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The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

By Paul Barnett & Jim Woolfrey

We explore leadership through the lens of high performance sport, by interviewing great coaches from around the world, to try and find ideas to help all of us be better leaders.
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Beverly Priestman

The Great Coaches: Leadership & LifeMay 13, 2022

00:00
30:19
Tom Reeves
Aug 31, 202344:37
On Starting with New Teams
Aug 29, 202308:58
Matt Thornton

Matt Thornton

Our Great Coach on this episode is Matt Thornton.

Matt is a Brazilian Ju Jitsu coach, who has coached some of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the world.

He is the founder of the Straight Blast Gym, where he has developed cross training in several martial arts as well as boxing and wrestling.

The gym now has over 50 affiliate academies located around the world.

Fighters he has coached include Randy Couture, Forrest Griffin, and Dan Henderson while he has also helped develop the careers of coaches like John Kavanagh and Karl Tanswell.

He is also a guest lecturer on philosophy and has recently published a book called The Gift of Violence: Practical Knowledge for Surviving and Thriving in a Dangerous World.

In this philosophical and insightful interview some of the highlights for me were:

• His core philosophy of Aliveness, which emphasizes training on timing, energy and motion through competing to deliver repeated experiments.

• The idea that you can't acquire meaningful skill in Brazilian Ju Jitsu without submitting 1000’s of times. And through this approach to testing and learning through failure you achieve progress

• And his belief that "frustration in the moment is almost always a useless emotion. So you run into a problem in a fight, or you run into a problem in a match. That's something that we're here to solve. That's a puzzle that will admit to a solution."

Here is the link to Matt's new book: https://amzn.asia/d/asci4hF

If you enjoy listening to the podcast and would like to learn more, you can head over to our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com



Aug 24, 202354:48
Jeff Traylor

Jeff Traylor

Jeff Traylor is an American Football coach.

Jeff started his coaching career in 1989 as a High School Assistant coach. He would eventually return to be the Head Coach at his own High School. Gilmer High and would go on to lead the team to 3 state titles. His impact at the school was so profound that they would eventually name the stadium after him.

He then took assistant positions at University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Arkansas before being appointed as Head Coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in 2020. In his first year he led them to the best start in the school’s history for a season, winning their first eleven regular season games. They went on to win their first conference championship, a feat they achieved again in 2022.

This is one of our favourite interviews we have ever done. Jeff has great authenticity, and some unique ideas around building culture.

Some of the highlights were:

How the great coaches are self aware enough to know where they are great and where they are. Not. And they hire people to take the place of where they’re weak.

The wonderful way he started with his new team and won their confidence by listening and working with their ideas on how to improve the team.

How is history as a teacher and coach has taught him about the power of hands on learning

And How he tries to fire himself from his jobs and hand the responsibility over to his support staff.

If you enjoy listening to the podcast and would like to learn more, you can head over to our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com; where we offer exclusive video and podcast content for subscribers that is taken from the more than 150 interviews, we have done with some of the world great coaches. The content is downloadable, sharable, and designed to start a conversation around the dinner table, locker room or boardroom table.

We also have a newsletter that features information on our latest podcasts, leadership insights from our guests, recommendations they have on books or other media, as well as information on how you can engage with other people who listen on zoom sessions to discuss topics like Culture, Behaviours or starting with new teams.

You can sign up for that as well as access all the other content we have at our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com


Aug 17, 202337:52
On High Functioning Teams

On High Functioning Teams

Today’s episode is on the topic of High Functioning Teams and we are joined for the discussion with one our past guests the Great Coach Hugh McCutcheon who has just written a book called Championship Behaviours

Hugh led the USA men's team to an Olympic Gold in 2008 and the USA women in 2012 and is presently an Assistant Athletics Director at the University of Minnesota

If you are want to improve your own leadership skills, then you can reach Paul and another member of the team Grant, at Elevated Leadership where we coach you towards the leader you aspire to be.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at feedback@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com



Aug 15, 202328:01
Peter Eriksson

Peter Eriksson

Our Great Coach on this episode is Peter Eriksson .

Peter is an Athletics coach who was formerly the head coach of the Olympic and Paralympic programs for both British Athletics and Athletics Canada.

He started coaching in the early 80’s after a reaching the world championships as a Speed Skater for his native Sweden.

Under his leadership as Performance Director and Head Coach, the nations that he has worked with has generated over 240 medals at major International Competitions.

He is also the most successful Canadian Athletics coach in modern history.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at feedback@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com


Aug 10, 202334:10
Gareth Taylor
Aug 03, 202340:16
On Championship Habits

On Championship Habits

Today’s episode is on the topic of Habits, and we are joined for the discussion by Allistair McCaw, who has just written a terrific new book called Habits that Make a Champion.

Allistair is that rare person who excels across disciplines and industries. In addition to being an author who has sold over 300,000 books, his podcast ranks in the top 1% in the world, and for the last 25 years he has also consulted and worked with Olympic Gold Marriage, Grand Slam Champions, Fortune 500 companies, NCAA Colleges, and Professional sports teams. And you will hear him mention some of the these in this terrific interview.

Allistair also has a fantastic social media presence.


Just a quick message from me to say that if you are want to improve your own leadership skills, then you can reach Paul and another member of the team Grant, at elevatedleadership.com.au where we coach you towards the leader you aspire to be.


thegreatcoachespodcast.com.au


Aug 01, 202338:33
Doug Maclean

Doug Maclean

Our Great Coach on this episode is Doug Maclean.


Doug is a former Ice Hockey Head Coach, GM, and sportscaster.


His coaching career started in his hometown of Summerside in 1977 with High School teams. By 1990 he had his first professional job leading the Baltimore Skipjacks.


A successful stint there, saw him move to the Detroit Red Wings as an assistant coach, and ultimately to the Head Coach role at the Florida Panthers in 1995. In his first season he led them to the Stanley Cup playoffs.


In ‘98 he moved to the Columbus Bluejackets as the GM and commenced the second phase of his career. Then in 2008 he rounded out his career in professional hockey by moving into broadcasting.


Doug is a great story teller and some of the highlights of our discussion were;


• How one of the most rewarding experiences of his life was starting a franchise from scratch.


• His view on being direct and that you can never be too honest, even though he once made a NHL player cry.


• And , how in a healthy team culture, players want to get to practice and they care about doing their bit for the group.


This was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.


And just before we go to the interview if you enjoy listening to the podcast and would like to learn more, you can head over to our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com.


Jul 27, 202350:10
Ashes Special: Leadership
Jul 27, 202338:28
On Competitive Excellence

On Competitive Excellence

This podcast is on the topic of Competitive excellence, and we are joined for the discussion with one our past guests the Great Coach Hugh McCutcheon who has just written a book called Championship Behaviours.

Hugh played Volleyball for New Zealand national Junior and Senior teams before transitioning into coaching.
In 2005 he was appointed as Head Coach of the USA mens team who went to win the Gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.
Then in 2008 he was appointed coach of the USA women’s team, and led them to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.

Some of the key highlights of our discussion are:

How a focus on competitive excellence helps you build a life of achievement, and not solely a focus on the winning achievements.

His core philosophy of preparing your self to be at your best when the best is needed.

And How you honour your commitment to your own life by trying to the best you can be, and this requires you to look being just performing better than your competitors. Instead it requires you to use use your competitors to improve your own performance.


And just before we go to the interview, if you are looking to improve your own leadership skills, then you can reach us at elevatedleadership.com.au, where we coach you towards the leader you aspire to be.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at
feedback@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com
Jul 25, 202333:17
Paul Thompson
Jul 20, 202330:14
On Energy
Jul 18, 202333:06
Ben Davison
Jul 13, 202336:00
Ashes Special: Belief and Doubt with John Buchanan
Jul 10, 202325:33
Mike Dunlap

Mike Dunlap

Mike is a renowned basketball coach who is has led teams in US College, the NBA and in Australia.

He started as a College Assistant in 1980 before becoming the Head Coach of Cal Lutheran in 1989. In 1994 he moved to Australia and led the Adelaide 36ers in the |National League before returning to the USA in 1997 to lead Metro State. That team went on to win National Championships in 2000 and 2002.

In 2006 he went to the NBA for the first time as an Assistant at Denver, before returning to University of Arizona as Head Coach. In 2011 he was chosen by Michal Jordan to lead the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA.

Then in 2020, Mike returned to the NBA as an Assistant Coach with Milwaukee Bucks and was with them then they defeated the Phoenix Suns to win their first NBA Championship in 2021.

In this terrific interview some of the key highlights were:

• The importance of a leader balancing inclusivity with also moving to a position of clarity where they can see broadly and make decisions for the benefit of the group.

• His belief that the word perfection is dangerous because it is so volatile, and that the quest for perfect practice just makes people miserable.

• How vulnerability is endearing to the people you lead.

• And the wonderful quote he shares, that a master teacher knows the outcome before she or he starts, the good teacher kind of knows the outcome.


And just before we go to the interview if you enjoy listening to the podcast and would like to learn more, you can head over to our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com.


There you will find more video and podcast content taken from the 150+ interviews, we have done with some of the world great coaches.


You will also find our Insight Database, where we have snipped out insights from the videos of our interviews on leadership topics like culture, communication, and conflict. You can search through by key word, sport or coach, download, and share them. We will be adding to it regularly as we interview more Great Coaches from around the world.


We also have a newsletter that features information on our latest podcasts, leadership insights from our guests, recommendations they have on books, article or other media, as well as information on how you can engage with other people who listen to the podcasts in our live events. Simply click here to enter your email address and join our growing community


Jul 08, 202351:39
Ashes Special: Risk & Accountability with John Buchanan
Jul 06, 202322:46
On Another Voice

On Another Voice

Sign up to our newsletter by clicking here or from our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com⁠. This episode focuses on how Coaches refresh their message by using the Voice of other people.

It also introduces our new Insight Database where you can find thousands of video insights from The Great Coaches on topics like Culture, Communication and Conflict that can be filtered by, key word, sport or coach and then downloaded and shared.

You can learn more at thegreatcoachespodcast.com⁠




Jul 04, 202306:08
On Championship Habits
Jul 04, 202338:33
On Legacy

On Legacy

Today’s episode is focuses on the topic of Legacy.

We are joined for the conversation by James Kerr the author of the book, Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life

James’ book is one of the most referenced by our interview guests, it has over 4000 5 star review on Amazon UK alone.

He is a consultant to some of the world’s top sporting and business organisations. And in this interview, he takes us inside his work with these groups and how they go about unlocking high performance.

Some of his ideas that resonated deeply with us were:

His belief that people will rise to a challenge if it's their challenge, and the quite amazing story he shares to illustrate this about Leicester winning the FA cup in England.

His view that the story you tell yourself becomes the story that others end up telling about you. And how you can use to set up a team culture.

And How the culture at the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby team is about stabbing people in the belly not the back.

This is the type of fireside chat that stays with you for a long, long time afterwards.


If you enjoy listening to the podcast and would like to learn more, you can head over to our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com.

There you will find more video and podcast content taken from the 150+ interviews, we have done with some of the world great coaches.

You will also find our Insight Database, where we have snipped out insights from the videos of our interviews on leadership topics like culture, communication, and conflict. You can search through by keyword, sport or coach, download, and share them. We will be adding to it regularly as we interview more Great Coaches from around the world.

We also have a newsletter that features information on our latest podcasts, leadership insights from our guests, recommendations they have on books, article or other media, as well as information on how you can engage with other people who listen to the podcasts in our live events.


Jun 29, 202356:03
Andrea Anastasi

Andrea Anastasi

Our Great Coach on this episode is Andrea Anastasi.

Andrea played volleyball for Italy 141 times, and was part of the team that won the 1990 World Championship.

He transitioned in to coaching in 1994, and in 1999 led the Italian team to gold medals at 2 European Championships, the World League, as well as a Bronze at the 2000 Olympics.

In 2007 he took over the Spanish National team and famously led them to the 2007 European Championship.

He then moved on to coach the Polish national team and in 2011 led the team to their first ever medal in the World League.

He has also coached teams to National Championships in Italy and Poland, and is presently the head coach of the Belgian National Team.

Andrea is a coach with a global perspective and as you will hear in this interview speaks multiple languages that allows him to communicate with his very international teams.

What I found most interesting, and unique, in this interview was the process Andrea goes through when he joins a new team in a new country.

I think anyone who is moving in to a new culture in either a team or new company will find this interesting and helpful.

I also enjoyed the way Andrea talks about using body language to communicate across cultures and again I think this applicable for anyone who is communicating across age or demographic groups.

And finally, the importance he places on listening when it comes to effective leadership.

Andrea was both a champion player and coach, and this combined with his empathetic style made for a terrific interview.

Here at the great coaches podcast we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us. You can help support our project, get exclusive content and early access to the Great Coaches Collection by joining our Patreon community.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or us using any of the links by CLICKING HERE


May 25, 202341:44
Cheryl Reeve

Cheryl Reeve

Our Great Coach on this episode is Cheryl Reeve.

Cheryl is a Basketball head coach and general manager for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA.

She has led the team to championships in 2011,2013, 2015 and 2017. She is one of only 2 coaches in the WNBA history to have a winning % over 60 in regular season games. In addition she has the highest winning % of any coach in the WNBA postseason.

She has also been an Assistant coach for Team USA at the 2016 and 2021 Olympic Games helping them to Gold Medals, and in 2022 was appointed Head Coach of the team that then went on to win the World Championship.

This was a terrific conversation, although a little short as Cheryl was pressed for time, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Here at the great coaches podcast we we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us.

You can help support our project and get access to the Leadership Lessons Episodes where we collate insight and wisdom from the Great Coaches on key topics like Culture, Vision or Behaviours as well as other exclusive content by joining our Patreon community.

Join our Patreon community and help us build one of the worlds great leadership libraries at www.patreon.com/GreatCoaches

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com


Apr 20, 202323:55
On Championship Behaviors with Hugh McCutcheon

On Championship Behaviors with Hugh McCutcheon

Today’s episode is on the topic of Championship Behaviours, and we are joined for the discussion with one our past guests the Great Coach Hugh McCutcheon who has just written a book called Championship Behaviours.

 Hugh played Volleyball for New Zealand national Junior and Senior teams before transitioning into coaching.

In 2005 he was appointed as Head Coach of the USA men's team who went to win the Gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.

Then in 2008 he was appointed coach of the USA women’s team, and led them to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.

He is presently the Assistant Athletics Director at the University of Minnesota.

If you are interested in learning more about Executive coaching you can reach us through our website https://elevatedleadership.io/ or Paul directly on paul@elevatedleadership.io

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at ⁠thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com⁠ or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com


Apr 18, 202339:29
Malcolm Blight

Malcolm Blight

Our Great Coach on this episode is Malcolm Blight.

Malcolm is a former Australian Rules Football player and coach, who is the only person in the game’s history to win the Brownlow, Magarey, and Coleman medals.

As a coach he has led multiple teams, notably winning back-to-back premierships with Adelaide in 1997 and 1998.

He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was elevated to Legend status in 2017

Interviewing Malcolm was a great highlight for us, he was one of the people we wrote on our dream list when we started the podcast.

This was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as we did.

Here at the great coaches podcast we we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us.

You can help support our project and get access to the Leadership Lessons Episodes where we collate insight and wisdom from the Great Coaches on key topics like Culture, Vision or Behaviours as well as other exclusive content by joining our Patreon community. All the details on how you can be part of this journey are in the show notes.

And now please enjoy our interview with Malcolm Blight.

Join our Patreon community and help us build one of the worlds great leadership libraries at www.patreon.com/GreatCoaches

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com



Apr 13, 202351:20
On Feedback

On Feedback

Todays episode is on the topic of Feedback, and it features audio quotes from 14 coaches that we have interviewed on the podcast.

Join our Patreon community and help us build one of the worlds great leadership libraries at ⁠www.patreon.com/GreatCoaches⁠

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at ⁠thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com⁠ or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Apr 11, 202310:52
Mike Candrea

Mike Candrea

Our Great Coach on this episode is Mike Candrea.

Mike is a Softball coach who after 36 years leading the University of Arizona has retired as one of the most respected coaches of Any sport in the USA.

He is the all-time winningest coach in college softball history and ranked fourth of any coach in any NCAA sport with 1,674 wins.

His teams have won 8 Women's College World Series and 11× Pac 12 or 10 Regular Season titles.

In addition, he led Team USA to 2004 Olympic Gold medal and the 2008 silver medal.

And In 2017 he was inducted into the USA Softball Hall of Fame

Mike is a wise and generous person who openly shares the many lessons he has taken from the extreme highs and lows he has experienced in his life.

Here at the great coaches podcast we we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us.

You can help support our project and get access to the Leadership Lessons Episodes where we collate insight and wisdom from the Great Coaches on key topics like Culture, Vision or Behaviours by joining our Patreon community. All the details on how you can be part of this journey are in the show notes.

Join our Patreon community and help us build one of the worlds great leadership libraries at www.patreon.com/GreatCoaches

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com


Apr 06, 202342:34
Natasha Adair
Mar 30, 202345:44
On Behaviours

On Behaviours

Todays episode is on the topic of Behaviours, and it features audio quotes from 13 coaches that we have interviewed on the podcast.

Join our Patreon community and help us build one of the worlds great leadership libraries at www.patreon.com/GreatCoaches

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Mar 28, 202307:45
Ricky Stuart
Mar 23, 202340:28
Managing Anxiety | Gary Kirsten | Cricket World Cup winning coach
Mar 22, 202302:02
The Right People | Tricia Cullop | Toledo Women's Basketball Head Coach
Mar 22, 202301:14
Love & Kindness | Nancy Lieberman | Women's Basketball Hall of Famer
Mar 21, 202302:50
Positive Things Everyday | Eddie Reese  |  University of Texas Swim and Dive Head Coach
Mar 21, 202301:02
Mental Health | Billy Walsh | Head Coach of USA Boxing
Mar 20, 202300:56
Mentors as Assets | Dr. David Parkin | AFL Multi-Premiership Winning Coach
Mar 20, 202300:37
Taking Risks | Bob Bowman | Arizona Swim and Dive Team Head Coach
Mar 19, 202301:09
Powerful Leadership | Justin Langer | Former Australian Men's Cricket Team Head Coach
Mar 19, 202301:14
Importance of Mentors | Tricia Cullop | Toledo Women's Basketball Head Coach
Mar 19, 202301:50
On Mentors
Mar 16, 202308:18
Dean Vickerman

Dean Vickerman

Our Great Coach on this show is Dean Vickerman.

Dean is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of Melbourne United in the Australian National Basketball League.

He started his coaching career in 1997, progressing through roles across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Between 2007 and 2012, he served as an assistant coach for the New Zealand Breakers helping them win 3 championships in a row.  In 2013, he became head coach of the New Zealand Breakers. And in the 2014–15 season, he guided the Breakers to their fourth NBL Championship in five years.

In March 2017, Dean was appointed head coach of Melbourne United and a year later they won the NBL Championship.

And in 2018 and again in 2019 he was voted NBL Coach of the Year.

Dean was wonderful to talk and very generous with his time. The highlights of our discussion are his description of their team trademarks and why it’s important that they try to make someone else in the team better. How he trusts and works with his assistants, and he shares a great story from their championship game when there is 1.7 seconds left on the clock to illustrate this; and the way he uses Blue zone thinking to remain calm.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

Mar 13, 202339:01
Tricia Cullop
Mar 09, 202337:16
On Empowerment
Mar 07, 202310:48
Nancy Lieberman

Nancy Lieberman

Our Great Coach on this episode is Nancy Lieberman.

Nancy is that rare individual who has had both a successful playing and coaching career. And her career highlights are so many that this introduction is a long one!

She grew up in Queens in New York, learning to play basketball on the courts of Harlem and then as a High School senior she represented the USA at the Olympics and won a silver medal.

From 1976 to 1980, she attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and played on the team that won 2 National Championships.

In 1980 she was selected with the first pick in the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) draft by the Dallas Diamonds. Then in 1981, she played for the Los Angeles Lakers Mens Summer Pro League team under the future hall of famer Pat Riley. In 1986 she signed with the Springfield Fame of the men's professional United States Basketball League. Later, she toured with the Washington Generals, who served as the regular opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters.

In the newly formed WNBA's inaugural year in 1997, she played for the Phoenix Mercury and At the age of 39, she was the WNBA's oldest player

She transitioned in to coaching in 1998 as the Head Coach of the WNBA team the Detroit Shock.

In 2009, she then became the coach of the Texas Legends in the NBA Development League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, thus becoming the first woman to coach a professional men's basketball team..

In 2015, she was hired by the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach, becoming the second female assistant coach in NBA history.

And then in 2018 she was hired as the Head Coach of the Power in the Big3 league and led the team to the championship in her first year.

We were very lucky to get this interview with Nancy, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Here at the great coaches podcast we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us. You can help support our project, get exclusive content and early access to the Great Coaches Collection by joining our Patreon community.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or us using any of the links by CLICKING HERE

Mar 02, 202359:05
Eddie Reese
Feb 23, 202333:15
Bob Bowman

Bob Bowman

Our Great Coach on this episode is Bob Bowman.

Bob is an American swimming coach, who is a four-time member of the U.S. Olympic Team staff, including being the Head Coach of the Men’s team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.   He has so far guided swimmers to 38 Olympic medals, as well as 43 World Records.

Bob is presently the coach of the swim and dive team at Arizona State University. However he is best known as being the coach of the 23-time Olympic gold medalist American swimmer, Michael Phelps.

Bob has great energy, he is fun and engaging and brings a wide array of ideas from the world of music and books to his coaching.

This was a great conversation, with a coach who has worked side by side with the greatest ever Olympian, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Here at the great coaches podcast we’re working to create one of the world’s best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us. You can help support our project, get exclusive content and early access to the Great Coaches Collection by joining our Patreon community. 

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or us using any of the links by CLICKING HERE 

Feb 22, 202334:28
Jock Stein

Jock Stein

Our Great Coach on this episode is the legendary Celtic Football Club coach Jock Stein.

Jock was a Scottish football player and manager.

As a player he also represented Celtic, and was part of their side that won the Scottish league and Scottish Cup double in 1954.

He retired in 1957 and began his career as a Coach, or as said in Football a Manager, in 1960. In 1965 he returned to Celtic as manager and over 13 years led them to ten Scottish league championships including 9 in succession, eight Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups.

However, he is most famous as the first manager of any side from Great Britain to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967.

He then went on to manage the Scottish national team from 1978 until his death in 1985.

Unfortunately, Jock Stein died on the pitch on September 10th 1985. Scotland were playing Wales in a World Cup qualifier and with the score 1-1, Jock collapsed on the sidelines and was pronounced dead soon afterwards in the stadiums medical room.

There is not a lot of recorded footage of Jock, and in what there is he does not talk a lot about himself.

But in this podcast, we have tried to recreate an interview with Jock about his coaching and leadership style using his own words as read by an actor.

We used multiple books and sources to find the words you will hear:

Celtic: Pride and Passion by Jim Craig and Pat Woods

Jock Stein: The Celtic Years by Tom Campbell , David Potter, et al.

Celtic: The Official History by Brian Wilson

Jock Stein: The Definitive Biography by Archie Macpherson

Here at the great coaches podcast we're working to create one of the world's best leadership libraries from the lessons our interview guests share with us. You can help support our project, get exclusive content, and early access to the Great Coaches Collection by joining our Patreon community.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or us using any of the links by CLICKING HERE

Feb 16, 202325:47
Best of Series: Billy Walsh

Best of Series: Billy Walsh

Our Great Coach on this 'best of' episode is Billy Walsh.

Billy is the current head coach of the USA Boxing team. He started boxing at age seven in a Christian Brothers gym in Wexford Ireland. He went on to win seven Irish Senior titles, participated in European and World Championships and represented his country as a welterweight in the 1988 Olympics.

He then transitioned into coaching and was appointed Irish Head Coach in 2003. He was the head coach for 12 years and from 2008 to 2014 the team won 7 Olympic medals, at that point it was 25% of all Olympic medals Ireland has ever won.

In 2015 and again in 2016 he won the Amateur International Boxing Associations World Coach of the Year.

In 2015 he was appointed head coach of USA Boxing, and was charged with returning the program to its prior glory. So far this century only 1 male and 1 female boxer has won gold at the Olympics this century, despite the fact that American boxing is the most decorated program in Olympic history and produced champions like Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leonard, Spinks, and Oscar De La Hoya.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Feb 02, 202340:39
On Purpose
Jan 31, 202313:18
Best of Series: Sue Enquist

Best of Series: Sue Enquist

Our Great Coach on this 'best of' episode is Sue Enquist.

Sue played softball at UCLA from 1975 to 1978. She was a part of the team that won the 1978 Women's College World Series and became UCLA's first All-American softball player.

In 1980 she transitioned into coaching and retired with a career winning percentage of 83. As a coach her teams won 10 national championships, and produced 65 All-Americans and 15 Olympians.

She was also a coach for 1996 Olympic Gold medal winning team.

In 2008 she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame

Sue is a coach who believes in the type of transformational leadership where, in her words, you are more collaborative, truthful and positive in developing skills. She believes that when people feel safe they will go for it when it comes to courage, and that your role as a coach is to be the eyes of the athletes development, and feed them with what she is seeing in their progress.

She is also highly articulate, passionate and a firm believer in the importance of curiosity as a leader to ensure that your program is always changing and developing. She also explains that High performing teams have high standards, expectations, accountability and efficient failure recovery routines.

This was a thought provoking  conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as we did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Jan 27, 202339:06
Best of Series: Gary Kirsten

Best of Series: Gary Kirsten

Our Great Coach on this 'best of' episode is Gary Kirsten.

Gary played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004. He retired as the first ever South African to play in 100 tests, and the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations.

He became the coach of the Indian cricket team in 2008 and led them to win the World Cup 2011, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy vs Australia in 2009, the first ever test series win in New Zealand and to become the become the top-ranked team in Test matches.

In 2011 he was appointed as head coach of South Africa, and led them to also become the #1 ranked test team.

He has also coached the Hobart Hurricanes in the Australian Big Bash League and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

Gary is a coach who is deeply authentic, and comfortable expressing both his own vulnerabilities, and heightened expectations.

He believes that the quality of his coaching is determined by the effectiveness of his facilitation skills, and so is reflective and philosophical about the techniques needed to reach the athletes he leads.

He is that rare breed of person who has been able to reach the pinnacle of his sport as both an athlete and coach, and this lends his story an added layer of credibility, whether it is talking about the deficit of mental skills he experienced as a batsman, or the importance of understanding what the environment requires of you as a leader.

This was a great interview, a real highlight for us, and I hope you enjoy it as much we did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com


Jan 20, 202340:45