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[00:00:00] Morgan Scalley has one post pinned at the top of his feed on X. It is a quote from the late, latter day Saint General Authority, Marvin j Ashton. That reads, if we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently with more love.

Patient. Tolerance and care. On today's episode, it is clear that this is something Coach s Scalley feels deeply and has learned in ways that have been incredibly difficult but transformative. Entering his 18th year overall as a Utah assistant coach, Morgan Scaly will begin his. 10th season as Utah's defensive coordinator in 2025.

In 2024, Scalley was formally designated as Utah's head coach. In waiting, he's considered by many to be one of the brightest defensive minds in football. His ability to develop talent has propelled 33 Utes to the NFL ranks, and he has coached 13 All Americans, a former Utah football player himself. He captained his team as a senior to a 12 and oh record, a Fiesta Bowl win and a number.

For national ranking in a historic season in which Utah became the first non BCS team to play in a BCS bowl game. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Utah, he received his MBA. He and his wife Liz, are the parents of three children.

This is all in and LDS. Living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Morgan Pearson, and I am so honored to have Morgans Scalley on the line with me today. Morgan, welcome. It's the Morgan and Morgan Show. I've always wanted something like that, you know?

Yes, yes. And maybe if this goes well, we just, we just take it on the road wrong, you know? Yeah. Why not? Well, I have been so excited to, to talk to you. My husband is a [00:02:00] huge fan. He is a diehard Ute fan, and he has, he has converted me, which I, I. To be fair, I went to BYU. I did not grow up a BYU fan, so I probably was not the hardest convert of all time.

But we, we love rooting you guys on and I just, I've, I've wanted to interview for you for a while and so I'm excited to have the opportunity, but I, I recognize Morgan that talking about faith. Is not your day job, but this is also not the first time that you've talked about your faith. And so I wanted to start with something that you said about your mission previously.

You said football means nothing compared to the work of spreading the gospel. That's the greatest feeling in the world, and nothing we do as football players can compare to that. So I wondered if we could start with what has sharing the gospel meant to you in your life and kind of how football has allowed you to have an avenue.

Kind of a unique avenue to share the gospel, man. Yeah. So I, I would say, you know, I really, I had a testimony before going, going on my mission. I did, I read The Book of Mormon. I was, I loved it. I felt the spirit knew that it was true before going on my mission, but I just gained such a passion for. Service in the, the work of the Lord while in Munich, Germany, and it was not necessarily a very successful, uh, two years in terms of.

You know, it was, I love the German people and you know, we did have some, some great stories, uh, but just my passion for the gospel and um, when I was able to be in a situation where to help someone feel Christ's love for them, that was the most amazing feeling [00:04:00] and. Um, you know, I think you see that promise throughout scripture is that there's no greater thing than bringing someone else to Christ.

Well, I say football is, is not significant and I, you know, in the grand scheme of things, it's not, it's been a great tool, a great teacher, a great avenue for me to be able to continue to, to teach and to, to share my testimony. It's not something that, you know, I'm not trying to convert kids and on, on the team.

That's not what we do, but. You'd be surprised how many young men wanna talk about faith, wanna talk about how we handle certain situations with, with our testimony and, and, and with faith. So I'm grateful for the, the opportunities God has given me through my profession to bear testimony, to be potentially a light to someone else and, and also for me.

And that's what I love about my job. To learn from others, to learn from young men of different faith, and those on our staff of, of different faith because they have amazing stories and they have testimonies, and we don't have to, to, to, you know, not everyone's gonna be LDS, we don't, we don't live in a bubble.

And, but man, can we learn from each other. And so I'm grateful for those opportunities as well. I did not prepare you for this Morgan, so you'll have to forgive me, but I, as you were talking about learning from people of different faiths and, and players wanting to talk about faith, it made me think about your, your team's been through a lot the last handful of years, and I imagine that also opens up a desire to talk about things of eternal importance outside of football.

For sure. Yeah. I mean, anyone that has followed the program knows that we've, we've lost a few young men throughout the years. I [00:06:00] think, you know, obviously Ty and Aaron are the two that that come to mind. Not a lot of people know about Gais Nuku, who. Really, he, he passed away before he got to join the team.

He was a freshman coming into his freshman year, traveling home before fall camp and, and passed away in a car accident. So we've had, I mean, it just tragedy after tragedy. And, and those are the, it is so heartbreaking to talk to those families, to talk to those moms and, and dads. And each was a different situation, but every single one of them required.

Faith required connection, uh, required empathy and love to get through and, and made us stronger as a team and for sure. You bet. There were conversations about where they go, you know, and, and being able to see them again and they're looking down on us and, and so, you know, faith, regardless of the denomination was a big part of getting us through it.

Well, I love the way you guys have continued to honor, um, Ty and Aaron with the, the moment of loudness. Um, if anybody listening has not seen that, you should look it up on YouTube. It's so, so powerful and so cool. I I wanna ask you something that's a little bit off the beaten path for the rest of this interview, but I am incredibly jealous because I understand that Elder Maxwell sealed you and your wife and I.

Love Elder Maxwell so much. And I also understand that he is one of your heroes. So I, I wondered if you could share kind of why you look up to him so much. Do you have a favorite talk and, and why? Yeah. Well, elder Maxwell was the Dean of students when my dad went to the University of Utah and my father wanted to, to be a dentist.

He [00:08:00] went to the University of Washington. And realized fairly quickly that dentistry was not for him. Came back to the University of Utah and my grandfather Ford s sc told my dad, you need to go talk to Neil Maxwell. So he went to, to Neil Maxwell and to Elder Maxwell sat him down and asked him, bud, what do you wanna do?

And he said, well, I think I wanna get into parks and recreation. And, and Elder Maxwell said, bud, no, you don't. You're gonna be an attorney and he got my dad into law school, you know. Wow. I think without even taking the, the entrance exam or, you know, don't, hopefully that's not some big issue now that my, they're gonna, people are gonna come after my dad.

But no. And, uh, just was a, served as a, a mentor to my dad and became strong family friends and. I, in the mission field, gained a love for his, his way with words. And so I studied him, read so many of his books. I, you know, I would say, uh, one of my favorites is one more strain of praise. Uh, this was After Cancer, but one more strain of praise is, is probably my favorite book that he's written.

And then a. Lengthy talk that he gave, not in conference, but at BYU is willing to submit and man does it talk about trials and stuff that you go through and the, the refiners fire and that being a part of, of life and, and our ability to go through it is. You know, you have to be willing to go through it, willing to submit.

And, and it's not an easy thing, but it's what's required to hear, you know, the, the words. If it's fair, it's not a true [00:10:00] trial that could be hard to hear, hard to swallow. Yeah. And so, um, I just loved his view of discipleship and coming, uh. Understanding that trials are gonna be a part of it. And, you know, just like Elder Holland said, how can we expect it to be easy for us when it was never easy for him.

Um, so yeah. And El Elder Maxwell married Liz and I, and I thought it was the neatest thing. I was like. You know, you go from, okay, you've met him and, and then you go on your mission and you read all about it and, and he's an apostle and you know, then you see him in the temple. And I was just like, I don't get awestruck, but I was like, okay, I'm awestruck right now.

This is pretty awesome. But just a special family friend. He was very, very gracious to my father. It's amazing. Well, I, I wanna, I wanna get a little bit into kind of that idea of trials and trials, not, not always feeling fair or hard. You have three teenage children, is that right? So right now, yeah. So my oldest Maddie, she just graduated Olympus High School.

And she's going to BYU. I'm proud of her. I love her. People always ask, is that how, how do you feel about that? You know, do you feel betrayed? Yeah. Like, no, this is her journey. You know, she's not gonna play football. She's going, she's, I'm excited for her and she's got good friends that are going there. And I, I've got good friends that are there.

So, um, Emma has her birthday today. Happy birthday, Emma. I know 16 years old, she's gonna be out there on the road driving. Uh, so she'll be a junior at Olympus. And then Andrew is my, gonna be my eighth grader. He is 13, so three teenagers. You got it. Okay. We have [00:12:00] two girls so far, but we have an Emma too, so that's kind of fun.

Awesome. Um, you, you've recently spoke at a fireside that I understand your, your daughter kind of was able to get you, get you to speak me into it, and then she went in there. Typical, typical teenage girl. Yeah. Um, but you, you talked about seeking Christ not perfection. So I wondered what does that mean for you and why is it so important that you get that message through, not only, I guess, to your children, but also to the young adults that you work with your job?

Oh, I just think that, you know, when you, when you read the scripture, be therefore perfect. It's like, I can, I can't. You know, we can't, uh, and, and it's very difficult and we live in a world, in a society and a culture, even within the church that we gotta say the right things and we gotta wear the shirt and tie and show up the right way.

And, and there's certain gist, unwritten rules and stuff that people follow. And I just, it's like, Christ wasn't that way. Christ was, was. You know, he, he lived in and with those that struggled with those that sinned and he was so kind. And you know, if we really don't focus on checking the boxes, don't focus on, you know, a hundred percent attendance, a hundred percent this, a hundred percent.

Uh, just focus on getting to know him. The more you get to know him, the more you'll understand what it is to, to really live the gospel. And it's not about, um, policies and checklists and, and, and saying the right things. It's, it's about showing up in a very real way and loving, and [00:14:00] being open and kind and understanding that everyone hurts, everyone struggles, everyone is in need of compassion.

The more that we study his life, the more that we really get to know him. Perfection will come, you know, not in this life obviously, but I'd much rather you, instead of focusing on, well, what are all the commandments I need to follow? It's like you just get to know him and live as he did, and good things will come.

I completely agree. I feel like sometimes we lose sight of that too. Uh, I think especially sometimes as members of the church and I, I've loved come follow me because I feel like in, in a lot of ways it's brought Christ back into it. Um, but I think sometimes we lose sight of him as the goal and also as the thing that forgives us for.

Our lack of perfection. Mm-hmm. And that, that's the way that it's supposed to be. Morgan in, in 2020. As many of us were facing our own racial biases privately. Mm-hmm. You were forced to face something very publicly, a mistake that you made and, and have owned. And I wondered if you could share with listeners what that experience was like for you and, and maybe what you learned from it.

Oh yeah. Not an easy time at all. You know, this was something that complete lack of judgment on, on my part. And, and the hard thing is that what I did hurt people. You know? And you know, you can say, well, the people that know you know that that was not intentional, not what you intended. It's like, well, I get, yes, that's true, but there's people that don't know me [00:16:00] that.

Deserve to be hurt by what happened. And, and so it was very difficult because from a public eye perspective, you know, I was seen as, as even someone I despised, I despised racism. You know, I grew up in a community of, uh, you know, at very, for the most part, in, in Utah, diverse. In terms of I, my favorite, my best friends were Polynesian.

I grew up, I hated, you know, any form of hatred, bigotry, any form of racism. I hated it, despised it. Now I was seen that way based on what I had I had done. And so, you know, it could, it could have been very easy to sit there and be like, this is unfair. And I didn't intend to hurt anyone. Well, you did. You know, Morgan.

You did. And how are you going to respond? You can respond. Poor me. You can respond. You know, why is God doing this to me? Or you can. You know, like Elder Maxwell said, uh, swallow the bitter pill without being bitter. The bitter cup without being bitter. And so I did, I delved into, in showing, because there, I mean there were a lot of people who really knew me as Coach Galley, but didn't really know who I was.

And for new coming, you know, newcomers into our program. Uh, for, you know, mark Harlan, RAD there's a lot of people that really didn't know me. Mm-hmm. And so I wanted them to really know who I was and I was gonna own this, and I was going to educate myself. I spent so much time educating myself on the history of racism in our country on.

Just everything [00:18:00] from the Civil Rights Movement to the Civil War and just a complete diving into the deep end of what I, I didn't know enough about, but man did that open my eyes and this is a become such a blessing in my life that I went through this. That it did open my eyes to certain things to the past and how the past can hurt and how we can move on from the past.

You know, we talk to our players about bias, about judgment, about educating ourselves before we respond. We talk in our program about educating yourselves before you.

Instant feedback. I have the ability to respond right away to to react right away by the click of a button on my phone. A like a retweet, whatever it is. But be really aware of educating yourself before you make these judgments, before you make these judgment calls educationally to, to understanding.

Understanding provides for empathy. Which can lead to meaningful action. And so we have these bracelets, E-E-U-E-A Education leads to understanding, leads to empathy, leads to action. And we, and we talk about it quite a bit and, and about educating ourselves on different cultures, different backgrounds, not just, you know, being comfortable in.

What we grew up in, but trying to really see things from another culture's perspective and from that tough time, dark time. In, in, in my life, I have learned so much that has allowed me to love more and give more and, and be better. [00:20:00] I think it's interesting how often something like that in the, in the thick of it.

Is so hard, and then you look back later and you're like, that was actually a blessing. And I'm grateful that I went through it no matter how hard it was. Maureen, one question that I, I didn't think of until you were talking, but I imagine you probably needed quite a bit of support during that time when it felt like a lot of fingers were being pointed at you and, um, and I, I wondered how, how was your wife able to be a support to you through that?

Oh, it was, it was super difficult because, you know, understandably so, people didn't want to hear, they didn't want to hear anything. And I just told my family guys, do not come out and support. Do not say anything. Don't let this thing go through what it needs to go through. And so I think that was very difficult.

Very difficult to not stand up and say, Hey, you don't know my husband. And so it was. Whereas I somewhat had control of my feelings. She did. She didn't. It was really difficult on her and my kids. And I'll never forget my son, Andrew, I was in our study just going through hell and he just came in and sat down and said, I love you dad, and I'm just gonna sit with you, you know?

And, uh,

you really learn the difference between sympathy and empathy as Brene Brown describes it, sympathy. I feel for you. I man, too bad this is happening to you. We're praying for you. Versus empathy feeling with someone [00:22:00] really sitting down in their sorrow, being with them, not necessarily saying anything, but just being with them in their pain.

And, and I had some really, really great friends and, and family members to sit with me during that time and. Man, do I have the strongest wife in the world? Liz is amazing. She, she's going to celestial kingdom. I'm just grabbing onto her ankles. Take me with, take me with you. She's football's prepared you for that.

Oh man. She's amazing. So I was grateful for her strength during that time. Yeah. I wanted to ask kind of as a follow up to that, I, I feel like you have been. Such a, a good example of a member of the church and, and a witness of Christ, and you've often shared what the gospel has meant to you. So I wondered what it was like for you to feel like you were facing a mistake.

That you knew was a mistake in such a public way and, and maybe what you learned about remorse and restitution and forgiveness from having to, to confront that head on. Yeah. Well that's where I read that talk by Neil a Maxwell willing to submit and those, if you read that talk, it is, it is tough to hear that, Hey, you have to.

Go through a little bit of what Christ went through and it's not gonna be fair. And if you think it all has to be fair and, and then you're in for some disappointment. And I was just, it was really tough to hear those words, but man did I, did I need to hear them? That that trials, if it's a true trial, it's, you know, if it's fair, it's probably not a true trial.

That was tough to hear and I [00:24:00] was in a, in a spot where a lot of people were saying, well, you should do this, you should do that. You, you gotta stand up. And, and I just, the spirit wasn't telling me to do that. And I needed to educate myself more. I needed to show more love, show more compassion to others.

This really, this, this trial I went through really opened my eyes to others who go through maybe something similar, not public, but just trials. They don't think they should go through just stuff that happens. And, um, it really allowed me to be more empathetic. It made me look at people differently and.

Stuff that, you know, people go through stuff every day. Everyone's sitting in those pews at church and sacrament meeting. You know, I, we see these pictures on the, on the church website of these families all sitting up and smiling and seeing the hymns. It's like, that's not real. You know, that's a stock photo.

Yeah. So everyone's going through something. Everyone is struggling, and if we could just open our eyes and, and. Understand that everyone needs Christ. Everyone needs empathy. And uh, I think we'd be a lot better to each other. And we don't need to act perfect. We don't. We just need to be there for people and show up in real ways.

I love the church's take on, on ministering versus home teaching, on really serving people instead of getting a number. Right. And. We, we just, I, that experience really has opened my eyes to understanding and empathy and being there for people during their dark times. Morgan, you said in a fireside in [00:26:00] 2009, the greatest thing we could do today was to partake of the sacrament.

It was far more important than anything we'll do as a football team this week. I wondered when football is in many ways, your livelihood and, and the thing that you likely spend the most time on. How do you keep that in perspective and how have covenants blessed your life? Well, I, I have to always keep in mind why do I have my job?

I do believe that God gives people opportunities that to, not that I was born to be a football coach or, or a football player, but I do believe that talents are given to people and how you utilize those talents is important to God. I don't believe that God cares about football, but he cares about football players.

He cares about people. And, uh, I'm in a situation where I can be an influence on others and if I don't use my talents to further the, the work. If I don't use my talents to, to, to be a light to others, doesn't mean I have to sit there and baptize people or bear my testimony every day. But, but the way I live my life, um, is my message, right?

It's, Gandhi said that, so I'm quoting Gandhi right there. Um. And so I, I think if you, uh, I'm a gospel doctrine teacher, and if you look at this last lesson, DNC 60 to 63, where God's chastising, the brethren traveling back from Missouri to Kirtland, he's saying, why are you worried about how fast, how fast you're getting back to Kirtland when people on both sides of the Missouri are perishing from unbelief.

You know, you need to be focused more on, on, on spreading the gospel. I mean, how, how many of us are going throughout our daily lives? Busy as can be, but not noticing the people that are perishing from unbelief beside us. [00:28:00] How we use our talents for the good is, is going to be we we're gonna have to answer for it.

And so I'm, I'm just trying to be the, the best version of me I can become so that if people do ask. About my faith, about my testimony. I'm, I'm ready to bear it. I want to touch on really quickly, speaking of like being ready to give an answer when somebody asks. I think that that is so important because to your point, like in your job, you're not gonna go around trying to to baptize players.

But you have had teammates or players in the past that have asked questions, and one of those teammates has been on the show, Eric Weddle. Um, and I understand that you, you had a pretty, you had a pretty big role to play in in his joining the church, and he is a rock star. So from, from your memory, I guess, how did that come to be?

Well, Eric was, Eric had dated, they weren't dating at the time, so Chanel was a soccer player. His his wife was a soccer player at Utah State. She was LDS, so he was familiar with the LDS faith. He just got more interested. As as time went on and, and it wasn't just me, we had a bunch of teammates and a good friends of his that were good examples and um, but I just remember when we would room together and, uh, I would be reading in the book of morning, you know, what are you reading, dude?

And I was like, well, come here. Let's, I'll show you. You know? And, uh, I think, you know, again, I wasn't the only one that, that was an example, but, and Eric was one of those that he just, he had to know, he was so strong-willed and he was gonna figure things out by himself. Uh, he was gonna, he was gonna be converted regardless.

Just because of who he was, but, um, [00:30:00] what a blessing it was to be a part of that process of helping him come to understand the, you know, what we are reading and the gospel. And then to see him take the missionary discussions and, and get back together with Chanel and get baptized and married. And now he's, I mean, that guy is.

Such a stud and what a great example of, of continuing to be a light to others, uh, when you know, in his profession. And it could be very easy to, to turn away from that. Absolutely. In a recent interview, Morgan, you said leadership is influenced based on trust you've earned and you earn that trust through character, competence and connection.

Uh, you elaborated in the interview that I, that I listened to on the. These three things, character, competence and connection and kind of what you mean by those things and, and that could be helpful to listeners here, but I also wondered who have been leaders that have been that for you? Yeah, I've had plenty that now, and this, that concept.

Of, of leadership is, it comes from Tim Kit. Tim Kite was, uh, worked with Urban Meyer at Ohio State and he, I, I love studying about leadership. I've loved it just as a player, as a coach. I love reading and he gave a, Tim gave a keynote address, an hour long keynote address. You can find it on YouTube, and it was just an eye-opener.

It was the most compact view on leadership. Concise to the point, and it was refreshing and it was just like, that's it, that's leadership. It's gaining trust, it's getting results. And, and the gaining trust piece was, was character competence, connection [00:32:00] and the, and the results piece was clarity, accountability, and support.

And I just thought about the leaders in my life that provided that. And I've had man, too many to you. Hate to leave him out. But, uh, Larry Wilson was my high school, you know, a high school coach that I had, that provided that, you know, he was all about the players. He was all about influencing young men, and he was a cusser.

And we would go to him and, Hey, coach, can we just chill with the language? You know? And, and so you'd see him out there and he would like, gosh dang it, you know, just, but you could tell he was trying, you could tell he cared enough that he was really trying. And that's how we knew that he, he just, he was gonna listen and he was gonna do everything he could to love these kids and.

So I'm grateful for him. Larry Gale. What's another one? Tom Kingsford. All these guys were, were so good at connecting and were good men. And so I've had some really good ones. Kyle Whittingham, Ron McBride, who to this day, I mean, you talk about a guy that. That texted me almost every day while I was going through that my, my big trial in 2020.

He hit me up every day. How we doing? How you doing, buddy? You know, I'll always love that man. So just those are, those are a few example, the examples, the biggest is my dad and he, he was the biggest example of.

Your trials and, and doing it, attacking the problem, not hiding from the problem, not turning from the problem, but attacking the problem, you [00:34:00] know, facing repentance. And I'm so grateful for him, the, his, his willingness to be human. You know, you see your dad as this hero, this superhuman figure that doesn't make mistakes.

And, and you know, my dad made mistakes and he was willing to own up to it and show me the way, and he, he showed me the way of repentance and that's the one of the best gifts I've ever could have been given. I completely agree about. Repentance being one of the best gifts that we've been given. And I, I wondered, you know, in your role as defensive coordinator, I, I imagine that you have the opportunity to not only build football players and teach things related to X's and O's, but also to mentor young men and help them become better people and.

A big part of that is, is being okay, making mistakes. And so I wondered how has your experience within the gospel and your knowledge of the atonement of Jesus Christ helped you, help your players become the best versions of themselves? Oh, I just think that, um, as I've, as I've grown up in the gospel, I've seen the power of the atonement to change people for good.

German. German, the, the term for repentance is called, um, and um, is the same word the Germans use for U-turn, and I love that. Turning to God. Same thing that that Nephi said in in second, Nephi four. You know, when he talks about, I, I'm encompassed by the sins that do so easily beset me, right? Uh, but then he says, nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.

He, he turns to God in his, in his [00:36:00] weakness. Not a way. And, you know, that's what we try and teach our players. We have an acronym, you know, you'll ask our players, what's your, what's your culture? They'll say, RSNB. Relentless, smart, nasty ball hawks. Well, nasty. The N stands for no excuses. The A stands for attack the problem.

So whatever the problem is, and, and these young men, young women, uh, you know, teenagers, the problems they face were maybe different than the problems I faced as a teenager, but we we're very clear with them, okay, what are the problems? You know, is it marijuana? Is it alcohol? Is it pornography? Whatever the problem is, let's not hide from it.

Let's attack it. Let's attack the problem. If we attack the problem, if we don't hide from it, if we're able to to talk about it and be vulnerable and attack the problem, that's how we get better from it, not from shame and hiding from it and turning away from it. And so. That's, I'm so grateful we've got such brave, vulnerable men in, in this, in this, on this team, you know, that have, that have been willing to stand up and be, I have a problem with this.

I have a problem with this coach. Can you help me with this? And we get 'em with the right people. And I think that's what, you know, that's what we need to have in the church, you know, so much of. The church is talking about the discipline. Well, if you do this, you can't go on a mission. If you do this, it's this, you know, instead of, Hey, if you do this, this is what, what's happening?

This is what's happening to you. Let's, let's. Let's attack this problem together and get through it. And so, you know, we do, we teach skill sets and mindsets a part of this program. If, and if the only skill sets we teach are how to become a better football player, we're failing these young men. Uh, and we, we have to teach transferable.

Skillset that go beyond the game. Stuff that's gonna be important when no one cares about what your 40 [00:38:00] time is when you're, when you're old enough that no one cares how high you jumped or what the mindset is. The that growth mindset that we talk to our players about. Is building a skill takes time and effort, whatever that skill is, it takes time, it takes effort.

You have to be willing to invest the time and be tenaciously persistent. I understand that discomfort is part of the process, but if I avoid discomfort, I prevent learning. I will make mistakes and they will teach me. I want feedback and coaching. So that's what we call our growth mindset, and we have our players memorize that.

And it's so important for them to know it's okay to make mistakes. You're gonna make mistakes. Let those mistakes teach you, you know, let's learn and let's grow and let's get better from 'em. Let's not shame ourselves for 'em. Let's not go backwards. Let's learn from our mistakes and let's go, let's get better.

And you have to be willing to, to embrace discomfort. Get outta your comfort zone. And I, I think that our young men and young women today in the church, man, do we need to do a little bit more of that? Embrace discomfort. Get off your phone, talk to people, right? And, and get out there and serve. And, and we've got such amazing youth group in the church.

And if we can just embrace discomfort and, and push the limit, and that's where learning and growth occurs. Morgan, uh, one thing I was thinking of as you were talking, you've been at the U essentially since you yourself were a player, and you mentioned that that what teenagers are facing now, young adults are facing now is different than maybe what you faced as a player.

How have you seen that kind of evolve and does that help you raising teenagers? Oh, it, it has definitely helped me. Okay. Yeah, I mean, 'cause I do, I deal with teenagers every single day. Right. And, and the challenges, they do [00:40:00] change. I mean, I didn't have social media when I played, you know, you had message boards and stuff like that, but now they just get on their phones and it's there what's being said about me, what's, you know, and, and, and those are challenges and helping them understand.

Who to listen to, the voices to listen to and who to block out. And the, and you know, we talk about, um, social media and we have our guys watch, um, on, on Netflix, the social dilemma, educate themselves on, on how these platforms are using you. Um, and. Yeah, just every, you just see, I feel like Alma, the younger, you know, where you just, you go from being the rebellious kid to, hey, you know, now you're teaching everyone else, Hey, don't do what I did, you know?

Yeah. So, um, it's weird now all the stuff, I use, all the movie lines, and now no, I'm.

You know, no dumb and Dumber or none of you Yeah. Have watched Shawshank Redemption or anything, you know what I mean? So it's just crazy. I had an experience a couple years ago where I was speaking at a girls camp and I had prepared what I thought was like a really good anecdote to lead into the talk, but it was from the movie Walk to Remember.

And when I said like, how many of you have seen a walk to remember? It was like crickets. And I was like, oh boy, this is not gonna land. This is not, well, let's not use this. Yeah, this is not good. No, but I, I think, you know, what you said is spot on and then, then you throw in NIL and money and it gets all the more convoluted and complicated.

And so I do not envy any teenager. My husband and I say our biggest fear is raising teenage girls. So you're one step ahead of us. So I was [00:42:00] like, I I have to ask him if, if that's been helpful. Oh, there is some good books too. Uh, strong Father, strong Daughter. Okay, that's a, that, that's a good one. Um, the Teenage Brain.

Is a good one to read. Okay. Um, anyway, I, I love, I love reading, but these are just some of the ones that have, that have been eyeopening to me. And, and, um, one other that I think members should read that I think is awesome. It's written by a non-member. It's called The Prodigal God. Okay. And it's obviously on the, the parable of the prodigal son, but it's, it's from the vantage point of the other son, the son that, that, uh, was there all along, was there and claimed to be faithful and, and, um, but man, is it eye-opening?

It, it just hits, hits home to, to members and, and you know, that may think, hey. I'm awesome. We're good. You know, and yeah. And I just love that book, but, um, some really, some really good ones on teenagers. If your husband wants to hit me up, you just my cell number. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. I've made a lot of, I've made a lot of mistakes and I can let 'em know all about it.

Perfect. Perfect. Well, uh, I'm, I'm sure that he would love to pick your brain. Um, my last question, Morgan, and thank you so much for being willing to do this and, and for all of your insights and for sharing your experience as well. My last question for you is the question we ask at the end of every episode of this podcast, and that is, what does it mean to you to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

It means to be. Uh, ready for anything. It means that, hey, I'm gonna face the messy and to be all in means I'm going to sin and I'm gonna struggle, but it means I'm gonna square my shoulders and I'm gonna turn to God, and, and not away from him. It means that [00:44:00] I'm gonna remain faithful, even if I don't know the answer.

'cause the answers eventually will come. It means that I need to be a doer and not a hero only, not just a Sunday Sabbath Mormon, but an everyday member of the church. And it means to, to, to understand that we all need Christ. That every, there's no one perfect out there and we're all searching. To become more like him, so that, that's what it means to me.

Thank you so much, Morgan.

We are so grateful to Morgan Scalley for joining us on this week's episode. Be sure to cheer on Morgan and the Utes this weekend as college football season kicks off, we are so grateful to Derek Campbell of Mix at Six Studios for his help, always with this podcast, and we're grateful to you for listening.

Thanks for spending time with us and we'll look forward to being with you again next week.