Beyond the Brave Podcast - Ethan Robins Beyond the Brave - Episode 3 - Ethan Robins Tune in to the Beyond the Brave podcast hosted by Superintendent Craig Jernagan, as he interviews Football Coach and Special Education Teacher Ethan Robins! Show Transcript welcome to beyond the brave a mechanical School Corporation podcast where we sit down with people who are making a difference for our students our schools and our community I'm your host Craig Jernigan superintendent mechanical School Corporation each episode will have conversation with teachers students staff and Community Partners about what's happening across mechanical what's working what we're learning and where we're headed next today I'm excited to welcome Ethan Robbins football coach and also a special ed at mechanical High School Ethan welcome to beyond the brave thanks for having me sir I appreciate your time yeah hey we're going to ask you a few questions today maybe get to know you a little bit better because you are new to the community as of 6 months ago yeah I think April yeah April would be right April yeah um you know you you came in um new to the community so why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself where you're from where you grew up and then uh what got you interested in coaching and teaching yeah I mean I I started life on the Southside Indianapolis in Franklin Township right there by Greenwood um moved up to Noblesville around the age of 10 was went through high school there I kind of did most of my growing up there uh getting into football was was really just a life thing I remember being my first time as a ball boy I was 10 years old and it was at the payback classic I was a ball boy at the very first game in Lucas Oil Stadium I was Knoebels overseers and and we got demolished but it was really really cool um and I think it just it always grew just being proud of my stepdad for what he did just being a football family I think it was just always there for us so what what positions you play when you were at Noblesville I was a a wheel linebacker in a 35 stack yeah no linebacker most people have no idea what a will linebacker is or or even what they do where does that position play in in the scheme of Defense offense uh where do they play yeah usually to the backside where I could scoop in and Tackle somebody and not have to be left an open space to you know let the more athletes run there but it's really just a back sideline that's responsible for cut back on the back side of the formation I mean that's really all it was and uh I I think I did an okay job at it but we weren't amazing that year but it it was a great opportunity and it was awesome good you also uh worked for us as a special needs teacher uh takes a special kind of person to do that what what got you interested in in being a special needs teacher yeah I mean I think you start with you know I think I would take 3 things I think you start with the fact that um growing up I'm I'm not all over the place but I like the flexibility um of of being a special education teacher where not every day is the same you know you may be pulled out of a class to deal with something you know you got to build more relationships with the kids it's it's to me it's less teaching and more being there for the kids and building relationships and guiding them on that path and then you know giving them an assistance in school when they need it but a lot of times we're there for to be that person for them and and that's why I like it number 2 uh my best friend's wife actually when we were in high school she has a a a brother with Down Syndrome and I I she asked me to work with him and to this day I mean I love that I love that guy so much so it just it's a it's a compounding mix of things and then you know getting jobs in this day and age is is not always easy so being a special education teacher on top of the other 2 things it kind of just works out where you know there's more jobs and special education is the need grows and and and if somebody likes it it's even better so well that's good we we need good people to work with those uh that group of kids uh they are a very special uh group of kids uh and I I watch you in the hallway and you interact with with them well um those kids coming in and out of your classroom as well as everybody else in the hallway so definitely appreciate that uh obviously we're 9 and 0 uh in in the football season um I I would happen to maybe think that maybe you looked at talent pool a little bit when you you came to Mechanical but what what interested you in mechanical uh when you said hey I'm going to apply to this little rule school when I'm from a pretty big and suburban school um I made the joke okay it was a guy that I coached with a green field from Peru and he was like mechanical and I would always make the joke I thought I applied to Mrs COA just to you know because nobody's kind of heard of it before but um no mechanical is a really special place it was a really special kids I didn't the thing is I didn't really see the talent until I had hit the application and sent that in and kind of done more research on the kids and less on the school um but you you kind of heard of the success and stuff like that and man like you see those kids out there I'm not going to take a lot of credit for it those kids are phenomenal I mean they are a really really good group they they'd run through a brick wall if to which is which is you know we're not where we were in the summertime which is great so that's that's really all I care about is how tough they are together and you know they take care of the rest good good stuff get give me a a quick story of of something that stuck with you um in your short tenure here at mechanical either a student story or working with adults yeah I think it's it's 1 I love the people I work around in my little unit I love everybody there but but the people that are around me that have really taken me in is has been amazing um and that's a you know an Aaron Heather male Lori Rocky a Chelsea Corral Andrew Barman those guys were just in that hallway by me um but mostly the kids I mean there was a lot of kids that that not only have I gotten to know by trying to recruit them but also by teaching them and and you know supporting them whether soccer or basketball or those things you know uh I think it's important that everybody can go down the hallway and see a person not just a coach but a person that cares about them and then being in that position that I'm blessed to be in I think it kind of helps and and gives kids a little bit more confidence yeah definitely that family type of atmosphere is is good to be around and it helps keep people here and we've got a lot of good people and I I'm glad that they've uh welcomed you in here early in your tenure at mechanical so coaching do you think coaching has made you a better team whereas teaching major better Coach oh I would I would say it's a mixture of both I started coaching before I started teaching when I worked full-time for a paint company um and I started teaching on the east side on 38th and posted a charter school around the same time while coaching at Pike high school and I mean the lessons you learn at every area you've been um just kind of translates to the next I think and so working with those kids at failing Leadership Academy is then being able to go to practice at Pike high school after and kind of having the same demographic really taught me a lot on how to interact with them and then you know being a special education teacher I take you know there's a couple kids I could give examples of on our team right now where you know they just need someone to understand them right and understand what they're going through and then it makes them better football players and it calms them down you know a lot of things you see from a lot of kids in the football field just heightened emotion and you know being a teacher and a special education classroom and knowing how to manage that and build those relationships so they can trust you I think is is what goes along this way yeah something we always used to say when I when I coached and this has been a long time ago is some kids need football um and and probably more so than football needs them they may not be the best athlete on there but those kids need the relationship with their coaches with their other teammates uh to make them successful in school so absolutely you give them that opportunity and you saying makes me think of that that phrase that we use 20 years ago so that's good I'm glad that we're building those relationships and giving those kids opportunities um on on and off of that football field so tell me about your coaching philosophy um you know tell tell me tell me this a little bit tell me a little bit about the scheme you run and then also you know what your philosophy is with with kids yeah I mean from a football standpoint you know true football and a scheme I've always been defensively a 4-3 guy um I was a 341 year but you know to me it's just what fits your kids uh you can kind of build your scheme and adapt in whatever front you want um a lot of I could say a lot of jargon About You Know cover 4 cover 2 the things that we do Cover 3 Sky you know the way we Blitz the way we spend the front but really really philosophy as a head coach it's interesting because I'm calling the defense as well but then you get to that head coach side of it being new on that philosophically it's kind of like I you know I said it in the interviews I just want us to be tough and I want to speak good kids and I think I think that they've done a really good job of that so far and I want to I want to say that that Peru through Louis cast week really really built our team on you know that toughness and and what we're selling them and I you're seeing it the last 2 weeks and going into here so to me that's what I want people to see that's my philosophy is that we tough are going to be good young men are we going to do things right are we going to you know not get penalized as much which leads into being good people in life and doing things the right way so I think the game of football win lose or draw teaches you so much about how to be a young man how to be an adult as well um you know as I start as I navigate being a husband right now I probably could not have done that with all the lessons that I learned so yeah I think I think Sports um teach kids far beyond what they learn on the field uh and that hopefully carries over into the career someday uh as you said into their life with their with their family as well you know oftentimes I look at you know are we disciplined kids are we teaching kids to be disciplined right and and I appreciate what you've done this year on the football team too and still that discipline in in the kids to hey let's self-regulate a little bit um do you think maybe that maybe holds true with a little bit with your your classroom as well I mean sometimes I special needs kids you have to instill that discipline in them yeah and that's you know the self-regulation piece of a special education student no you know no matter what they qualify under how how deep it is is always a big thing and that's really what we look at so you know it goes back to you know sometimes we got to ulate the staff too sometimes I got to regulate myself so learning all those lessons and you know I've learned some lessons myself about what to and what not to do and you know I I can I can think back to you know vividly I think we were playing a mile in a couple years ago and and we were really really good I think it was the year we won the section and we set another school I looked at the film on a fourth in like 13 touchdown they scored in an option team and the wing moved and I'm doing this at the official and like yelling in the entire team's pointing and they snap the ball I think that for me was the biggest like they emulate you no matter what you do they're going to emulate you so that with that regulation piece is the biggest thing especially as being a head coach and I think seeing the kids do it makes me have the confidence of hey like you're asking them to do this you can do it yourself uh and I think we've all done a really good job of that but the special education piece man I mean it's it's it's different on that regulation standpoint you know it's it's it can look different for everybody it can be heightened it can be withdrawn it can be you know completely normal and you wouldn't know it so hey all goes back again and you're gonna hear me say it a lot relationships it all goes back to relationships no matter what it is football coaching on the team in the classroom it all goes back to how you build relationships with kids in 2026 absolutely I'm glad you figure that out as a young kid yourself uh new new in the professional pretty new in the profession you've been teaching what 3 or 4 years I think it's a 6 actually 6 well you look like you've been teaching 3 or 4 years that's good um you know you'll get some gray hair down the road as as the games get a little closer the hairlines already gone we'll wait for the gray hair gray hair is coming uh few things we're going to do a speed round here oh boy so don't think too too much on this uh just answer it as you as you feel fit classroom or football field football field offense or defense I'm gonna surprise you and go offense here good call run or pass sorry Scott Robinson we're going with run Friday night or Monday morning Friday night grass or turf turf favorite subject when you were in school I was a history kid I was like learning about wars good favorite football movie I go with remember Remember the Titans Remember the Titans college football or NFL college which college team Florida Gator baby oh yeah yikes that 1 hurt most difficult top position to coach offensive line forth and 1 or go for it on a punt oh we're we're we're going for it on Fourth and 1 every single time that's where maybe on the 30 it doesn't matter who I have we're getting that yard teacher who influenced you the most my stepdad truly it's good coach who influenced you the most and I mean I would say that too and then my I would say my stepdad number 1 uh Harold clever and then my old boss page of ARA I'm at Eastern Hancock and at Pike High School really really taught me a lot I don't think that I'd have the relationships I have with the kids without both of them and kind of the way that they taught me to handle things when I was a young D coordinator and and they were coaching for me and I was coaching for them so it really I'm blessed to have those 2 in my life 1 Word to prescribed Braves football tough tough good our mission at mechanical is to empower students to succeed you have the opportunity to do that both on the field and in the classroom what is that mission mean to you personally I think when you you hear Empower students to succeed isn't that why we get into the profession and anyway you know and I think you see it everywhere if you get into the coaching profession to coach and not take your teaching seriously it has a way of not rewarding you and it's not as rewarding um so to me empowering students to succeed it's kind of the base of everything we do uh here and and as teachers and coaches and you know that having coached before as well is every Win Lose or Draw we could be 0 and 9 but it could be the best group of kids you ever coach because of the way they're doing things and the way that they've started to succeed and you know I've had fun at hike high school and we were 1 and 9 and I or 1 and 8 and I've had fun here at 9 and 0 you know it doesn't really matter about the record and it does but it's more so about how those kids start to grow and succeed and winning is nice along the way it is fun to win it is yep absolutely I appreciate you uh joining us today Ethan thank you for joining us today and sharing your topic on our football program also is your perspective as a a special ed teacher thank you sir and for everyone else listening thank you for joining us in another episode of beyond the brave at mechanical they're great things happening every day in our classrooms across our campuses and throughout our community this podcast gives us an opportunity to share those stories and introduce you to people who make them possible I'm Craig Jernigan superintendent McConnell School Corporation thank you for listening until next time keep working together to empower our students to succeed
