PUEBLO, Colo. – Team USA Eagles coach Ross Coleman had sweat all down his face. It appeared as if maybe he, too, had just climbed aboard a 2,000-pound animal on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.
The first-time head coach’s eyes were bulging as the adrenaline rush of leading five men to a Global Cup victory was running through his veins.
“This is just the start of a great situation we’re going to be a part of,” Coleman said with a PBR Global Cup gold medal hanging around his neck. “This is a great warm-up for me. I enjoyed it. I get intense, and I just love everything about it. I don’t care about nothing but those guys. It’s like family, man. It’s so cool.”
Next up for Coleman is the PBR Team Series this summer when he and his good friend Luke Snyder are teaming up to lead the Missouri Thunder.
Coleman could not contain his excitement about the upcoming PBR Team Series throughout the last two months. Every question about his Global Cup coaching philosophies or strategies would somehow tie back to what he hopes to accomplish with the Thunder.
“I am so proud to be a part of the Global Cup because all it does is help me out for the team deal,” Coleman said.
Coleman admitted he learned certain things from the Global Cup that will carry over into the PBR Team Series, particularly learning how to approach riders in the heat of the moment.
“This is just the start of what we’re going to be doing. We’re going to be doing so much more good stuff like this, but we’re going to be learning as coaches,” Coleman said. “As the bull riding’s going on, we can see these bull riders learning what’s happening, no matter what, and how we can help them. Even when Mason (Taylor) got bucked off that bull. He wanted to do a little bit of an excuse, and I got on his ass about it. But it was so cool because we weren’t worried about nothing but riding and staying on and making no excuses. It’s a smart thing because even though we’re at the top of our game and we’re doing good, we’re still expecting to ride every single bull.”
Team Captain Daylon Swearingen credited Coleman for helping the young team be ready for the pressure situation of competing at the Global Cup.
“I feel like it was a young team,” Swearingen said. “We’re all the same age, and we all could really relate. We’ve all grown up together, pushing each other through all the ranks. He was just a great leader and led us into a victory.”
Reigning PRCA all-around champion Stetson Wright added, “Ross is awesome,” Wright said. “He gets you fired up, and it is pretty hard to fall off when Ross is there. He is yelling in your ears some good stuff. He pumped me, and luckily we got the job done.”
Coleman spent time with various members of the Team USA Eagles in the days and weeks leading up to the Global Cup, including at PBR Director of Livestock and Ariat Texas Rattlers head coach Cody Lambert’s ranch in Bowie, Texas.
That time spent team roping and drinking coffee was just a small way to build trust between himself and his riders.
“You have to want to be there, and it is a credit to Ross and the guys,” Lambert said. “There were a lot of guys to choose from, and he chose well. We second-guessed him all the way because Kyler (Oliver) wasn’t on it. Eli (Vastbinder) wasn’t on it. We were thinking Cody Teel is a leader, but all those guys I mentioned, they were pulling for this team, too.”
Team Canada coach Tanner Byrne tipped his hat to Coleman.
“Ross did a great job,” Byrne said. “Those young guys had been firing on all cylinders all year. You see them winning all those events down here. You knew they were a favorite coming in, as well as Brazil. It was good watching, seeing those guys go back and forth, and seeing that young USA team and Ross win was something they deserved 100%. They rode their bulls great, and Ross did a great job with their matchups.”
Next up for Coleman will be the PBR Teams Combine on March 22-24 in Pueblo, Colorado. All eight teams, including the Thunder, are expected to have their coaches and staff on hand to watch and interview more than 60 bull riders at the PBR Sport Performance Center.
Coleman is excited to visit with some riders and see how coachable they may be. The Ring of Honor inductee knows the teams in attendance may be able to find a hidden gem at the combine.
Coleman also sees the evolution of the PBR into a summer/fall Team Series as a way to go out and potentially recruit athletes from other niche sports.
“The best part about this thing we’re doing with these teams, and these combines, and this whole situation, is we’re going to spread the bull riding world so huge,” Coleman said. “It already is getting big, obviously in Brazil or wherever. But to all these young, athletic, wrestler-type guys who are really good, athletic, coachable kind of guys, they will watch this stuff on TV, and they can see how much money you can make and how much fun this is, too. Of course, we would do this for nothing, honestly. The money’s a distraction.
“Cowboys are great to have, but even if you’re not a cowboy. If you’re a wrestler, or a soccer player like Jose (Vitor Leme), or any other athletic type – a younger, stronger guy – maybe you think about doing this. We’re going to have situations in the future for these younger guys to be invited into this great sport of bull riding, and we can teach them the right way and get them on the right type of bulls instead of guys were getting slammed and not really learning. So now we’re going to do be doing nothing but learning.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media