DanRomano.mp4
 
Alan Babbitt [00:00:06] Welcome to the Hope College Athletics Orange and Blue podcast for the 2023 summer season. As we take a breath from competition, we want to take some time to highlight some of our exceptional student-athletes, coaches and staff here who make Hope Athletics a special place. One of the spotlights we want to do this summer is Be Strong Be True Athletes of the Year. We are going to be talking with Delaney Wesolek, our female recipient, later this summer. But today we're going to talk with Dan Romano, a college football player, a biomedical, mechanical engineering major and an exceptional running back. It's been my pleasure to watch him play for the Flying Dutchman as well as be a student-athlete here and join us today, as well as head football coach Peter Stuursma. Welcome to you both, Dan and Coach.
 
Peter Stuursma [00:01:02] Thank you very much.
 
Dan Romano [00:01:03] Thank you.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:01:05] The Be Strong Be True Athlete of the Year award. We give out every year at the Hopeys. And it demonstrates the true essence of being a student athlete and embodies the Division three motto of Discover, Develop and Dedicate. You have got to be in high academic standing, play a significant role on the team and be involved with Hope and the greater Holland community as well. Dan has been an exceptional representative of that. Coach Stuursma, what can you talk about, Dan, and the impact that he's had on this program in this campus since he's been here at Hope College?
 
Peter Stuursma [00:01:41] Absolutely, Alan. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity. I mean, we really probably could do this interview in three hours and cover all the things that Dan Romano stands for. We were fortunate to be able to recruit his brother Joe here and did a great job for us. He grew and the program grew and physically and just was an outstanding member of our program. When Dan came along, you know, he just was the guy that did things in his freshman year that were unheralded and that no one talked about. I mean, at one point he lined up at the offensive line and, you know, he was a skill guy. He just did whatever was needed for the team. When you meet his mom and dad, you really realize why those two young men that we've been fortunate to have in our program the way they are and his mom and dad are unbelievable people, unbelievable human beings. Dan and Joe are both so humble. To really focus on Dan, he epitomizes what this award is about. He's a student-athlete first and foremost. I always joke with him that it's like, you know, how's your midterms? He just says, fine. And I know he's a 4.0. he does the work. What I want to really highlight about that is, is he's nonchalant about it because he's very humble. I want you to know he works extremely hard to do the things and accomplish the things that he does. I think it would be unfair to say, Oh, Dan Romano just has all these awards, all these accolades. It doesn't give enough credit to the fact he really works extremely hard to be who he is, both on and off of the field. He is who he is. He lives by a certain set of standards and expectation, and he holds himself to a higher level of expectations than any one of us can as a coach, as administration, as a school institution. He holds himself to that standard the way he takes care of his body, the way he takes care of his friends, the way he takes care of his faith, the way he takes care of just the things around him. And he does it in Dan Romano's way. He doesn't do it because it's flashy. He doesn't do it because someone told him that's a better fit to do it that way. He does it his way and it's 99.9% the right way because that's Dan Romano's expectations. And I'm not surprised that he had the career that he had. And I say that because, again, I don't want to take away from what he does, but I'm not surprised because that's just who he is. It's the way he goes about his business. You know, Dan Romano would score three touchdowns and rushed for 230 yards and go, Oh, jeez, you know, golly gee whiz, hookers, those offensive line did a great job. You know, deep down, he has great respect for his teammates. He has, I think, great respect for the game. He has great respect for the the journey, the work that it takes to play the game at a high level. And when you have a young man like that, it's what this award is about. It's what all college is about. It's what And and I don't want it to he's he wants to tell you he's not Superman. I mean, he injured his shoulder and had to have surgery and he had to go through a grind to get himself back to even play in his senior year to be able to carry the ball like he did. It's not easy, but there's not enough accolades or not enough adjectives. There's not enough time on this zoom to be able to talk about what Dan Romano has meant to this institution, to this program, to our players, to our coaching staff, and to me personally.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:05:06] For you. Dan, I know you weren't setting out to be honored like this or it, knowing you and having interviewed you, even looking for accolades. But what does this Be Strong Be True athlete the honor mean to you?
 
Dan Romano [00:05:20] First off, thank you for allowing me to be on the podcast and Coach, thank you for all those kind words. It was just very nice to hear. I really wasn't expecting to win that award. When I heard my name called, I was just pretty surprised. I was going up against like three other really top-notch guys. And it seemed like their list of like their list of, like who they were and what they did was a lot longer. It was like I, you know, it was just an honor to be nominated, so. But yeah, when I got the when I got my name called, I was just very surprised, but just very blessed to win. I think it was just very special knowing that like everything that I had done throughout my time at Hope had just kind of been recognized in that way. It's just a very special award to win.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:06:20] Looking over your list of activities, in addition to football, challenging major and engineering, you are also a member of ATC-SAAC here, the Athletes Coming Together and Student Advisory Council at Hope. You also served in that role on the MIAA. You took part in a SEED trip (Sport Evangelism to Equip Disciples). You've been a co-leader for football Bible study. You packed a lot in. Why was that important to you to not just be defined by your studies or just your sports or what else?
 
Dan Romano [00:06:55] Right? I think it was part of it was just as hard for me to say no. I saw everything as an opportunity to grow, to meet people, to become just to become the better version of myself. I did find myself, like, just saying yes a lot and taking advantage of every opportunity that I could. That just led me down a road to one being busy, but also just really growing in every aspect of my life, whether it was football, academics or my faith with the Bible study or being a leader on ACT-SAAC, or repping the MIAA. They were all just like really cool opportunities I didn't want to pass up on. I just decided I didn't see it as like a burden to myself, although sometimes I would get a little busy. I saw it more as like I'm saying yes, I want to excel in it and be the best that I can be in it.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:07:56] What did you learn about time management? Is that something that you had a pretty good grasp on when you when you started college? Because that's a key part of the process. What advice would you give to a freshman that's coming to campus this fall so that they can have a similar experience? It seems a rewarding experience that you had.
 
Dan Romano [00:08:22] I think I had a decent grasp on time management coming into college of course as an athlete in high school and did some other extracurriculars too. I guess college is just like a different level, especially with playing football and everything. My time management skills came from knowing I had a certain amount of time to get the work done that I needed to. You know, I'd have classes from all day from like 8 p.m. to 3 p.m., then go straight to practice and then go straight to dinner. And then I'd have from dinner time until basically I went to bed to do my homework and then do it all over again the next day. I think it was just a matter of knowing, okay, there's so much time I have, this is what I need to get done and just like keeping up in my classes, understanding of what the homework was, how much time I needed to do it, if I needed to reach out for help go to office hours. It's just kind of getting an understanding of the difficulty of my classes, what I need to do to stay successful or stay up to date with them. But I think just knowing this is how much time I have to get my homework done, that kind of help me just guide the way for for the rest of the week and knowing how to stay successful.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:09:49] Peter, from your eyes, what did you see from Dan as a student athlete that allowed him to not only do a lot, but do it at a very high level?
 
Peter Stuursma [00:09:59] Yeah, In fact, Dan and I used to joke like, it's okay to, you know, to just relax a little bit here in the end. And yet that's just not the way he's wired — to relax. But in a lot of ways, I do think he really he is very humble. He is very appreciative and grateful for the gifts and the things that he has. But I'm I think as he's gotten older, I think he realizes that he worked really, really hard to be in this position. I'm hopeful that he will acknowledge that because I think this seeing him balance all of those things, it's hard. There's no question about it. I also believe this in my heart that when you're involved in athletics, it tends to structure you a little bit more. He's a structured human being to begin with, but then you add in playing high level football with working out and doing those things because he has a set standard of expectation for himself. I think that's that the sport of football, because we're pretty structured from August 9th through whenever we're done. I think that also helps him say, okay, well, I know that from this time I have this, so it allows him to focus on the other time that he knows he has to use. He's a funny kid. He's a great friend to a lot of our guys. He does have fun. It's not like he's just all business all the time, but because he's so involved in so many things, it appears that way. I love what he says. He goes, I don't say no very often. I think people want to be around him and they resonate with that. There's a topic that always comes up I think is one of most fascinating, debatable topics. That's leadership is Dan's not a rah-rah guy. Dan's not the guy that's going to be the voice out there in front of everybody. But I think in a very important piece of leadership, in my opinion, is how do people view you? I think a lot of people view him and have great respect for him, for the human being that he is and the way he conducts his business. And that to me is and so I the ultimate compliment is that, you know, there's a lot of guys in our team that when you when I ask our guys when I do exit interviews asking you know, like, hey, who really helped you? A lot of guys would say Dan Romano and Dan Romano doesn't even know sometimes when he does it, but sitting with somebody asking if they need help. He would help our guys with professors to take at certain times and what to take in the fall and what to take in the spring based on balancing the schedules. Those little things go a long way, and sometimes they're not put on a scoreboard, they're not highlighted in an interview like this. But his impact on on many others is inspiring. And that's also a huge part of leadership.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:12:41] Dan, I know. Being a leader, there are different levels of leaders depending on the organization and what's involved. For you, it seems like you impacted whether or not maybe from when you were freshmen by how you treated your teammates. What in your mind makes a good teammate and how did you try to be one?
 
Dan Romano [00:13:01] On the topic of leadership, like I was never a captain or a council group leader. I felt like I was just a running back, you know? But like, especially last year and then this season, being an upperclassman, I was trying to find my role, I was like, okay, how can I be that leader that I know I should be without being a council group leader, without being a captain? I think I've always taken the role as just like leading by example because like Coach said, like I'm not like the hype-up guy, like I'm not the one to go, like, screaming around the field trying to hype everyone up or get people going. It's like, I would like if I tried to do that, I don't think I'd get the response that I would want because people know that's just not who I am. So. But I think what makes a great teammate is just knowing your role and then just being an encouraging, positive guy for others to go to. Even if we were like losing or we were down or we needed something to get going, it's like, okay, I know my role. If I can do my role to the standard that I know I can do it, then I think that'll encourage guys to step up as well. I saw this season, especially just I wanted to be a great teammate, especially to the young guys, to the younger running backs, just always asking them how they were doing or what I could do for them, and just trying to build a relationship that was deeper than football. I think that goes a long way too. I think that is another aspect of what makes a great teammate.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:14:54] When did you first pick up a football? When? When did it become your game? I Know you were a multi-sport athlete. But I imagine has football been as long as you can remember?
 
Dan Romano [00:15:04] I think so. I think I started playing in third or fourth grade. We had our grade school teams. I went to Shrine Catholic schools, like kindergarten through 12th grade. I think I started around third or fourth grade. I don't think. I knew I was kind of good at it, and so that's why I stuck around with it. I didn't realize, like, I'm actually kind of good at this. And so, like, maybe sixth or seventh grade. And then I was like, Yeah, this is definitely this where they're on. I keep going with.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:15:38] What is playing for football for Hope College meant to you?
 
Dan Romano [00:15:46] It means a lot. I never really thought about playing football in college up until I saw my brother do it. I didn't even know of college until my brother went here too. one to be able to play with him my freshman year, when he was a senior, was really special. To play into this culture and kind of just build like not just a winning culture but just a football culture that's around being supportive and just being one team was super special. I really love what Hope stands for and I really love what Hope College football stands for. Just to play on this program was just really special to me.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:16:33] Coach and Dan, I would be remiss, but this is a running back that had two 200 yard games in his career. It's hard enough for a running back to get one, then to do it during two different seasons versus Trine this year. And then Adrian a couple of years ago. What made Dan such a good running back for the Flying Dutchman?
 
Peter Stuursma [00:16:58] I think what people don't know and realizes is the challenge that the Dan had after his junior year, he had arguably as fine a season as any running back, a league and things like that. And to have in by the way towards the end of the season his junior year I mean you looked at him he had a brace a brace on his shoulder. You know, he had tape all over. And, you know, in practice, we really tried to just get him some warmup reps, if you will, to get him through because his running style is a punishing running style. You know, I it's pretty old school, but the Earl Campbells of the day and, just he would just punish you when he hit you. And because of that,  his body broke down. But he's as strong and is conscious about his fitness as any guy I've been around at that level to play the position. But his body broke down and I don't think people realize the challenge he went through in this post-season surgery. I remember when he had a surgery and we were talking said, and there's only one person I'm worried about of you getting back and that's you. Because he's so driven that I didn't want to go too fast, like I wanted him to give his body time to heal because he doesn't know any way to do things other than the throttle right to the floor when it comes to working out. Wwe were really challenged about, hey, just go be patient. I didn't want to fast forward to the last game of the season and you asked, I'm going to get to to answer your question. What makes him good? Well, last game, a season this year down to Trine 200 and I think 24 yards or something. He has great patience, his great vision. I think it just was kind of one of those things. I think Dan just said, hey, this is my last ride and I'm going to make it count. And he did that in the punishing style after a certain period of time, you're like, Dang, I don't want to hit that dude anymore because he just keeps coming at you. He just doesn't have that ability to quit and that's going to carry him a long way. That has carried him a long way in what he's done. That's that work-ethic piece. But it's this there's just that innate ability to compete that's going to come into play when he goes through things in life that are going to be challenging, whether it's work, family, there's going to be things that are going to happen, and that's just not a glass is half empty, this is a glass half full comment when I say this is he's going to take those challenges on just like he did going into his senior year and just like he finished for us, just being that teammate that really like 224 yards and two touchdowns and he's given his linemen the credit. Why do you think those linemen really like blocking for him? Why do you think the H-backs really like blocking for him? Why do you think the quarterback's really like giving the ball to a guy like that? And and all I could say about all of our guys, but Dan's definitely the leader from an example standpoint of that group. He's just a gem to coach. I mean like I always I always say like I'm the dumbest coach. I know. But when you have guys like that, let's just get out of the way, get out of the way and give them the opportunities that as many that you can. Hey, there are times when he probably wanted more and there are times he maybe wanted less. You know, it all evens out at the end I don't think he has any regrets because I know we don't because it's been an absolute pleasure to be around the young man that he is.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:20:25] Dan, adversity is a part of sport. Obviously, we enjoy the winning and the highs, but there can be lows too. And I can imagine there even had times of doubt when you are recovering from your injury, whether or not you'd be able to even get back on the field. What kept you from, you know, being discouraged and like, maybe, you know what? Maybe I'm just not meant to play any more, to come back. How did you get through that? Because that had to be mentally maybe as challenging as anything athletically related you've had in your life.
 
Dan Romano [00:20:58] it was definitely a big challenge. You know, the normal recovery time for the surgery that I had was about 6 to 8 months and I got my surgery in the middle of March. And so, I was doing the normal recovery time. It would be past when football had already started. And so not only did I want to recover faster than that, but I also needed to work out like I normally do and get the conditioning down so that I could be I saw myself as like, I need to get like in football shape so I can play in that first game and just like ball out. That was like my challenge in my head that I was like, okay, I need to be fully recovered. I need to cut that time in half and just kind of workout like crazy. I surprisingly. I did cut my recovery time in half pretty much. And then I was at the point in the summer where I think I had like a month and a half left where I could lift normally and I could sprint and do all those things to really get prepared for the season. And so I think just. I guess. And then when I got to camp and kind of just being more of like, let's go slowly with it and work your way into actually hitting again and then the start of the season. And I didn't play as much as I was running a little more timid, but I wanted to get my shoulder used to getting those hits and everything. I think one of the biggest challenges was trying to understand where I thought my body was versus where it may have actually been versus where the coaches thought it was. And I think the whole start to the season in the middle of the season when we were losing all of that was just facing a lot of adversity. Especially for me because it's like, gosh, this is not what I thought my senior season was going to be like. So deep down I was thinking of, you know, okay, how can I how can I just enjoy this? Because this is the last time playing. And that's when I kind of decided to just, you know, if I'm not going to be like the starter in games or really playing in games or if I'm not a captain or a leader, it's like, okay, what can I do to still enjoy this? And that's when I decided to like I'm really going to try to be a great teammate and just keep leading by example. I'm going to keep going hard in practice because that's what I've always known and that's what my teammates deserve from me. And, you know, I'm just going to keep pouring into the young guys and being a great teammate to them. And and so instead of, it was frustrating, but instead of letting that frustration get the better of me, I just decided, I'm just going to be a great teammate because this is what my team deserves. And I think. Doing that the whole season kind of just led up to what happened at Trine. And I think, you know, what happened at Trine for the 224 yards and a touchdown is just a really special way to kind of end my time with Hope Football and just be like a good capstone to my career here and stuff. So I guess in terms of just facing adversity, it was really challenging. But instead of letting the adversity overcome me, I just thought of how can I be creative or think of different ways to to fight against it and still enjoy my time.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:24:50] How did your faith help you kind of get that through to? I mean, that's no matter where you go in life there are going to be challenges like that that you have to face. Talk about your faith and and how that kind of helped keep you on an even keel during a time that may have been a little rocky.
 
Dan Romano [00:25:11] My faith played a huge role. I think what happened after my junior season with playing really well and getting some awards and recognition and I thought, wow, like if I could do that with kind of being injured throughout the whole season, then what can I do? My senior season, if I were healthy? I kind of just put like my identity and my identity and my performance in football, which is not the best thing to do. I think what God was calling me to do is to put my identity back in him. And so I do think that part of the reason of my shoulder and just maybe not playing throughout like the beginning of my senior season was just God calling me back to him and putting my identity in his instead. Having that having a strong faith and just really relying on my prayer and like the Bible study that is helping lead and I'm really just putting my focus back on my faith rather than my focus solely on football kind of just helped me understand and realize that like football is just a blessing that I've been able to play and when I put who I am into that and instead of and take it out in that Jesus, and that's when things just start to not go right. And I think I noticed that just putting my identity back and God really helped me get it gain a better understanding of what was really going on with my football season. I think after I did that and was kind of like the same time around our last game at Trine where it's like if I play, I'm just going to ball out, I'm going to play loose. And like that's kind of what happened. And I wasn't I wasn't really looking for like I knew I wasn't going to get really any awards for the season and I didn't really care. I just wanted to go out and do the best that I could do, it turned into like a good note for the end of the season.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:27:33] Peter, I know one of the things we really work on here at Hopew is with transforming lives, and it seems like that was a moment that transformed Dan, even though he had a lot coming out, even coming to Hope as a student, as a young man, as a person of faith. When you hear his story about that, what does that mean to you to see his life transform in a way maybe he didn't even expect when he came here to Hope?
 
Peter Stuursma [00:27:56] So much of that credit goes to Dan himself, his family, his upbringing. And, really, as you go from an 18-year-old kid when we recruit you to a 22-year-old young man. I would love to I would love to say that that's all because of us. It's not all because of us. We're just a piece of the puzzle. And it's a tremendous honor to be a part of his journey. I always say it's a small piece of his puzzle because he's really the one that deserves the credit and the accolades that he has for his puzzle, for his journey and the fact that he can acknowledge things that don't go well in that he just keeps coming out of the back side of things, a huge compliment to him is, Dan, you know, our first week of fall camp, we would always on Sunday, go to a local church and we've changed it up from time to time. Dan was always the guy in the last few years that would get a number of the Catholic student athletes to go to mass on that day. Well, fast forward to this year when I'm doing exit interviews and one of the young men in our team said, Hey, can I be the Dan Romano of that and make sure I organize the guys to go to Mass for the Catholic students? And I'm like, There it is right? He wants to be the Dan Romano that organizes that Sunday deal. And it's not just a little thing that's like, I want to be the Dan Romano that does that like that's Dan. I know that we continue to try to do and really strive to be that transformational experience and we're going to continue to do that. And yet I think as the head football coach here, I also want to give credit to the young men who put themselves through a lot of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of effort. We pushed them. We expect a lot out of them. We expect a lot of them in the classroom. It doesn't always it's not let's be honest like it's not perfect. It's not a perfect world. It's but yet it's just it's guys like this that you you really like. I mean, like I get to coach guys like this like I get the coach guys that our team I say I brag about these guys all the time. We're like, what is what's your team like? I'm like, Oh, come and meet our dudes. They're unbelievable. And this is a shining example of it. Dan, will be the first to tell you like he's honored to be on this, but he's also like, gosh, there's a lot of other guys that deserve this, too. And yet we're like, Well, yeah, but Dan, you're the winner, so we're going to honor you. That's these are the guys that we get to coach. And I am not surprised one bit when he's able to share his story, his journey that's why. You're just going to watch this dude continue to go like I dare you. I dare you bet against Dan Romano. I dare you. It's not going to go well for you.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:30:48] Well, I certainly pack a lot into this month as well, even though he's done with college. Just graduated, getting married here on May 19th. And then he's also will be starting a job at Gentex here in Zeeland. Dan, talk about your journey to Gentex and what is it about engineering that is a passion for you and the start of your career?
 
Dan Romano [00:31:15]  I've always been just like an engineering at mind and at heart. I grew up with my brother building Legos and playing with Legos and just always wanted to be creative in that way. I think I took engineering classes in high school and then and going into into college, I wanted to also focus like I also have an interest in just like how the body works. I think that grew from just all the injuries I've had over the years playing sports and everything and that. That's what drew me to being like a biomedical, mechanical engineering major. It kind of just put two interests into one. My job search this past semester had been a little frustrating. It's just been up and down. I had promising opportunities earlier in the semester, just like kind of fall through. I really just didn' like, where God was calling me to go. All of a sudden, this job posting came through my email for Gentex, and I decided to apply. Then I got scheduled for like a three-hour interview there. It went really well and I'm really happy about it. And then, like the next day, they pretty much offered me the job. I'm just really excited. It'll be a great opportunity to just get into right after college. It'll be great to just build the skills there and really see how far I can go there. I'm just excited to continue my engineering journey and career at Gentex there.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:32:56] How has the Hope College Engineering Department? How did they help you get to where you're now, where you are now?
 
Dan Romano [00:33:05] A lot of the classes were really tough. But what was great about the engineering department is just the professors are so helpful. And I think that goes for all of the Hope College really. The professors were just able to always be available to you when you need them to, whether it's their office hours or if you just send an email like at midnight and they still respond to you. They were just really great in helping us to learn and knowing what we needed so that we could learn best and really grow. Even though we had like really difficult classes, I think it was really the professors that helped us just get to where we all are today and just being ready for for industry or for going on to grad school. They're just doing they just did a great job and helping prepare us for what's next.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:34:04] I know there's we could probably go on for hour with the number of people you want to thank. But is there anyone specific you want to thank, whether family or here at Hope just for helping you help you get to where you are today?
 
Dan Romano [00:34:18] I'd say definitely my parents, they're the most supportive people I know. They wouldn't have missed a football game for the world. They wouldn't have missed any, like, engineering thing I had. They have come to everything for, like, my whole life, which has been such a blessing. And I know some of my friends don't have parents that are like that. I've just been so blessed to have parents that will drive out here for just a day trip just to see me do something for like an hour, come to every one of our football games, even if they're like 9 hours away, they'll still be there and stuff. They have been super supportive. And then I'd also like to think my fiancee, Hannah, she's just been such an amazing person to be with the past couple of years. Sshe's also just been so supportive, especially during football, when things get busy. It's just it's so nice to have her just always, always there and understanding, what I'm going through and stuff. And so she has just been really great. I can't wait to marry her in 11 days and start our start our life together. So.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:35:28] And well, I'll close out on this. I got to ask you, Da, by name, it made you think of the first play that comes to mind in a Hope uniform. What jumps out to you? For you, a favorite play.
 
Dan Romano [00:35:42] A play. I would say it'd be our Adrian game last year, my junior season, where it was at the end of the game and I rushed into the south end zone and I had some of my high school friends. They were sitting right at the end zone and so it was really cool cause as I was running into the end zone, they were like right there and stuff and I got to give them like a high five and they were celebrating the end zone with me. And so that was a lot of fun. I'd say that was my favorite play.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:36:14] Coach, I would say. You have said several times to me that every play that's called is designed to go for a touchdown. Take me through Dan's touchdown at Trine and wht what you guys were looking to get on that play. What was the call to spring him free for that touchdown to help cap you guys get a big win that close on a three-game winning streak and then he get a memorable finish to his college career?
 
Peter Stuursma [00:36:41] Well, I don't you know, I don't know if that's the most memorable one. I'll just tell you this. I use this all the time. As an example for all linemen and our H-backs. As you know, this year, Lou Baechler went through some pretty challenging injuries as well. his final game. Dan's final game, a right tackle takes their all-league player and almost moves them to the sidelines. Lou  comes around and smashes a linebacker and Dan Romano has the gas on loud and doesn't even cut and just goes right down with a shoulder pad squared. I remember seeing on the headset like, oh that was pretty good. I actually think he that was one that he got caught on. But to me that was like the symbol of kind of the way our season went. Dan talked about a frustrating time at the middle of the season and ix games into this season, we had rushed for half of what we had rushed through a year ago at the same time, and I use that play as an example of when everybody does their job, everybody has a job to do in that play. That play is a thing of beauty. I'm really I'm just going to focus on that play because I just it was fun, fun to watch. It's fun to watch when the the white jerseys are moving the Navy jerseys out of the way and then Romano's coming downhill because that guy at the end of that deal is going I'm not so sure I want to hit that big rascal, coming at me at  219 pounds of stud. I'm not so sure he's going to do that. But that's kind of symbolic of what Dan Romano's meant to this program to us.
 
Alan Babbitt [00:38:27] Well, thank you, Coach, and thank you. Dan, it's been a pleasure to talk with you here today and also watch you play Dan and wish you well and your wife moving forward here very soon. And this will be episode one here for the Hope Athletics Answer Blue Podcast. Stay tuned. In about two weeks we'll have another on with our conversation with Hope Athletics student-athletes and coaches. So thanks for joining us today. Subscribe If you aren't to the Orange of Blue podcast and share it with your friends. We got some great Hope stories. Thanks for listening, everyone.