#86: Coach Melissa Kutcher — D1 Women's Gymnastics Coach at University of Denver on Motivating Athletes

Of all the motivational buzzwords out there, the term ‘character’ is thrown around a lot. Hiring managers looking for people with ‘high character,’ managers say that random exercises ‘build character,’ so on and so forth. But what does character actually look like? What does it mean? Coach Melissa Kutcher knows the importance of character. It’s how she led the University of Denver Women’s Gymnastics team to 22 consecutive NCAA finals appearances, 2 NCAA individual championships, the 2021 Big 12 Championship, and 5 team NCAA appearances. Since her appointment to head coach at University of Denver’s Women’s Gymnastics in 1998 she’s been awarded the 2019 National Coach of the Year Award, a 2x Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year, 2002s WGC’s Coach of the Year, and a 6x recipient of the North Central Region Coach of the Year. Every year Coach Kutcher is tasked with creating a high performing team while constantly letting go of one batch of her star athletes, while also welcoming a brand new class of student athletes. She gets the importance of building a strong culture, and the importance of recruiting people who can develop character. In a time where the members of your workforce can fluctuate more rapidly than ever, knowing how to develop a winning culture amongst the ups and downs of recruiting and losing people is an invaluable skill, one that Coach Kutcher has mastered during her tenure at University of Denver. This is another episode you won’t want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!