Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Whether you believe in destiny or not, it’s undeniable that serendipity played a role in how Matt Cozzi ended up as the co-host of the podcast “Locked On Cubs.”
Cozzi and his friend Sam Olbur started the job in July 2022 as the fourth hosts in the history of the podcast, which altogether numbers more than 1,100 episodes. Their show has been very successful, with 10,600 YouTube subscribers and a No. 33 ranking among Apple’s top baseball podcasts in the United States this summer.
The 30-minute episodes air five times per week and consist almost exclusively of post-game analysis during the season. “Sometimes we do live shows, and I think that’s been a great reason for our growth. People will search ‘Cubs’ on YouTube after big games, or big losses, or big moves, and they find us.”
Sometimes, the pair has to act quickly to maximize their exposure. “Once, I was grocery shopping with my wife and Sam called me and said the Cubs just made a trade,” Cozzi says. “I said, ‘We have to go on right away.’ Sam went live on YouTube for 10 minutes, then we both did a regular episode.”
Cozzi grew up in a family of “diehard” Cubs fans in Cary in suburban Chicago, and works as an English teacher at Wheaton Academy, a private Christian high school in West Chicago, also in the suburbs.
“We had five Cozzi weddings in the last two years, including my own, and there’s been Cubs references in all five. At my wedding, my uncle sang ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ and ‘Go Cubs Go’ played after.”
After graduating from Prairie Ridge High School in suburban Crystal Lake, Cozzi studied journalism at the University of Iowa. He worked as a reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen for about three years, mostly covering prep sports and the Iowa Hawkeyes. In August 2016, he decided to pivot to teaching, so he moved back home and got a secondary education degree from National Louis University.
“Teaching and coaching is something I had thought about since I was a junior or senior in high school. When I’d report on and cover games (for the Press-Citizen), I’d visualize myself out there,” he recalls.
Cozzi and Olbur, who is Cozzi’s cousin’s childhood best friend, started their podcasting journey in August 2020, when they launched a weekly show mainly discussing the Cubs and the Bears. “Nobody listened to it,” Cozzi says. “I knew we were doing a good show, but I didn’t think too much of it,” he recalls.”
Then, the host of “Locked On Cubs” left the show shortly before the season opener in 2022, with no new episodes airing for months. Eventually, Cozzi proposed to Olbur that they throw their hat in the ring to become the new hosts, and reached out to the Locked On Podcast Network. Shortly after, Cozzi walked into a Subway sandwich shop in Crystal Lake and spotted a man wearing a “Locked On” hat. The man turned out to be the host of “Locked On Hawks.”
“We talked and before I left Subway, I fired off two emails (to Locked On representatives),” Cozzi says. “It was a really cool moment. I don’t believe in coincidences; I believe it was meant to be.”
Cozzi says the ease of the conversation between him and Olbur is the foundation for the show’s success.
“I believe it’s because of our chemistry,” he says, adding the pair record the show in one take. “We try to be informative and engaging, and I think the listeners have really latched onto that.”
Having listeners participate also makes the show standout, he adds. “We kind of take a page out of radio’s book… We’ve probably had 30 people on. That’s something that most podcasts don’t do.”
As for his future plans, Cozzi says that for now he’s happy balancing his two passions, teaching and podcasting. He gave up coaching baseball last year to focus on the latter, he adds.
“It really has been a joy to live two dreams at one time,” he says. “I tell students all the time that if you want to try something, try it — because you don’t know what the future holds.”
