Show #181 – Larry Hart of University of Houston Joins the Knup Sports Show

Larry Hart, college football coach at the University of Houston, joins the show to talk about his new book called “The Recruits Playbook”.

Ryan Knuppel:

What’s going on everybody? Ryan Knuppel here, Knup Sports Show, episode 181. We’re up to 181 episodes. Super excited for today’s show. We have another great guest on today, maybe a little different guest than we’ve typically had on this show. A lot of times we’re covering iGaming professionals or sports betting professionals. Today we actually have an author. We have a true football fan, obviously studies the game, and we’re excited to dive into what he’s been doing and touch on his book as well.

But first off, hope you’re enjoying football. We had Week 1 of the NFL last week, Week 2 of college football. This week’s a huge week for a lot of teams, so I’m excited to see what happens this week.

But without further ado, I’m going to bring on our guest. We have Mr. Larry Hart, Larry Hart of the University of Houston with us today. Larry, how are you my friend?

Larry Hart:

I’m doing really, really well. I appreciate you having me on, Ryan. I’m thankful for this opportunity. I’m doing great though, thank you.

Ryan Knuppel:

Well, I’m really excited to talk to you as well. But first off, you’re a college football coach at the University of Houston. You have a big football game this weekend. I know you’ve had a couple already, but another big one, you’re probably preparing and getting ready for that as we speak, right?

Larry Hart:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re in preparation mode. Today’s the last tough day of preparation in terms of just ironing out any other logistics and going through situational football, making sure those things are in place and lined up and ready to go. So yeah, today’s the last day. Then Friday, we’ll walk through some stuff, and Saturday’s game day.

Ryan Knuppel:

I don’t want this to be all about coaching or anything, but I think…

Larry Hart:

No, it’s okay.

Ryan Knuppel:

No, but what I wanted to say is I don’t think people understand the level of preparation that has to go into coaching. I’d love for you to touch a little bit on that because I think from a high-level college football program and all the coaches involved, I think it’s an “all day, every day” effort to make something like this happen and to have a successful team. Correct?

Larry Hart:

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Let’s talk through a typical game week. Saturday you obviously play the game, and then Sunday you come in around 10:30, 11:00, and then you’re here from 10:30 in the morning to about 8:30, 9:00 at night on Sunday. And you review your last game and you start preparing for your next opponent.

Then Monday is your big preparation day in terms of putting together your game plan for the next upcoming opponent. You’ll get here probably about 6:30 on Monday, and we’ll leave about 8:30 Monday.

Then we practice Tuesday morning. So Tuesday is your big prep day, and so Tuesday you practice 8:30 in the morning. And so on Tuesdays we’ll probably leave at 7:00 at night, and then Wednesday get here at 7:00, leave at 9:00, then Thursday’s a little bit shorter, so you leave, you get here about 8:00 on Thursday, leave about 6:00 in the evening, and then Friday, obviously you travel and stay at the hotel and then Saturday you play, and that’s on repeat from about August till December.

Ryan Knuppel:

Such a grind, such a grind. But it’s your passion, obviously. It’s what you love. Because you got to, if you’re going to put in that much time, right? You got to.

Larry Hart:

Yeah, yeah, you love it, man. It’s nothing else that I’d rather do. You get to impact so many kids and you’re around so many people from different backgrounds and different cultures. It’s such a unique place. The opportunity to impact young men is awesome.

Then when you ever get that text from a kid that you coached a couple years ago, and they say, “Coach, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I’m doing well. And I remember the lessons that you taught me.” Those things are just priceless at the end of the day.

Ryan Knuppel:

They really are. They really are.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. How you got into coaching? Did you play football? What your path was leading up to coaching and then ultimately writing a book, which we’re going to dive into here in a bit, but tell me a little bit about that path of getting you there.

Larry Hart:

Yeah, I started playing football when I was a seventh-grader, so I was probably around 12 years old, and I played football all the way through high school, obviously in college.

Let’s talk about this a little bit, Ryan, that coming out of high school, I wasn’t a qualifier, so I had to go to the junior college route. And so coming out of high school, I had about a half scholarship, offered to a junior college. And then from there I earned a full-ride scholarship to a junior college. Then I earned a full ride to a school called the University of Central Arkansas, and I had a great career at Central Arkansas. And then I got drafted into the NFL by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round.

Ryan Knuppel:

Cool.

Larry Hart:

So football’s just always been my passion, always loved it. Even when I was in high school, I knew I wanted to coach. Throughout my career as a football player and a coach and some of the lessons that I learned along the way, one of the big, big lessons was, Ryan, that everybody’s path is different. I wasn’t a four- or a five-star, but I still was able to get to the NFL or I was still able to accomplish my goals, which was to get a degree, get an education, all that.

What inspired me to write the book was that my path was different from everybody else’s a little bit, right? Because everybody’s not going to be Adrian Peterson coming out of high school or Chase Young, where you’re a five-star, go to Ohio State, get drafted number one overall.

First thing in the book, I talk about knowing your “why”. Why do you want to play football? Because you have to be passionate about it. You have to love it. Because people see individuals scoring touchdowns on Saturday, but what you don’t see is the grind in August. The summer and in August, it is a grind mentally and physically, so you really have to love it to be able to do it. I really talk about that because when you fall on hard times and if you don’t really love something, then you’re going to fall to the wayside, so to speak.

Ryan Knuppel:

I want to dive into your book a little bit further and I’m going to pull it up here on the side as well. I’ll actually pull up the Amazon screen, but the book’s called The Recruit’s Playbook: A 4-Year Guide to College Football Recruiting for High School Athletes. That’s really a long statement there. And it’s so funny because these days every athlete thinks they’re going to be recruited and they think they’re going to be the next big thing.

My first question, is this book written towards the player and the kids or towards the parents that are bringing these kids up? Because I’m just curious of that answer first.

Larry Hart:

Yeah, it’s written primarily for the student athletes, but obviously, it’s really good for the parents to know as well. I would say it’s a combination of both. I think parents can learn a lot from it and the recruits too.

Ryan Knuppel:

Tell me a little bit more about it. Tell me a bit about the flow of it, what we talk about, what we go through. Is it really focused mainly on football or is this for any type of athlete?

Larry Hart:

For any high school athlete, I really believe that this is great information. So the flow of the book, Ryan, I try to set the foundation first. Why are you getting into college athletics? I think that it’s so important to have that foundational piece because over the years of being in coaching, going into my eighth year now, that what you see is that the challenges that come along with playing college athletics, there’s so many distractions out there now. Between social media, the pressure to win, what people have to say, it’s a lot of things going on. What I want the student athletes to focus on is what’s really the main thing and what’s really important. And what’s important is for you to develop as an individual and as a person. Because these four years is what’s going to set up the next 40 years of your life, the relationships that you build and all that.

How do you put yourself in the best position, first off, to grow as an individual? If you want to get into college athletics, just because you want to go to school for free, that’s not going to sustain you. What really sustains you is you having the passion to do it. I’m clear about that front and then I dive more into the recruiting process and what coaches are thinking and how to understand and navigate it and how to promote yourself the proper way, how to build relationships properly. And so I just go through a lot of the fine details to help kids get that foundation first. Because sometimes you can fall in love with a lot of other things, the social media and all these other things going on and you miss the main thing.

Probably the best example that I can give you, Ryan, is a lot of people want to be successful, which is nothing wrong with that, but you have to be willing to do the things that it takes to be successful. You have to embrace the mundane, you have to embrace the day-to-day grind where you say, for instance in football, it’s going to be some days where your shoulders hurt, your back hurt, you’re upset with your mom, you have this going on, you have that going on, but you still have to show up every day to come to work and do your job every day. And you got school, you got girls. It’s just the reality. You got homework, you got coaches yelling at you. It is a lot on your plate that you’re going to have to learn how to balance and you have to have that foundation.

That’s where I start first, where kids can understand that and then transition more into the recruiting process of how it works and just encouraging kids to understand GPA, the NCAA guidelines, what’s a core GPA, the 48H form. I get into a lot of details from there. Then I walk them through ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade on some details.

Ryan Knuppel:

What’s really fascinating to me is that so far I haven’t even heard the word talent or being really good at the sport or anything like that. Which is kind of funny to me because you obviously have to be talented at whatever sport you’re going to play. You obviously have to be skilled and have some skills, but there’s so much more that goes into it, from a mentality and mental toughness, a discipline, a just work ethic side of things. There’s so much talent out there, there’s so much talent out there. You have to be able to set yourself apart in some other way.

I just find it fascinating that I think a lot of kids think, “I just got to be the best and if I’m not the best on my team, no way I’m playing college football.” That’s not necessarily true.

Larry Hart:

No doubt. I’ve seen so many times where I’ve had individuals that have NFL ability and they get in their own way just because they’re struggling with whatever distraction that’s going on. They’re frustrated, whatever’s going back at home. Guys, it’s one thing to have the talent but to go out there and do it every day is another thing, man. It takes a lot of mental toughness to be able to be successful.

That’s probably at any job. You can be a Harvard graduate but if you can’t speak in front of people or you’re nervous or whatever… It takes a lot to be successful at whatever you want to do.

Ryan Knuppel:

Let’s talk about the future of recruiting and where it’s heading a little bit. I don’t know, I haven’t read the book fully, so I don’t know if you touch on some of this, but it was written back in 2021, so things have actually changed a little bit since then [inaudible 00:12:21]. You have transfer portals and you have all this stuff going on now with athletes and NIL and they’re looking to make money and there’s all these other dynamics that go into where a kid may want to go to college and all of that. What are your thoughts on that?

Another piece that goes into it, right now, and I know this firsthand because I have a son playing college basketball here in Florida, but the whole COVID era where there’s kids playing fifth and sixth, seventh year seniors or whatever it is, it’s very tough for incoming recruits to fit into that. I’m curious to get your thought process on all of that, I know I loaded that question, but the thought process on NIL, fifth year seniors and all the above.

Larry Hart:

The NIL is going to get a little crazy. I think that it’s beneficial to players obviously, and I think that it’s a great opportunity for players. I just think that again, for players, it’s a lot to manage, Ryan, just because I think what’s more important is relationships. You don’t ever want to be bought, so to speak. You want to put yourself in a situation where that you can grow and develop as a person and as a football player. I think that that’s the main thing.

If you can get NIL deal, that’s great if you can get that. But the main important thing is just to focus on you getting what you need to be the most successful and that you can be the best version of yourself. Put yourself in that position first, from that lens and then go, if you can get an NIL deal from there, I think that’s great. And again, the NIL, they’re not just giving that to anybody. I think probably majority of college players are not getting NIL deals. If you can, great. Go ahead, Ryan.

Ryan Knuppel:

I want to jump in here because I’m curious. From your perspective does NIL play… Does that discussion come up in the recruiting side now? Coaches talking to players and players, “Oh, I’m going to get an NIL deal, I want to go somewhere, I’m getting a deal.” Is that part of the dynamic now when you’re recruiting players, that they all have this expectation of that?

Larry Hart:

Yeah, I think it does. I know for us, we’re trying to create a situation where we’re trying to get a pool of money NIL deals and we’re trying to build something in that area to help us in recruiting right now, because we’re transitioned from the American Athletic Conference into the Big 12, so we’re trying to put ourselves in a situation where that we do have NIL money to be able to give to kids. We want to be able to do that and provide a situation for kids like that. That does help tremendously in recruiting. We’re not there yet, but we’re trying to build to get to that point, to make us the most competitive that in recruiting process to get to where you want to be. Because competing in the Big 12, obviously we’re going to be going against Oklahoma State, Baylor, some of those guys. So yeah, you want to put yourself in a position to recruit the best, to recruit the best talent, for sure.

Ryan Knuppel:

Well, that’s amazing. NIL’s certainly a vast subject that we could probably talk all day on or whatever, but I guess, to get back to the book a little bit, so 4-Year Guide, how’s the sales going from now more of a business side? How’s it going? You have it up on Amazon, you got some great testimonials here from some really high profile people, which is a testimonial to you and your relationships that you built as well. From the business side, how’s the book going?

Larry Hart:

It’s going well, Ryan, for the most part. I think that the COVID year slowed it down a little bit because that’s actually when it came out, was during the COVID year. Or when I first published it. Or I’m sorry, that’s when I started the process, during the COVID year. I think that made it a little bit of a challenge. But for the most part, I think it’s been going really well. Now I’m trying to really ramp up some of the marketing things by talking to guys like yourself and getting the information out there because I do believe that the information is really, really good.

Because I really haven’t seen any information that really talks high school kids through the recruiting process and parents. Because one thing that I’ve seen too, and what inspired me, is I’ll be talking to kids and they’ll be waiting on a big, big offer and I’m like, “Dude, you have a full ride scholarship to where you can get out of college debt-free and you’re going to pass this opportunity because you’re waiting on a big college? I don’t know if you heard ever heard this before, but a bird in the hand is better than two in a bush, right?”

Ryan Knuppel:

That’s right.

Larry Hart:

You heard that one?

Ryan Knuppel:

I have.

Larry Hart:

I just talk through things like that, man. I think it’s just such a beneficial information for kids that I wish I would have known myself to take advantage of.

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah, you’re absolutely right, and just going through this process here recently. It is such a gray area you feel like from the parent side who maybe has a kid who wants to play, sometimes you feel like nothing’s happening.

You feel like, “Oh, nothing’s really happening,” or this… I don’t know. I think this guide would be a great step-by-step to show, “Okay, how are we going to get through this process? What are the types of things we should be doing as parents and as athletes to get noticed or get into that right spot?”

Larry Hart:

Ryan, the big thing is that I wanted people to get from the book is to stimulate creativity. Because one of the things is, it’s like I said, everybody’s path is not going to be the same. Everybody’s not going to go to Alabama or LSU. Everybody’s not going to go there. But there are plenty of other opportunities for you to go play college football or to get your school paid for. There are a lot of opportunities out there. What I encourage kids to do is to reach out to a lot of schools and try to send your film to as many people, go follow as many coaches on Twitter, interact with them, send, update your huddle film and then during the summer, go to camps, make yourself present, go put a face with a name.

If you’ve been hitting up a coach on Twitter, you got a little response back, go to those football camps, be the first in the line, be the hardest-working guy at the camp, because you can leave an impression on coaches.

I just talk through a lot of those different things to get yourself recruited because if you’re not getting attention from some of the bigger schools, man, there’s still an opportunity for you to get a scholarship. It’s really navigating through. Obviously, if you’re a big time recruit, I think it’s a little bit easier on you. But what about those guys that’s not getting recruited as much or have that opportunity? What do you do then? That’s where I try to touch on because that was my path, Ryan, where I was a junior college player, I had scholarships. So I was like, “Man, do I really want to play college football? Because I’m not getting what I want.” What do I do there? I’m just trying to help kids to understand how to problem-solve, how to navigate the unknown, “What if I’m in this situation, what if I’m in that situation?” To stimulate that creativity, because again, I think that translates so much to life is the picture isn’t always going to be clear.

What do I do? What if I get rejected here? What if I get rejected there? Stimulating that creativity of learning how to problem-solve and basically overcome adversity.

Ryan Knuppel:

I really appreciate you jumping in here and really giving us some behind-the-scenes look at recruiting and how that goes.

The Recruit’s Playbook, where can people pick up a copy of it? I know I put the Amazon link up and I’ll actually put that in the thing, but is that where they should go to grab a copy?

Larry Hart:

Yeah, absolutely, man. Come on. Amazon is the best way to go.

Ryan Knuppel:

It’s the best. Yeah, where else, right?

Larry Hart:

Yeah.

Ryan Knuppel:

Awesome. And what if somebody wanted to get ahold of you and chat with you, Larry, what’s the best way?

Larry Hart:

Twitter. Twitter is a great way. Hit me up on Twitter, man. I’ll definitely interact with them.

Ryan Knuppel:

Amazing. Well, I appreciate you sharing your insight. Good luck this weekend, Kansas, right? You got a big, big match up against Kansas.

Larry Hart:

Yeah, we do, man. They’re a tough team, man. They’re like the number one scoring offense in the country, so we got to do a good job of trying to slow those guys down.

Ryan Knuppel:

Yeah. Well, good luck. I appreciate you. If I can do anything to help you, let me know. We’ll make sure to put all the links out here and get some people signing up.

Larry Hart:

Thank you so much Ryan, and you have a great one, man.

Ryan Knuppel:

All right, Larry, take care.

All right, that was Larry Hart, The Recruits Playbook. Really excited to have him on. Please go out, grab a copy of The Recruits Playbook. You can get it out on Amazon paperback, $15. It looks like Kindle, you can grab it for $8. So go out, grab a copy, especially if you have an up-and-coming athlete that’s looking to potentially get recruited and play any college sport. But this is really specific to college football scholarships, so make sure to go out and grab a copy of that.

Again, I’m Ryan Knuppel, [inaudible 00:21:42] on all the social medias. Really appreciate your attention. Hopefully you enjoyed episode 181 of the show. If you do know a guest that would be a good on here, sports business, sports betting, night gaming, please let me know. Shoot me a message on any of the social media platforms.

All right. Until next time, take care, stay safe and we’ll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

Relevant Links

• You can connect with Larry Hart on Twitter here.

• You can buy “The Recruit’s Playbook” here https://www.amazon.com/Recruits-Playbook-Football-Recruitment-Athletes/dp/1642506109

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