- 3 days ago
Welcome Back Home, "Rooster" Travis Clayton!
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00:02And now, digging deeper with the teams you follow, it's another Sports Daily Insider
00:08interview on KFH.
00:11Happy to be joined right now by the new head coach of the Wichita Thunder, Travis Clayton,
00:17a familiar name to Thunder hockey fans, certainly.
00:20Coach, you're at the top of or near the top of just about every offensive category in
00:26Thunder franchise history, 11 years here.
00:30You've been back here as an assistant coach for the last two.
00:35Now you're in charge.
00:37It's like of all the of all the spots you could go pick.
00:40I mean, this has to be one of the we don't see this that often in coaching where you get
00:44that, you know, that opportunity right where there can't be many more comfortable places
00:49for you than than right here in Wichita with this franchise.
00:53Yeah, it's, uh, it's, you know, I'm very honored to be back in Wichita, obviously full circle
00:59started my pro career there, like you said, and, and spent two years as an assistant coach
01:05and, and now I'm the head coach and I'd like to thank Joel and the Steven brothers for trusting
01:10me.
01:10And, uh, I look forward to the challenge.
01:12Um, it's, it's going to be, uh, you know, it's go time now.
01:16And, uh, so yeah, I'm excited for this opportunity.
01:19Yeah, Travis, I made the point, uh, last week is that, you know, talking to people around
01:24Wichita, the, the most casual hockey people around Wichita, uh, is that, you know, you
01:29say, Hey, they hired a former player.
01:31Uh, and if you had a short list, you know, it's like, Oh, it's a Travis Clayton, right?
01:35You know, like there's a lot of stories.
01:37There's a lot of stuff that people remember.
01:38You talked a lot about, you know, going to play in the old Coliseum and everything like
01:42that.
01:42I'm sure you have a ton of stories of your time as a player.
01:45Or just what, what was it that really stuck out about playing in Wichita whenever you
01:49were a player?
01:50Just the fan support, right?
01:52Playing up and like I said, in the Coliseum, like, you know, there are some nights on weekends
01:57we'd, the barn would be packed.
01:59There'd be 10,000 people in there and it was loud and there was rocking in there, especially
02:02when, you know, we played the rivals, Oklahoma and Tulsa.
02:06It, uh, it was, it was a great atmosphere and I'd love to see the interest bank to be like
02:11that it'd be, uh, it'd be, uh, awesome for the Wichita fans that supported, uh, hockey.
02:17What that's a, as a good little segue, Travis, what do you think the biggest challenge is
02:22like, you know, it's, it's lean out there.
02:24I think everybody knows that feels that I'm not sure we've ever gotten back to full force
02:30since the world shut down now four or five years ago.
02:33So what do you think is the biggest challenge for you now as the head coach outside of coaching
02:38the hockey team to wins itself to capture that buzz and bring that energy into the arena every
02:45night?
02:46Yeah.
02:46Like kind of touched base there last week.
02:48The biggest thing is, you know, uh, hockey has changed.
02:53There isn't as much fighting and all that, but there is that physical style still, you
02:58know, I still believe in that.
02:59And there's a, there's a place in hockey for that.
03:02And I know the Wichita Thunder base, the fans love it, right?
03:07They love the hard nose hockey, the physical in your face kind of style.
03:11And, and that's what I believe in.
03:13And that's what I'm trying to build here and, and bring some excitement back to, uh, to the
03:17building.
03:18It's not going to be easy.
03:19And, and, uh, like I said, the game has changed, but you know, there, there is a place
03:24for the physical style and that's what I want to bring.
03:27And I know the fans love it.
03:28And, and if you bring that every night, the work ethic and all that, I think, uh, we'll
03:32have the fan support.
03:33Well, I think that that's, you know, one of the, the bigger conversations about, you know,
03:37Thunder hockey, uh, in Wichita, you know, you're from Canada, which is obviously it's
03:42the, the, the big thing up there, everything like that, you know, in Wichita, it's, there's,
03:46there's no high school hockey.
03:47It's not really, uh, you know, a hockey state per se in the state of Kansas.
03:52Uh, but you know, like you said, whenever you can get the excitement going, you can,
03:55you can do that kind of thing.
03:57You know, is that part of, you know, what you want to do?
03:59Yeah.
03:59I know Wichita is really special to you.
04:01Can Wichita become a hockey city?
04:03Uh, can Kansas become a hockey state?
04:05Things like that.
04:06Yeah, I think it can.
04:07Like, you know, back in the nineties and in the early two thousands, like even now, like
04:12we still, we, our fan support is, you know, tremendous, right?
04:15We average around 5,000 right now and, and back in the day, I think it was around the
04:21same, maybe even more.
04:22And, um, you know, uh, hockey has grown.
04:26It's, it's crazy how, uh, uh, hockey is growing in the South.
04:30Um, so I think Kansas can be, uh, obviously you have to put the product on the ice and
04:36the, and the entertainment, and that's my job to do that.
04:39And, and hopefully, uh, I can get the team built that way.
04:43All right.
04:44People know you, Travis, pretty well.
04:45Let's have some fun here, uh, on the radio.
04:49Let, we'll let, let me start with it.
04:51What is your, you know, from Saskatchewan, what is your favorite thing?
04:55Cause you've been, you've been in the States.
04:57What's your favorite thing about America?
05:02About America.
05:03The warm weather.
05:05We, we had snow here, uh, this past weekend.
05:09May it's may long weekend up here and we got snow.
05:12So, uh, I miss the warm weather.
05:15That's not okay.
05:16What's the most annoying thing about America?
05:20Cause you still got to beat your Canadian chest, right?
05:22You got to beat your pride.
05:23What, what, what, what, like if you're, if you're having beers with the, like, if you're
05:27talking trash, like what, what, where's, what's your go-to?
05:30What's, what's, what's annoying about America?
05:34Saskatchewan.
05:35Saskatchewan.
05:36I can't say anything annoying because my wife's American, so I tread on light.
05:41So yeah, I don't, I don't know.
05:43I love, I love down South, so I don't have a whole lot, but I just, the only thing that
05:47bugs me is that you guys won the Olympic gold.
05:50So I, yeah.
05:53Better case.
05:53That's right.
05:54Uh, as the new head coach, uh, back to hockey, I'll, I'll steer us back on ship here.
05:59Uh, what do you, what does it look like now?
06:01You know, where do you, where do you go?
06:02You know, you did the press conference and things last week and shook hands and kissed
06:06babies.
06:07What's the next?
06:07What do you do now?
06:09Yeah.
06:09Now it's go time, right?
06:11Uh, I flew back home and, you know, and started, you know, calling the players that we had on
06:16the team, right.
06:17You know, seeing where they are kind of thing, but it's recruit time, right?
06:21You can't sign anyone right now yet, but you can get, get out there and talk to, uh, guys
06:26that are finished up college and all that and see, start to recruiting, right.
06:30And then also trying to find an assistant coach, right.
06:32So it's busy time.
06:33It's not a lot of downtime.
06:35You know, you gotta, you gotta get going and, and yeah, so that's what I've been doing here
06:39the last couple of days.
06:41And then this week, uh, I'll be the same.
06:43Yeah.
06:43So on that, let me jump back in, Jacob, is that a lot of people, uh, you know, it's different,
06:47you know, the, the wind surge or the easy example is the other, you know, you know,
06:51minor league team in town, everything like that.
06:53Uh, it's, it's different than the baseball model because you know, the wind surge, they
06:57don't pick their players.
06:58The twins say, here's your roster.
06:59Here's what it's not like that.
07:01You know, you, you're actually doing some recruiting.
07:03It's almost like, it's like a college team kind of thing.
07:05Yeah, exactly.
07:06Like you're, you know, like obviously we're affiliated with San Jose, but, uh, you know,
07:11we don't know what we're really getting yet from them.
07:14Uh, I was on the phone with them last week and, you know, obviously they're going to help
07:19us last year.
07:20We got seven guys from them.
07:21So that does help, but it's not a guaranteed what you're going to get.
07:25Right.
07:25So you gotta, you know, I've spoke with Joel.
07:29We gotta recruit, you know, get more depth.
07:32So, you know, uh, you just have to get out there and, and call guys and, and get the
07:38depth just in case you lose the San Jose guys.
07:41How much recall do you get?
07:43Travis Clayton, new Wichita Thunder head coach joining us here on sports daily.
07:46How much recall do you get from your time as a player in Wichita?
07:49Like you're, there aren't very many numbers retired in the organization.
07:52Yours is one of them.
07:53Do you use that as an opportunity with your players to talk to them about like how, how
07:58much success and, and the things that you can have here in their careers?
08:03Yeah.
08:04And I, I, I talk about that.
08:06Not so much about my playing days, just about, you know, the, the community.
08:10Like it's huge, like how, you know, I come, I can't, I come from a small town in Saskatchewan
08:15and, and, you know, Wichita is about 500,000, but it still has that small town feel kind
08:21of thing.
08:21And, you know, I, I explained that to the players, especially, you know, I know a lot
08:25of guys out West and they're from small towns.
08:27So that helps them.
08:29Cause a lot of guys don't like the big city life either.
08:31Some do, some don't.
08:32Right.
08:32But, you know, tell you, you offer what Wichita has.
08:36Right.
08:36And there's a lot of good things.
08:37You got Wichita state, you got, you know, all kinds of stuff that, uh, the guys can
08:43do golf just about year round.
08:45There's only like maybe a month or so, you know, you got to sell it.
08:48Right.
08:48And that's my job.
08:50And, and obviously we have a beautiful facility, facility, an interest bank, which helps.
08:55Right.
08:55So, um, yeah, you're just selling, selling Wichita and hopefully you can get the players
09:00to come.
09:00Um, I wonder, Travis, this is a conversation that's had around, you know, college sports
09:05all the time.
09:06I guess you don't know the answer yet per se, but you know, former players of organizations
09:11going on to coach, uh, is there something to be said about that?
09:14Do you think that that is a leg up for you to say, you know, the fact that you played
09:18in Wichita, you're not a former player that played in Tulsa and hired by Wichita.
09:22Do you think that there is something, uh, that can be said about coaching to say, like,
09:26I've played in this city.
09:27I've played, you know, uh, all in front of these people, the people, the people
09:30that are watching you also watched me.
09:32Like, is, is that, is that a leg up?
09:34You think?
09:34I think it helps.
09:35Right.
09:36Cause it, you know, I can tell them, you know, when I played, this is how it was, this is
09:40what we had.
09:41And, and, and, you know, I'm telling not, not that you lie, but you know, you've experienced
09:45it.
09:46Right.
09:46And, uh, it comes from the heart and, and, uh, I think that, that has a, a lot, uh, the
09:52help recruiting kind of thing that the, that I played here and, and experienced the ups
09:57and downs and, uh, and I think, uh, players, you know, like that and, uh, hopefully it'll
10:02help on the recruiting.
10:04All right, coach.
10:05We've got a producer, Max, big hockey guy.
10:08Um, he's got something for you.
10:10He's been working on.
10:11He tells us it is a, uh, voice.
10:14You'll remember.
10:15Is that what we're calling this?
10:15What is this?
10:16What is this segment from?
10:17What show did this run in?
10:19Cause this is like from the archives.
10:20Let's hear what it is.
10:21And we'll see if, if coach can get it.
10:23Here you go, Max.
10:24Bruce, sir.
10:25What are you doing?
10:26How are you doing, bud?
10:27Oh, getting grayer.
10:29Yeah.
10:29Well, you don't get it.
10:30Good to hear from you.
10:31Good to hear from you too.
10:32Glad things are going good for you.
10:34I'm happy to hear that.
10:35I know we don't keep in touch.
10:36It probably should be a little more.
10:38Yeah.
10:38We have to do that.
10:39You just put a smile on my face here in your voice.
10:41I know me too.
10:43I'm thinking the same thing.
10:45That's an easy one, right?
10:47That's my old line mate, Jason Duda, right?
10:49How he can't forget that voice.
10:5111 years, right?
10:52Spending just about every day with him, right?
10:54So, yeah, it's awesome.
10:56I'm guessing, Max, that was a clip between Bob and Jeff back in the day.
11:01Is that right, Max?
11:03Yeah.
11:04I heard Bruce.
11:06Bruce?
11:07Rooster.
11:07He said Rooster, didn't he?
11:08Oh, Rooster.
11:09Oh, Rooster.
11:10Excuse me.
11:11Now, where does Rooster come from?
11:13Who's Rooster?
11:13I don't know.
11:13You or dudes?
11:15Me.
11:16Okay.
11:16Yeah.
11:17And you don't know why they call him Rooster?
11:19I don't know why.
11:20Or it's not safe for radio.
11:22Yeah, not for radio.
11:23No, I don't know.
11:26We're glad to see the familiarity, Coach.
11:30We hope that everything goes really well for you guys.
11:34We'll talk again before the season starts.
11:36But we're excited to have you here.
11:38We know you've got the family ties here.
11:40That always makes it fun for us, especially with the local team.
11:44So, warm up, I guess.
11:47I don't know what to tell you about that.
11:50Hopefully.
11:51We could even go to the lake this weekend.
11:53So, hopefully it starts warming up.
11:55It'll only be about 90.
11:55It'll only be about 90 here today.
11:57Oh, I miss that.
11:58I do, actually.
12:00Yeah.
12:01We'll get it back.
12:02It'll be plenty warm when you get back.
12:04Perfect.
12:04I love it.
12:05All right.
12:06Well, thanks for having me, guys.
12:07I really appreciate it.
12:08And I look forward to the season and getting some excitement back in Wichita.
12:13We do, too.
12:14There he goes.
12:15Travis Clayton, new head coach of the Wichita Thunder.
12:17Season starts in October.
12:19Right home at Intros Bank Arena, October 17th, against the Tahoe Night Monsters.
12:25The Night Monsters.
12:27Lean into it.
12:28Yeah.
12:30The Thunder with the schedule release video in the spirit of last week.
12:35I missed that.
12:35Yeah.
12:36It's out right now.
12:37You can find it on their Twitter.
12:40Yeah.
12:41I'm glad.
12:42Look, getting local tie-ins like that is a huge bonus for a local team.
12:50Of the list of things that I haven't seen in Wichita, I haven't seen the atmosphere that
12:56he's described that used to be at the Coliseum.
12:57I've never seen the roundhouse sold out either from the years that I've been here.
13:01I've only been here for a short time.
13:02But, you know, obviously, if you can get the buy-in from Wichita to go support that kind
13:07of thing.
13:07And, you know, we've seen, we saw 12,000 people go watch Banana Bowl last week.
13:12You know what I mean?
13:13Yeah.
13:13Look, if you get them excited, you can get them there.
13:15We have to be real with the world right now.
13:18It is a tough economy right now.
13:21And when I first got here, yeah, Thunder Games had that energy.
13:25You know, indoor football had that energy.
13:28You had, you know, all kinds of things.
13:31It's just tougher right now.
13:32You got to win people over.
13:33And I tell people all the time with Thunder Games, like, they're a blast.
13:37Like, you don't have to know hockey to just feel the hockey energy.
13:42Hockey might be the best live sport when you go at, you know, at all the professional
13:48levels or whatever.
13:49It's just, it's good energy.
13:50It's fun.
13:51Like, it's always high octane, high paced.
13:54And you get the whole audio visual presentation because there are the natural breaks and things
13:59to get you fired up and everything.
14:00It's, it's a great, it's a great sport to go watch live.
14:03So go check out the Thunder.
14:05Travis Clayton back home, second home here in Wichita.
14:09He's got family here, lives here.
14:11And one of the greatest players in the organization's history helps as well.
14:15All right, we'll come back.
14:16We got more Sports Daily coming for you.
14:18Stick around here.
14:19All Brockton, Cleveland on a Friday, Monday.
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