Matt McCall, UMass Basketball Head Coach: The Transition From Assistant Coach To Head Coach
Release Date: 11/10/2020
Daniel Coyle - The Culture Playbook: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups & How To Apply Them To Your Own Team (w/ Oliver Winterbone)
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is , best-selling author of , , and his newest book that was released this week, . In this episode, Daniel shares insights he’s learned about how to build a strong culture, what some best practices are around hiring and team building, and what he’s learned from consulting with the Cleveland Guardians. My co-host today is , Director of Coaches and Executives at Wasserman, one of the premiere talent management companies in the world. He previously worked for the Oklahoma City Thunder and University of Florida Men’s Basketball program in various roles. The Athletic named him...
info_outline
Paul Oyer, Stanford – Economic Value of Tradition, Reckless Spending in Sports, & The Most Insane Stat You’ve Ever Heard
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is , a professor of economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He’s also the author of . Paul and I start with the most insane statistic I have come across in my entire life. Then we blow through a number of topics, including gambling, the NIL, the effects of conference realignment within college athletics, public financing of private stadiums, why coaches get huge buyouts, and most importantly, why I was serving a huge need by reselling a boatload of UF football tickets when I was in undergrad. This was a fun conversation on the future of sports related to a...
info_outline
Francesca Gino, Harvard - Steve Kerr, Exploring Your Curiosities, & Embracing Your Rebellious Side (w/ Oliver Winterbone)
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is , a professor at Harvard Business School focused on why people make the decisions they do at work, and how leaders and employees have more productive, creative and fulfilling lives. Harvard is well-known for their case studies being used by colleges and companies all over the world, and when I saw she wrote a case study on Steve Kerr, I had to get her on the podcast. Our conversation today starts with lessons learned from studying and talking to Coach Kerr. Then we shift to the topic of her best selling book, . She was one of the most impressive people I’ve talked to...
info_outline
SPECIAL: Jeff Seder – The Best Moneyball Story of All-Time (via The Meb Faber Show)
Coaching Coaches
Today’s episode features a conversation between and on . In my last episode with Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, we touched on the incredible story of Jeff Seder and how utilizing data led him to go all-in on American Pharoah and later tell his employer, “.” Wise words considering the horse would go on to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Meb was kind enough to allow me to release the episode on my feed here for you to listen to. That being said, if you enjoy the episode and want to repay the favor to Meb, or are looking for a podcast on investing and what’s going on in the...
info_outline
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz: Moneyball For Your Life
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of . I’m not sure if there’s someone whose work is more fascinating to me than Seth. His first book, , looked at how our Google searches reveal our true selves with topics like racism, child abuse, This book looks at what the data says on how to live a better life. We touch on parenting, finding a spouse, being a sports fan, what sport your child should play if they want the best chance to get a college scholarship, and how much of an athlete’s success is nature vs. nurture. His work is as fun as it is insightful and I’m sure you’ll...
info_outline
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz: Moneyball For Your Life
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of . I’m not sure if there’s someone whose work is more fascinating to me than Seth. His first book, , looked at how our Google searches reveal our true selves with topics like racism, child abuse, This book looks at what the data says on how to live a better life. We touch on parenting, finding a spouse, being a sports fan, what sport your child should play if they want the best chance to get a college scholarship, and how much of an athlete’s success is nature vs. nurture. His work is as fun as it is insightful and I’m sure you’ll...
info_outline
GUEST INTERVIEW: Preston Greene and Shane Perkins – The Mindset of A World Champion
Coaching Coaches
Today’s episode features a conversation my good friend recently had with world champion cyclist, . Preston is the strength coach for the University of Florida men’s basketball team and one of the most well respected strength coaches in all of college athletics. Shane is a professional track cyclist who won the Bronze Medal in the 2012 London Olympic games and also won 2 world championships. In this episode, Shane talks about how he trained his mind and mentally prepared to perform, the importance of being coachable as an athlete, and what separated the great coaches from the others...
info_outline
David Shaw, Stanford Football Head Coach: Developing Players On & Off The Field
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is David Shaw, head coach of the Stanford football team. In this episode, he talks about what it’s been like to coach players like Andrew Luck and Christian McCaffrey at an elite academic institution like Stanford and lessons he’s learned working with guys like Brian Billick and Jon Gruden. Coach Shaw has been pursued by NFL teams and shares advice on how he thinks about his professional career, what makes him happy in life, and what one NFL GM said was the reason he pursued him.
info_outline
Michele Gelfand, Author & Cultural Psychologist: Is Your Culture Tight or Loose?
Coaching Coaches
Click HERE to watch the video referenced in the intro.
info_outline
Becky Burleigh, University of Florida Soccer Coach: Who Are You Becoming As A Result of The Chase?
Coaching Coaches
My guest today is Becky Burleigh, the head soccer coach at the University of Florida. She’s also the co-founder of What Drives Winning, which unites the top minds in sports. In 25 years at Florida, she has led UF to a NCAA Championship, two NCAA College Cup appearances, 14 Southeastern Conference titles and 22 NCAA Championships berths. She has 507 total wins, putting her third all-time in Division-1 soccer.
info_outline🚨 SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER
------
My guest today is Matt McCall, head coach for the UMass men’s basketball team. Previously, he was the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he took them to an NCAA tournament in his first year. He also spent years working under Billy Donovan at the University of Florida, where he won two national championships while working as the Director of Operations and earned a trip to the 2014 Final Four as an assistant coach.
In this episode, we discuss what it was like to spend so many years at Florida including the back-to-back national championship seasons, what made some of those teams special, and what his biggest lessons were from Billy Donovan. We also touch on what it was like to go from an assistant coach to head coach and what he would do differently looking back on his time as an assistant coach. If you are an assistant hoping to make the leap to head coach in the near future, this episode is a must-listen.
Show Notes:
(1:26) — Episode begins with his early career at UF as a student-manager, GA, and Director of Operations
(6:22) — What he did to earn Coach Donovan’s trust early on
(8:40) — What the experience was like being part of back-to-back national championships in 2006/2007 and making the Final 4 in 2014
(14:30) — Coach Donovan helping older players not be frustrated with sophomores Joakim Noah & Al Horford starting unexpectedly
(16:30) — How he witnessed Coach Donovan evolve
(19:45) — Lessons he learned from being on staff with so many former or future head coaches
(22:05) — Why he started taking notes in his career
(25:40) — His approach to being hired as the head coach at Chattanooga
(34:00) — Being hired at UMass
(39:00) — How he handles the stress of the job
(51:00) — How he handles work/life balance
(52:30) — Lessons he’s learned in hiring at both UTC and UMass
(54:50) — What are the most important traits for a head coach
(57:00) — Advice for assistant coaches now that he’s been a head coach
(59:20) — How he remains humble while experiencing personal success at a young age
(1:01:05) — End of episode questions
End of Episode Questions:
1. What’s 1 book every coach should read?
-
What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz
-
The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon
2. Who is one person you’d want to hear as a guest on this podcast? Billy Donovan
3. What’s one area you’re looking to improve in over the next year? Improve in end of game execution with simplicity.
4. What’s popular advice you hear people say that you think is wrong? You have to recruit great players. No — you need to recruit the right players for your head coach and the program.
5. What advice do you have for young coaches who are listening to this? Work hard, value relationships you have with other staff members, and embrace your current role.
6. What’s the darkest moment you experienced professionally and how did you overcome it? Struggling to have the right culture during his first two years at UMass and got through it by seeking advice and talking to people.
Favorite Quotes:
“That’s what Coach Donovan does, he treats everyone the right way.”
“Coach Donovan hired me back at Florida because during my time there I took a tremendous amount of pride in establishing relationships, treating people the right way, and working hard.”
“Did I get hired as a head coach because I was the best assistant coach in the country? No. I got hired as a head coach because of the success we were having at Florida. Success breeds opportunity.”
“The instilling of your culture, the getting everybody to buy into your culture, that’s what you have to spend more time on the first year you take over a job, especially a job that’s a rebuild situation, and you can’t sacrifice anything for the ball to go into the basket.”
“You have to be true to yourself. Who are you? What are the things you value? How do you want things to operate every single day?”