Welcome to Season 2 of Why I Stay. In this episode, Dr. Britani Moses talks with Eddie Youngblood, Teacher and Head Baseball Coach at Clear Falls High School. Coach Youngblood shares what motivates him after 36 years of teaching, who inspires him, and how he helps his students by understanding their why. Enjoy.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;08;04
Speaker 1
.
00;00;08;27 - 00;00;21;18
Speaker 1
Clear Creek ISD is home to a team of over 5000 educators, administrators and support staff who are committed to helping students achieve, contribute and lead with integrity.
00;00;23;00 - 00;00;41;25
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome back to season two of our podcast. Why I Stay. I'm Dr. Brittany Moses, director of Human Resources for Clear Creek ISD and I'm joined today by coach Eddie Youngblood, teacher and head baseball coach for Clear Falls High School.
00;00;41;25 - 00;00;43;13
Speaker 1
Good morning. Glad to be here.
00;00;43;13 - 00;00;51;17
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for being here. So Coach Youngblood, you have been with Clear Creek ISD since 2008.
00;00;51;17 - 00;00;53;10
Speaker 1
Wow.
00;00;53;10 - 00;01;14;23
Speaker 1
Coach And you've been at Clear Falls High School since 2010. So today I want to talk to you about what keeps you motivated, that keeps you inspired and why do you stay in Clear Creek ISD. So let's get started by having you share a little bit about yourself and how you found your way to CCISD.
00;01;14;23 - 00;01;45;00
Speaker 1
Good question. Thank you for having me again. So I've been teaching now for 36 years and came to Clear Creek ISD from Fort Bend area. So I was I was over there and actually came over on a Friday night to scout a football game between Clear Creek and Deer Park. Use as a football coach, you don't get to watch halftime, but as I was a scout, I sat there and watched halftime and I saw the Clear Creek Band play and I saw the dads dancing with the Cavaliers.
00;01;45;02 - 00;02;03;25
Speaker 1
And it was a patriotic theme. And I thought to myself, What a cool community to be a part of not dreaming that I would ever become a part of it. But I really was inspired by just the closeness of the community and all the things that they were presenting. And on that night, as time would happen, it was a callback.
00;02;03;27 - 00;02;12;15
Speaker 1
The next year at opening with Coach Mallory in the baseball department and came over with Mr. Bockart to teach English and and get started that way. So.
00;02;12;15 - 00;02;33;22
Speaker 1
36 years. That's quite a long time. And typically people start thinking about the end of their career after that many years. But talk to us about, you know, what what inspires you to come back every day. 36 years is a long commitment, but what inspires you?
00;02;33;22 - 00;02;55;00
Speaker 1
I think if you look at it as a job, you’d be gone a long time ago. I was leaving a faculty meeting one day and I won't name names, but a particular person. I brought up the comment, I said, my wife has mentioned retirement lately and I hadn't even thought about it until she brought it up. And the person I was speaking with said, I've thought about it every day since the day I was hired.
00;02;55;03 - 00;03;12;26
Speaker 1
my goodness, I said. And so, again, it's it's it that calling is not just a job, it's a calling to make a positive difference for young people and others that you come in contact with. And so when you look I look at it like that, that's what gets me up in the morning. That's what inspires me to keep going.
00;03;12;26 - 00;03;29;29
Speaker 1
And so thinking about that calling. So you really have a couple opportunities both in your role as a teacher but also as a coach at Clear Falls. So talk to me about that and how that really affects your calling and how it encourages you each
00;03;29;29 - 00;03;47;04
Speaker 1
So I mentioned to you before we started that my job right now is credit recovery. And so all those kids that are in those classes have failed. They have to have failed the class at least, you know, at least one time to be able to be in the class. And so my role as a teacher now is a little bit different.
00;03;47;04 - 00;04;06;23
Speaker 1
I actually do more coaching in the classroom and more teaching on the field. And so I encourage daily and motivate and try to, you know, give those kids a reason for for coming and seeing more than just the immediate time that they're or they're stuck in in class and helping them see, okay, what do you want to do beyond high school?
00;04;06;23 - 00;04;25;17
Speaker 1
And so that motivational piece of coaching comes in there. And then on the baseball field, those kids are pretty motivated. They want to be there. And so in that aspect now, it's just a matter of teaching the game and teaching hard work and teaching those aspects. And so it kind of to some it might seem kind of odd, but I just flipped the script into it that way.
00;04;25;17 - 00;04;33;25
Speaker 1
so Coach, Youngblood you talked about being a part of other districts outside of Clear Creek ISD What makes CCISD so special?
00;04;33;25 - 00;04;58;20
Speaker 1
I like the idea that it's a big district, and yet it still has that small town feel to it. We've got this week at Clear Falls, we've got Homecoming week. And so we've got a parade. We had Monday night. We have a carnival on Friday, dress up days every day. And so the kids are embracing that. They're having a great time, the admins embracing it, and it just makes it where they're connecting to the school and to each other.
00;04;58;26 - 00;05;08;11
Speaker 1
And then we've got a chance to in to give them the academic piece while there while they're there, they don't buy into the school. They're not, they're not coming for the academic piece.
00;05;08;11 - 00;05;15;12
Speaker 1
And I happened to be there for the, for the parade and it was so nice to see other campuses involved
00;05;15;12 - 00;05;17;08
Speaker 1
Absolutely.
00;05;17;10 - 00;05;19;02
Speaker 2
Bayside and Hyde .To be able to include those has been fun.
00;05;19;05 - 00;05;22;26
Speaker 1
Campuses for very much. yeah.
00;05;22;26 - 00;05;27;23
Speaker 1
So talk to me about what's your favorite part about working for CCISD.
00;05;27;23 - 00;06;01;05
Speaker 1
Favorite part. I love the interaction with other professionals. We've got such a great core group of teachers and admin and have for years that it inspires me and motivates me. That phrase iron sharpens iron. I can look back to coming into the district at Clear Creek ISD and I had the opportunity to work with, you know, Mr. Scott Bockart, Tim Mallory, Ruben Jordan had Coach Carlisle, Buddy was already out of coaching at that time.
00;06;01;05 - 00;06;23;16
Speaker 1
But I got to interact with him at a pep rally and just see his charisma. Dr. Jo Beth Brizendine was a dean at the time there and just some wonderful, wonderful individuals that are great at their craft but also really care about kids and to me that's what makes CCISD very special. And of course, that's carried over to Clear Falls.
00;06;23;19 - 00;06;48;05
Speaker 1
Dr. Engle was the principal when we opened the school. There. Dr. Brizendine came over, but again, to meet people like Anthony Tran and one of our phenomenal teachers is Debbie Bacon with our Camelot kids. I could just go on and on. We've got lots of wonderful teachers and again, that they have a passion for kids and have a passion for just doing the right things.
00;06;48;11 - 00;07;00;23
Speaker 1
I saw Ms.. Bacon in the parade, and I remember her teaching at an elementary school. And so it's just it's it's like you said, it's inspiring to see teachers who not only care about their craft, but more importantly, they care about
00;07;00;23 - 00;07;03;20
Speaker 1
Right. So we talked.
00;07;03;20 - 00;07;14;06
Speaker 1
about earlier that you have 36 years in education So to me, that clearly means that you have established a strong core belief or a why of what you're doing, what you're doing.
00;07;14;06 - 00;07;22;18
Speaker 1
So talk to me about that. What's your why why are you here 36 years, you're saying talk to me about your why?
00;07;22;18 - 00;07;43;01
Speaker 1
I think you have to know that to be able to be in this profession, especially for the length of time I am. My my why is to make a positive difference. I think that I've been placed in this job for that reason, and I think it's been made more clear to me through the years because my family met.
00;07;43;06 - 00;08;01;09
Speaker 1
They tell me I can't go anywhere without running into students or teachers and stuff. And I've got two quick examples. A few years back, we were in Los Angeles on vacation and we were on a bus tour and they dropped us off in the Rodeo Drive area. They said, We know you can't afford to shop here because you wouldn't be on the bus tour if you could.
00;08;01;11 - 00;08;17;12
Speaker 1
And so we'll give you about 20 minutes, look around quickly, and then we'll come back to the same spot, get on the bus, and we'll we'll be out of here. So we jumped out of the bus, walked up and down the street. There was a expensive car we went to go look at that was parked at the $3 million Bugatti parked on the side of the street.
00;08;17;14 - 00;08;34;09
Speaker 1
And as we're sitting there viewing that for just a short, short window that we're there, truck drives by, drives down the street, window rolls down. Hey, Coach Youngblood, how are you doing? It was one of our students said it was on vacation with his family. They were traveling from San Diego up to L.A. on their way to San Francisco.
00;08;34;11 - 00;08;53;19
Speaker 1
Happen to want to see Rodeo Drive in and ran into us. So when I see experiences like that, I say OK, we have a ripple effect that goes further than we can imagine. A couple weeks ago, I was flying home from Denver. We'd gone up for a quick little break and was flying home from Denver in a baseball player of mine was on the flight coming home.
00;08;53;21 - 00;09;12;10
Speaker 1
He had graduated in 2020. And Hey, Coach, and what do you do on the same flight from Denver back to Houston? So just I'm just reminded that it is a ripple effect that that the lives that we impact our touch go way beyond what we can even imagine. And so a lot of responsibility in that as well.
00;09;12;25 - 00;09;30;09
Speaker 1
So thinking about that ripple effect and clearly you've made such a huge difference in the time that you've been here in Clear Creek ISD among your students and certainly the athletes and the community that you serve. Talk to me about what inspires you, because ultimately that inspires you to inspire your students and your athletes.
00;09;30;09 - 00;09;57;08
Speaker 1
I'm inspired daily. There's there are examples all around that that lift me up and inspire me to do a better job and to put more time and effort into my craft. People like Lilian Cross. She's one of our crossing guards that she's been at Falls. I think she's in other places now, but I'd see her out there with her mittens on and her raincoat on and waving and smiling to every car that went by, rain or shine.
00;09;57;08 - 00;10;21;25
Speaker 1
It didn't matter. That's inspiring. I mean, nobody nobody has to do that. You can just simply get the kids across the street. But she's got a joy and she's spreading it while she's doing it on our campus. We've got a custodian named Hilario Nunez. Hilario is you can see him with his fedora on every night, but he's he may be cleaning the hallways or cleaning restrooms, and he's singing this beautiful Spanish ballad while he's working.
00;10;21;25 - 00;10;45;23
Speaker 1
And that inspires me. Our maintenance director at Falls, Terrance, mows all our athletic fields, cleans up the trash, is does all the weeding. 100 degrees in the summer. And I asked him one time, I said, Hey, you're all by yourself. You know what keeps you going? And he said, I'm not going anywhere. He said, I've got ballet lessons for my four year old that I've got to pay for, and I'm going to be here doing the best job I can every day.
00;10;45;26 - 00;11;06;24
Speaker 1
That inspires me. And then I've got students that come. And as you visit with those students, they come from sometimes broken homes because I couldn't make it because my family, my parents were arguing and fighting last night. But I got up and I did the best I could to get here. That inspires me. So when I see that kind of thing, you know, I come to work every day and put a smile on my face and and get after it.
00;11;06;24 - 00;11;09;23
Speaker 1
what? Stories? And we have amazing
00;11;09;23 - 00;11;12;22
Speaker 1
We do. Everywhere. I had a student.
00;11;12;22 - 00;11;21;29
Speaker 1
recently asked me, did we give a crossing guard award of the year? I said, No, we don't. She said, Well, you should. And she was referring to Ms.
00;11;21;29 - 00;11;29;22
Speaker 1
Absolutely. It makes her day every day to see this, Lillian. Absolutely. It makes my heart.
00;11;29;22 - 00;11;37;23
Speaker 1
to know that we have so many people here like you in CCISD that inspire and do the great work that they do.
00;11;37;28 - 00;11;40;14
Speaker 3
Okay so coach Youngblood but let's talk about baseball a.
00;11;40;14 - 00;11;40;19
Speaker 1
Little.
00;11;40;19 - 00;11;43;20
Speaker 1
Gladly.
00;11;43;20 - 00;11;53;13
Speaker 3
not a coach or have experience with coaching but I hear some really great things happened this last season and Clear Falls High School in the baseball program. So talk to me about that.
00;11;53;13 - 00;12;20;17
Speaker 1
Absolutely. We've had a couple really good seasons back to back in 2022. That season, our kids went 29 and three. At one point we were ranked in the top five in the state, had a really great year, ran into a tough team in the playoffs and finally got eliminated. But a tremendous season there. And then we've you know, it's hard to follow up when you've had that much success, but then the next year's group came right along and picked up where they left off.
00;12;20;19 - 00;12;42;03
Speaker 1
We went to the regional quarterfinals last year. Furthest that any male sport I guess it males. Which do you mean any baseball program at Falls had gone before so that was that was encouraging and exciting just made up of some kids that that want to give their all every day want to do it the right way and played hard.
00;12;42;14 - 00;12;58;25
Speaker 3
That's so exciting. Well, congratulations to you and the team. So I think about that team and I'm sure it's made up of many different personalities and life stories. How did you kind of rally them to pull together and be a team that accomplished so much?
00;12;58;25 - 00;13;19;05
Speaker 1
That's a great question. I think any time you try to build a team, it takes a lot of work and there's so many different aspects of it. One of the things that we've tried to do in our program maybe that's different than some is throughout the fall, we have some competition days. We divide them up into teams and have them compete different random, random.
00;13;19;07 - 00;13;39;11
Speaker 1
Whether it be tug of war or something in the pool. And so those are non-baseball activities, but it still bonds them. But but then we also have character days that we meet several years back. When we opened the school, we had a year where we only won five games, and I was so disheartened. I thought, my gosh, you know what?
00;13;39;13 - 00;13;56;15
Speaker 1
Surely I know what I'm doing and surely we can perform better than this. And as I talked to players on exit interviews and stuff, there was a whole lot of other things going on that I didn't realize throughout the year. And a lot of it just had to do with lack of character. And so we made a focus in that we were going to emphasize that more.
00;13;56;15 - 00;14;20;03
Speaker 1
We were going to have regular meetings throughout the year focusing on that. And so since that point, we've probably brought in about four or five guest speakers throughout every season, just people from the community, people from all over some of our own teachers, and had them come in and talk to the boys about character and leadership and toughness and all kinds of things.
00;14;20;03 - 00;14;31;18
Speaker 1
And I think that's made a big impact. I've seen the results on the field, but I've just seen it in the way they address things as well. The the character they bring in in any given task.
00;14;31;18 - 00;14;32;09
Speaker 3
one thing that
00;14;32;09 - 00;14;54;09
Speaker 3
I've seen through social media and just the community is that not only do you coach your boys to be great athletes and to work as a team, but you do other things to have them involved in the community, not just the falls at their high school, but also in the community. Talking about that and why you feel like that is such an important part of your program.
00;14;54;09 - 00;15;11;00
Speaker 1
I think giving back is so important. I learned that through my own upbringing with my family. Just important not to just be a taker, but to give back as well. And so we've tried to have, again, activities throughout our seasons where we go back and give to the community.
00;15;11;00 - 00;15;19;01
Speaker 1
Okay. So let's think about advice. I'm sure over the years you've offered advice to many students, athletes, and maybe it's not advice they want,
00;15;19;01 - 00;15;21;01
Speaker 1
But.
00;15;21;01 - 00;15;26;17
Speaker 1
what advice do you have for others who might need a little more motivation today?
00;15;26;18 - 00;15;28;04
Speaker 1
It's the end of October.
00;15;28;04 - 00;15;51;16
Speaker 1
Yeah, it is different. I think the advice I would share today would be to control what you can control. I think when you look for negatives, you can find those in all of our jobs. There's something out there that could irritate is frustrate us every day, but a lot of those things that we get frustrated with are things that are totally out of our control.
00;15;51;20 - 00;16;17;10
Speaker 1
We can't control the weather. We can't control, you know, other things. And so if they'll focus on the things that they can't control and and coming to school every day with a positive attitude and remembering their why that you asked about earlier why did you get into teaching if you care about kids and if you care about making a positive impact now the middle of October you can still get up and come come to work and do the very best you can.
00;16;17;13 - 00;16;34;17
Speaker 1
If you're thinking about I think I could set this question as all time when you get to retire, when you are you know, if all my motivation and thoughts were around when I was going to quit, I wouldn't be interested in what I'm doing today. And so my focus is I'm here now, let's go to work and do the best I can.
00;16;34;17 - 00;16;49;24
Speaker 1
So thinking about that and that you don't focus about the retirement work, but coming every day and doing what you do best and making an impact. What is it about CCISD that keeps you coming back each day?
00;16;49;24 - 00;17;23;14
Speaker 1
I think CCISD does a great job of giving teachers the resources they need and then taking a step back and giving you the freedom you need. We have some wonderful teachers on all the campuses I visited, and no one likes to be micromanaged. No one likes to be told everything that they have to do in lockstep. And so for us to be able to provide the resources we need and then to just step back and allow us to to take risk, allow us to try new things, that's special.
00;17;23;16 - 00;17;40;04
Speaker 1
You don't find that in every district. Like I said, I've been teaching a long time and I've been in multiple districts and many of them want to, you know, cookie cut. And here's what you do and here's your lesson and you follow. You know, to a T, what we want you to do. And I know, especially when Dr. Engel was at Falls try new things.
00;17;40;04 - 00;17;52;14
Speaker 1
We want you to try new things. And if you fail today, learn from it and do it differently tomorrow. But but don't be afraid to jump out there and take risk. And that's as rewarding that that's something special, I think a unique about our district.
00;17;52;17 - 00;17;53;18
Speaker 1
Absolutely.
00;17;53;18 - 00;18;01;29
Speaker 1
Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. I'd like to end with a shout out to someone who inspires you.
00;18;01;29 - 00;18;29;26
Speaker 1
Wow. It's like I said, there's so many that inspire me every day that that I. That I go to work. I see some that have like Anthony Tran, who came to our to America in ninth grade and couldn't speak a lick of English. He inspires me. I see some that like Miss Bacon I mentioned earlier, who have overcome, you know, a medical issue and never, you know, miss the days they had to.
00;18;29;26 - 00;18;51;10
Speaker 1
But every other day she was there with a smile on her face, loving on those kids and doing the best she could. I mentioned our our maintenance people. They go out every day and just work their tails off with very little, you know, pat on the back, a reward or, you know, they're not getting in the paper for a win on Friday night or anything like that.
00;18;51;15 - 00;19;09;16
Speaker 1
They're just doing it because they have a passion for doing the right thing. So those are the people that inspire me. I can't list one. I mean, I could be all day just listing name after name of people that that I, I see, you know, their commitment and their expertise in what they do. And that inspires me.
00;19;09;16 - 00;19;11;06
Speaker 2
as well.
00;19;11;09 - 00;19;14;17
Speaker 1
I want to thank you for the work that you are doing.
00;19;14;17 - 00;19;15;27
Speaker 1
Thank you.
00;19;15;27 - 00;19;32;09
Speaker 1
so many. And I know that you are a leader on your campus among your colleagues. But the difference that you're making the in our youth and they are so privileged to be able to see you day in and day out working as a teacher, as a coach, and inspiring them.
00;19;32;09 - 00;19;40;14
Speaker 1
As I want to thank you for really taking that to heart and coming every day and being prepared and doing your best. And even when it may be raining,
00;19;40;14 - 00;19;42;02
Speaker 1
outside or you
00;19;42;02 - 00;19;52;16
Speaker 1
smile and you're there for our students. I want to say thank you for being there and being that star that we need in
00;19;54;10 - 00;19;55;28
Speaker 1
So that concludes our time today.
00;19;56;06 - 00;20;14;07
Speaker 1
Thank you again, Coach Youngblood. I'm so excited about this season of why I stay, and I hope you are too. Stay tuned CCISD. Subscribe and listen to us wherever you get your podcast. Until next time. Thanks for listening and we'll talk again soon.