The Snapshot Podcast

EP_006 | Opportunity Meets Passion | ESPN Senior VP Pete Derzis

This week The Snapshot welcomes Senior Vice President of College Athletics at ESPN, Pete Derzis. Derzis earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Alabama in 1975. He was the associate athletic director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) from 1977-1990. While at UAB, Derzis managed various areas of the athletic department, including all sports administration, broadcasting, and fundraising, as well as game-day management. Named senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Regional Television (ERT) in November 2005, Derzis joined ESPN in 1994 after the company acquired Creative Sports, for which he served as vice president. In 1997, ESPN combined its OCC division and Creative Sports to form ERT, the nation’s largest syndicator of college sports programming, with Derzis continuing his role as vice president overseeing programming and acquisitions. Derzis directed ERT into the top syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional, and local shows for college conferences including the BIG EAST, Big 12, Big Ten, Mid-American, Mountain West, and WAC, as well as the SEC. ERT annually produced more than 1,200 telecasts of sporting events, including programming of football, basketball, NCAA events, golf, and NHRA events accounting for more than 3,400 live and/or original hours of programming. He was instrumental in the creation and acquisition of 35 current owned and operated ESPN events, including four early-season college football games, 17 bowl games, 11 college basketball events, a softball event, and two college award shows. ESPN Events accounts for approximately 400 hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers, and attracts over 800,000 attendees each year. Derzis is one of the senior executives in charge of the day-to-day operations in Charlotte, which is home to ESPN Events, ESPNU and SEC Network. RUNDOWN 1:22 - What tasks did you need to let go as you took on a more senior role at ESPN? 2:26  - Tough decisions that come with being in management at such a large company 3:28 - Do you think having a team around you has made difficult decisions (such as almost leaving Army out of a bowl game) easier to handle? 5:34 - What does it look like to create a new bowl game? 10:07 - What advice would you give yourself, with the knowledge and experience you have now, coming out of college not knowing where you would end up? Follow ESPN Events on Twitter @ESPNEvents and Instagram @espn_events --- Follow along with The Snapshot Podcast on Instagram @thesnapshotpod and share this podcast with a friend!

EP_005 | The Lane Train | Coach Lane Kiffin

This week The Snapshot welcomes The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) head football coach, Lane Kiffin. Following various assistant coaching roles from 1997-2004 with Fresno State, Colorado State, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and USC, Kiffin served as the offensive coordinator and passing game coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the National Football League's Oakland Raiders from 2007 to 2008, head coach of the University of Tennessee Volunteers college football team in 2009, and returned as head coach of the Trojans from 2010 to 2013. Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama from 2014 until 2016, when he was hired at Florida Atlantic. He was the youngest head coach in modern NFL history at the time when he joined the Raiders (until in 2017 when Sean McVay joined the Rams), and, for a time, was the youngest head coach of a BCS Conference team in college football in Tennessee. Following two consecutive 11-win, conference championship seasons at FAU, Kiffin accepted the head coach position at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). RUNDOWN 1:12 - What did it mean to you to play for a national championship and produce numerous offensive school records in your first year as OC with USC? 2:09  - What did it mean to have that much faith put in you as a young coach with the Oakland Raiders? And what pressure did you feel? 2:51 - The story is that you begged Al Davis to draft Calvin Johnson instead of JaMarcus Russell. What did you see in Russell that held you up and how did it feel to have your input shot down as a new coach? 4:03 - If you could go back to 31-year-old Lane Kiffin in Oakland and tell yourself one thing, what would it be? 4:46 - Your lone season at Tennessee is often clouded by your departure. When you look back on that season, how do you see it? 5:20 - Return to USC 5:45 - In 2010, you returned to USC to become the Trojans head coach. Just 6 months after your arrival the sanctions came down on USC. What did these egregious sanctions mean for your future at USC and how did you rally a team that was no longer playing for a championship two very successful seasons? 7:01 - Your tenure at USC ended 5 games into the 2013 season just after stepping off the plane in LA. Can you walk me through that moment? 8:15 - Season away from coaching || What did you learn most from Nick Saban? ||  Tenure with Alabama 10:06 - Who was the most talented player you coached? Who was the most underrated player you coached? 10:50 - What was the key to turning around a program in FAU that had won 9 games in the past 3 seasons? || Tenure at FAU 11:56 - Season One at Ole Miss || COVID ridden football season 12:30 - What are you most excited about heading into season two at Ole Miss? 12:55 - New School, New Players, New Staff 13:25  - Lane Kiffin’s Social Media Presence 14:49 - Similarities and Differences of NFL and College 15:22 - Differences in where you live as a coach Follow Coach Kiffin and Ole Miss Football on Twitter @Lane_Kiffin & @OleMissFB --- Follow along with The Snapshot Podcast on Instagram @thesnapshotpod and share this podcast with a friend!

EP_004 | Head Down & Hard Work | NFL Kicker Greg Joseph

This week The Snapshot welcomes new Minnesota Vikings Kicker, Greg Joseph. He played college football at Florida Atlantic University. He graduated as the Owls’ all-time leader in field goals made (57), points scored (336), PATs (point-after-touchdown) made (165; in 170 attempts), and field goals attempted. He also set the university's single-game records for PATs, field goals, points scored by kicking, and the Owls’ longest field goal (54 yards). He made his NFL debut in 2018 with the Cleveland Browns. In his one season with the Browns, he made 17 of his 20 field goal attempts, with a long of 51 (his misses were beyond 40 yards), and made 25-of-29 extra points. That season he also handled 69 total kickoffs and achieved a touchback on 68.1% of them. Following a brief stint on the Carolina Panthers practice squad, Joseph signed with the Tennesee Titans towards the end of the 2019 season. During their widely unexpected playoff run, he was perfect on all his kicks down the stretch. For the majority of the 2020 season, Joseph was signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad as a part of their Super Bowl LV winning season. RUNDOWN 1:27 - Early Years from Johannesburg, South Africa || Soccer as a First Love 3:05 - What caused you to choose to play football at FAU? 4:14 - When you look back on your career at FAU, what stands out most to you? 5:07 - Did being close to home have an impact on your decision to go to FAU? 6:00 - When did the possibility of the NFL become a reality? 7:17 - 2018 Cleveland Browns Season Recap || What did it feel like to have such a successful rookie year? 8:36 - What did it feel like to get released after such a great season? 9:43 - When you move around as much as you have (workouts, practice squads, and active rosters), where do you live? 10:49 - 2019 Tennessee Titans Season Recap || What was did it mean to you to have such a successful season and to be perfect down the stretch? 12:20 - How did it feel kicking in the post-season as opposed to the regular season? 13:25 - What did it mean to sign a "3-year contract" in Tennessee to then get cut less than a year later? 15:38 - Tryout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers || Free Agency 16:38 - What did it look like to be an in-season "COVID signing"? 17:26 - What is the difference between being on the practice squad vs. the active roster? 17:53 - What was it like to play alongside Tom Brady? 19:36 - Did your talented roster in Tampa Bay breed a standard of success every day? 20:29 - What did Super Bowl LV week look like for you? 21:03 - What are you most excited about in your new opportunity with the Minnesota Vikings? 21:53 - How important is it to you to transition to a new team but have the familiarity in your holder (Britton Colquitt)? 22:46 - Will we see a recreation of your iconic Christmas card? 23:08 - How tough is it to stay focused on yourself but still be aware of your surroundings (ex. kicker openings in the NFL)? 24:00 - How do you and other NFL kickers push each other but also learn as much as you can from each one of them?  25:36 - How big of an impact do you think your faith has had on your career and on being present in each place you are in? 26:25 - STORY - Cut as a Freshman 28:47 - If you could tell yourself something as a freshman, what would it be? 29:58 - If you had to pick one teammate to survive with in the wild, who would it be? AND MORE! Follow Greg on Instagram @gregjoseph and on Twitter @greg_joseph1 --- Follow along with The Snapshot Podcast on Instagram @thesnapshotpod and share this podcast with a friend!

EP_003 | Culture | Coach Willie Taggart

This week The Snapshot welcomes Florida Atlantic University head football coach, Willie Taggart. Prior to coaching, Taggart was a star quarterback for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers from 1995 through 1998, being one of only three WKU players in the previous 50 years to be a four-year starter at the position and one of only four Hilltoppers players to have his jersey retired. In each of his last two collegiate seasons, he was a finalist for the prestigious Walter Payton Award, which is an honor given annually to the top offensive player in I-AA football. Following his playing career at WKU, he stayed on as an assistant coach until 2006. The next year he followed his friend, Jim Harbaugh, to Stanford as the Running Backs coach until 2009. Since then, he has held the head coach position at four NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky (2009 to 2012 seasons); South Florida (2013 to 2016 seasons); Oregon (2017 season); and Florida State (2018 season and part of the 2019 season). He currently holds the position of head football coach at FAU following Lane Kiffin's tenure. At all five schools, he was the first African-American to be hired as the head coach. RUNDOWN 1:10 - What has made each of your five coaching opportunities special to you? 4:56 - Story of Jim Harbaugh recruiting Taggart to play for his dad at WKU 9:48 - What are some of the key takeaways from having Jack Harbaugh as a coach and a mentor? 12:16 - Climbing the coaching ladder 15:32 - What did being the first African-American head football coach at all five of the schools you have coached at mean to you personally and to the landscape of head coaches in college football? 16:51 - How did coaching quarterbacks such as Justin Herbert and Quinton Flowers impact your development of the "Gulf Coast Offense"? 19:30 - Justin Herbert STORY 20:52 - How big of an impact does team culture and academic success have on turning around a program? 24:08 - 2020 Season Review (New Team, COVID season, and more!) Follow  Coach Taggart and FAU Football on Instagram @realcoachtaggart & @FAUfootball and on Twitter @coachtaggart & @FAUfootball *I apologize for the poor audio quality - this is something that will be fixed in the near future!* --- Follow along with The Snapshot Podcast on Instagram @thesnapshotpod and share this podcast with a friend!

EP_002 | Olympic Dream | AJ Barbar

This week The Snapshot welcomes its first guest, AJ Barbar. AJ represented Lebanon in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His road to those Olympic Games - up until literally the morning of his race - was not an easy one. In this episode, you will hear the highs and lows that AJ has experienced in his journey. Whether it was the highs of 4 consecutive national championships, representing his fatherland all over the world, or an Olympic dream realized, he never lost sight of his purpose. In the midst of lows such as a late sport change, years without visible progress, or his dreams coming days away from being unfairly taken away, he never lost sight of his purpose. In this episode, AJ walks me through his: - Start to Swimming - College Journey - Olympic Experience - & more! If you want to hear more about AJ's story and hear from some of the incredible people he has met in his athletic career, check out The Barbar Shop Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4R9X9Oewo5iKYzcJedFPyA *I apologize for the poor audio quality - this is something that will be fixed by the following episode!* --- Follow along with The Snapshot Podcast on Instagram @thesnapshotpod and share this podcast with a friend!