Jeff Cohen Mich Football Stories

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. We're still in the category think tank and I have a very special guest. He's special because he's a good friend of mine. He was in my wedding. He's a great guy. We, we became friends. We have a few stories. We have Jeff Cone. Jeff is a former Michigan football player and don't mention the word green whatever you do. So good thing we don't have any notes here. Jeff, great to have you here today, Mike.

Thank you. It is awesome to be on here with you and to reconnect with you after a while of having not been in contact. So this is awesome.

And we've been friends for a long time. I think we were the type that people would go to the bars back in the late 80s and it was you and myself and sometimes Tim McCormick, the former NBA basketball player. And we would go to that place on Orchard Lake Road and have a salad and talk sports and just love that. I love their time together.

Yeah, I know. That was great. It's hard to believe it was a long time ago.

Well, a lot of what we do is we talk about stories and mindsets and champion. Well, the first of all, I'm going to talk about a few stories that, that's, that stand out that I just shared actually with, with a former, well, actually an announcer. He's. His wife is with Fox and he's with cbs. And I was just talking about you. I said, yep, I'm hopping on with Jeff cone and he's a friend of mine. And I shared the, the one story because being Jewish in sports, we don't ever want to look at ourselves as is Jewish athletes. But share with me that story at University of Michigan about both Schambeckler and the Notre Dame.

Yeah, no, that's a great story. So I believe it was going into my sophomore year and I had come out of spring ball battling for a starting spot at the safety position. And I, I just happened to look at the schedule and I, I noticed that we were playing Notre Dame early September and I happened to check the calendar and I said, oh, my goodness. Well, we played Notre Dame in South Bend on Yom Kippur, you know, which obviously is the holiest day of the year. I had never done anything on Yom Kippur. You know, typically I missed practices in high school. I don't think I ever missed a game. But so I happened to be down the football office and I popped my head into Beau's office and I said, hey, Bo, you know, we play at Notre Dame on Yom Kippur. And he looked at me and he said, he said, well, you know, we practice on Christmas Day. And I said, well, yeah, I know that, but it's, it's really not the same because this is the holiest day of the year. I've never done anything on this day. I said, but I'm going to talk to my parents and see how they feel about it. But, you know, right now I'm going to plan on playing. And so I talked to my dad, and my dad was also a college athlete, and he said, hey, that's your call if you, if you want to play, you know, I'll, I'll support you on that. And so I, obviously, I made the decision to play. And we go out for pregame warm up, we come back in, we're. We're getting ready to take the field. And if you've, if you've seen the games on tv, Notre Dame Stadium, when they show Notre Dame coming out of locker room, you got to walk down these flight of stairs to get into the, the tunnel to take you out of the field. And it was the same way in the visitors locker room. So it was all kind of backed up. You know, took a little while for all of us to get down the steps, and I'm kind of towards the back, and I, you know, I'm a, I was a pretty intense guy. So I've got my game face on, and Bo comes up to me and he grabs me, and with a straight face, he says, all right, Cohen, now let's go out there and win one for the Kipper. You know, And I was like, you know, I was totally taken by surprise. I was like, you know, did he just say what I think he said? And then, you know, he, he had, he had written a book. And that story was actually in his book where he said, yeah, I never really gave a win one for the Gipper speech, but I came close and he told that story. And I used to joke with him because he was honored at the, by the Michigan Jewish Sports foundation with the Distinguished American Award one year. And I used to joke with him and say, man, you know, if it wasn't for me, you Know, you wouldn't. You'd never get any mileage in the Jewish community.

That's right. Well, also, you're in the Jewish Sports hall of Fame in Michigan. How about that? That was a. That was a great announcement, being in the Jewish Sports hall of Fame.

Yeah, that was pretty neat. You know, I came after you as being. If anyone was deserving of being in it, it was certainly you.

This is about you, Jeff. They hear enough about me. This is about you.

Yeah, no, that was. That was a real nice honor. And then I actually have been involved with that organization for a long time and was a past president and. And now sit on the board and on the selection committee for future hall of Fame inductees. So it's really been an enjoyable association with them.

Well, there's the ultimate team guy. It's going to be Jeff cone, and I'll tell you why. Because for me, I considered myself a team guy, but I never went to the levels you did. I don't even think you allowed green to be in your house. Michigan State, Green. People that are not from Michigan, there's, you know, there's the blue and gold. Get a hundred thousand fans in that. In that stadium, and it's a. What an environment. But you didn't like green.

Well, you know, I. I didn't mind green before I went to school, but, you know, if you grew up in the state of Michigan, I mean, that is a really, really intense rivalry. And unfortunately, Michigan State, you know, had a real nice run there for a while, and, you know, I think since Coach Harbaugh has been in there, I think it's. It's pretty even. But, you know, the five years that I was at Michigan, because I was redshirted a year, we never lost the Michigan State. And it was still. I mean, it was an intense, intense rivalry, and there was no love lost between the two schools, even though they're both great schools. But. Yeah, so, I mean, I. I don't. Other than money and grass, I don't think I like anything that's green.

But wait, your brother played for Eastern Michigan. I think they're green.

Yeah, no, they are. They are. That's right, they are. So, yeah, like him a little bit.

Give him a little bit of credit.

Yeah, I'll give them a little. I'll give him a little credit. Yeah. But going back to what you said, don't even. Don't even start with, you know, you didn't, you know, don't sell yourself short. I mean, yeah, I. I played in college, my friend but you played in professional, and that's a big difference.

No, it doesn't matter.

That's a big difference.

To me, It. To me, it doesn't matter, actually. So just going back. So one thing we noticed here, like, I mean, we had a pretty good. There's a few good quarterbacks that came out. I remember you were always friends with Jim Harbaugh, right? You guys were great friends.

Yeah, he was, you know, my last two years. Jim was on the team for two years, so. And then I knew him since he was in high school because his dad. My freshman year, his dad, Jack, was. Was my position coach before he ended up leaving and going to Stanford. So, you know, I knew. I knew Jim when he was a little skinny kid in, like, ninth grade, hanging around the locker room and. And then his brother John, you know, who's obviously gone on, won a Super bowl and is, you know, arguably the best coach in the NFL. So. Yeah, so I. I was teammates with Jim for a couple of years.

Yeah, but you were also, you know, there's this quarterback, a very average type quarterback, never in good shape. I think he played a couple games in the NFL. I think he wore the same jersey number as you, if I get that correct.

Well, yeah. Who'd ever thought that Tom Brady would go on to become the greatest quarterback to ever play? At least in my opinion he is. But I guess that's my claim to frame. Claim to fame, Mike, that I wore the same number at Michigan as Tom Brady. So he wore number 10 at Michigan, which is what I wore. And so I, you know, I jokingly tell people that, well, I, you know, I let him wear my number, but I actually, my freshman year, I wore number eight. You know, you just get there as a freshman. You know, you walk in and there's a. There's a number that you're given. And so I was number eight my freshman year, and then they changed my number to 10 my sophomore year, and I was like, hey, I don't really want to switch my number. And our equipment manager, John Faulk, said, well, we had a great defensive back, Derek Howard, who wore number 10, and I want to get number 10 back on defense. And I thought, oh, okay, well, that's kind of cool. And then I. I found out a little bit more about Derek Howard, who is a really impressive guy, great person, as well as a great player. And I thought, okay, that's kind of an honor to. To wear that number.

Yeah, we're talking about some of your accolades. And I remember this. I remember we Sat down and talked. And there was another average athlete back in the day, played two sports. I think you tackled him. A big tackle in the Rose bowl or Sugar Bowl?

Sugar Bowl. So yeah, so my fifth year we went to the Sugar bowl and played Auburn and obviously they had a great team with Bo Jackson and you know, their, their whole backfield went on, their offensive backfield, they ran the wishbone and all three of their backs played in the NFL. Bow and Lionel James with San Diego and then Tommy AG played with the, the Cowboys and their tight end Ed west played with the Packers. I mean, talent wise, we probably shouldn't have been on the same field of those guys. They were just extremely talented. But we unfortunately ended up getting beat on a last second field goal by Al Del Greco who ended up having a, you know, a long career in the NFL. And you know, we just, we put together a great game plan and I, I know after the game, Bo Jackson was quoted in the paper the next day as saying that when we came out for pregame warmups and he looked, he looked over at our team, he said we look like a high school team. You know, we weren't the biggest team, but we were pretty tough and pretty fast. And he said, but after the game, he said I'd never been hit like that before. I mean we, we had eight, nine helmets on him every time he touched the ball. And unfortunately we lost that game. We really should have won the darn game, but just didn't make enough plays on offense to, to get enough points on the board. But we, we held that offense to three field goals, which was pretty, which was a pretty strong defensive performance. But yeah, I'll never forget my, the last game I ever played, you know, competitive football, they lined up to kick the kick, the winning field goal with, you know, just a handful of seconds left on the clock and I was on the field and you know, if I, if I had, if I was a better athlete, I may, you know, I may have had an opportunity to block the kick because I came up and I, and I swear I just saw the ball just go above my, my hand and. But like I said, if I, I didn't have a great vertical jump. But yeah, so I'm lying on the ground and I look up and I see the Auburn players going crazy. And I'm thinking to God this is going to be the last memory I ever have of playing because I was realistic enough to know that I probably wasn't going to have a professional career. And I remember that thought crossed my mind What a terrible feeling that was, that this is how I'm going to end my football career.

That's just your personality. So I'm going to ask you a few different questions here. Again, this is not even scripted. There's nothing written down anywhere. You and I go way back. Loved our times. We used to train together, run together sometimes, and I miss those days. But the one thing, like with you, you're very competitive. So people want to ask me, so, Mike, what does it take to make it? I said, you have to have compete. And Jeff Cohen had compete. You know, you weren't the biggest guy, the fastest guy, the strongest guy, maybe the smart throw, the smartest guy in there, but you had to compete. So I would say I already know the answer to this, but did you play to win or did you play not to lose?

I think I will always play to win. You know, I think obviously we were blessed to have some athletic ability. But, you know, you and I have both seen many, many guys that, you know, we're, we're naturally gifted physically, you know, that were probably better athletes than us. And then you say, well, well, why didn't they play or why didn't they make it and why did I. And I. I think it was just. It's so much of it is mental, you know, and just being mentally tough and knowing that you're not going to get out worked and knowing that, you know, I've got to go out there and I've got to compete and train every day to, you know, to be the strongest, fastest, best condition guy that I could be, that that would enable me the opportunity. And then it was just the mindset that, you know, failure is not an option. I'm just, I'm gonna put my, my heart into it and my mind and, you know, I'm gonna win and I'm gonna. And I'm gonna be successful if I put my mind to it. And so I think so much of it is, is just mental and just, you know, wanting it more than the, than the. Your opponent or the next guy.

And that's what it takes. So we tell people that's what it takes to get to where you want to be. I have a little program called Ready to Play. I tell people to go to Hartman Academy, no.com. so they go to Hartman Academy and we do this Ready to Play program where they take our program and, and it's everything you said. Sometimes you can't even teach what you just said, Jeff. You can't teach it. So you covered. We call it The Mike Hartman Show Stories, mindset and champions. So we've talked some good stories. You talked about the mindset, now tell us about your championships.

You know, I was blessed. You know, my dad was a college athlete, and so I grew up around sports, and I grew up with that mindset. And then I. I had a great high school. My senior year in high school, we played for the state championship in the old Pontiac Silver Dome where the Lions played. And we had. We had upset the number one rated team in the state and defending state champs. They had won 24 games in a row. And we actually, we kicked their tail in the semifinals, and then we came back for the state championship and we ended up losing. And we probably played the worst game we had played all year. And I think if we'd have played those guys 10 times, we'd have beat him nine out of 10. And, you know, to this day, that is. That is the most disappointing, worst memory of my entire athletic career. You know, and then when I got to Michigan, I was fortunate enough to be on two Big Ten championship teams. And my sophomore year, we started off one and two. We lost two out of our first three games. And everyone kind of wrote us off and, and our coach, Bo Schembechler, pulled us together in a meeting, and he said, I'm just going to tell you guys right now, if you guys stick together and if you trust one another and you believe in one another and you listen to the coaches, I'm telling you right now, we will win the Big Ten championship. And so we had great senior leadership. It was my sophomore year, and we ended up winning the rest of our games. And we won. We went down to Ohio State. We beat. We beat the Buckeyes in Columbus to win the Big Ten championship. And then we beat Washington in the Rose Bowls, the first Rose bowl that Bow had ever won, and we finished fourth in the country. And, you know, back then there was not a playoff, and we had lost two early games. So we were, you know, we continued every week. We were moving up in the rankings and we finished fourth. And I. I'll go to my grave believing that we were the best team in the country. And if we. And if we'd have had a playoff system back then, I think we'd have won the national championship. But, you know, I get kind of get chills just thinking and talking about that team and how close we were and how we believed in one another, and we just kind of shut out the outside world because, you know, the media was ripping us early and they, you know, they wrote us off, and we basically said, hey, the hell with them. It's going to be, you know, the guys in this locker room and the coaches and. And we don't care what the outside world says. We're just going to stay together and we're going to win the championship. And that was the most gratifying season. And, you know, and so that's why, you know, to this day, I don't place a whole lot of weight in the media, you know, because most of those guys as. As Beau used to say, most of those guys have never had their, you know, what, encased in a jockstrap. Right. You know, and. And so, you know, guys that have never played the game but think they, you know, they know all the answers. You know, I don't. To this day, I still don't pay a whole lot of attention to those guys.

Well, nowadays, Jeff, people call me an athletic supporter. Some people might think that's funny. Someone told me, stick to your day job. You're not funny. Just in one sentence, sum up Bo Schambechler, because you used to talk about him a lot in one sentence. How would you sum him up?

The greatest leader I have ever been around that exhibited unbelievable character and integrity. And unfortunately, there's not many guys like him today. We don't have leaders like that today. And it's hopefully all of us guys that played for him are passing on his legacy as we instill that in our kids, those values. And hopefully he does it. Our kids instill it in their kids. So I know that was longer than one sentence, but no, that's.

That was. Well said, Jeff. This has been amazing having you. I mean, this stuff flew by. You and I could talk. We used to talk for hours at a time. We have many great stories. I miss you. And I'm going to get to Michigan. I promise you we're going to get there and we're going to spend time. Jeff, thank you so much. I'm just going to share one thing. If anybody wants to go to Hartman Academy, reach out to us. You can listen to Jeff there as well. We have everything right there on our platform with all kinds of resources. Again, Hartman Academy. Jeff. Thank you so much, Mike.

My pleasure. Thank you, my friend. And I definitely look forward to seeing you soon.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Mike Hartman Show. If you're enjoying what you've heard so far, please feel free to rate, subscribe, and leave a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate that effort. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Mike Hartman Show.