Joey: Redding is a beautiful place. We have national parks in three different directions and two world-class lakes. This is a sportsman's paradise, but it's also full of wonderful people. We have business leaders, community leaders, faith-based leaders, all of them working towards a singular goal and that's to make this a great place to live. I wanted to showcase these people and give their perception of the place that they call home. This is All Redding. Okay, I am here with Todd Franklin, the Simpson University men's basketball coach. Head coach, right?

Todd: Yes sir.

Joey: And also park developer. Is that the right term, or?

Todd: It's become a term. Yes. So everywhere I go now, I'm either the food truck guy or the coach or occasionally dad. So it's, whatever people want to call me, I usually say yes to.

Joey: One of my favorite quotes is, it doesn't matter what they call you. It matters what you answer to.

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: So yeah, you just got back. I was because we've become friends on Facebook and so I see your posts. Number one. I love you have a lot of positive energy, so.

Todd: Well. Thank you.

Joey: There's a lot of like, isn't this a beautiful day? Things are going great, especially when you're what, in Barbados or.

Todd: Yeah. No, I was in the Caribbean. I was recruiting a basketball player. But I learned a long time you are what you focus on. So if you're always focused on the negative you probably will be a negative person. If you're finding the great things in life you may be a great person, but more importantly, you're attracting great people I don't know any strangers they're just people I haven't met yet. So I love life. I love traveling, but I love Redding, so it's great to be here.

Joey: Was that a Tennessee or Ernie Ford quote that I just, I've never met any strangers, friends I haven't met yet or something like that?

Todd: No, I think I should have patented it a long time ago, but just something I've been saying probably since high school. It's just, = everywhere you go there are amazing people. I don't care if you're on a different continent, a different country, a different country. There are amazing people. And in some way, for somehow those people get brought together and I think that's a positive energy, but also out there talking about good things and good people want to hear good things. So it's just a great way to view life and it's what I hope my kids end up doing.

Joey: Great. How long have you been in Redding?

Todd: I've been in Redding my whole life. I was adopted out of Oakland. My parents who adopted me were from McKinleyville. They moved over here when I was five. I've come and gone, but I've always come back just because this is where I want to raise my kids, this is a great community, with great people, and I think it's going in the right direction.

Joey: Oh, absolutely. How long have you been the coach at Simpson University?

Todd: I was at Liberty for 21 years.

Joey: Oh, wow.

Todd: And then last two years I've been at Simpson. It's been a great journey. We got a brand new president and he's full of life. He's really helping the school grow. They're offering more sports now. They even got bass fishing next year. So I mean, they're trying to really dive in and build that bridge back to Redding. I think maybe a mistake some universities make is they think the town's going to reach out to them. And, being local, it's been great seeing the gym fill back up with people. We've had two winning seasons, bringing people back to the gym and bringing in high-character kids and that's what people want to see. Some local kids, but also they want to see talent and that's why I'm traveling all around the country looking for the best players I can.

Joey: So you guys had a good season then?

Todd: We did. They said it was one of the best years they've ever had. We ended up second in the conference. Thankfully, when I took over, they had won five games a year before we won 13 last year, and 17 this year. So we're heading in the right direction, but it's like horse races, the best horse usually wins and so we're out getting high character quality kids from all over. I just signed a kid last night from Atlanta, 6'9" kid out of there that we probably should never have gotten, but he's a great kid and he really buys into the community and what we're trying to do.

Joey: Very nice. So that's a recruiting schedule. That's gotta be like a lot, man. You're on the road a lot. It starts like as soon as the season's over, you're.

Todd: Yeah, actually the previous two weeks before the season's over, we're making contacts and it's all about relationships no matter what business you're in. So the basketball business is even more about relational because you have to know the coaches who know the kids. Then I found out about Nathan in Atlanta and within 48 hours later I was sitting in a gym with his parents talking about Simpson University. So it's being able to move swiftly and have the right story to tell, but also kids want to know two things. Can you help them and do you care about them? And when the parents see those two things, the job gets a lot easier.

Joey: Now forgive me, I don't know a whole lot about Simpson. So if I ask some questions that are like, man, hey, you really don't know a lot about Simpson. It's a Christian-based university, correct?

Todd: It is. It's a faith-based university. It's a four-year school. They've got a lot of amazing degrees. I actually graduated from there with a business degree. I went and got my Master's somewhere else. But they're adding degrees all the time. They're going to do some data entry stuff. They're really making it more where kids who maybe haven't thought about private education now can go get, maybe it's kinesiology or data entry or something that they can head directly into the market and have a job.

Joey: Is that part of when you're recruiting, is the faith-based university, like at the, is that like the number one thing or is it sports or.

Todd: Every person's different. There's the nursing program and so maybe someone wants to work at one of our local hospitals and maybe they haven't been faith-based in the past, but they look at it as a quality program now. So it used to be you had your traditional bible colleges where someone was going to go be a preacher or pastor, a youth pastor, and that it's kind of gone away from that as the times have changed. And so now there's a lot of different walks of life, but they're all trying to find a consistent pathway of good living and good people.

Joey: Oh, very nice. So you get. Are you done with your recruiting? Did you get your squad for next year's season?

Todd: No, I leave as soon as we're done here I'm going to San Jose actually get to watch a basketball game, Liberty versus Mississippi State in NCAA tournament.

Joey: Oh wow.

Todd: I've got a friend that coaches at Liberty. So we're going to head down there and then, I think I'm back to Australia in two weeks.

Joey: Australia.

Todd: Yeah, so.

Joey: Oh, wow you got quite a reach?

Todd: Hey. No, it's universal now. We've got a great partnership with United, so they get me on the plane and I go meet people.

Joey: Very nice. So how many kids do you suit up? Is it like 13, or 15?

Todd: I have 15 on each. We have a JV and a varsity, so some of the kids we're recruiting are almost like a junior college. We're coming in more of a developmental, the kid we signed in Turks and Caicos Island this last week. We signed a young man, he's coming strictly to play JV, which is great for us, great for his family, to get to the US, be able to play, be able to offer him a scholarship even at that level.

Joey: What does that mean JV? Because I thought universities just have a team.

Todd: Yeah, traditionally universities have a. North Carolina has a varsity only. A lot of the smaller schools for development have, what we call a JV and we play a junior college schedule for that. So we'll play the Feather Rivers, the Redwoods, American Rivers we'll play all the junior colleges south and give those kids 15, 20 more games to develop.

Joey: So the JV squad plays the junior college and.

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: And then the varsity squad plays the university level.

Todd: Yes, sir.

Joey: Do you play Chester? Is that the local town rival?

Todd: No. You know what we do. No. We kind of got away from that, for probably good reasons, relationship reasons, but we do scrimmage our varsity, we play them. And Kelly does a great job out there especially with all the local kids. And it just gives kids two avenues to go. Our schedule is a little bit more demanding. We play three Division 1 games, next year we play Cal Poly, SAC State, and San Jose State. So we're on the rise and we're trying to get the kids the best experience possible.

Joey: Oh, very nice. So, you said you've been out there how many years? Did you tell me?

Todd: Two years.

Joey: Two years. And turned it around. Went from five to 17 wins. What's their schedule? About 25, or 30 games.

Todd: We play 30 games a year.

Joey: That's, well, that's definitely going in the right direction. So if the games are out at Simpson College, I haven't been out there.

Todd: Oh, we gotta have you out.

Joey: Yeah. So is it. What's the standard door fee to get in there?

Todd: It's $5 to get in and when I.

Joey: That's feasible.

Todd: And when I first got there, they didn't charge anybody and no one came. And if you're putting a quality product on the quarter field or restaurant people are willing to pay. We now have a VIP room where we're getting businesses. We gotta have you come that what we do is we cater at dinner before the game comes in, and we make it more of a fan experience. And so I actually talked to the guys about, or the people in the VIP room who we're playing what to look for. And at halftime, one of the assistants goes in and gives the stats, maybe tells them what we're trying to change, but make it more of an experience. Everything's about that now. So now the father, son, mother, daughters, father, daughters sitting there and they know who the best player in the other team is before the game even starts.

Joey: Yeah, you definitely did get a degree in business. That's the people who don't understand business and the exchange of money and maybe look at it the wrong way don't understand that. I remember listening to, I went to Russell Brunson, he's a big-time marketer. He talked about how he has a $25,000 seat presentation he puts on. And he trains these people. And so he would give them to, he would take select family and friends and he'd said, here, I'm going to give you a seat. 20, everyone else is paying $25,000. You get to go for free. And he said, not one person that he ever got in free ever did any of the things he told them to do. Yet the people that paid $25,000 a lot of them became millionaires.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: So there's something said about like if you're given something free, you don't really value it.

Todd: And I have children and that comes so true at Christmas. I mean, you give a kid three Christmas toys and you're going to find one outside. If he earns money all summer and buys a bike, that thing is parked in the barn, the garage, it's washed, it's clean. So yeah, when there's some personal responsibility and there's some buy-in. That's what we're always trying to get kids to buy-in to the community, buy-in to the school and these kids that are coming from out of town, are you making Redding a better place? When you leave, what impact will you have on this town? And kids love it. I mean, we do some mentorship with some local schools, and we really try to partner the athletes with some kids at risk and give them someone to look up to for three or four years.

Joey: Oh, wow. Kids, can you tell me more about the kids at risk part?

Todd: Yeah. There's Aaron Hayes, who's with Catalyst Mentoring and does an amazing job of partnering with kids. So we'll have kids at our school, we'll do, go and do a dunk contest, but then try to build relationships too. And so we find out a lot of kids, people call me and say, "Coach, you have anyone that can work with this boy?" And then we'll make that happen. We open the gym up and they bring in, they come shoot baskets and they develop a relationship and then they follow those kids while they're here for three or four years. And they go from being strangers to friends to mentors to even business partners or just life friends and making sure those kids know there's always someone to talk to.

Joey: When you started the program or when you took over head coaching, was that mentorship already in place with the athletes and kids at risk?

Todd: They might have done something in the past but what I did when I came in is I really tried to look, okay, where do we want to go? And anytime you take over something you want to learn from what they've done. But it was in a, the program was in a direction that I knew we wanted to do a 180. The locker room was kind of broken down. It wasn't painted. There was writing on the walls. So the first day I came in, I asked AD I said, "Hey, if I spend my own money and redo the team room, is that okay?" He goes, "Hey, spend as much as you want." You know what I mean? He is a typical boss. So we got in some red carpet, painted the walls, and made it really nice. And that really began the culture shift of do we have pride in what we do. Every single thing, whether you're in a classroom or on the court, we need to take pride. And now we got kids that vacuum it. It's immaculate people walk in, they're like, they can't believe this is at a small-time school. So we're trying to make a small-time school a big-time experience.

Joey: So what I wanted to get to was that mentorship, because I personally think taking these athletes and having them help someone else is going to make them so much better. So I'm wondering if like you solely implement it and you saw a change, or when you first caught on and said, "Hey, these athletes need to find somebody that needs some help. It can't just be about them and their growth, their growth is going to be a byproduct of actually helping the people around them." Can you talk about that and get that started?

Todd: Yeah, I think that's a brand new thing that we brought to the program. And it wasn't by accident if that's what you're asking. And, yeah. And so we have kids Anthony from Cal Poly. He was born in Chicago. I mean, he's got a great story to tell, but who does he tell it to? And who does he help? He doesn't know anyone here. So we've been able to put those two people together and he's just a prime example of a relationship, what it means to the kids. So all of a sudden a basketball game, you see five kids sitting on the bottom row and they're cheering for him. And that doesn't happen. But then after the game, he's also going out with them and saying, "Hey, how's school going?" And so that's just something that we're really proud of.

Joey: So do all the athletes take part in that?

Todd: No. Because not every personality fits that mold. One thing we found out, if you try to make something work, it's that square peg in a round hole. So we try to work with the kids who maybe aren't familiar with it. We try to have them be a tag-along friend and then they. And maybe a two years they're going, "Hey, coach, I want to do this on my own." And so we're having some of that. We also have some language barriers. We have four international kids on the team so sometimes a young person will be looking at them, and they're not understanding everything so we try to be cognizant of that. But everyone does something. That's part of the family and community environment that we've created if you're not out doing that, then you're doing this. And it just leads to great things.

Joey: No, that's awesome. You mentioned Catalyst and I don't know. I've heard that come up a few times. People talking about Sabrina Schmidt brought it up. I think she was involved or at least that was one of the charities that her company. They like to give back to certain charities and that was definitely one. Can you tell us a little bit about Catalysts? Just I've heard it.

Todd: Yeah. From what I know, Aaron Hayes actually played for me in high school and I'm so proud of him, and what he has done. Because he's filled a void in this city that people didn't know there was a void. And I think sometimes because we're a smaller town, people think there's no loneliness or homeless kids. And so he really targets at-risk youth kids in our area and dives straight in. He's there for everybody. And so he's really broken down some doors and letting the business community see, "Wow, we have kids in our own backyard that need help." And so he and Ally do a great job of, once again, pairing people. He'll pair someone with a business, he'll pair someone with a partner and he's got an amazing outreach throughout this community.

Joey: Is that what Catalyst is is like a mentor program for at.

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: We need to. I'd love to meet Aaron.

Todd: We'll make that happen.

Joey: I love that kind of stuff. That's awesome. So, I transitioned a little bit because you've done something else that's close to my heart. I was telling you off camera before, that my parents were entrepreneurs and I'm a big believer that giving people the opportunity to better their environment through commerce. Oftentimes that gets flagged in the wrong sort of "Oh, it's about money." It's not. It's about productivity. It's about helping and it's about building something. And it's a tangible something. So, you were a big Catalyst. And tell me how much because I know that you're involved with The Rezners on it but the food truck park.

Todd: Well, I was actually doing a free basketball camp up in Bend, Oregon, two years ago. It's probably two years. Man, time flies.

Joey: Yeah.

Todd: I was up there doing a free camp and after the camp was over, a guy said, "Hey, let me take you out to eat at this new spot." And I'm thinking Bend, it's going to be a great, amazing, five-star thing like we all think Bend is. And he took me out to this little town in Tumalo, about 10 minutes out of town called The Bite. And to be honest with you, I was a little disappointed. I pulled up, there's this little bar in the middle and there's three food trucks. And I've surfed my whole life up and down in California. So food trucks were something you ate when you didn't have shoes and you had $2. So I was like, "Wow this is my gift. Thank you this is amazing”.

Todd: But I sat down and the food they brought out was incredible. They had a pizza that was five-star and then the guy, got a salad because he is more health-conscious than I am. And it was an amazing meal. But what really got me is I saw two ladies coming, I have three small children, and these two ladies both were pushing a stroller. One had an extra child, and one had two. And I saw them coming like, "This is going to be a nightmare. There's no way these ladies are going to enjoy this meal." And I watched them order and the kids went and played and the two ladies sat there and had a conversation. And I was so jealous because my wife didn't have that. We can go out to eat in our town. There are a lot of wonderful places, but there are not many places you can go and let your kids be wild and not feel like you're infringing on other people's enjoyment. We designed the park so that your kids can come to scream, laugh, bowl, play checkers, play ping pong, or whatever they want to do. They can be loud. We have a train that goes by. So you're not.

Joey: Right by.

Todd: They're not bothering anybody. As adults, we can sit there and have a conversation and strike up a business conversation or talk about what happened in our day. My wife and I, go to the park and we just sit and catch up. My kids are out there playing. I don't know where they're at, but they're safe. We've created a really safe space in the middle of downtown. p>Joey: That's really nice because I used to have an office in the Lorenz building. I used to be on that corner. And so I saw it degrade and it was sad to see that because we used to have the Thursday nights.

Todd: Thursday. With Shannon Hicks, the lunch and Market Fest.

Joey: Market Fest, that's what I was trying to think of, and that kind of went, and by the way, sad so to see it fixed up and to see what you guys have done it is awesome. Tell us the schedule for that. Because it's not every night, it's.

Todd: No, it's not every night right now. And we're weather permitting right now. Last night, we were open and had a great night. A lot of people down there having fun last weekend. When it rains, we're closed. And one thing we found out that I thought we were. I always think we're going to be able to change everything. I thought people would come out even if it wasn't raining, but we found out that Redding is not a cold town. When it gets below 62 degrees, we don't go outside. So we've had to learn and grow and change our business model. So right now, if it's clear and going to be in the 65 and above, we're open and we've got a lot of new trucks. Also fun thing is watching these trucks develop. We've got four brand-new trucks right now that we haven't even released yet. They're just getting through the permitting process. But so that's opened up an avenue for more business here in town. And people who'd never thought about owning a food truck are now going out and buying one and learning how to make it work.

Joey: So it's Thursday.

Todd: Right now we're Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Joey: Okay.

Todd: 5:00 to 9:00. We add lunches once it gets warm, we add a Sunday brunch, one of our favorite things, bottomless Mimosas. We got music playing. We are bringing back the Market Fest Thursday Music.

Joey: Nice.

Todd: With our concert series. It's going to be starting up this spring. So we're really excited about that.

Joey: Oh, very nice. What are the trucks that are out there right now? Some of the.

Todd: Man, we have about 20 trucks that we rotate.

Joey: Really?

Todd: We get trucks as far as Sacramento that are coming.

Joey: Oh, I thought these were food trucks. But I still thought it was like the same trucks. I didn't realize it was rotating.

Todd: No, we rotate trucks through.

Joey: Oh, nice.

Todd: Trucks that were there last night weren't scheduled to be there on Saturday. It looks like we're going to get rained out, but last night we had, Anthony's Mediterranean, we had Holy crapes and Homeless pizza.

Joey: I've seen that one.

Todd: Who was just voted Business of the Year in Anderson.

Joey: Oh, wow.

Todd: Oh, penny does a great job. And it's fun because you get different food every night. We try to bring the staples, we try to bring the most popular ones back, but Lamin Wolf from down the Paradise area, sliders from Chico, there's just a ton of trucks. We've got a truck that comes out of Sacramento and does alligators. We try to mix it up.

Joey: I'm sorry.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: Say that one more time.

Todd: Yeah. That was an alligator.

Joey: Like alligator meat?

Todd: True alligator meat.

Joey: That's legal?

Todd: Yeah. Farm fit Alligator out of Reno and people will line up for 40 minutes.

Joey: Wow. Okay. Have you had the alligator?

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: And it's good?

Todd: One time. Yeah.

Joey: Tastes like chicken?

Todd: Everyone says tastes like chicken, so I'm just going to stick with chicken.

Joey: Everything tastes like chicken. Chicken doesn't even taste like chicken. I heard about Food trucks a few years ago in Los Angeles. There was some really good chefs that had said, "You know what? We're going to go with the food trucks." And I can't remember their names. I should have been better prepared. But I remember like food trucks, same thing. When I was growing up food trucks. We had a term for food trucks.

Todd: Yeah. Rose Coach.

Joey: There you go. And like you said, no shoes or two bucks, that was it. And a few years ago, that all changed, and so I know that there are some really good chefs or cooks that are behind these. That's really cool. Do you have any other? We were talking a little bit about some other ideas you guys have around, such as entrepreneurial businesses and downtown.

Todd: Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that we're looking at doing, not only just right there at the park, but continually being part of the movement of making downtown a destination where people feel safe coming back. So we've partnered with a lot of different businesses on how to promote them as well. One thing that I really enjoyed hearing about Shameless O'Leery's when we're busy, they will add a bartender at nine o'clock when we close.

Joey: Oh, nice.

Todd: So there's been a push in downtown when we close these people still got somewhere they want to go town doesn't shut at nine o'clock. So, we've been really proud that we've been part of helping other businesses, not only remain afloat but be flourishing. We had a great relationship with Adam and Bart at Final Draft. We actually have a gate where we allow people to go back and forth and so, they say rising.

Joey: Yeah, rising tide.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: Rises all boat.

Todd: And so it really is, the royal, across the street, they were getting ready to close, and they love it when we're open. So that's been fun to be in partnership with everyone in town. It's not even a written partnership, but I just know that we're all helping each other out.

Joey: But it wasn't, you had this idea and you didn't just come back and they opened up the gates and threw money at you, and said, do it. I mean, you, there was some challenge. I remember you were going through some challenges.

Todd: Yeah. And you know what? Everything, there's going to be challenged. I wasn't ready for the challenges that we faced. I didn't think it was going to be this hard to do something. But people live in fear a lot and what they don't know they fear. And so as we began talking the story of what we wanted to do, they became less and less. But, not always, and one thing we were talking about before is so many people said, coach, why didn't you quit? Why didn't you stop? Because it was almost a year and a half process. We were told no, but my kids are at the age where they were watching me. And I know that Morris caught than taught. So I could tell them for their whole life, "Hey, when you have a dream, go for it." But if I let my dream die, because three or four people were being extremely negative, in 20 years my daughter will have an idea. And she'll go, well, dad didn't push through. And so there was no way I was going to let this die.

Joey: That's powerful, man.

Todd: No, well, thank you. You know what?

Joey: That's very powerful brother.

Todd: To this day. She still talks about it. She's 12 years old, so she's in that influential part of her life where the decisions she makes now are going to affect how what kind of a community member she is in 20 years. Anderson was big for Redding, because Anderson said, "Hey, here's a spot." And I think it led a lot of people in Redding to see, okay, this is sustainable. This is real. It's not going to take away from our city. So, thanks to Jeff Keiser and his group down there, and now we've got a great relationship with both cities.

Joey: I don't know a whole lot about the Anderson one, but they kind of had something similar to this in the Anderson River Park right?

Todd: No, that's actually us. We're down there at the Anderson River Park.

Joey: Oh, it's the same group?

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: Okay.

Todd: Yeah. So, I own both locations. We have a 10-year lease on both spots and so they've always had their Wednesday night serenade, so we're down there Thursday through Saturday. And it's just a different model. It's, here uptown you've got more, probably middle-aged kids. You got millennials, you've got people in business just getting off work down there, you've probably got more kids, more people bringing their kids to roll down the hill. You got Fisher, people are fishing, and they come in. It's just that you see a lot of crossovers, but also two different models of what we're trying to reach. And there's plenty of people in this town.

Joey: What are some things about these that, besides that, "Hey, come show up." What other things might you spin-off from this or some ideas?

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: I mean, you said you're having a positive impact on all the businesses. The funny thing is that the other restaurants are saying their business is up. And you think, " oh, there's in there in what you were saying, I'm doing a horrible job of getting this out.

Todd: No, no.

Joey: Is there's this idea of either abundance or scarcity. Whatever you really believe, it kind of comes true. It sounds like, ah, whatever. It's like, no, but if you believe there's abundance and act as if there's abundance, it happens. So if the restaurants say, oh, we can't have a food truck parked down here, are you kidding? You're going to take my business? Versus No, you're going to get a ton of overflow and you're going to get a ton of foot traffic of people that never would've visited your business. But now they're there. They're like, "Oh, that's across the street. We gotta try that sometime."

Todd: Absolutely. And that's what we knew would happen, but just because you know something doesn't mean you can convince a closed mind. And so that's why we had just to keep jumping over the hurdles as they came because I knew in time that we would help them. But it's like going to the dentist, he says, it's going to hurt. You want to walk away, but in time, you're going to be much better off because of that experience. And so we had that mentality that we weren't going to fight anyone, but we also weren't giving up. And I think when people began to see the transition of the park and see a different type of person coming to the park, they began to say, okay, this might be real. And once they saw that and they just had a glimmer of, okay, this could really benefit everybody, then I think the doors really opened up.

Todd: And we did some small things to let people know when you come to the park, you see, almost all the local restaurants listed, and then we've got an arrow which way for people to walk. Because we truly want to be part of the whole thing. I want every restaurant to go, I can't wait for Todd to open, and Todd, can you please open earlier? We want that relationship. And we've got a lot of fun things planned for downtown. It's going to be a great summer. I can't wait for it to get warm. Finally.

Joey: Can you tell us any of the fun stuff you have planned? I mean, or is it all teasers?

Todd: No, no, no. Obviously, the concert series, but we're also going to do some farmer markets. We want to bring other people in and actually showcase other businesses in our business. So, some of the different car lots, we're partnering with them and, "Hey, can we have a car here?" And so we're really wanting to promote other businesses maybe who aren't directly our neighbors. But you guys, we'd love to have you come down and have a booze and people come by and see what are these guys doing. You guys are having a positive impact. How do they get to know you? We did a lot of, we're starting to do yoga stuff where different yoga instructors can come in the park in the morning really and do outdoor yoga for senior citizens or anyone who wants to come and oh, have that be a free space for people. So a lot of things like that. Tap takeovers, have Woody's come down, they're a neighboring bar. Have them, for a night, own the bar, and just find a way to keep networking and bringing this community closer together.

Joey: How are you able to pull all this off and be a coach and go to Australia and Turks and Caicos, I think is what you said? Man, you have a busy schedule. And you got little kids.

Todd: I got three beautiful children and a wonderful wife. And we're always busy, and I've noticed that busy people have the most time.

Todd: It's the guys who work one job. I feel bad for them. They're 9:00-5:00. They don't have any time. But when you're moving around all the time, you feel everything in nooks and crannies. But seriously, I've noticed in my lifetime. I started to become a reader at a young age. Busy people have the most time in the world. And if you've known any busy people, they're always the ones you call, "Hey, I need help with this." "Hey, no problem. I'll get to it." And we find ways to get things done. Then you've got your friend who's got the 9:00-5:00 and works 40 hours and doesn't have time for anything. You call him for help, and he's too busy, too tired. So we surround ourselves with people who have multiple jobs and multiple interests because those are the shakers. Those are the fun people to be around.

Joey: I'm reminded of Newton's law that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object in rest tends to stay at rest. And so it's like. I know what you mean. I'd be willing to bet that you don't watch a lot of television.

Todd: No. In fact. I have a TV, but the on button probably doesn't work that well. And I did for a while. I'll tell you a quick story about my two-year-old Trey. I was obviously watching basketball and my son came in front of me and he kept pulling my pants I was like watching the game and trying to play with him a little bit. And he finally just said, "Me, daddy, me, me, me." And it hit me. I'm like, this kid knows that my attention is distracted. And the next day, I called the cable company and said, "You know what? You can turn it off."

Joey: Good man.

Todd: Yeah. And so just those little things, when your family sees you do that, they're willing to go, "Hey, he's going to be gone for three days, but when he is here, he is home." And I think that's probably the biggest thing being a parent, is being there when you're there. Taking the phone and putting it off. You know, people don't text emergencies. They call you. Not everything in life has to be dealt with right now, but kids are something that we can't put off.

Joey: Well, there's. We could have a great discussion about the technology behind these devices. And why they're designed. A lot of their designs are similar to slot machines, and they are. So my background lately is in online marketing. So, I've been involved in marketing and technology for quite some time. And to know that these things are designed in such a way that it's very hard. Like once you get into them, you have to be real careful with them. It may sound a little crazy, but it's like. The study shows these are dopamine deliverers.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: And if you're. That's why you're checking and checking and checking. I'm trying to remember a syndrome now where people will be like, "Oh, my phone's buzzing." And their phone's not even in their pocket.

Todd: Wow.

Joey: The muscle will start to tingle. I know. And it's like, that should scare people.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: A little bit. So the TV used to be that. But the TV was an amateur compared to these devices. And so you have to be careful. Like technology, one of the things we do is at a certain time in the evening, all technology's off, including Wi-Fi. We, let's turn everything off. I don't have a conventional television.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: But I do love some YouTube.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: And Apple TV. So I can't, I'm not.

Todd: No, for sure. And everything in moderation.

Joey: Yeah.

Todd: Whether it's a diet or how you handle the internet. It's always how are you in control of it. And I live on that thing when I need to be and turn it off when I need to. But as a coach, we're recruiting about 50 kids. Right now, we'll sign seven. And So that's 50 relationships that you have a text, tweet, email, call because someone else is. And we're not chasing kids that no one else is chasing. We're chasing kids that probably Simpson wouldn't have gotten in the past. You know Nathan, who just signed or committed yesterday, he's Allstate in Georgia. He was a big-time quarterback.

Joey: That's impressive, man.

Todd: Oh, it's. We're so impressed.

Joey: Allstate and.

Todd: He was a big time quarterback, 6'9. He had multiple divisional offers. He had seven offers, but it was about a relationship, meeting his mom and dad. And so that triggers from here, and then you just have to transform it and make sure that we're still humans.

Joey: Very nice. Something you said I really like in there is, and it's obvious you're a coach because you've got the ideas and the one-liners.

Joey: Things are caught not. Things are caught not taught.

Todd: That's right. Yeah.

Joey: But that concept of like, I always remember the parents that had a cocktail in hand and a cigarette and giving the don't do drug speech.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: You're like, you know what I mean, put the. You know what I'm saying?

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: It's like they're watching. So your words at best, need to reinforce your actions, but they can't be countered.

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: I mean, you see a lot of that with these young men.

Todd: Mm-hmm.

Joey: Now you just coached the men's basketball, right?

Todd: Yeah. Just the men's.

Joey: So do you see that with these young men and the mentoring that you bring in? Forgive me.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: I lost my point here.

Todd: Well, you know, where you're heading with that, with the parents and everything is.

Joey: Yeah.

Todd: When I walk in the living room, they're giving me the greatest asset in the world.

Joey: Thank you. That's what I was trying to get to.

Todd: They're giving me their children.

Joey: Yeah.

Todd: And that's a huge responsibility. And so we try to do things as a family to bring these kids in and make them feel part of the family, but the cap and gown is still the most important uniform anyone will ever wear. So while they're coming for basketball, it's big time when they walk across that stage. I mean, that's the championship, that's the goal. And so we've got some kids graduating in a month and those are the tearful moments. You know, games come and go, but that diploma opens up so many doors for them. And not everyone has to have a diploma but there are certain jobs that you are required to have one. So it's so great going to the living room and being able to look at parents and I say, "I got your kid for four years, they're going to be fine."

Joey: And you make those guarantees with the parents. I mean, I'm sure that's or at least like, hey.

Todd: Absolutely. We do everything in our part we can. If a kid decides not to go to class, we call them on it because I'm an extension of you if your child plays for me. And we've made a commitment that they're going to get that diploma. So my assistant coach is great. He'll knock on doors, he'll find out why they're not in class, and we'll walk them to class if they didn't. Then, once they get that a few times, that problem will be taken care of.

Joey: You know, it's something you said in there about you don't have to have the cap and gown. There's like a lot of. Maybe the term debate's a little bit strong, but there's a lot of talk about whether college is worth it. And I think I went to college. I went to college a little later. I was in the Marine Corps, and so it was. Growing up I didn't. University was never really in my mind. But once I got into the military and saw the difference between how the enlisted and the officers lived, I was like, "Oh, hey, I like. Their barracks are much better." But I think that just finishing something you started is important. So not getting caught up in spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and then acquiring a degree that's the marketplace is.

Todd: Saturated.

Joey: Yeah. We don't need you, we don't need you. Thanks. But saying, hey, look, number one, setting out a plan and then accomplishing it because once you quit the first time, it gets a lot easier after that. So I think that it's a lot of the argument over, well, you don't really have to go to college. No. But you need to do something.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: You need to have some kind of game plan. There has to be some sacrifice, or else the reward isn't going to be worth anything. So I imagine that's like a big thing that you're teaching these young kids.

Todd: Absolutely. I had never planned on going to college. I just was going to surf and live under a bridge and have a great life. But one of my coaches, really said, "Hey, what do you really want to do long term?" And he was able to focus my attention. I was not good at school. I was in the lowest 4% in the nation in SID when I took that, and I remember the guy brought me in, and said, what do you want to do for life? After he saw my test scores he said, do you like to travel? And I said, yeah, I love traveling. I was thinking about this huge, exotic career. And he goes, okay, you might consider truck driving. And there was no disrespect to truck drivers.

Todd: That's a huge occupation. They can actually make a lot of money, but it wasn't what I wanted to do. And so when I saw that my options were limited, I said, okay, I need to do something different. I've got some athletes that graduated Liberty that haven't done, haven't spent a day in college, but are hugely successful and own homes owes businesses. But like you're saying, everyone's gotta have a plan. And if that plan doesn't need college then, by all means, don't go. But for me, when I got my Masters, it wasn't what it taught me is what it instilled in me. And discipline wise, like the Marine Corps, you still are living by traits that you were drilled into you in that.

Joey: Drilled.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: Is a very good term.

Todd: Drill. Yeah. And for me to pass class it required me to focus. And that has allowed me to focus on other things than learning that discipline. So I totally agree with what you're saying.

Joey: Along those lines, something I'm trying to teach my kids is that it's not just the accomplishment, but also when they have struggles, and they have challenges, and I love you talked about that earlier when you said, hey, I have to finish this food park for my daughter that she has to see success is that the other side of it is that, hey, pick your battles wisely. Don't just willy-nilly make plans, so you're going to make a plan, you're going to commit to it, you have to finish it. So then you go through those challenges and before you make your next plan, think this one through a little bit strategize a little bit. That's kind of, it's getting lost right now. I think. And again, we were talking off camera about how bad news gets purported a lot more than good news.

Joey: So it might not be as bad as it seems, but it does seem like there's a group, a generation that's like, oh, this didn't work out the way, so it's the system's broken. It's like, well, how much forethought did you put into this man? Did you just wake up on a Tuesday and go, you know what, let's do this? Let's spend $180,000. No, you need to kind of need to sacrifice and then pay that off when you're done. So I'm a big believer in the pick yourself up by your bootstraps type thing. And that there's a big debate right now, I think going on in America and maybe globally about personal responsibility versus group responsibility. So.

Todd: Yeah. In that society everyone knows we've gotten soft, and everyone's offended by everything. And that's one thing I tell the parents.

Joey: That offends me.

Todd: Yeah, exactly. When I'm meeting with the parents, I'm, I tell them, Hey, your son is going to call you and say, I want to come home. The coach is mean. He's demanding. He's getting me up at 6:00 AM for this. And when you establish that baseline, this is how it's going to be. I think kids love that. And I think kids in our and this generation are missing out on some of that.

Joey: Yep.

Todd: We had it, you know? My parents were they, and we all did chores.

Joey: Yep.

Todd: And now if you can't keep your clean room, you're not going to be a very good defender for me. You know what I mean? So there's that personal responsibility, but with also some guides. And I think that's what we gotta keep giving kids is an avenue to be successful. The single job scares me and Richard Branson's model of having a lot of kites in the sky because the ill wind blows kites in different directions. And so as these kids graduate, I'm asking, what are you going to do? What is your plan? If you're going to go work for the government, great. But remember the government shut down.

Joey: Yep.

Todd: So people lost homes and boats, so don't have everything in one basket, but also, as you said, don't be running around willy-nilly spending money like crazy, but have a five-year plan. It's just, that it's fun watching kids develop. And at the park, we hire a lot of kids that come in, and you can see them starting to go, hey, I can own a food truck. So they went from working for us to being part of it. And that's also encouraging.

Joey: Success begets success. And connecting. I love connecting the youth with that. We could get. I'm going to want to have a conversation with you off-camera because I know we could talk about a lot of things. I think we would agree on a lot of things along the lines of personal accountability and just. I'm a big into entrepreneurs. The way I grew up, I saw my parents struggle and make a couple of different businesses and it was only a failure in that it was a transition to the next success. You know what I mean? So it's like, you can't. It can't just be wins. You gotta. You probably. I don't know if you say something along these lines, like, you learn more in a loss than you do in a win. You don't really reflect, there's no time for self-reflection when you beat the other team by 20 points. But when you lose a close game man, there's a lot of sit down and really look like, "Did you really do everything it took to win?"

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: Is this really your fault or society's fault?

Todd: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And we. That's such a great teaching point for kids and for coaches. We're more critical of ourselves than anybody else. Did I not call timeout? Did I not sub right? Did I not prepare right? And when kids see you looking at yourself on that, then they automatically are not defensive and they begin looking, "What could I have done? Was there a rebound out there that I didn't give my best to get? A loose ball?" All those things. So it comes full circle. But they're watching all the time. That's one thing I've had to learn what I do is very important, how I act. And so we eliminate, by choice, negative friendships. There are a lot of people who do not want you to succeed because it makes them feel good about their lack of success. So we literally. I choose friendships. I think it's going to be great when I'm getting to know you, people who want to be positive. We all have bad things in our life. No one is immune to those issues. But how we deal with them is so different.

Joey: I don't know if you want to talk about this, but you brought it up at the very beginning that you were adopted. And at the. You said that, and that triggered me, and I wondered like what. How does that affect you and your? This idea of, I think, somebody who says, "Hey, look, I was adopted, and I was chosen." It changes your outlook. The people that I've met who are adopted have, for lack of a better way to put it, an inner strength or something. There's something in there that says, "Hey man. " It's not a setback. I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this at all. But like, versus the. It almost feels like the kid who works. You said at the beginning, the kid that works up and buys that bicycle, that bicycle's out of the rain versus the kid that's just given three toys, one of them is destroyed. Can you touch upon that at all?

Todd: Yeah. No, and I'm an open book. I've never hidden anything about that. Out of respect for my parents, I don't talk publicly about it all the time, but I did. I did it. I've been blessed. I get. Every once in a while someone's crazy enough to have me come speak to their organization or their company, and my parents actually came to my first one and I broke down because I was so grateful for everything they've done. So it's, as you go through life, you have two choices, how you handle things. Are you a victim? Are you going to succeed? And I think when you're adopted, and the word adopted means, in Greek is to place as a son. So I chose to look out like, I was so blessed.

Todd

Todd: Someone brought me into this world. It didn't work out, but someone else chose me. And in choosing me, I have a responsibility to how I live the rest of my life. I remember a story about a queen in England. She didn't know she was the queen. They tried to raise her, so she didn't know. And I think. I forgot how the story goes, but maybe around seven or eight she realized who she was and she said, from that day on, then I shall live like a queen. And so that was a choice. And so I've got two natural brothers. The. My family adopted all three of us. All extremely different personalities. You can. A parent can raise three kids and they all come out different.

Todd

Joey: Oh, yeah.

Todd: So I've got a brother, Andy, who lives up in Aloha, Oregon, and a brother Joe lives in, Temecula. And we've all handled it differently. Ironically enough, a few years ago, my birth mother reached out to us, through a detective and found out who we were. And my brother Andy immediately wanted to go have a relationship. I was more reserved, and said, "Okay, here's a situation." My kids weren't quite at the age to deal with that, I thought. So, I stayed private myself but they had a relationship and this last year she passed on and they were able to make amends. And so I think that was really important for one of my brothers. So everyone handles it differently. Joey: The key to what I was trying to get at, and you nailed it with one word, was gratitude. That's what I was trying to say, is that that is. Gratitude is one of those huge catalysts to where which direction you go. Because how can you be grateful and a victim? You know what I mean? I had a coach teach me something that may seem so basic, but it was, "Hey everything starts with either fear or love." That's the bottom line. Every emotion you have, every choice you make, you can walk back and it's either here or here. What you want to do is you want to get away from this as much as you can. Because, you know, fear leads to anger and hatred and jealousy and self-loathing, all there is, love leads to peace and tranquility and justice and stuff like that.

Joey: And so gratitude is steeped in love. Love is. Brandon and I were talking the other day about how the English language is a little lacking. We will like love, like I love my son, and I love that bacon cheeseburger I had. Wow, really the same word, huh? But it's that idea of that like, this positive place. Everything stems from this positive place. And if you don't have gratitude, that's a tough one, you know what I mean? If you're not grateful just for the air in your lungs then.

Todd: Absolutely.

Joey: That goes in a real negative place. And a lot of that, what we're talking about, in America right now, there seems to be a struggle with gratitude. Because there's a lot of people that. I traveled the world. You traveled the world when I was in the Marine Corps. My travel itinerary might have been a little bit different than yours. We didn't hit Turks and Caicos but came back and I was like, wow, life. I've been to places where the value of life didn't have any value. And there's poverty, and then there's. I don't even know what you call people who live in the dirt and go to bed hungry days in a row. When it changed me, it changed my outlook. And I have my down days. I'm not. It's not all unicorns and rainbows, but now and then when I'm starting to get down, I try to remember like, "Hey, really? You're, upset because you have one bar and you can't get. Or your food wasn't quite.

Todd: So true.

Joey: It's like, come on man. Put it in perspective. Because if you don't have gratitude I don't know how you're going to have a good life.

Todd: It's interesting that you say that. I'm reminded of a story a couple of years ago when I was in Honduras on a little island called Roatan. And I was doing a free basketball camp there. I did one this last week in Turks and Caicos, but anywhere I go, I try to do a free camp for the local kids because, all the rich kids, can fly all around and go to these camps. But I try to put on a free one for local kids only when I'm in a location. And there are two stories. One, we. I took over many shoes because many kids in Roatan don't have shoes. And they would come to the camp.

Joey: Just flat out, don't have shoes, not even don't have the latest Nikes, but flat out barefoot.

Todd: It's barefoot. And so the camp started at eight in the morning, and I'm watching these kids do these drills without shoes. And one kid looked about my size, and just without even thinking about it, I said, "Man, do you want my shoes?" He's like, "Oh my goodness." So I took off my shoes, and I didn't think about the rest of the day. I've not lived without shoes. And so I'm doing.

Joey: Baby soft skin.

Todd: I'm doing this basketball camp and it's 80 degrees and it's 80-degree humility. And at the end of the day. Or humidity. At the end of the day, I realize, you talk about walking in someone else's shoes. My feet were brutalized. From being on the pavement all day. But seeing that and seeing him come back the next day with those same shoes on and a grin, that's where you learn the gratitude. Sometimes when you've given up something, you see someone else benefiting from it. And another boy I'll never forget. He had one arm. And he kept sneaking into the camp. And I have a picture of him wearing one of our jerseys and he kept sneaking in because you were only supposed to come one session, but the guy who was putting it on kept kicking him out. If I said, "Hey, that kid can come anytime he wants." He was making the best of an amazing situation. And losing an arm obviously wasn't good, but he wasn't going to let it hold him back. And we still keep in contact for the last four years and he lets me know how he's doing. So, again, it goes back to relationships.

Joey: I had a. I used to work out at it along those same lines as years ago. It was Gold's Gym way back in the day. It's everyday fitness now. But there was a gentleman who was blind, and he would ride the bus, and he would come, and he was in physical shape, man. He was a specimen. And he would come in, and he was completely blind. He'd work his way around. And so one day, they're redoing the gym, replacing some stuff. And it's like, you come in, and everything's been moved around. So he comes in the door. And I remember I saw him and I. It clicked immediately, like he won't know his way around. So I go up to him, and I say, "Hey, they just moved all the equipment around. Would you. I can take you from device to device." Because I'd watched him several times. He had a routine. And he said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, just take me to the bench. I'm going to have to figure it out or else I'll never. I can't have you help me, but thank you." And I thought.

Todd: Wow.

Joey: Yeah, wow. This. That spirit, that right there, is huge. And sure enough, a couple of weeks later, man.

Todd: He's cruising.

Joey: Oh, that guy was cruising. Boom, boom, boom. He knew exactly where everything was. So I try to. When times are tough, I try to channel these memories of like. Because it's really easy. What. I'm trying to remember who said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." But it's really easy in our current environment to be bombarded with other people's lives. And it kind of, it detracts, you're doing better, but if your neighbor's doing better, than you feel like you're not doing better. And it's not as simple as "Just don't think that way." It's. We are a certain animal, and we are. We have social structure regardless of what our beliefs are, we have triggers. There's a reason why it says, "Do not covet thy neighbors."

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: It's because it's natural to covet thy neighbors. So it's like, "Hey, be cognizant of that." And so it's. There are different ways to try to overcome that. But I think it starts with, like, "Just. When you're not feeling great, sit down and count your blessings. What is going great in your life? I realize there's a lot of bad stuff going on. A lot of people have, but focusing on that isn't going to make it go away. It's not going to be like, "Man, I thought about all the things that aren't great in my life, and I just felt so better after I got. " No sit down and just the. Write what you're grateful for. And I know a lot of people in pain are like, "Oh, you don't know what you're talking about." But it's, that and physical exercise are the two greatest little things I think people can do to improve their lives. It sounds simple, but just get out, walk, and count your blessings. And if you're still upset after that, take it to the next level. But start there.

Todd: Yeah. Getting those endorphins going. And that's one thing I love about The Park. Are there so many differences? There are many types of people there, different cultures. And it's, I think, brought a cultural aspect of Redding that we possibly were missing. Because I've met people from Sweden, I've met people from Amsterdam. I mean, they're from Seattle, they're from LA. And the great thing about The Park is it reminds people of a great thing. I heard a lady the other night say, "This reminds me of the cruise ship I was on at night." Because of the lights. Other people, "This reminds me of Bend. This is better than Bend." It takes you to a place where you. Those happy thoughts come back. And then all of a sudden, they're smiling. The day may have been tough, it was a bad day, but it had a great ending. And that's what's so fun about going down there because I don't have to be there every night, but I love being there. It's just. There's an energy and a vibe, and when you leave, I think you'll have a little bounce in your step, and you'll be ready to take on the next day.

Joey: So are there any other, before we kind of sum everything up, are there any other projects that are on the horizon, or are there any projects that you know about like we talked about Aaron and Catalyst. I'd love to have him on and love stories like that. But are there any other things that you'd like to shine some light on that are going on in the area?

Todd: Yeah, one thing we're starting to do at The Park as well, just another thing that we're doing is we're starting doing corporation events. And where we're bringing in, we'll just say a dentist office, and we're bringing in two of them, and we're bringing in skateboards that are all blank, and they do team building and team bonding. Then, we set those skateboards out to people in need or at risk. And so, just another way, if you're teaching gratitude because it's taught, it's the least felt emotion.

Joey: Really?

Todd: And when those people make that skateboard, and they paint it, and they design it, they put the wheels on, and they go give it to a child. That's built a relationship, and that's changed a life. And people are like, "Well, how's the skateboard changed your life?" Well, it's created an avenue for success, for communication. And so we're starting to do more corporate stuff where Redding probably has always gone to San Jose, Sacramento to do things. And then we're getting a lot of teams from the Bay Area that want to come up here. So that's a lot of fun because now we're filling up the motels. They're buying gas, going to restaurants, not just going to The Park, but we're providing an outlet for some team buildings. So those are exciting things. I know Brent Weaver has a lot of projects going on. You probably want to have him come in.

Joey: Absolutely.

Todd: Placer Heights, they're doing stuff at the motel, so I think there's a huge re-evaluation going on, and we're just a small part of it.

Joey: There's a ton of projects going on right now in downtown. We had Jake Mangas on the other day, and he listed a lot, a lot of them. Then we had a vice mayor, Adam McElvain, yesterday. And he talked about it. He knows all of Redding because, on the city council, it's. We were blown away. It was hundreds, I can't remember how many, hundreds of millions of dollars is going into development in Redding right now. And it's like you said, the rising tide floats all boats. And so that's awesome. And I appreciate you coming here. Your message is awesome. And I'm looking forward to going out and checking out the food truck park. I went by just to check it out.

Todd: Yeah.

Joey: Like walk by. I didn't get to go in and partake of the food. Maybe the alligator was scaring me, but it was. Clearly, people were having a great time, and it was so many times better than what had happened to The Park before that. Because it had slid downhill. It's an awesome testimony. Because you guys haven't even been in. It's not even a year, right?

Todd: No. We got the last three months in before the big winter hit and now we're just starting to get ready to back up.

Joey: So, to see what an incredible turnaround has happened in such a short period. And we didn't get to talk about your partners on that, The Rezners, but I was hoping to have them on here sometime. I met Chris years ago, I think, when he started the first Dutch Brothers, and I haven't seen him since. But just, I love local business. I love it when I hear about it.

Todd: Well, Chris and I will come back anytime, even as a dual. We have a lot of fun together. We've got other businesses that we do together that many people don't know about. But anytime you can get someone and learn from someone like Chris, I try to learn from everybody. And so often when he and I talk, I'm always probing him to ask, "What's the next thing, and what are you working on?" And guys like him that he's busy. He does not sit still.

Joey: Yeah.

Todd: So we do a lot of auctions every day back and forth, and we bounce ideas off each other, and some ideas he's like, "Todd, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life." And so that's when you have a friendship like that, that you can be honest with each other, it's a great partnership, and they've got an eye that I don't have. The yellow chairs and stuff like that. They've got a vision of what things are going to look like at the end. I'm more of a bring-in-the-dream and like, "Okay, we can do this. I know we can do this, but how do we do it?" And they bring a huge part of that. And, of course, Aaron is really smart too. And we're so lucky to have her on the city council.

Joey: Very good. Very good. Sir.

Todd: Alright, my friend.

Joey: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Todd: Yep, sounds good.

Joey: Sounds good. That's a wrap.