Dean Janikowski (WSU Cougar kicker)

Dean Janikowski is the kicker for Washington State University. He was All Pac-12 in 2021 and had a great season in 2022 hitting 11 of 14 field goals including a 50 yarder. Dean also recently raised over $17,000 to help people  with cancer treatments. We had a great chat about the mental aspects of football, some of the coaches he has worked with, the foundation dedicated to his mom and more!

00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Sebastian Janikowski (No Relation)
02:27 - John Carney & Becoming a Kicker
04:20 - Kicking Strength
06:14 - Growing Up in Small Town California
07:20 - Choosing Wazzu Over Other Schools
09:10 - Structure at WSU
12:10 - WSU Visit & Garner Minshew
12:58 - Mike Leach
17:02 - Becoming the Coug Kicker
19:15 - The Mental Part of Kicking
22:15 - Coach Dickert
23:10 - Cowboy's Kicker & Missed P.A.T.s
24:30 - Laces Out
25:26 - Icing Kickers
26:15 - Cougs Season & Bowl Game
28:05 - Sidelines, Coaching & Fans
30:00 - Trolls in Games & Social Media
31:32 - Heather Janikowski Foundation & Story
38:01 - Goals for Next Year
39:35 - New Analytics for Kickers
40:33 - Outro

Heather Janikowski Foundation website:
https://hj.foundation/

Chuck Shute website:
https://chuckshute.com/

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:00

Hey, coming up today we have Dean Jana kowski. He is the current kicker at Washington State University. He was all PAC 12 team in 2021. He made 40 of 41 Extra points and is this past year as well as 11 of his 14 field goals. And besides football Dean also raises money for cancer. He raised over $17,000 this year and he continues to collect money and hopes to raise more to help people in need. Dean's got some great stories, some insights into football, kicking in sports psychology, all this and more coming right up. All right. Well, please welcome Dean Jana kowski. To the show. How you doing, Dean?

Dean Janikowski: 0:48

I'm good. How are you?

Chuck Shute: 0:50

Great. Yeah, so first thing I'm sure you're sick of this. We got to clear this up. You're not related to Sebastian Janikowski you get sick of being asked that I'm sure.

Dean Janikowski: 0:58

Yep. Every single day on Twitter, Instagram, everything every single day I get asked you my strength coaches, our new strength coaches just asked me that the other day.

Chuck Shute: 1:06

Like it's still every day. You still get that? Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 1:09

I actually got a kid. I believe it's Sebastian Janek house. He's uncle. He must be a young kid. He DM me. He goes, Hey, you have the same last name as my, my uncle Sebastian Janikowski. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I know that. And I was. And then he was like, Well, next time I'm out of I'm at a family event. I gotta have him call you because I never talked to him before. So I was like, Oh, why not?

Chuck Shute: 1:31

That's awesome. Yeah. Well, there could be some relation there. Right, like a distant cousin or second third cousin twice removed or something crazy?

Dean Janikowski: 1:39

Yeah, maybe I know. The only thing close to Janet kowski. Besides him is Jan kowski. And I think he's on the Padres.

Chuck Shute: 1:47

Okay. Yeah, but he would probably be able to give you some some good advice.

Dean Janikowski: 1:51

Yeah, I've heard. I've heard some crazy stories from him. And I've heard some good stories from him. And I've worked with a bunch of coaches that have also trained him so they kind of know him as well.

Chuck Shute: 2:00

Yeah. Yeah. He was his last year was like the Seahawks. It was pretty. It was pretty funny.

Dean Janikowski: 2:05

Yeah, it was weird. You came out of retirement and then played that one year and then called it from there, I guess. Yeah. I think he pulled a hamstring or something. Yeah, I think it was his quad or something like that.

Chuck Shute: 2:14

He had put on some weight, but he could still kick the ball.

Dean Janikowski: 2:18

He's always been pretty big. And that didn't really? I don't know. Yeah. It looked like he put on some weight. But he was still crushing it.

Chuck Shute: 2:24

Yeah. No, but you do work with or you did work with John Carney, the field goal kicker NFL kicker?

Dean Janikowski: 2:30

Yeah, I still do and still stay in contact with him. I love John. He was the one who kind of introduced me to it. He was my first coach with everything. So I started kicking with him. And yeah, I texted him all the time. Yeah, how

Chuck Shute: 2:41

did so how did you get hooked up? Because didn't initially you played a defensive end and nose guard, which is crazy to think of a kicker playing nose guard.

Dean Janikowski: 2:49

No, that's that's my brother Jack. Oh, so he Jacks actually committed here and he's coming up this weekend for a visit. But I played tight end and linebacker my freshman year, as well as kicking and punting. And then after that year, I stopped and did sophomore year was just kicking in putting in junior and senior.

Chuck Shute: 3:08

So it was like, how did you first try kicking? It was just kind of was a thing like the coaches had an open tryout or something or?

Dean Janikowski: 3:14

Yeah, so I played soccer my whole life. And I was like, Okay, I want to play football. All the boys are doing it. I want to just start it. And I remember seeing like one of those, like stupid orange TCC and Pop Warner. And I was like, I want to be able to kick that ball further than anyone else. Because like this was when like, Guinness World Record books were super popular. And I was trying to look for the one like who kicked the for this field goal or for this, whatever. And I was like, Okay, I want to do this because I played soccer and I'm like, I like kicking. So I started doing that and then got into that and then my sophomore year, I actually got cut, didn't make the soccer team which I made the JV team at that my freshman year, which we had a freshman JV and varsity and I was like, Okay, I'll for sure make JV but I'm pretty sure I'll make Varsity. I didn't make any. I never not made a team ever in my life. So that was crazy. And I kind of looked at that situation and looked at my dad looked at my mom, I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna stick to kicking and we're gonna keep going with this.

Chuck Shute: 4:11

You didn't make the soccer team you're saying but but you kept making the football team or

Dean Janikowski: 4:15

Yeah, yeah, so I was on the football team my whole all four years.

Chuck Shute: 4:19

How far could you kick a football initially? When you first tried it? I could

Dean Janikowski: 4:25

probably do 3040 yards when I was like 150 pounds freshman year.

Chuck Shute: 4:30

Okay, and then how about now how far can you kick it?

Dean Janikowski: 4:33

6565 70 I want a lot more. Yeah, yeah, I've always some win. For sure.

Chuck Shute: 4:41

Well, I can practice obviously you've never done that in the game.

Dean Janikowski: 4:44

Yeah, practice we were doing 6062 This last season just in practice, just like with a full team hold everything pressure everything.

Chuck Shute: 4:53

Okay, well yeah, I think I went to the you have a game when you guys were down down here in Arizona and I I saw you kicking that Looks like finally kicking in the warm ups and stuff. I think yeah, you're almost like it. I feel like you were like Hatfield or something like it was

Dean Janikowski: 5:06

like in my head. I was kicking from 60 ball flies really well over there. Especially with that. It was so nice. It was so warm and everything so it was it was really nice to kick out there.

Chuck Shute: 5:15

So you made it with 70 with wit like how often could you could kick a 70 yarder though.

Dean Janikowski: 5:20

Oh, like every one at a 10 on a good day. Like, like that's a pretty hard kick. 60s, easy 60s Like yeah, for the most part, like probably seven, eight out of 10.

Chuck Shute: 5:35

Really? Okay. And then what about 65? But somewhere in the middle and maybe yeah, middle that. Okay. That's crazy. So is that is that's not very common for even for a college kicker? I would think right?

Dean Janikowski: 5:48

Yeah. I mean, most games like the elite guys can hit 60s like that. For the most part. But yeah, once you start getting back to 60 it really gets the coaches excited.

Chuck Shute: 5:58

Yeah, cuz like so coming out of high school, you were rated a five star kicker and the 14 best kicker in the country. That's pretty amazing.

Dean Janikowski: 6:07

Yeah, that's pretty good. I went to all those Cristela camps and got ranked that compete with a lot of guys a lot of fun.

Chuck Shute: 6:13

So you grew up in California, but I thought I heard you say that you were a fan of Wazoo as a kid. So how does that work? Or where you

Dean Janikowski: 6:22

know, well, I never really liked college football or anything like that. Never watched that. Never had a team. But yeah, I grew up in California. And then really not until like my junior senior year when I finally went over the wazoo and kind of checked it out. Then I became a huge fan with just how close everyone is.

Chuck Shute: 6:40

Okay, so tell you tell me about the town you grew up in, though. It was it was like kind of in the country. And stuff. And

Dean Janikowski: 6:47

yeah, so we were in Fallbrook, real small town. We had five acres. I grew up raising animals, pigs, steers, goats, all that. And we kind of were kind of a little bit away from the city. I drive all the way down to San Diego. So it's about 33 miles every single day when I'd go to school, and that was in the city. But other than that we were I was kind of separated. And I had my own little we had our own little house, a little bit of property. I wrote dirt bikes. I did everything just grew up playing outside all the time.

Chuck Shute: 7:17

So when you came to Pullman, it was kind of like, okay, this feels like home to you.

Dean Janikowski: 7:21

Yeah, no, I love it. I love Pullman. I like that. It's so small. And just that like I love the country part of it. I'm not a very big city guy. I like to just go outside, I'm outside all the time. Like it's really hard to keep me inside.

Chuck Shute: 7:34

So and you because you did look at like Arizona and cow and Utah and Oregon State and all those and none of those. impressed you?

Dean Janikowski: 7:41

Yeah, well cow. Originally they, I was gonna go to cow, which I think I'm glad I didn't end up going to cow, I think was it was definitely the home for me. But they basically promised me a scholarship, and ultimately was like, just come to this camp. And you do well, you're gonna get the scholarship. Well, sure enough, the one camp I had out of anything I did terrible at that camp. I did terrible, didn't get my scholarship, didn't hear anything from them just said Good job. And then that was it. So from there, I was kind of like, well, silver from that. So starting to look for somewhere else.

Chuck Shute: 8:17

Okay, and so you got invited to huazhu not on scholarship, but like they call it like a preferred walk on.

Dean Janikowski: 8:23

Yeah, preferred walk on, so I'm paying for school, but I do have a spot on the football team.

Chuck Shute: 8:28

Okay, do you think it deserves an opportunity for you to earn a scholarship because I heard a Dickert talking about how they have a couple spots. And they may give one of those spots to a preferred walk on that's already on the team.

Dean Janikowski: 8:42

Yeah, so like a year and a half ago, I earned a scholarship ticket gave me a scholarship. Oh, you've heard now you've got one. Yep. I've been on one for the last year and a half after I played my first season. And did really well then right after that I got placed on scholarship.

Chuck Shute: 8:55

Yeah, so first season all PAC 12. Right. Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 8:58

yeah. Super great season that started off and was really happy with that.

Chuck Shute: 9:03

Yeah. So when you back to when you were in high school, and you got recruited like towards you? How was that just the special teams coach at the time or because that Mike leach was the head coach, right. Did you have any contact with him? A little

Dean Janikowski: 9:16

bit, Mike Leach and I really talked to too many players. I talked to Coach Brock who's not Mississippi State. And that was my special teams coach at the time. And now I've gone through like four or five special teams coaches, I've gone through so many coaches changes as well as head coaches.

Chuck Shute: 9:32

Yeah, that is crazy. Now how and so many kids just bolted, you know, for different changes or whatever. What made you want to stick around like that didn't bother you?

Dean Janikowski: 9:43

Yeah, well, at the time, it wasn't playing. So I was like, I need to get film I need to get just some film. So at least because if I were to ever transfer, I need some film and I want to stay at the D one level. So I just stayed here. I love Pullman. So I stuck it out here and ultimately ended up playing and just kept falling in love with Paul And even more and more.

Chuck Shute: 10:01

Yeah, so I think was it Blake Maza? Or honey? Yeah, he was the kicker. So did you kind of like learn from him? He kind of took you under his wing a little bit.

Dean Janikowski: 10:10

Yeah, Blake was great. We go to church together and do things like that. So I kind of ultimately just learned how like college football played out and like, how to compete how to work through things. Because because it's a huge learning curve. When you get here, you get here on day one, and you're like, holy crap, this is way different from what I'm used to.

Chuck Shute: 10:27

Yeah. Because Because high school it's not you're not as immersed in the sport, right? I mean, you still have I mean, I guess you still have your studies here. But it's a lot. There's a lot more commitment. The call is on, I would assume. Oh,

Dean Janikowski: 10:39

yeah. Yeah, for sure. Especially just like being on time to meetings, things like that. Like, it's people don't understand it's a full time job. Like you're running around 24/7, waking up at 5am. And you're doing stuff till 10pm? Because I'd have tutoring from seven to nine and then try to do some homework, go to sleep and wake up the next day.

Chuck Shute: 10:57

Yeah, do they get the team provide you with tutoring and stuff like that, to help you out with that?

Dean Janikowski: 11:02

Yeah, they do a great job. So if you, when you first get here, you're put on I forget what they call it, but you have to go to the study hours, which is like seven to nine. So you have to go to that. And during then you can either get tutoring if you want to. Or even just for me who's been here for a while. I don't have to go there anymore. I can still get tutoring whenever I want. And it's all paid by the university. Even if you're a preferred walk on, it's all still paid for.

Chuck Shute: 11:26

In some ways does that does that kind of make things easier, though, because your your schedule is kind of like laid out for you. You don't really have to think and plan it yourself. Like they kind of plan it for you almost like the military, I would think,

Dean Janikowski: 11:37

yeah, it's planned out pretty well. The advisors do a great job like just that they make that part really easy. Like, hey, what class do I have to take with this class? Be fun. They know a lot on that. So, so that is nice. And we're given that schedule. So I guess it would be pretty similar to the military. But yeah, it's it makes it nice. So we don't have to think too much and just get our work done and just do what we need to do.

Chuck Shute: 11:59

Yeah. And then it keeps you guys busy. Hopefully I'll have trouble too.

Dean Janikowski: 12:02

Yeah, no, we're so busy. It's hard to get in trouble.

Chuck Shute: 12:05

Yeah. What so when you visited? Because you you became a freshman in 2019. But I'm assuming you did a visit in 2018. Right. That was at the eastern game.

Dean Janikowski: 12:16

Yeah, I came for the Eastern game and check that out. Who was that? Was that mean? She was the QB that year? Yeah. And she was still there.

Chuck Shute: 12:23

Do you have any interactions with he's such a character like,

Dean Janikowski: 12:26

he's hilarious. I've heard I've heard some crazy stories, that's for sure. And it was cool. Like I think he came. I didn't really talk to him much when I was at the eastern game. But when he came back the next year, so I was at practice. I think it was for spring, spring game or whatever. He was wearing the same jersey you had but with cut off George. Yeah, this one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he was wearing that and the Aviators. It was hilarious. I sat next to him talked a little bit and then he was at one of the games as well that season and I kind of talked to him a little bit. He's just so funny.

Chuck Shute: 12:56

Yeah. Is and so you said that leech didn't recruit you but you were there that whole year that he was or I guess it would have been two years or sorry, no, one year that he was he was the coach Do you have any funny I'm such that's how like really be I became a fan of Wazoo was because of Mike Leach. Do you have any funny Mike leach stories?

Dean Janikowski: 13:15

Oh, there's a lot I'm trying to

Chuck Shute: 13:18

leave. Ryan told me one about Jackalopes or something that was pretty funny.

Dean Janikowski: 13:23

There's some. There's some crazy ones. I got some. There's some funny ones. I used to write down everything that used to happen. So like he was? Yeah, he'd show up. I have. I don't know if I could ever release it. But it's like, he would show up like 20 minutes late every single time. And he would, he'd show up late, didn't care, and whatever. So like, he would start talking about whatever we need. He was pissed about something. He'd be screaming. And then he'd make some funny analogy. And he'd see some people like laugh and he started like looking around and see some more laughs And then he'd start then he changed everything and just start going for a joke and just start making people die laughing like felt the energy and kept going from there.

Chuck Shute: 14:07

That's so interesting. So does that how he kind of motivates people in a way with humor by making people laugh?

Dean Janikowski: 14:14

Yeah, for sure. Like, like he came in one time he taught us how to swing your sword so he brought this big knot or even no five foot sword something crazy. I don't even know if he was allowed to have that in the bill. But he brought his sword and start teaching us these techniques. What to do block it do this and he's and then sometimes to he'd bring in so when he was teaching us how to swing your sword. He'd have that Sasquatch in the in the team meeting room too, and he'd pretend like he's fighting that guy. I don't think so.

Chuck Shute: 14:48

Yeah, that's epic. Yeah, he's just such a character. Like I love watching the interviews with him. i My dream was to have him on my show one day but so sad that he passed away.

Dean Janikowski: 14:58

I know it is. It is a huge bummer. It's crazy because he changed the whole college football everything. He was a he was hilarious. Yeah, the

Chuck Shute: 15:05

air raid I mean, I just like, like I said, I became a fan more of Wazoo because of Mike leach because I love them at Texas Tech. I was like, Oh, this is such a fun offense. Like they just pass a ton and score a bunch of points. And it's fun to watch.

Dean Janikowski: 15:17

Yeah. And he. He's super smart. I don't know if you've read any of his books.

Chuck Shute: 15:22

No, I want to read his books. I know. He's got a like a law degree, I think. Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 15:27

yeah. So he was doing he was trying to become a lawyer. And then he said, Screw that, and then started football and kind of built it up that he's a super smart guy, for sure. And it was, yeah, he's, he's super smart. He's crazy.

Chuck Shute: 15:40

Yeah, that he goes from law school and never having like, played football or coaching to all of a sudden I want to be a football coach. And then he did it. I mean, it didn't take that many years before he was at like D one. Level two crazy.

Dean Janikowski: 15:53

No, it was not time you heard his story about student debt. No, I don't think so. It's so funny. He will. He was like, since he did his law degree. He was in huge student debt. And they kept calling and kept calling him and he's like, I don't know what to tell you guys. Like I I don't have any money to pay you guys. Like what do you guys gonna do? And ultimately, he was like, fought it for I don't even know a year or two. He wasn't paying him because he had no money. He was a GA. He was getting paid bare minimum. barely had any money to just even eat. And ultimately, they just slowly started backing off and he never paid his student debts.

Chuck Shute: 16:30

That's terrible. You'd think that he would have gone back after he made all that money and

Dean Janikowski: 16:36

no, that's Mike leach you wouldn't go back and pay him he thought they're thieves

Chuck Shute: 16:42

there's a lot of the country that agrees with that. Now now they're forgiving all the sorts of student debt and all this stuff. So crazy. Well, yeah. So then you're so back to your story here. So yeah, first year with leech, and then he leaves then and then you got Rollo for a year and then you were still not starting, but then I was 2021 Oh, no rollover was still there.

Dean Janikowski: 17:04

Rollo was there till the Stanford game? Yeah. So

Chuck Shute: 17:07

that that was the first year that you started. That's when you made all PAC 12. So, I mean, how scary is that? I mean, because you hadn't kicked a ball for like two or three years like in a game that's gotta be weird to all of a sudden like okay, now I'm it's we're live like it's a real game.

Dean Janikowski: 17:22

And in high school, I only kicked nine field goals total my whole career there. Because we're such a dominant school that we never even kick field goals. My coach always like going for it kind of like Mike Leach, Mike leach never liked kicking field goals. Yeah, so I barely ever kicked anything. And then so that first season, kicked the most field goals I ever kicked in my whole entire career.

Chuck Shute: 17:42

Yeah, and you only miss like three, I think. Right? Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 17:45

three. And like one of them was off the post. And it was like, just, there was so much learning. There was such a huge learning curve that whole year, we had, there was so many ups and downs and things that just could have gone wrong or just went right. And it was it was a crazy season.

Chuck Shute: 17:59

Yeah. So who was like your mentor at that point? Because now Blake is graduated or moved on or whatever. And like you're kind of the senior person and like your coaches, usually the special teams coach or not kickers like they don't have experience actually kicking in games.

Dean Janikowski: 18:14

Yeah, that's kind of what I learned off the bat real quickly that I was gonna have to rely on like, my coaches or just like my own self, like I have to, I'm constantly pushing myself every single day, just mentally, physically, everything. Like, I realize that my coaches can only do so much that it's up to me, and that I have to keep pushing myself because it's not like another position like a defensive end or something like that from weather code probably played in the NFL versus me most of the time. I mean, it's like 95% of the time, the special teams coach has never been a kicker never even kicked a football so I really just had to take that on myself. And that's kind of how I had grown throughout the years especially just just even play that first year.

Chuck Shute: 18:54

Yeah. And did you were you still in contact with like John Carney or any other ex kickers?

Dean Janikowski: 18:59

Yeah, I talked to him and then I talked to coaches honor as well. Saunders great. He was an NFL coach at one time too. So stuff like that. And then of course with kicking is just mentality like my mental game has gone up so much since playing in general.

Chuck Shute: 19:14

Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. I find that so fascinating. Because my backgrounds in psychology so I love psychology and sports psychology. And I feel like kicking is got to be one of the most mental positions in the whole game of football. Maybe next a quarterback. Would you agree with that? Is it mostly mental?

Dean Janikowski: 19:31

Oh, yeah, it's gotta be at least 80% mental, maybe even 90 If you're crazy, because I mean, kicking a football is hard, but like once you get good at it, it's where you grow is from your mentality. Like being able to step out there like the U DUB game. We were right in the wind when was blown at least 10 miles per hour on my face and I just had to go up there, stay calm, lower my heart rate. It was loud in there and just do my thing because I know I can kick and make a 50 yard field goal, but I can't let Let's outside noise, I can't let the wind that's in my face. I can't let the big guys that are in front of me, mess me up, I gotta just do my thing and pretend like I'm all alone. My best kicks are when I feels like I'm tunnel vision. I don't even remember something I could hit a game winner. And I'd be like, Did I make it? Did I make it? And they're like, Yeah, you made it? Because that's all I know, is just kicking the football.

Chuck Shute: 20:18

How do you do that? How do you put yourself in that position, though?

Dean Janikowski: 20:22

There's a lot. So for me, I'm Catholic. And that's kind of been my huge thing is just faith base. So kind of just relying on just that God's got me and that I'm here for a reason and just calming my nerves because your heart rate will jump through the sky. So just things like that. As well as just like, I work with a mental coach, his name's Jim Madrid, and he does a, he works with a bunch of Olympic athletes and things like that. So just like, he helps me with my mentality and calming myself down, and seeing how far I can push my mind because your mind is endless. You can keep growing so much.

Chuck Shute: 20:58

That's amazing. Do you so do you do like a lot of like deep breathing kind of techniques and like muscle relaxation and things like that?

Dean Janikowski: 21:04

Yeah, there's a lot of different tricks like, like, one of the great tricks that Jim gave me was, it was pretty funny. So on a little note card, I would write down my three goals for like, game, it'd be like, okay, and it would be like, positive, no negatives, just what you're gonna do, okay. And even just like self motivating, my operation time is consistent, and my ball height is great. So I'd write that down. I do three other ones, be a small note card, and I put it in the sock of my kicking foot, and on the back of that notecard, I'd put money because when I stepped out their money, and I'm making money side, slide that down my sock, and that kind of gave me a little bit of a confidence booster.

Chuck Shute: 21:43

That doesn't screw up your kicking technique when you have something else an object in your sock that would drive me nuts.

Dean Janikowski: 21:50

No, it's just a thin note card. So you don't even really notice it. I mean, I got I got bigger problems to worry about. At that point. I don't I try not to even think about that, that are like chewing gum. You'd be surprised like chewing gum, you just focus on chewing, chewing the gum and like it helps relieve my nerves. There's a lot of different tricks for different people, but like chewing gum, stuff like that. And as well as just slow breathing in through your nose out through your mouth.

Chuck Shute: 22:13

Oh, that's, that's brilliant. Does this coach Dickert do any of that kind of stuff with the whole team, like you guys do any sort of like meditation or visualization exercises kind of thing where he's like, okay, like, everybody picture like you guys, you know, winning the Apple Cup. And those kinds of things are,

Dean Janikowski: 22:30

yeah, he's great. He does a lot mentality stuff with us. Like we had to write our 2023 goals. And he printed that out. So all 100 Plus players, he printed out all those goals, stapled it to our lockers or whatever, or taped it to our lockers. And we've done a lot of stuff like that, like listen to motivational clips, we've had Steve Jones, who's a great example, football coach, we actually had him come in, work with us. And we like read his book every single day. And we also just like worked our mind and just visualization because you can go so far with that. That's awesome.

Chuck Shute: 23:06

So like, I'm sure you're following the NFL playoffs? I hope are okay, so you got to know about the Cowboys kicker, though more, and

Dean Janikowski: 23:17

I've heard plenty. So tell

Chuck Shute: 23:19

me what's going on there. He missed four extra points in one game. And then I think he missed one or two in the last one as well. You've only missed three extra points in two seasons. So what's got like maybe the Cowboys can hire you? I don't know if you can leave early yet. But I mean, what do you think happened with him? They said I heard somebody say, Oh, you get a case of the yips Is that Is that a thing? Explain that as a kick out?

Dean Janikowski: 23:41

Well, I mean, just like mentality being able to step out on the field after a miss and make that is huge. Like because you miss one as a kicker in the game. You're like crap, I gotta, I gotta recollect myself and step out there so. So it's hard, so he just must have had that game. I don't know whether it was bad hold or not, but he just, it's just one of those things. He had a great season. So I think just it was one of those Fluke games because I think he's like 31 for 34 on field goals, but it's PSATs he's missed like six PSATs

Chuck Shute: 24:13

that is so bizarre. You think it might be bad holds

Dean Janikowski: 24:17

out? Uh, yeah, I don't know. I and I mean the PSAT is two you got to think to the PSATs are 33 yard field goals. So that's all 33 yard PSAT but it's a lot further than what I'm kicking in college so just one of those games and just didn't go his way. True. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 24:33

Is laces out. Is that a thing? Is that do you prefer the balls when they come to be laces out?

Dean Janikowski: 24:39

Oh, yeah, I'd rather have the ball. I'd rather have the ball either out or, to me, like I'd rather kick the laces or I'd rather have the laces out if the laces are sideways. Like if the laces right here. You kick it just the way your ball hits the foot and the way that like ball compresses. If the laces are on the right side, it'll just hook hard left or if it's on the left it'll hook hard right just based off the way you ticket because you can you can make a field goal kicking laces but it's not a it's not what you want.

Chuck Shute: 25:09

Wow, that's that is so that's a real thing. Okay. You've seen a sprinter right that's um, it's an old

Dean Janikowski: 25:13

Yeah. laces out and hands

Chuck Shute: 25:15

down, ya know, so I had a nick Lowry. I don't know if you're familiar with him he's like a pro bowl kid. He's a he's a big kicker on the chiefs. And I was asking him about like when they when they ice kickers, you know when that's the game winner is at stake and the other team calls a timeout. And he said, he loves he's like, Oh, that's great. It gives me more time to get ready. Like, do you feel the same way?

Dean Janikowski: 25:36

Ah, I wouldn't say it fazes me. But I wouldn't say I like being iced. I think I'd rather just get the kick done with because I'm already like setting the mentality. Actually, I've never been iced until this last season. And when I was iced, I was ice two times. Which game was trying to remember it. So I missed a field goal. And then I had a lineup for another field goal. And right as I go to kick it, he ices me. And then I get ready to go kick it again. He ices me again. And then I kick it and I make it was that before half? Yeah. Before half.

Chuck Shute: 26:09

Okay, let's do that game was like kind of close. Yeah, it was very close. Yeah. How do you feel like the Coos did this season? Would you? Would you consider this season a success? I mean, I wouldn't say it's a failure, because I went to a ballgame. But

Dean Janikowski: 26:21

yeah, I mean, it definitely was a success, because there were still, it was still a winning season. But I think we still have a lot left in us, like Oregon was a bummer. Utah, like there's so many games, we went into half, either we were up, or we were away, like a point off. And then just towards the half for whatever reason, we just kind of fell apart.

Chuck Shute: 26:43

What do you think that is?

Dean Janikowski: 26:45

I don't know. Maybe it could be something with strength or just start conditioning. But I know a lot of the boys just put their heart out on the field. But I think this season's gonna be different. We got a new strength staff and we're really just hitting it hard. Like the disciplines way more right now. We're just, we're really on it. It seems like a new team right now. And I'm really excited to see how we do.

Chuck Shute: 27:05

Yeah, no, that's really cool. I saw I went to the label, I drove over for that. And I knew I was like, Oh, this might not be that good of a game. Like what do you think happened with that game though? I know we had like some people that had transferred out. But yeah, just seemed like just I thought it was gonna be a little bit closer. It seemed like the team just fell flat on night you didn't even kick I don't think

Dean Janikowski: 27:26

I didn't have one kick. That was my first time as a starter never kicking a football. So it's kind of funny to like, just go there and not even hit anything. It was it was crazy. I can't even really vouch for it. Because I don't know that much on football. I just know, more just kicking wise, I don't even really watch football much besides college football and a little bit of NFL. But I know like we didn't have our offensive coordinator. We lost a lot of good players like Dan, who's going to the draft and things like that. But then again, you got to think to Fresno State's great team.

Chuck Shute: 27:58

Yeah, no, they are really good. I think that they were underrated for sure. But so what's it like being on the sideline, because I just went to a, I went to I'm in Arizona and a, the Cougs the basketball team played at ASU. And I was like, super cute. So I got like, two rows back and I was like sitting there watching the sideline of the basketball game. And I'm seeing Kyle Smith like yell at all the players. I was like, This is so cool. But I've never been able to get that close to the football games. Like what is it like being on the sidelines? With Coach Dickert

Dean Janikowski: 28:28

it's cool. Like, are you talking about fans? Are you talking about just with like,

Chuck Shute: 28:32

as a player, like if you're like what's going on, like, because it's just cool to see the coaches like actually coaching in the game like Kyle Smith like seems like he's as a basketball coach. He's seems like he's pretty calm. Like he's just really trying to strategize. And I'm assuming Dicker does the same. Well, he doesn't. I mean, from what I'm seeing on TV, he doesn't seem like he's like screaming at people or anything.

Dean Janikowski: 28:51

Ya know, he stays pretty level headed, he does a good job. I just I stay out of the way most of time I'll be sitting on the bench or just staying warm on the bike. So I kind of sit back but for like, fan wise, fans can be kind of crazy. Like I know here. I know a lot. I know a lot of people here in Pullman. So there'll be screaming my name or trying to mess with me or even like at away games. That's when it gets crazier because there'll be fans are drunk, there'll be cussing at you. They'll be saying this thing like you miss a field goal. They'll be cussing you out. And you're like, whatever. Just next kick next kid next kicks to you're just it gets pretty hectic. But la boy was cool because I believe at the bottom level. They must have had something going on the next day. But all the celebrities were there. So there were some pretty big names out there.

Chuck Shute: 29:35

Oh, like that. I didn't I miss obviously. Jimmy Kimmel was there. I didn't see anybody else though.

Dean Janikowski: 29:39

Yeah, there was a lot of influencers and things like that down at the bottom level. Where like, it met the field.

Chuck Shute: 29:45

Yeah, we snuck down there it was really cool view. That's a really neat stadium.

Dean Janikowski: 29:50

Yeah, it's it was so nice. We got to tour the whole thing and see like the Rams locker room as well as the chargers and all that it was super sweet.

Chuck Shute: 29:58

Yeah. So going back to it with a way fans, how do you you just kind of try to block that out? Like do people actually do they say your name and stuff? They have signs if they sign for you,

Dean Janikowski: 30:08

they'll say your name. They'll throw stuff at you. They'll do all that. You can hear all that from the field. Oh, yeah, you can hear it easily. I mean, they're like, I know Colorado's really close because that stadium super compact, but like U DUB game like you're real close, you're only like, I don't know, 15 feet from the fans, like you're you're right up there. And especially when you're warming up. Like for me, I'm kicking into the net. And that's even closer, it's probably 10 feet from him. So I hear all that I just know not to respond because you respond and they just they love it. They keep going more and just cuss you out. Whatever. It's kind of like that with social media. Like, I'm sure if you've ever gotten hate, you know, just don't even respond to it. Because it's like, what's the point?

Chuck Shute: 30:47

Yeah, I probably should follow that more. You are more mature than I am. Ya know, sometimes I try to respond. I try not to get into a war with people. But yeah, sometimes it's hard not to respond. But you're right. That is the best response is to just not respond. Because you're usually not, they're not going to be logical. And so there's no point.

Dean Janikowski: 31:04

Yeah, it's so bad. Like, like social media was like, Oh, my tic tock I got I only have like 58,000 followers or something like that on there. Nothing crazy, like the millions of followers some people have, but there'll be some crazy comments, people will say like, I'll post something positive, maybe it's like about my foundation or something like that. And then there'll be like a random comment still lost a Fresno State or the like, attack me and things like that, like was going on?

Chuck Shute: 31:31

Random. Yeah. So tell me about the foundation. I found that story really inspiring. That's why I want to have you on the show is like, Oh, this is so cool. Like, you got to tell the story. Like more in detail. I didn't, I didn't I don't know the whole background. But I know your mom had cancer and passed. And then that's when you started the foundation or,

Dean Janikowski: 31:47

yeah, so about a year and little less than a half ago, she passed away from cancer, Super Freak deal. She has been fighting cancer for a long time. But it came back even stronger. And then ultimately, she lost her life. And from there, we decided to start a foundation to raise money for people with cancer. And as well as just helping out our community. My mom was a teacher, she was an athletic trainer. She did everything she did a lot. So she touched a lot of lives. So our our whole goal with the foundation was to spread awareness, as well as help like people, like teachers or help like kids, and like all the areas my mom touched, we wanted to give back and kind of make it seem like she was still there. So that was our main goal. And we started doing that. And we had lots of events. We most recently had a 5k, where we donated $15,000 to a kid named Matteo because he's currently battling cancer. So we did that. 5k we had 300 people there. And we had a bunch of sponsors, events, everything. And that was a lot of fun. That was last weekend, I flew back there to help lead that and, and hang out with everyone. Wow. Yeah, your mom

Chuck Shute: 32:58

is I mean, she's clearly very young and healthy from what I can see. So I mean, was there some kind of freak thing like what kind of cancer was this?

Dean Janikowski: 33:05

It was breast cancer. And it ultimately metastasized to her brain, where she was she had it for a few years, and then it ultimately one way, and there's no problems with that. And then this the last are two years ago, then it came back really, really strong. And then it got really serious. So that was, and that happened during season. And luckily for Coach Dicker who coached tickets done so many great things for me, he allowed me to fly back home. So in between games, I was back home with my mom, she was at one point in hospice, I was hanging back there at home, and then ultimately would go to like the bowl game, and then came back to see my mom, and just back and forth, back and forth. I didn't even I didn't even have the chance to go to practices, but I was there for the game to play and whatnot.

Chuck Shute: 33:51

Wow. I mean, did you ever think of just quitting football are giving up at that point? And I mean, cuz that's such a heavy burden to have on your shoulders?

Dean Janikowski: 34:00

Yeah, for sure. I mean, my mom bestowed a lot of great things with me and like to just never give up. She was the one who was like, go to the game go down. I'm like, Mom, I want to stay back here. She's like, go to the game. She's like, you're going to the game. I'm like, Okay. And she just kept pushing me and I think now is just even more of a reason to play football and do things for her. And like the like number 49 The number I wear. She passed when she was 49 years old. So it has a huge meaning behind that as well as 49 is my number that I wore before I got 49 here, and then it was so it was 21 and then my brother's number is 13. And then my sister's number is 15 which adds up to 49. So, so it's a pretty pretty really like just great number that I'm super proud of and I just do everything for her now.

Chuck Shute: 34:49

Yeah, no, that's really cool. And then it's just amazing that you took a terrible thing like that. And then you tried to you know, spin this into something positive by doing the fundraiser and I think you raise wasn't like 17,000 because it was like a thing where every time you kicked a field goal, people would donate or something. How did that work?

Dean Janikowski: 35:06

Yeah, so so that the 5k, and everything is my mom's foundation. So then August, I was like, Okay, I want to do something cool. I want to also help out and do things like that. And I saw my platform, and I saw just football as being a great way to raise money. So I decided to create a pledge account, which is like an account that does everything for you. They don't take any of the profits. And I decided to do so every point I kicked, so you can donate a certain amount of money. So say you want to donate$5 per point, I score. So a PhD is $5 of field goals. $15. And I want to do that and raise money and ultimately raise it for a kid with cancer in the Pullman or Spokane area. And so I started that in August, and then it was a slow start. And then by like, week two, it was a huge success. Blew up from there. And then even right all the way till the end of the season, people heard about it more and blew up then too and ended up raising$17,000 So now I have that and I'm looking for someone currently to donate that money to. Oh, that's

Chuck Shute: 36:09

awesome. So yeah, cuz I saw I think it said set you'd raise 17,000 But wasn't your goal like 25,000?

Dean Janikowski: 36:16

Yeah. $25,000, which was a huge reach, because it's gone. So I didn't even think ultimately I'd get above 15,000 like I did. No, that's great.

Chuck Shute: 36:25

But I'm just thinking like, we need to we need to get to that. 25,000 like, can you get some of these like, big name Kooks to like retweet that like the former kickers like Hansen or Ryan Lindau, or or Minshew or somebody like I feel like if some of those people retweeted it, I think you'd go way above that.

Dean Janikowski: 36:43

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's, it's still open, and you can still donate now. But yeah, I've been I've been kind of pushing that and just trying to get to that goal. There's been a lot of great people that donated a lot of great alumni. So I've been super thankful for all them.

Chuck Shute: 36:58

That's awesome. Well, yeah. So we'll I'll put the link in the show notes. So people can click on that. And then you'll do the same thing for next year. Every kick that you

Dean Janikowski: 37:05

Yeah, yeah, I'll keep doing that. Until I'll even try doing that through the NFL everything because it just such a great way like the way it played out was so cool, because there were so many people that either don't really like football, but now they're watching football because they're like, oh, Dean's on Dean's on I got money on the line. It was a little bit like gambling, like I had. One of my close friends would text me like, Dean, you're you're costing me money and you're, you cost me like $300 or something like that. And they're like, this is a great thing. But man, you're costing me money. I'm like, oh, it's it's cool. It's cool, because people, people don't even watch PSATs I know sometimes they don't even point the camera on the kicker most of the times for a pa t so now, now people are actually watching it. And it really just stirred up just like, I don't know, it made it a lot more fun.

Chuck Shute: 37:53

Yeah, we definitely need to raise more awareness. Because I think that's such a great thing that you're doing. I want more people to know about it. So part of the reason I'm having you on the show so what are your goals for for next year with this foundation and just like and also your your kicking goals like you want to get? I think you need to get back on the all PAC 12 team. First of all right?

Dean Janikowski: 38:11

Yeah, exactly. That's, that's my goal for sure. That and just keep raising money, stuff like that, and obviously elevate my game, I want to get the Lou Groza award, I want to get the old PAC 12 award. So just really, I've been hitting this offseason, like crazy and to keep growing my mentality, as well just keep growing in the Pullman community. I want to get really close with everyone. And just ultimately find someone to give that $17,000 I'm still looking for someone. So if there's someone out there that knows someone that really needs it, that's really struggling with paying for these cancer treatments, because it's really expensive. So if I can find that would be amazing.

Chuck Shute: 38:50

That's crazy that you that no one has reached out to try to get the money. More people reaching out wanting needing the money than giving the money. Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 39:00

it's money out there. And in $2,500 of it will be going to miles rice. So he's on the basketball team. I don't know if you heard about miles story, but miles just got cancer. And he can't play this 2023 season, the basketball team. And so earlier in the season, I DM them and was like, hey, I want to make this game for you. However much money I raised that game is gonna go to you. So I raised $2,500 And so I'm gonna be giving that money to him and then the other$15,000 to someone who has cancer as well.

Chuck Shute: 39:34

That's awesome. Well, I hope there's a lot of points scored for the Cougs this season, for obviously, for many reasons, but also especially for your charity a lot if there's more kicks. They gotta they seems like they go for it on fourth down a lot more than they. They used to. It's like a new thing with college football where they're just like, Yeah, let's just go for it.

Dean Janikowski: 39:51

I guess so I guess there's new analytics to it. I don't know a whole lot on it. But I've heard that before. Like from coaches. I'm like, Well, why don't we kick it? Why don't we get new analytics was to go for it. So what do they know more than me? So whatever. I'm just excited to be able to go out there and kick it. But yeah, I have noticed that a lot this season and this year in general as kickers.

Chuck Shute: 40:09

Yeah. Well, hopefully we'll just have a lot of points, touchdowns and field goals. Let's let's do it all the exciting so well, thank you so much for doing this. Anything else you want to promote here? Yeah,

Dean Janikowski: 40:18

yeah, no, that's it just still looking for someone for the foundation$15,000 and give someone who is in need of money for cancer treatments. And I'd love to hear your story. So you can just DM me or whatever.

Chuck Shute: 40:30

Okay, sounds good. Thanks, Dean. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Well, such a great guy, make sure to support him by donating to his fundraiser or sharing it on social media. Again, the link is in the show notes. It would be great if we can get that number of dollars that he's raised even higher. He's such a great young man. And I think the sky's the limit for him. So make sure to follow Dean on social media so you can keep up with his career. You can follow me in the show on there as well. Of course, your likes, shares and comments help out a lot. And again, make sure you're subscribed to the show. Wherever you watch or listen, I'm going to start scheduling more guests soon. If there's somebody you'd like to see on the show or topic that you'd love to have me discuss with an expert. Let me know in the comments or send me a DM on email. I'd love to get your feedback. Thanks so much for your support. Have a great day and shoot for the moon.