An Army of Normal Folks - If It Weren’t for Lane Kaffin, I Wouldn’t Have Won An Oscar

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

For our "Shop Talk" series, Coach Bill Courtney shares the behind-the-scenes story of the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated. It’s on Amazon Prime and Esquire named it one of the top 20 sports films of all-time.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, welcome to our special Friday episodes of Shop Talk. Coming to you now is Shop Talk number four. And I'm going to answer a question I get asked all the time, which is how in the world Undefeated actually ever happened. It's actually a pretty humorous story. And it's got a really valuable lesson to it. So let's talk shop about the genesis of undefeated right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians,

policymakers and so many other fascinating people like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? And author David Sedaris. You know, like when you meet somebody and they'll say, well, I want to be a writer or I want to be an artist. And I say, well, is it all you care about? Because if it's not, it's going to be pretty hard for you

if you're not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven. And it's like, wow, you be pretty hard for you. If you're not on fire, it's like opening the door of an oven, and it's like, wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about, it's all they talk about, it's all they care about. They don't have relationships, they're not good friends for other people. This is just what they're laser-focused on.

Where all their energy goes. Yeah. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture.

You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more

trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two

of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeart Radioio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, everybody. Shop talk number four, Undefeated. I get asked all the time about this, so I thought I'd share the story with you and share with you the lesson that I learned.

I'm running a lumber company and coaching football in Memphis, which is all I've ever did and really wanted to do. And Lane Kiffin was hired as the head football coach at the University of Tennessee and a guy named Rich Middlemas, who was a budding fledgling producer in Hollywood actually graduated from the University of Tennessee. And when Lane Kiffin was hired, there was a lot of excitement around that hire at the University of Tennessee. And so Rich was reading online about Lane and he'd had his one of his first interviews, he was asked what his first order of business was and he said he was going to get down to Memphis to do some recruiting and named OC Brown, one of my players that if you've watched Undefeated, you know intimately, as one of the guys that Lane was going to recruit.

And so Rich read that and he's like, that's interesting. Who's this OC Brown guy? So he Googles OC Brown Memphis and finds out a story that was in the Memphis local newspaper called the Commercial Appeal. That was a story about him living with Mike Ray, my neighbor and friend who coached the offensive line with me and was the guy and friend who coached the offensive line with me and was the guy frankly who really started the entire recruiting process for OC. He put a grainy YouTube video up and said, is this the fastest 300 pound kid in high school football

you tell me with a bunch of his clips and it led to this unbelievable start of recruiting and we had to get OC's grades right. So he lived with Mike and then of course I would pick him up in the mornings and take him to school because my business is right near Manassas. And so this story in the commercial pill told that story. Rich found it interesting, called up Mike first, then me, and said, hey, I'd like to come down and hear more about it, thinking that he might do a short documentary on that story. And once Rich got here, he learned about all the other kids,

the six years of work that had been going on at Manassas, our 501C3 that we used because Manassas had no booster club called Man Rise and all of it and decided, nope, I want to make a movie out of this. And so he leaves. So Mike and I look at ourselves and say, well, there's a 31 year old kid we've never met who says he wants to make a movie, I doubt we'll ever see him again. And about a month later he shows up with Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin who are 29, 30 year old budding filmmakers, much like Rich Miltemus, this budding producer. I think it's important to note that at this time, they had one credit to their name and it was a heartfelt, thought- provoking documentary on the world series of beer pong.

That's it. That's all they'd ever done. I don't know that it was particularly good or bad, but that's it. And so these guys show up and start following us around with cameras. They leave Memphis nine months later with 550 hours of film and they say they're going to make a movie that we think we might see on channel 522 on Wednesday at two in the morning. Really did not think there was much to it. About a year and a half later, they've told us they have the movie completed and we get a call and they say, Bill, you got to get to Austin, Texas.

And then why do I have to go to Austin, Texas? And they said, because the South by Southwest Film Festival has picked us up and we're going to have undefeated is going to be shown there. And you have to be there for the Q and A and all this. And my first question was, what's a film festival? And they said, well, you know, question was, what's a film festival? And they said, well, you know, and now everybody knows what a film festival is,

but I was clueless and they told me the date and I said, sorry, no can do. You see, I started my business in 2001 and we were on a wing and a prayer and didn't have a lot of money and I never really was able to take Lease and the kids on a real vacation. And it just so happened to be the South by Southwest Film Festival was happening dead in the middle of my kid's spring break and we'd saved up and we were doing the Disney

World extravaganza. We had the place rented at Disney and the car and the airfare and the fast pass and everything else for Lisa and the four kids and they were all jazzed up about it and those are really our first big family vacation and there was no way I could interrupt it and not go and go this goofy film festival in Austin but they said you got you got to come you got to come and I said look man I can't And so they called me back the next day and said, how about this? We'll pay for you to extend your vacation at Disney two days. And we'll pay for you to leave Orlando, fly to Austin, do the film festival and then

fly you back to Orlando. And I was like, no, no, no. And I thought, hold it. I like to be king dad. I mean, I'm going to get to give my kids a vacation inside a vacation and extend And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, go, oh, it's a Sunday. And we're about to fly to Austin to do the South by Southwest and then fly back to Orlando and continue our Mickey Mouse endeavors. And we show up to the airport and I'm like really proud because I got my wife and all

my kids and little vacation and we're showing up the airport actually seven hour early, we're an hour and 40 minutes early. And as we're pulling up, Molly says, Dad, doesn't the flight leave at 1030? And I'm like, yeah. And she says it's 950. And I'm like, no, it's 850. And everybody scrambles around. And then we realize it's day like savings time. And we lost an hour and didn't know because we were mesmerized by the mouse and goofy. So we run into we park the car, run into the airport, and it's too late. And now everybody's expecting us at this Austin South by Southwest Film Festival for this grand showing of this movie we think nobody's ever going to really want to see anyway. And it's a Sunday. Well, the closest I could get was Houston. So we quickly

changed the tickets, ran to a Southwest flight in Orlando, flew to Houston, got there late, and then I had to rent a car. And the only car that I could rent in Houston and return in Austin was a purple Ford Crown Victoria So he loaded up the kids Me driving least in the passenger seat one of the kids between us the other three kids across the back. They're screaming. We're hungry I go to Sonic I just tell the girl to bring us pretty much two of everything they got we We fill the car up with food and kids and luggage and this purple crown Vic, and we roll from Houston to Austin.

And we pull into town about an hour and a half before the movie starts. We're supposed to be at. So my grand entrance to the movie world, my triumphant red carpet, first experience of the movie world. Was Sonic R sonic rappers flying around the inside of a car on spring break with four screaming children and a purple crowned Vic. Nonetheless, we go to the show and they show it and the most surreal experience of the world, the kids and Lisa and I are sitting in this auditorium full of about

I think was 1400 people and in the movie people are crying and laughing and standing up and cheering And all I can think about when i'm watching it is my god. I'm fat. I didn't really realize I was that fat and I talked funny It was surreal and When it's over the lights come up and dan and t TJ and wrench, you know, they have their triumphant appearance in front of the crowd. And they start the q&a. And one of the first questions is, where's Coach Bill now? And Rich says, well, there he is right there up there with his family and everybody looks and weird. That night, there was an all night bidding war for the Wrights done defeated. I can't remember who all was involved, but it was Merrimack's and Paramount and whatever. And I think that night when it was bought, it actually set the record for the most money paid for a

documentary at a film festival. And I remember Lisa and I were sitting there at this bar that they were having kind of an after party and having a glass of beer or something before we were about to leave and get on a plane and fly back to Orlando and resume our spring break and a woman who we and a man who we didn't know at the time but ended up being Ari Emanuel and his wife, who owned WME, walked up and said, you know, your life's never going to be the same. And Lisa and I were like, ah, whatever, 10 minutes of fame. We go back to the Mickey Mouse world, have a blast, go home, and then we get another call and we're told, hey, guess what?

You're coming to LA. Undefeated has been nominated for an Oscar. When things couldn't get weirder, we thought no way. And then we find ourselves walking down the red carpet with George Clooney and that night it won the Academy Award. And all this is to say, we were minding our own business in Memphis, running a lumber company, coaching football. And we weren't looking for any of this stuff. But for one reason or another, the only difference in me and thousands of other people doing

amazing things in our world is my story got told. But as a result of my story getting told, I was blessed with a platform. And so Lisa and I decided we're going to use the blessing of this platform to talk about stuff that matters. So I wrote a book against the grain, filled with tenets and fundamentals that I think are really tantamount to a meaningful, professional, personal and societal life. That book did great. I do speeches all over the country.

Then Alex interviewed me one day and said, hey, I want you to do this podcast. Now this podcast is going bonkers. All of it I still truly don't fully understand. end, but see it as a blessing to use that platform that I've unwittingly been blessed with and didn't look for to talk about the stuff that matters. Race, creed, faith, all of the things that we're so afraid to talk about that cancel us, that may put us in trouble, that may put us at odds with one group or another, I run headlong into now because I just don't know how we improve our society unless we're willing to discuss and talk about in civil, non-threatening, open ways, the things

that do both define us and divide us. Because I think those divisions can be broken down with that type of conversation. Y'all, undefeated is not about wins and losses on a football field. It's about not being defeated by your circumstances. And the circumstances we find ourselves in in the United States today, and some corners of the world might be called dire. We are divided.

We do have issues. We do have problems. And one day, three guys that have only told one story about beer tong showed up in my life and did a beautiful job telling a story and We won awards and because of those awards I've been given a platform and a book and speeches and now a podcast to try to have conversations about the things that I think matter and

in large part I Refuse to be defeated By what divides us I refuse to be defeated by what divides us. I refuse to be defeated by what we may think is bad or good public policy, depending on which side of the aisle we're on. I refuse to be defeated by folks who are throwing their hands up saying we can't fix it anymore. And I refuse to be defeated by this notion that America has seen her better days. I think as an army of normal folks, we can fix what else is.

Serving one another, leading one another through service, being inspired by one another's service to one another and remembering that it doesn't matter who you love, how you vote, what you look like or who you worship. If you're serving somebody of need in your community, I can celebrate you and if I'm doing the same you can celebrate me and that is a basis from which we can all grow and improve our society and our culture and remember that this country has always been about we the people and Therefore it will take an army of normal folks to write this ship But I am encouraged by all the stories we get to tell every week that show that there are still people out there pulling on the worst

So guys I wasn't looking for it and it came my way. And as a result of a movie called Undefeated, I remain undefeated by the inspirational stories I get to tell every week. And I encourage you to think about the stories you hear on an army of normal folks and hopefully you're inspired to do something and you too will remain undefeated by the naysayers and just get involved and become a part of the army of normal folks that have the power to fix and shape our country.

That's shop talk for this week. I'll see you next week. John Stewart is back in the host chair at the daily show, which means he's I'll see you next week. term we can all get behind. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers, and so many other fascinating people, like jazz bassist Christian McBride. Jazz is based on improvisation, but there's very much a form to it.

You have a conversation based on that melody and those chord changes. So it's kind of like giving someone a topic and say, okay, talk about this. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will

be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who change the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.