Coach 360: A Podcast For High School Coaches

"When I was growing up, we just did whatever coach told us to do. Today, that's not enough. You've got to model it." In this episode, we speak to A.D. and football coach, Chad Olson out west in Pecos, TX about his program's core values of Effort, Attitude, Guts, Love, Energy, and Sacrifice... E.A.G.L.E.S. We focus in on SACRIFICE, and how the same discipline that carries your athlete through a 6:30 AM workout will pay dividends in the real world as husbands, fathers, employees, and employers.  Key Takeaways: - Being a positive force for your athletes doesn't mean you're soft or easy on them - What is the role of a coach when tragedy strikes? 

Any athletic program needs a solid foundation in relationships. Relationships between athletes and coaches, as well as between the school and the community. Relationships are about getting to know each other and spending time together. Relationships are about caring for each other beyond what we can get out of the other person. In this episode, Coach Ruben Garcia offers down-to-earth advice for coaches about relationships, teaching athletes and assistant coaches to be leaders, and sticking to your guns. Key Takeaways: -Relationship should be a program's foundation. -Everybody has a story; it's up to the individual to make it a successful one. -Teach your athletes and assistant coaches how to be leaders.   To learn more about the 2Word Character Development curriculum email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.

Relationships are built on trust. If our athletes don't trust us, then we won't be able to build strong relationships with them. Without strong relationships, we can't help them become the best young men and women they can be. We can't just tell our athletes that they can trust us because trust is built slowly over time by both our words and our actions. In this episode, Coach Brandon Hankins tells us how to show athletes that they can trust us so that we can help them reach their full potential. Key Takeaways: -Don't tell your athletes they can trust you; show them. -Be involved in the community you live in. -Always be loyal and treat people right.   To learn more about our 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website, www.2words.tv/gameplan.

Being a coach isn't about you. It's not about your success; it's about the students' success. How our your athletes successful? How are you helping them to be ever more successful? Ensuring the success of others is what coaching is all about. In this episode, Coach Seth Stinton reminds us that coaching is never about us. Instead, it's about the kids and the journey we get to take them on. Key Takeaways: -Be positive and support others. -Loyalty is doing what's in the best interest of others. -It's never about us; it's about the kids and the journey you take with them.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.

This week, Mackey talks with retiring US Army Lieutenant Colonel Ingebrigt A.L. “Andy” Riise.   Andy is a Mental Performance Coach, Consultant, Speaker, and Author who passionate is helping individuals, leaders, and teams get better at what they do. A West Point graduate and former Army Football player, he had a decorated 20 year career, leading soldiers in a variety of austere missions highlighted by three combat deployments, strategic missions on four continents, and five years in two elite Special Forces units.   They talk football, the importance of coaches, and Andy’s new book, Deliberate Discomfort: How US Special Operations Forces Overcome Fear and Dare to Win by Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable.   As if all that wasn’t enough, Andy is also a key leader at the Texas A&M Coaching Academy and instrumental in the Veterans to Coaching program.   

Most students dislike tests. But tests are valuable and even necessary because they allow us to see where we stand. When we know where we are, then we can figure out how to get where we want to be. In this episode, Mackey explains the value of testing our athletes so they (and we) know where they are--not to judge or label, but to help them move forward to reach their full potential. Key Takeaways -The value of a test is that we see where we are. -When we see where we are, we can see the path forward. -We must continually test ourselves to come to grips with the truth of where we are.

Does winning in sports really matter? Yes, it does. But perhaps not for the reasons that we immediately think of. The value of winning isn't in beating another person, and it's not in the accolades that come from a win. The true value of winning is in how it pushes us to prepare and compete to our greatest ability. In this way, winning in sports teaches us to win in life. In this episode, Mackey breaks down the value of winning and why the most successful people learn how to win well. Key Takeaways -The most successful people are the ones who can take things going wrong and make them right. -The value of winning in athletics is how it teaches us to win in life. -We must learn to value the process over the results.

The main reason given for not establishing character development as a routine part of an athletic program is lack of time. But here's the truth about time: We make time for what we value. If we "don't have time" for character development, it's because we don't value it enough. In this episode, Mackey explains that we have to take control of making time for the things that we value. We are responsible for making things like character development a priority and organizing our time accordingly. Key Takeaways -It's not about the amount of time you spend on character development; it's about the quality and intentionality of that time. -If we don't audit our time, we're likely wasting our time. -Don't let what you cannot control keep you from controlling what you can.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit www.2words.tv/gameplan

The most dangerous racism is implicit racism, the kind that we think we've already dealt with when we haven't. We can't fight racism like this in the world until we deal with that racism in ourselves. That means we have to call right, right and wrong, wrong. We've got to prepare to face racism, to protect each other from its effects, to protest until peace is found, and to press on to the end. Those are the 4 Ps of racism, and in this episode of Coach360, Mackey dives in on how we can use each of them to fight racism. Key Takeaways: -You can't change racism in the world until you deal with the racism in you. -The product of protest will be peace. -Call right, right and wrong, wrong.

Coaches are important figures in the lives of young adults everywhere. To be a great coach requires passion. It requires an eagerness for more truth, more knowledge, and ever greater improvement. Being a coach is a tough but rewarding job, and we could all use additional resources to help us become the best coaches that we can be. In this episode, Coach360 speaks with Dr. John Thornton of the Coaching Academy at Texas A&M University, which is built for the prospective coach or current coach, regardless of experience level.  Key Takeaways: -We don't know what we don't know. -The intelligent person is eager for more truth. -You have to be passionate to be a coach. If you want to learn more about the Coaching Academy and the resources they provide, please visit www.coachingacademy.tamu.edu or email coachingacad@tamu.edu.

You don't have to get sick to be affected by the pandemic. Everyone is experiencing loss due to COVID-19, whether that's loss of a season, loss of experiences, or loss of loved ones. Going through this difficult time is naturally going to bring up a lot of emotions, and it's not uncommon to feel like you're on an emotional roller coaster. In this episode, Mackey explains that it's okay to grieve, but it's not okay to stay in that grief for too long. At some point, you've got to go from grief to giddy up. Key Takeaways: -COVID-19 can’t take away your value or your worth. -It will take more strength to ask someone to help you than to cope alone, but that is the only way to truly heal. -It's okay (and even necessary) to grieve, but it's not okay to stay grieving for too long.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.   If you haven't listened to the Virtual Mackey Leadership Camp Sessions, head on ove

Starting in a new career is tough. Whether you've been in the job market for a while before taking up coaching or whether coaching is your first job, there's a lot to learn. But perhaps the most important lesson is: Never stop learning. There's a lot of good stuff in this episode for all coaches, but especially for beginners, so don't forget to take notes and learn as much as you can! Key Takeaways: -Continually grow your coaching toolbox. -Take notes and learn as much as you can. -Don't just be a coach; be a teacher, too.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.   If you haven't listened to the Virtual Mackey Leadership Camp Sessions, head on over to youtube/mackeyspeaks and give it a listen!

Bad days happen to everyone. But not everyone has the character and preparation to respond to bad days in a way that turns those bad days to growth. The good news is that everyone can develop the character and learn how to prepare to do this. There is nothing wrong with having bad days; they are just part of being human. But if you can turn those bad days into growth days, if you can be the kind of person who handles failure and setbacks with a growth mindset, then you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. In this episode, Mackey provides encouragement to push through the bad day to the growth that is waiting on the other side.  Key Takeaways: -No matter how much you prepare, it is guaranteed that something will go wrong. -Set goals that are worthy of your talents. -Be the kind of person that does what they say they will do, no matter how difficult it is.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gam

We tend to think of the expectations we set for our athletes as minimums, but in reality, those expectations are generally ceilings. In other words, coaches and athletes are going to rise to the expectations that are set, and go no farther unless we adjust the expectations to a higher standard each time they reach it. In this episode, Coach Tony Daniels reminds us that coaches set the expectations for their athletes, so when our athletes reach those expectations, we've got to move the bar just a little higher to encourage them to keep growing. Key Takeaways: -It's about more than X's and O's; it's about becoming young men and women. -Embrace the grind. -Learn from those older or in a higher position than you.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please contact Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.

Success isn't final, and failure isn't fatal. Success will always be interrupted by failure at some point, and failure is necessary for finding success. You can't have one without the other because failure and success go hand in hand. It is only through failure that we learn and grow in the ways necessary for us to find success. In this episode, Coach Bill Blankenship talks about failure, correction, and what both of those things mean for our athletes, Key Takeaways: -Failing is a huge component of finding success. -Earn your athletes' trust before you correct them. -Use failure as an opportunity for growth.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.

Culture is crucial to success. It's true in business, it's true in the family, and it's definitely true in the locker room. Culture is the soundbite encapsulating what the athletic program or team is really like to be a part of. It's what athletes say about their team to their non-athletic friends or their family. In this episode, we talk with Coach Kevin Flanigan, who explains that a program's culture is determined by it's leadership. If you want to have a great team culture, you've got to be a great leader. Key Takeaways: -Trust should be the foundation of your program. -The true value you place on something is the time you invest in it. -The leadership of a team dictates the culture, which dictates the behaviors, which dictates the results.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.  

Servant leadership means serving first. A servant leader understands that he or she must serve others to find success in life. A servant leader also becomes closer to his or her team through their service to their teammates and the wider community. When a team serves together, it brings them closer together. In this episode, Coach Tony Benedetto gives us advice for how coaches can build servant leaders in their locker rooms.  Key Takeaways: -When athletes serve others together, they become more of a team. -Be explicit about requiring athletes to serve others. -Know every athletes' name and something about them.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.  

Sports teach us many lessons that will be useful for the rest of our lives. We are trying to reach students through athletics to teach them the skills and values that will help them find success beyond the game. Sports people have a lot of wisdom to share from their time on the field or court. So in this episode, we are speaking with Jeff Traylor, Head Football Coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and he gives us some pearls of wisdom about using our gifts and talents for the good of others, having a humble heart, and getting back up when we get knocked down.  Key Takeaways: -The gifts and talents you have are not just for you. They're for you to give to others. -Have the heart of a humble competitor. -Be empathetic to how others feel.   To learn more about the 2Words Character Development Curriculum, email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan.

Life is not all about sports, but sports is all about life. The things that our student-athletes learn in practice and during games will help them well beyond the field, so long as we are intentional about passing on the most important lessons. For example, one of the core values we can teach our athletes is that regardless of what life throws at us or how many setbacks we encounter, it is always possible to win the day by giving our best in everything that we do. In this episode, Coach JD Berna explains this "win the day" mindset. Key Takeaways: -Be creative and passionate about growth. -Life is not all about sports, but sports is all about life. -Everything that you do, you want to be the best.   To learn more about our 2Words Character Development Curriculum, email Colton at colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan3. 

We have an influence on our student-athletes' lives. Our words to them matter, so we have to be careful what we say to these young people. They are dealing with middle and high school, the two places where everyone's self-identity is tested over and over again. Our athletes will become what they think they are, so we have to be sure that our words convey their worth, both as members of the team and as individuals. In this episode, Coach Kenneth Loyd reminds us that everything speaks to something, and everybody is somebody. Key Takeaways: -Everything speaks to something. -Everybody is somebody. -You are what you think you are.   To learn more about our 2Words Character Development Curriculum, please email Colton at Colton@2words.tv or visit our website at www.2words.tv/gameplan3