We suffered some technical problems in post production which essentially deleted the best audio recordings in our studio. However, the video camera worked well enough for me to re-transcribe the 1st portion of our show. The 2nd half of the show is currently on our You Tube Channel.

 

The guidance he offers is born of a genuine love for the game, for Section V and of New York State. He’s the kind of guy you’d love to have played alongside.  

 

I am truly grateful for my time with coach Molinich. Before I became the head coach at Fairport, coach helped me with recruiting efforts all the way back in 2013. I was a young head coach at a small school and he spent time on the phone with me, exchanged emails and sent HUDL tape to his college coach contacts. This is the kind of person he is.  I am honored to call him my friend and brother.

 

Here is the 1st half of our conversation:

 

 

Coach Vitticore: We want to hear his (Coach Molinichs) perspective and the things he believes kids should be doing maybe in the 7th and 8th grade in terms of their academics, and we just greatly appreciate you being here. Thanks for being here.

 

Coach Molinich: I appreciate it. I don’t know if all those kind words always fit, but, I just love the game from the roots on up, and… I’m New York State born and bred and I just love to present our kids out to the country in terms of what our kids can do.

 

Coach Vitticore: You are a guidance counselor.

 

Coach Molinich: Yep

 

Coach Vitticore: Are you the head guidance counselor?

 

Coach Molinich: (laughs) I am - no I don’t have enough time for that.

 

Coach Vitticore: When you see a kid at a younger age with potential, maybe 7th or 8th grade, what do you do to sort of help kids along?

 

Coach Molinich: Certainly the most important thing is getting them to know that football is important and special… that upper classmen are there to help them grow as people. And to help them understand that no matter what you do athletically, nothing is going to happen from a college process unless you have grades. We’re fortunate that a lot of our kids come from families that absolutely instill the importance of grades…. I don’t know if Its important or its an absolute. You must get grades. There’s always a happy balance… we don’t want anxious kids I guess, but you have to be in that B and above category. C’s for division 1 and division 2 recruiting don’t get you to the place you want to be. If you want to be a preferred walk on at a school you have to be in the GPA pool. If you’re gonna be great, you must be a great student first.

 

Coach Vitticore: What would you tell a kid who doesn’t come from that kind of background.. who doesn’t have parents that push them academically… what are some habits that they can build into their day to stay on track?

 

Coach Molinich: Absolutely. Beyond asking questions at school, you’re not dumb asking questions to a teacher. You must ask, if you don’t understand curriculum. And then, at the end of the school day, make sure you know what the homework assignments are. You can’t go home not knowing what your homework assignments are.. and then you must plan an hour every night to get work done. If you think you got the work done during the day, still spend the hour at night to read, to review class notes, or just to contemplate goals. There should be an hour of quiet time every single night in your schedule. And I think that builds the study habits that helps kids get grades.

 

Coach Vitticore: Those study habits could change your life, over time.

 

Coach Molinich: Without a doubt. And it’s a building a process. You can have some bumps in the road freshman year, but you can’t have bumps in the road freshman, sophomore, junior year and think that things are going to come together for you.

 

Coach Vitticore: Take us through your conversation you would have with a 10th grade student-athlete looking at colleges.

 

Coach Molinich: Certainly we would start looking at grades and making sure we’re matching the right school. If you’re working your tail off and you have an 82 average, clearly were not going to look at the Ivys. But we’re going to balance that with… you know… most freshman and sophomores don’t know what they want to do. But we want to make sure that the school has majors that make sense for that young man. And that they can develop a sense of being a student even if they end of stopping the game of football…. Which could happen from injury or from injury. Especially in division 3.

 

Coach Vitticore: What is your why coach? Why do you do what you do? When you get up everyday, what is that makes you tick?

 

Coach Molinich: I mean certainly going into the world of guidance counselor, to help a student… go from being a child to becoming a young adult, to present options. And I think options create power for kids. I knew the interest level my high school coach, Bing Johnson had for me… he helped me find places… that were appropriate for me. Mike Welch who was at Ithaca College rectruited me… and I got to meet Jim Butterfield who taught me more about being a man than being a football player. And .. its those things I hope…just the interest level in helping kids grow can help them turn that corner when they hit adulthood. I have family friends that are in college and aren’t playing sports and a of them are finding it difficult to find their way. Football saved me, it allowed me to have rules built in… it allowed me to have a mentorship in college and a healthy brotherhood. So um, that is my reason to push for everybody. Because I think there is a spot for everybody in football at the college level.

 

Coach Vitticore: That might be the most powerful message of the day. We’re not just talking about division 1 FBS kids. We’re talking about all levels. And we’re not even overfocused on the football aspect… what coach is talking about is changing your work habits, your life habits, and becoming a better person through an organized college sport which happens to be football for you.

 

Coach Molinich: Absolutely.

 

Coach Vitticore: That’s a great message coach because again… there’s a lot a coaches who miss out on that… there’s a lot of players that aren’t sure where people are coming from – but we greatly appreciate it – you’ve done a lot to change New York State football, Section V Football  and you continue to do that. You’ve obviously impacted me – so that I can do what I can do, and give back in my way… through this project at Prospect NYS. Now let’s talk about your family. They mean a lot to you…

 

See the rest of our conversation on our You Tube Channel: Prospect NYS