Chapter 1: What is the unique story behind NFL coach Deland McCullough?
Hello, it's me, Pablo. So we've done, doing the math, 327 episodes of Pablo Torre, finds out, since we launched in September 2023, and it is the end of 2025, and I could not be prouder of our...
tiny little and extremely overworked newsroom that has created this bizarre sports news magazine show that is television but also obviously an audio first podcast because we've punched above our weight I think especially this year
But the stuff that we did before the previous, you know, hundreds of episodes, we have some favorites that we are now concerned that you maybe have not heard yet or maybe don't realize are even better when you listen to it a second time. And so during the holiday break, we're bringing you our favorites from the PTFO vault.
And we also have a newsletter, by the way, www.pablo.show, where I'll be doing some stuff over the holiday break, especially please subscribe and support our approach to independent sports journalism. But most of all, thank you. Thank you for making this show not just a weird experiment, but a community of people who support the kind of mission that we're on.
To hold to account extraordinarily rich and powerful people while also taste testing, you know, athlete branded weed. We contain multitudes, as does our vault. Please enjoy. Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre. And today we're going to find out what this sound is.
He opens the door. He just said, my son. And it was like, oh, the tears start rolling again. Because I've never been referred to as somebody's son.
Right after this ad. You know, one of the things that I have to do at the top is say, first, thank you for doing this.
Sarah Spain, hello.
Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How did Dillon McCullough's upbringing shape his identity?
5,000 steelworkers, many of them skilled veterans of 20 to 30 years, lost their jobs. In Youngstown and nearby Campbell, they have a name for the day disaster struck. They call it Black Monday.
That is where Dylan McCullough comes from.
He's adopted by a young couple who's very much in love that already have a son welcomed to the family. And the dad is this guy named A.C. McCullough, who's a popular local radio DJ in Youngstown.
What kind of local DJ are we talking about? What's kind of the affect here for his adopted father?
It's the guy who would announce on the radio if there was a snow day. The guy who would introduce you to the latest Top 40 hit.
The hottest hits. Hot 101.
and you'd get to hear the song for the first time. This is the 70s and 80s that he starts out. So the radio, in particular local radio, was such a huge part of people's everyday life. Yes. All right, so we're ACN Kelly, and we have some special guests here this morning. So we want to say hi to Celeste from the shops at Boardman Park.
So after some of the local concerts in Youngstown, folks would come over to their house for after parties to get a late night home-cooked meal and keep the party going. So Dillon was around, Tiny Tim. Very old-fashioned now for young people. There would always be stacks of tickets to a variety of local bands or concerts that were happening in their house.
But after about two years, the couple doesn't make it. He leaves. And for Dylan, there's a particular pain in the fact that he hears his father's voice every day on the radio, but his father wants nothing to do with him in life. And then his mother brings in another husband, some other boyfriends, really hoping to provide a father figure, but her choices never really match her intentions.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Dillon face growing up in Youngstown, Ohio?
So we did that. He actually stepped away from playing time to get to do the thing he wanted to do most, which meant being on the scout team, being a redshirt, and having to sit and watch for a whole season.
And presumably, he believes that the coaching staff believes in him. And so Sherman Smith, the coach, his leadership style is best described as what?
Just a real players coach, an inspiring guy with really high standards, extremely high standards. He would say to every team at the beginning of the season, none of you asked me to be a father, but I'm going to treat you like you're my sons. He cared as much about how do I make these players full human beings that are going to be successful in life as he did about the football side.
All of which is to say that for Dillon McCullough, who grew up searching for a father figure and never got one, you can guess why this style of coaching felt like more than a cliche.
And so even though Dillon is mostly working with assistants because the starters are the ones who get most of the time with the running backs coach and the head coach, he still goes after practice and spends a lot of time just connecting with Sherman and really asking him for advice.
before Deland ever gets to take a single snap at Miami of Ohio. The same thing that happened with Deland's biological father and Deland's adoptive radio DJ father proceeds to happen once again with his new mentor in college. Sherman Smith leaves.
Because not long after recruiting Dylan McCullough to Miami of Ohio, Sherman himself got recruited by the University of Illinois, where he would become an assistant coach at a way bigger program in the Big Ten.
And he doesn't want to go at first, but the rest of the coaching staff says, like, this is a great opportunity. You got to go.
And so as Sherman Smith goes a different way, eventually making it all the way up to the coaching staff of Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks, his old team, Dillon McCullough understands, he does, why his new mentor had to go. And while the two of them will stay in touch from afar, Dillon finds himself again back on his own, fighting to push ahead by himself, one yard at a time.
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Chapter 4: How did Dillon discover he was adopted?
We have our own hotline, actually, that we would like you to call. So please dial the PTFO tip hotline at 513-85-Pablo. That is 513-85-Pablo. A very real number you can call. And please do get back to us. This has been a lot to find out today, Sarah.
I have a feeling that that is not in the book, that exchange.
Yes, that Twitter exchange is not in the book, but lots of other good stuff is. So, you know, read it, buy it, order it, tell your friends.
Sarah, thank you for making the choice to do this with me. It's been a real pleasure.
Thanks for having me.
This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Meadowlark Media production. And I'll talk to you next time.
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