Austin Hatch: From Tragedy to Triumph with Grit, Faith, and an Unstoppable Purpose

42m
Austin Hatch is the embodiment of resilience and relentless growth. Surviving not one, but two tragic plane crashes that claimed the lives of his immediate family members, Austin defied the odds and went on to earn a Division 1 basketball scholarship at the University of Michigan. Guided by unwavering faith, a steadfast commitment to his family, and a mindset forged in adversity, Austin now shares his journey and his "GRIT" framework as a sought-after motivational speaker. Honoring those he lost, Austin is dedicated to helping others thrive in the face of adversity and to leaving people and places better than he found them.
 Takeaways:
Purpose is Everything: Austin emphasizes the importance of having a “because” that’s bigger than yourself—his family is his deeper purpose and what keeps him moving forward even during life’s toughest moments.
GRIT is a Daily Discipline: Success over the long term is built on daily decisions to show up with growth, resilience, integrity, and a team-first mentality. Austin’s GRIT framework turns adversity into opportunity.
Gratitude and Action Go Hand-in-Hand: Practicing gratitude is a conscious choice that can’t coexist with negativity. Pairing this mindset with urgent, intentional action creates real, lasting impact.
Sound Bites:
“If it’s just for us, we’ll probably throw in the towel, give up. But if we remember that greater purpose, that why...we’ll always be willing to do what it takes to overcome.”
“It’s impossible to be truly grateful and very negative at the same time. Those two emotions can’t coexist.”
“You may not be the best on the team, but you can be your best for the team.”
Quote by Mick:
“If you’re not getting better, you’re falling way behind, right?”
Connect & Discover Austin:
 Website: https://austin-hatch.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-hatch-530727a6/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austin.j.hatch/
Website: Players for Good
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Transcript

you had to be a little patient at times, you know, trust the process, everybody, you know, what everybody says, let the process, you know, work itself out. But I'm not trying to like, like if something could take five weeks, I'm not trying to, I want to do it in one week.
Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth.

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No fluff, no filters, just hard-hitting truths, unstoppable strategies, and the mindset shifts that separate the best from the rest. Ready to break limits? Let's go.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged.

And today we have a story. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged.

And today we have a story full of emotion, full of grit, and full of resilience.

We're talking to a guy who survived two plane crashes, lost his immediate family,

and still earned a scholarship to play Division I basketball at the University of Michigan.

His journey from tragedy to triumph is one that you're going to want to hear. You know, when I think of Austin Hatch, I think of toughness, I think of faith, I think of resiliency, but more importantly, I think of an overall just good human being.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the guy, Mr. Austin Hatch.
Austin, how are you doing today, brother? Thank you very much. I really appreciate the introduction.
Thanks for your kind words. Really appreciate it.
No, absolutely awesome, man. You know, I usually start with one question for all my guests on Mick Unplugged, but, you know, I know your story.
I've been a follower of yours for over 10 years now. When I ask you, Austin, what's your

because? What's that thing that's deeper than your why? What's your purpose today? What would Austin Hatch say his because is? Well, I think it's been my wife for going on seven years now, right honor her um do my best to lead our family um we have a two and a half year old son named hudson hudson yes sir and we have a five-month-old daughter named marley and they're my they're my why now they're my purpose they're my because right you know yeah it's uh i think the the big thing about that is remembering what that is for you we all have a different purpose a different why different because right but i think always remembering it is important because when things get really tough if it's just for us we'll probably throw in the towel give up but if we remember that greater purpose that why that you know like i think we'll always be willing to do what it takes to overcome so totally agree man and and specifically i wanted to ask you that question man again just knowing your story knowing the triumph the tragedy and everything in between to to survive and i don't think people understand the magnitude of this, to survive two plane

crashes.

And in those two plane crashes, the first one, you lost your mother, your siblings, the

second one, you lost your dad and stepmom, right?

The magnitude of that, how did Austin Hatch keep going, bro?

When most people, that's not really going to be the thing. How did Austin Hatch keep going, bro? When most people, that's not really going to be the thing.
Like, how did Austin Hatch keep going? Well, I think after the first one, when I tragically lost my mom, Julie, my sister, Lindsay, little brother, Ian. Obviously, devastating loss, incomprehensible loss.
But my dad led me through that, right? And I don how he did it to be honest with you but um he kept going he kept living and obviously it was a there was some grief and adjustment and but you know we um that wasn't the end of the road for us it was a obviously a terrible loss a terrible tragedy terrible circumstance but um we still had life to live. And we felt that we could honor our family in heaven by how we loved each other and kept living our life.
And life was good. And he was remarried a couple years later.
Then we had a great-minded family, you know, and didn't replace what we lost, obviously. But it was great to have a mom and siblings at home again.
And then tragically, the second playing crash happened nine days after I accepted a scholarship to play for Michigan. And I was in a coma for two and a half months.
And I, by the grace of God, came out of that coma. And I had so many people who were there to support me, right? And who they did out of the goodness of their heart.
and I I had and coach Beeline too he he made it clear to me that he was going to honor my his commitment to me and so I felt that owed it to him too right to make to make the best recovery that I could and try to you know get as much my body back as I could which obviously I was not really able to get much of anything back but coach stayed true to his commitment and I think from a leadership standpoint that that principle um of following through on our commitments all the time no matter the task no matter the circumstance i feel like if we're known as that kind of a person um who wouldn't want to give everything they have for that kind of a leader so but yeah back to your question though um there wasn't really an option well i mean there definitely was but it's like i i had i had you know okay i wanted i'm coming out of coma right now i can't walk coach beeline's gonna honor his commitment to me and have me a part of the team at michigan okay well i got some work to do yeah so you know it's like what do they say every day you either get better or right? So I just try to take every single day, use that as an opportunity to get a little bit, a little bit better, you know, walk a little bit further, do a little bit more wall pushups, do a little, like get my balance a little bit better, just one day at a time, just try to get a little bit better. So, yeah, no, I love that.
You know, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. And I would say, you know, especially in today's era, in today's society, if you're not getting better, you're falling way behind.
Right. Austin, another question for you, man.
So you were given a second chance twice. Right.
Like, how do you stay grounded in gratitude with that? well I think I think gratitude

I'm not going to say that could solve every issue on the planet. But if everybody in the world had had a lot more gratitude, and here's the thing, it's not hard to have gratitude, right? It's just a choice to look for the good, look for the, look for the positive, look for the opportunity to focus on the blessings.
Right. And it's like, man, if you, because here's what I found, um, it's obviously we all have reasons to be negative, right? You do, I do people watching, listening, everybody has reasons to be negative.
Right. And we're all human.
And I'm, and of course there are times when I'm negative. Of course, there are times when you're negative, I'm sure, when things, you know, things don't far away, whatever.
But coming back to gratitude, though, it's impossible to be truly grateful and very negative at the same time. It's impossible, right? Those two emotions can't coexist.
You can't be, oh, man, what a beautiful family I have, what what a great life what an amazing situation we're so blessed how how lucky are we you're still probably dealing with something that's not going great but you can't really dwell on that when you're focusing more on the good yeah so i just choose not to ignore not to ignore the negatives not to ignore the challenges but why not spend more more time and energy looking at what's going right you know and looking at the positives like for me obviously it's so terrible what i've lost you know and my whole immediate family and everything um and it's so sad and i can't i hope to see him again someday um i think i will and um but it's like man my family like, like it doesn't get any better than this. My wife, Abby, our two kids, hopefully my wife wants to know four or five.
So I think we're going to compromise and have four or five kids. So, so, but yeah, so, so it's like, man, how good life is so good here.
Obviously that doesn't mean I don't remember my family and don't acknowledge the loss. Yeah.
But it's hard to be overcome by it. You know? Yeah.
Matt, so I have two friends who lost two different friends, not the same family who each lost their parents at a young age, both somewhat tragically. And one of them also lost a sibling as well.
And they each told me or tell me, Mick, you know, it became really hard for us to want to get close to people because we felt like if we got close to someone, we might lose them. And the hurt of losing family is really tough, like especially at a younger age when that's traditionally not supposed to happen.
Is that something that you went through? Like getting close to people, like wanting to be around people, like what was that like for you? Or what is that like for you? Yeah, well, for me, kind of the opposite is true for me. I just love people.
I love relationships. I'm just so grateful again.
And obviously, I'm so sad and, you know, what I lost and everything. But, you know, my family still impacted me to this day.
And but yeah, I'm just like, so I love, yeah, not to just completely shut down your point, but just for me, I never dealt with that. Okay.
I just, you know, my fame, I had so many people, like especially after, well, after both plane crashes, but especially the second one when I was almost killed. I had so many people out of, who out of the goodness of their heart.
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Like I had so many like it took a bill, you know, saying it takes a village, right? Yeah. Like for me, especially after the second plane crash, after both plane crashes.
But the first one I had my dad there. there right the second one I didn't and I had extended family friends unfortunately or unfortunately my store was pretty public for better or worse so I'm not going to say I had millions of people praying for me but I think I had a lot of people praying for me yeah you know so it's like and I'm just saying again I'm so grateful and um I love love building friendships so there it is no I love that man and and I'm just saying, again, I'm so grateful.
And I love building friendships. There it is.
No, I love that, man. And I want people to remember this as well.
Austin had a basketball scholarship to Michigan, right? That means, and Austin is from Indiana. Like some folks would say that's the hoops capital of the world i'm i'm a carolina guy so you know

i'm a little biased to that yeah but man so let's talk about austin the hooper for a minute because i don't want people to forget that story either man so growing up in indiana one of the top high school players in the country definitely in indiana man so like let's go through high school I think what your junior year you average what 23, 24.

So, like, let's go through high school. I think, what, your junior year, you averaged, what, 23, 24? So, well, so I got the second playing crash happened after my sophomore year of high school.
Yeah. So freshman year was okay.
Didn't, you know, maybe, I don't know, maybe, maybe 18, 18 points.

Just okay.

18 as a freshman in Indiana.

I think sophomore year was a little better.

Yeah.

24 and 10 or something.

There you go, 24, sophomore year.

Okay, I remember the stats.

There you go. Yeah, I had a good game.

Coach Beeline came to see me play against a rival school from across town

who we'd never beaten.

And, you know, packed gym, standing room only. And Bishop Lewis was the name of the school, a Catholic school from across town.
And, yeah, I had a pretty good game. I think I had 30 and 16, I think.
A casual 30 and 16. I like it.
Yeah. And coach, and then, so he, and then he, because he wanted to see two years of good grades to prove that I can, so I could do, I could handle the coursework at Michigan, right? So he got my transcript after the semester and then saw that.
He's like, cool. Let's bring him to Michigan.
And yeah, man, it was a dream come true. Dream come true.
Were there any other schools you thought about going other than University of North Carolina? I knew that was number one on your list. Yeah.
But outside of UNC. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, University of Virginia, Coach Tony Bennett, great guy, took a couple visits there um great guy um maybe went to notre name a couple times okay um i wasn't interested in i wasn't good enough to go to duke um oh you were good enough you just made a smart choice and not decided to go there yeah like I said yeah I got went to camp a few few years and I got to know coach Collins played a little open gym with him a little bit and he actually wrote me a letter after the the second plane accident and it was really touching that he did and he was like he was yeah, I was excited to recruit you, but then, yeah, then you jumped at that Michigan offer.
But so, yeah. I don't think I was good enough to play for Duke, but I think I could have been okay at Michigan.
I could have been okay. Yeah, no, for sure, man.
So what did it mean to you for coach Beeline to honor the scholarship that he had given you after the crash, after the second crash? One of the things that I talk about, so I speak for a living now, right? Which maybe we'll talk about more in a minute. I talk about integrity and the way I define integrity define integrity of course is doing the right thing when no one's looking very important obviously um but i think it's also following through on our commitments even when circumstances change or i should say especially when circumstances change right so as as i mentioned earlier so june 15 2011 i think i'm you know coach thinks i'm going to be able to help the team on the court.
At Michigan, my scoring and rebounding, playing defense, things like that. Y'all can make a scholarship.
Dream come true. We committed to each other that day.
A scholarship at Michigan over four years is about a million bucks, more or less. And that second plant crash happened nine days later.
I might not survive.

I come out of a coma, can't walk, might never walk ever again.

I'm in a wheelchair, right?

Comes to see me.

And he basically said, I can't wait to have you on my team someday.

Wow.

Whenever you ever come play for me at Michigan, man, I can't wait to coach you.

So his follow-through and his commitment didn't depend on the circumstance, you know?

Yeah.

And I'm like, that's like – so coach Beeline changed my life forever. Right.
He doesn't follow through on the scholarship. I don't go to Michigan.
I don't, you know, he doesn't follow through on the scholarship offer. I don't go to Michigan.
Don't meet my wife. We don't have our kids.
I don't, I don't get the education there. I don't, you know, so like he changed my life.
And for anyone listening, maybe your commitment following through on it is not going to change somebody's life. But maybe it does.
Maybe it will. Right? You don't know.
I mean, it could. And it may seem small to you, but it's probably big to them.
The impact. The impact.
Yeah. So my thing is, I think, so here's the thing though a lot of people make commitments every day right everybody does but not everybody follows through on every commitment especially when the circumstances change you know so so i think following through on our commitments when there's a change in circumstance is doing a common thing in an uncommon way and doing the common things in an uncommon way i think it's going to lead people better than we found them.
That's really the goal. That's my goal, at least.
My goal is I just try to lead people just a little bit better than I found them, right, wherever I go. So quick story.
So my dad, my hero, miss him every day, obviously, my whole family, of course, but learned so much from my dad, still learning from him to to this day and he would drive carpool two days a week on wednesday and friday from 2005 to the spring of 2011 um before i could drive myself to school we'd stop at this mcdonald's on the way to pick up my buddy and his little sister at the house and instead of just getting the food and driving away my dad would take an extra two or three seconds to interact with the the guy at the pickup window josiah was his name who would give us our food and he would i would just take two or three seconds say appreciate you been praying for you and your family make it a great day look forward to seeing you next time right very small a family friend of mine told me last summer the vet cashier from mcdonald's on dupont road in fort wayne josiah he was jos was at my parents' funeral after my dad and second mom died in the second plane crash. He was at their funeral.
Right.

And maybe he probably, maybe he would have gone to anybody,

any person that came to McDonald's regularly.

Maybe he would have gone to all their funerals probably would have,

but I think it, I think he,

cause he felt he should honor my dad's life and his legacy because my dad

left him a little bit better than he found him by doing a common thing in an uncommon way. So, yeah, I think we can all do that.
We can all do that. I love it.
I love it, man. So so let's go from Michigan to speaking.
But in between speaking, you had a corporate job at Domino's, right? And you created something that I've been following and implementing for a while now, your grit framework. Let's talk to the viewers and listeners about Austin Hatch's grit framework, man.
yeah so um i think a lot of our goal a lot of achieving our goals in life obviously

we need to rely

on other people for support and help and other things have to happen to, you know, the market's

got to be in, you know, all there's always other business stuff, but I think, I think

it all comes down to grit.

I think it all comes down to grit and, um, Angela Duckworth, really smart lady at, you

know, the Wharton business school, university of Pennsylvania, my friend, not, you know, Wharton's not Michigan, but it's a pretty good school, obviously. Not North Carolina either.
Yeah, it's not UNC, but you know. Yeah, whatever.
She says that grit's passion of perseverance for the long-term vision, for your long-term goals. That's true.
I think grit does apply to the long-term. For me, I think about my journey coming from a coma to playing for michigan that's a long-term goal right that's like going from you're trying to get to the going from the first floor to the top of the empire state building and you got to take the stairs it takes grit to get there that's long term that's you know whatever it's a couple hundred flights of stairs or whatever yeah it takes grit to get there but But for me, grit was every day because how could I expect to achieve the long-term goal if I wasn't winning one day at a time? So I think grit's a little more specific than just hard work for the long-term goal.
So it's four letters, four key components to it. But first and foremost, I think it's driven by a greater purpose.
I think we need to be driven by something bigger than ourselves, faith, family, friends, teammates, college, your organization, your part of whatever your purpose is. I just think we got to be driven by something bigger than ourselves.
That'll drive us just to be willing, just to be willing, because it was just for us. It'd be nice if I overcame this challenge or bounce back from this adversity, but it's only really for me.
So it's going to require too much time and effort and sacrifice. I'm not sure it's worth it.
Right.

But if it's for a greater purpose,

whatever that is for you,

I think we're always going to be willing.

We're always going to be willing to do what it takes.

So purpose drives grit.

The G,

the growth mindset adversity is opportunity.

There's no opportunity in the,

in the adversity itself,

right?

Nobody grows from losing a game in sports.

Nobody grows from losing a deal in business or having a tough week or

quarter or year. Nobody grows from that, but we grow by how we choose to respond it's a choice to look for the opportunity it's a choice to have the growth mindset and the route is though a lot of people choose to have the victim mindset you can choose that more people choose that though you know i didn't deserve this how much easier would life or business be if conditions were good or whatever? If a family was good, why are they making my life so difficult? Okay.
Well, you can have, you could have that mindset, but why not choose a growth mindset? Choose to look for the opportunity. So the R is the decision to be resilient.
And I don't, I don't think you're resilient if you overcome your challenges. I think overcoming challenges and adversity is a result of being resilient.

I think you're resilient if you take action, absolutely massive action in the face of challenge

and adversity.

My dad, he always said, go big or go home, man.

Go big or go home.

And that's what resilience is to me.

Like I said, you're not resilient if you overcome your challenges and achieve your your goals i think you're resilient if you go big in the face of adversity if you take massive action so the eye the eye is integrity of course you know integrity is as i said earlier going about our business the right way um doing the right thing no one's looking obviously very important yeah but in addition to that i think it's following through on our commitments, especially when circumstances change, right? Yeah. People are giving people our word and staying true to that.
Like I said with Coach Beeline, we committed to each other June 15th. He just gave me his word.
There's nothing signed, no documents or anything. He just said, Austin, I want to have you on my team.
I want to have you on my team at Michigan. and i said coach i'd love to come play for you yeah like literally the conversation was two minutes wow like there there was nothing formal nothing nothing signed nothing that made him feel like he was not legally obligated to do anything but he i couldn't i came out of the coma after the second plane crash, couldn't walk.
Probably never going to be able to play again. At least not the way that he would need me to play to help the team.
But he said, yeah, I gave you my word. So it was a no brainer.
This is what we do. We just follow through on our commitments at Michigan.
So I think again, if we can all do that, we can all do that. So last letter of grits, T, T is the team first mentality, the team first mentality.
So as I said, I was blessed to be a part of the team at Michigan four years. And I actually put myself in the record books there, believe it or not.
I'm the all-time lowest scoring full scholarship athlete in program history at Michigan. I scored 1.4 years..4 years right yeah i'm definitely all-time lowest scoring full scholarship athlete but i was on the team that so i had a role right yeah be a great teammate shag balls in practice help with drills rebound and shoot down before games unload luggers on road trips you know work hard every day to be the best that i could be and here's what i learned so my wife was a three-time all-american volleyball player at michigan um she was the best on her team three of the four years her freshman year there was an all-american setter a senior all-american who was she was the best that year but but sophomore junior senior year my wife abby was the best on her team i was not not, obviously.
Even though I wasn't the best on the team, I could be my best for the team, right? I think we can all do that again. We may not be the CEO or team captain or president or headmaster, principal, whatever.
We may not be the best on the team. We may not be the most important person on the team.
But we can all make the effort every day to be our best for the team so just it's a very subtle difference best on the team best versus best for the team so again I think if we can all just make the effort every day to be the best that we can be for the team I think the team's gonna win I love that brother I just wrote that quote down man like that that parallels so much not just in in corporate world like you said but in leadership too like understanding that as a leader right like it's not about you it's about doing what's best for others and and that's something that i i speak about and i know you do a lot with with leadership and what you do well. I want to go back to something you said early on about mindset, man.
You know, I'm a big believer in mindset, but also a bigger believer in action and impact behind the mindset. But when you think of mindset, what are some of the daily habits or mental disciplines that the viewers and listeners need to start putting into practice? I think it's, you know, for me and my goal, my goal is to build every day, build the business, build my family, build my marriage, build my, like, just build, just grow.
And, and I think I'll be totally honest with you. I don't have a have a checklist of you know three or four things that i go through every single day to make sure i do that but it's just it's just attacking life with the with the sense of urgency yeah the sense of urgency because here's what here's what i've learned um look i'm only 30 i'm in i don't have that much experience in business or life yet or family or anything but the most you think back to sports too right like the most the most urgent person usually wins usually right like if i think back in my own life it's like man like what like if you if you say winning is achieving a goal that's what that's a win in most goal most of goal, most of the times that I've won, it's because I really wanted it.
I was urgent. I had some urgency to it.
Right. And it's like, I think about my life now.
It's like, as a dad, I want to attack my role as a dad with some urgency. Yeah.
I want to attack my role as a husband with some urgency. I want to attack my role as the leader and provider of my family with some urgency like i want to attack my business with some with a sense of urgency not like because you had to be a little patient at times you know trust the process now everybody you know what everybody says let the process you know work itself out but i'm not trying like like if something could take five weeks i'm not trying to i want to do it in one week yeah i want to attack with some urgency you know and like maybe maybe maybe i'll get maybe i'll get we can get our family where we want where we want it to be in in 10 years i don't want to wait 10 years yeah i want to like be there like sooner than that so i think attacking life with the sense of urgency and i think that applies differently for all of us in different ways but i think that's a good way to live good way to live for sure what's one principle that you live by today so for me and my family there's three things that and obviously our kids are really young.
They don't understand this yet. Just for us, honor God, respect everyone, leave things in people better than you found them.
That's how we do it. And I'm like, obviously, the faith is a big part of my family.
But going back to that thing that I said about integrity, just trying to leave people everywhere you go, just trying to leave them a little bit better than you found them, right? Yes, sir. I definitely don't do that all the time with everybody I ever interact with in the world.
But like, man, you know what? If you can, at the end of the day, if you can look back back on your day and this is kind of a leadership self-assessment too if you think about it like who did i impact today the more the more specific about that you can be the better whether it was my obviously you know your your family probably but maybe even beyond that if you if you had a call with someone if you if you close

the deal if you if you had an opportunity to you know collaborate with somebody else think just who did I impact today and how will I be remembered by the people that I work with today who did I impact and how will I be remembered and I think if you can answer both of those questions in the positive sense.

If you can say, yeah, I impacted these people.

Well, and I think if you can answer both of those questions in the in the positive sense if you can say yeah I impacted these people are well it's not really up to up to us whether to say whether or not you impact them but you kind of feel it right if you think in in obviously it's not up to us to say yeah I left you better than I found you I definitely did like of course that's not us but it's not on us to say that but if you can think in your mind right if you can honestly give yourself a a good grade on that like if you can honestly tell yourself yeah I left some people better than I found them today love it string a lot of days like that together man I think it's I think you're gonna be in a good place I think you're gonna be a good place I love it man I love it all right Austin you're Michigan guy. I'm a Carolina guy.
We're going to be a good place. I love it, man.
I love it. All right, Austin, you're a Michigan guy.

I'm a Carolina guy.

We're going to go starting five.

All-time. You're all-time Michigan starting

five against my all-time Carolina

starting five. Who you got is your

starting five

at Michigan. All-time.

Okay.

So, you could obviously go back

to, you know, the Kazzy Russell, but that was

Thank you. okay um so you could obviously go back to you know the kazzy russell but that was before my time i never saw him play i know he's good okay um so we're gonna do it people that we saw play is that gonna be the caveat yeah yeah okay okay cool cool cool got it um okay so i'm gonna say tre Trey Burke.
Okay. Point guard.
Yep. Trey Burke point guard.
I'm going to say. Hmm.
Yeah, you could. I think, I think Karis LeVert.
Okay. Two guards.
Two. Okay.
My friend think Karis LeVert two guards my friend Karis you could do gosh who could you do three four well yeah because now I'm thinking T Trey Burke, Karras, let's go. I think Tim Hardaway could play the three.
He's kind of a two. He could play a three.
Yeah, he's tall. Yeah, he's got a three.
He could play three. Okay.
Four. Maybe.
No. I'm going to do Trey Burke.
Okay. Trey Burke, Karis, Tim.
Let's go Mo Wagner. Okay.
At the four, my team, my friend Mo.

Um,

I never saw Chris Weber play,

but I think he was,

he was good at the five.

Uh,

maybe coach Howard is in there too,

somewhere.

Maybe Juwan Howard's in there too.

Juwan Howard at the five.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So no Jalen Rose,

no C Webb.

Okay.

Uh,

but,

but you didn't see them play.

So I got it.

I,

yeah.

Okay.

So,

so,

so,

I'll see you so if we're going guys that we saw play at Carolina so that I saw play So I'm going to give you my point guard.

I have so many options of point guard.

I'm going to go to the

OG Kenny Smith.

Yep. Kenny the Jet

Smith. Yeah.
Kenny the Jet Smith.

So I've won the point guard position.

You think

Kenny the Jet or yeah?

I'm messing with you. We'll let the listeners and viewers tell us who won this matchup I got Kenny Smith at the one at the point I got Jordan at the two at the three I'm going to give you Vince Carter at the four I'm going to give you Tyler Hansbrough yeah Right? At the four, I'm going to give you Tyler Hansbro.
Yeah. At the five, I got something special for you.
At the five, I got someone from Indiana. You talk about grit.
We called him Big Grits. Luke Zeller.
Eric Montross. It's before your time.
Big Grits, Eric Mont yeah yeah wasn't there tyler zeller was there oh there's tyler luke was another name yeah yeah yeah so so we'll let the fan we'll let the viewers and listeners say who's all time yeah yeah yeah yeah okay okay okay so so so yeah you might have me in the one yeah Yeah, obviously, Michael, you have me in the two. Who was your three? Vince Carter.
Vince Carter. Yeah.
Yeah. Tyler Hansborough.
Yeah. Moe versus Moe versus Jawan Howard.
Jawan Howard versus Big Grits, Eric Montross. I'll give you one matchup.
But they did it in the championship game, and we walked away. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Another thing, though, I never saw Coach Howard play. I mean, I was super young.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I was born in 94.
So. Yeah.
That was the senior year. Yeah.
That was the senior year at Michigan. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Or junior year at Michigan.
My bad. Okay.
Yeah. I do think we won.
I do think you guys struggle scoring with us because you know, we're a fast paced up and down the court team. Yeah.
and Vince catching alley-oops all day Tyler Hangebro in the second half is just going to say give me the ball and dominate and Eric Montrose is sending everything back to half court blocking every shot. Okay, okay, okay well you know what maybe we'll okay, how about this though? How about this though? So post 2010.
Ooh. Ooh.
Yeah. Because all the good guys that I know are like, like.
Yeah. Trey.
Tim. Karras.
And the game changed, changed right there's not really a five post 2010 like not like when i grew up in the 80s and 90s where you had a dominant center that just not in the block and stayed there like now center is a point guard almost yeah well not yet well now if you're if you're if you're if you're 610 plus and you can't shoot a three you're probably not gonna play right exactly crazy exactly yeah we

got to come back to post 2010 because you know i i do have some i'm still gonna win the point guard

game though because yeah you know point guards that's what we do roy williams was was that guy

with the point guard so but you probably got me in some other spots you probably got me in some

Thank you. Enjoy the conversation.
Absolutely, man. I look forward to seeing it whenever it's published or released.
Oh, for sure. And we're going to get some one-on-one time too, man.

I've got some events coming up.

I'm going to get with Rose over at Players for Good

and probably get you to speak at at least one of my events this fall.

Oh, awesome.

Definitely going to do that.

If you could leave the listeners and viewers with one thing, man,

what would that be?

Part of it, honor my dad's legacy for me, right. Um, do the common things in an uncommon way and try to lead people in places a little better than you found them wherever we go.
I love it, man. I love it.
Where can people follow and find you? So I'm on LinkedIn, just Austin Hatch. I mean, I can send you my contact info or you can, anybody can email me Austin at Austin hyphen hatch.com is my email.
Would love to hear from anybody. Would love to love an opportunity to share my story and message about, you know, grit and thriving in the midst of adversity.
If there's anything else that I can do to serve or contribute in any way, don't hesitate to reach out. You got it.
Awesome, brother. I appreciate you spending some time with me today.
Honored to talk with you and hear more about you, man. Very touching.
Just honored that you spent some time with me today, brother. No, I appreciate you having me, man.
Thanks. Thanks for the time.
Look forward to staying in touch. And we'd love to an opportunity to collaborate sometime in the future.
You got it. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower.
Go Unleash It. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged.
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