Coach Anson Dorrance is the Head Coach of the University of North Carolina’s Women’s Soccer Team. He’s the only Head Coach in program history, having coached 45 seasons as the Women’s Head Coach. He’s won over 1000 games and he’s won 22 National Championships. He has coached some of the best soccer players of all time and won a World Cup with the Women’s Soccer Team.
Read MoreJack Easterby is one of the country’s most respected leaders in sports management and sports leadership circles. He has been a chaplain, author, consultant and frequent speaker at conferences and seminars throughout the nation. Easterby is in his 5th season as a Team Character Coach as well as a Director of Team Development for the NFL’s New England Patriots in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Read MoreDusty May is the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Florida Atlantic University. You may have heard of Dusty and his program based on last season’s success in college basketball. They won 35 games and they became a darling during the NCAA tournament, when they made it to the Final Four in an incredible run.
Read MoreJoe Alberici is currently the Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach at Army – West Point. Army Lacrosse has become a contender. They beat the University of Maryland lacrosse team last year in the NCAA tournament; Maryland had won the National Championship the year before. So, he is coaching high level lacrosse players who also have a pride and a determination and a desire to serve our country. This conversation is a masterclass in humility, in confidence, in belief, and in having values and principles and being led by those.
Read MoreLes Snead is the General Manager of the Los Angeles Rams, a position he’s held for 11 years. In his role as General Manager, he partners with Head Coach Sean McVay to direct all personnel decisions for the football team. His tenure has been marked by strategic, aggressive moves that have created a strong core nucleus of talent and depth throughout the roster. If you follow the NFL, you know that the LA Rams have had a lot of success lately; Under Les’s leadership, they went to the Super Bowl in 2019 and they won the Super Bowl in 2022.
Read MoreTobin Anderson is the Men’s Basketball Head Coach at Iona University. He’s in his first year there, and you may recognize Tobin and his name from last season when he was the Head Coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University in their Men’s Basketball program. They shocked the world; they beat #1 Purdue in the NCAA Tournament, they actually won a game before that to enter the NCAA Tournament, and Tobin and his team became a Cinderella story, sort of the sweetheart of college basketball last year, having only been the second team to win as a 16 seed over a 1 seed.
Read MoreRyan Poles is currently the General Manager of the Chicago Bears. Prior to that, he spent 13 years working with the Kansas City Chiefs and helping to build the Super Bowl Champion that they are today. He was heavily involved in the scouting and bringing on the players that you see dominating the NFL today. Ryan also played football at a very high level; he played offensive line for Boston College, and his quarterback at the time was Matt Ryan.
Read MoreCoach Sam Puryear is the Head Coach and the Director of Golf at Howard University. Coach has a ton of accolades: he’s produced one National Championship, he’s won the Big Ten Championship when he was at Michigan State, he coached at Stanford where he was an assistant coach, he’s gotten two coach of the year honors, he’s won a ton of awards, and coach is also an author of the book Diamonds in the Rough.
Read MoreRyan Lavarnway was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round in 2008 out of Yale University. Since making his Major League debut in 2011, Ryan has played in parts of 10 Major League Baseball seasons for eight different teams. He has also represented Israel in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. More recently Ryan has been building a brand off the field, starting with his podcast and website with more to come!
Read MoreLauren Fleshman is one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time. She also is a brand strategy advisory for Oiselle, which is a fitness apparel company for women. She was sponsored by Nike for many years, which she talks about at length in her book, Good for a Girl. She’s also the co-founder of Picky Bars, which is a natural food company. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Runner’s World, and many other places.
Read MoreClint Hurdle has been involved with professional baseball for a long time. He played in the league for 10 years, where he played for the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Clint was the manager of the Colorado Rockies form 2002-2009, where he helped them go to the World Series, and then he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he helped them go to 3 straight playoff appearances from 2013-2015. He was with the Pirates from 2011-2019.
Read MoreFor 25 years, Sherri Coale served as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Oklahoma where she is the winningest women’s basketball coach in OU history. She built a powerhouse program in Norman that appeared in 19 straight NCAA tournaments and competed in three Final Fours. During her illustrious career at the University of Oklahoma, in addition to coaching the Sooners, Coale participated in USA Basketball as an assistant coach. She is an author, a master motivator, an engaging speaker, a gifted writer, and a keen observer of everyday life.
Read MoreBronco Mendenhall is one of the more interesting sports coaches I’ve interviewed on this podcast. What makes Bronco interesting is not that he was the Head Coach of Brigham Young University’s football program from 2005-2015, and not that he was the Head Coach of the University of Virginia’s football program form 2016-2021. What makes Bronco so interesting is that he intentionally walked away from the University of Virginia football program to take a year off.
Read MoreTara VanDerveer is an absolute legend in the world of basketball. She’s a hall-of-famer, she’s a 5X National Coach of the Year in College Basketball, she’s won 3 NCAA Division I titles, she’s been to 13 Final Fours, and she’s won a gold medal with USA Basketball. Her awards and accolades are up there with just about any college coach, and she’s the all-time leader in wins in women’s basketball.
Read MoreOlajuwon Ajanaku, the Founder of Eastside Golf grew up in East Atlanta. He gained a golf scholarship to Morehouse College and won a National Championship alongside his co-founder, Earl Cooper.
Earl Cooper is a PGA Professional and currently ranked as one of the best young teachers in America by Golf Digest. He has worked as the first African American golf professional at Detroit Golf Club and Wilmington Country Club.
Read MoreMarc Riccio is the CEO of USA Lacrosse, a nearly 400,000-member organization that serves as the governing body of the sport in the United States. Prior to joining USA Lacrosse, Marc was the Chief Commercial Officer for KlarisIP, a boutique intellectual property and media consultancy. Marc spent 17 seasons leading business operation and development for the New York Jets (NFL) and he worked for Hofstra University, leading marketing and development for intercollegiate athletics.
Read MoreMichael Lombardi is a former NFL General Manager, a 3X Super Bowl Champion, and somebody who thinks deeply about leadership. He has a daily newsletter with George Raveling called The Daily Coach which aims to be inspiration for people around leadership. Michael is also the author of Gridiron Genius.
Read MoreWill Gadd is a professional mountain sports athlete, speaker, guide, writer and TV guy. He shares the lessons he’s learned leading teams into high-risk environments through presentations on risk, resiliency, chaos and leadership.
Read MoreFran Fraschilla has been an ESPN college basketball analyst, the director of USA Basketball’s 3-on-3 National Team, and the head coach at St. John’s, along with other schools. Fran had lots of success in his coaching career, which he started from a very young age. Even though he’s often heard from listeners on TV, at his core he is a coach. Fran is somebody who’s become an expert when it comes to basketball, but he’s really someone who loves to learn. He thinks deeply about leadership, culture, and mindset.
Read MoreVal Ackerman was named the fifth Commissioner of the BIG EAST Conference on June 26, 2013. She previously served as an attorney and executive at the National Basketball Association, was the founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association, and is a past President of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball program. She also served for two terms as the U.S. representative to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
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