The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

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 WoodsJock Stein: The Celtic Years by Tom Campbell , David Potter, et al.Celtic: The Official History by Brian WilsonJock Stein: The Definitive Biography by Archie MacphersonIf 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.comYou can find more of our Great Coaches content or follow us on your favourite social media platforms by CLICKING HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is something a little different, Grant and Paul are joined by Dr. Gavin Weeks to discuss Purpose. Gavin is a Doctor of Psychology, an Associate Fellow at Oxford Said Business School and a Partner at the consultancy Thompson Harrison. And why is it a little different? Because today in our conversation, we discuss the overlap between coaching, the corporate world and psychology when it comes to the topic of Purpose; a topic that is gaining significant attention and discussion in all of these spheres are present. 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.comGavin can be reached through his company's website: https://www.thompsonharrison.com/You can find more of our Great Coaches content or follow us on your favourite social media platforms by CLICKING HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 FameSue 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Thomas FrankThomas is the Head Coach of Brentford FC in the English Football League Championship.He started his career coaching youth teams in Denmark. His success with the National Under 17 team led to his first senior appointment with Brondby in the Danish Superliga in 2013. He turned their performance around delivering top four performances in successive years.In 2016 he joined Brentford as an Assistant Coach before becoming their manager in 2018.At the end of 2019 season he was awarded Manager of the Year and in May 2021, Brentford beat Swansea for promotion into to the English Premier League for the first time in 74 years.Thomas is an emotionally intelligent coach with an innate understanding of the dynamics that shape the culture of teams.His beliefs about the importance of humility, and the value of hard work and standards are timeless. He understands that to experience the joy of success, you must endure long periods of struggle, and yet through care and what he calls, appreciative enquiry, you can sustain the energy needed to continue on.This was a wonderful conversation with a coach on the rise, and I hope you enjoy it as much 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is on the topic of Underdogs and we are joined for the discussion by Sean Murray who has just written a terrific book about the 1984 USA Volleyball team that won the Olympic Gold medal. His book is called, If Gold Is Our Destiny: How a Team of Mavericks Came Together for Olympic Glory.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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.comSean can be reached through his website: https://www.realtimeperformance.com/ or email: seanm@realtimeperformance.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays episode is on the topic of Values, and it features audio quotes from 22 coaches that we have interviewed on the podcast.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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is American women's basketball coach Brenda FreseWhile injured as a player at the University of Arizona, Brenda volunteered as an assistant coach at Pima Community College. After graduation in 1994 she started as an assistant coach at Kent State.In 1999 she was appointed into her first Head Coach role at Ball state and then in 2002 to the University of Maryland. Her success with Maryland places her in the elite levels of women’s basketball, the highlights of which are:· 2006 NCAA Championship· the 2009 and 2012 ACC Championships· Big Ten champions in 2015· 4x Big Ten Coach of the Year (2002, 2015, 2019, 2021); National Coach of the year awards in 2021, 2013 and 2002· And a winning % of 78 at the end of the 2021 season.Brenda is the type of calm, spirited leader who can see a clear path forward when the anxiety within the team is at its apex.She is able to regulate her emotions, and response in such a way that it matches the moment and helps to build self-belief in others. She demands a lot from her athlete and support team, but you have the impression that she also gives more than she gets.There were many key parts of this interview but some of the key points that stayed with me afterwards were:Her view that great coaches are able to connect with people in a way that makes the person feel like they are worth a million dollars.Her view that women in leadership positions need to move beyond being grateful and lead the change they want to see.Her focus on positivity and bringing confident energy into practices and game day; as she this enables you to produce the best performance that you are capable of.This was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is the Vince Lombardi. Vince Lombardi was an American Football coach who is best remembered as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960’s, where he led the team to 5 National Football League championships, including the first ever Superbowl in 1966. He finished his coaching career in the NFL with a winning % of 74, and a post season winning rate of 90%. He is considered to be one of the greatest coaches in American Football history, and the trophy awarded to the Super bowl winner is named in his honor. Vince Lombardi passed away in 1970, however we are going to reconstruct an interview with him, by using his exact words. I used 4 key books to find the words you will hear, and the words are 99% Vince Lombardi’s, with the occasional addition of a conjunctive word, or pronoun to connect phrases. What It Takes to Be #1: Vince Lombardi on Leadership, by Vince Lombardi When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi Paperback by David Maraniss Vince: A Personal Biography of Vince Lombardi Paperback by Michael O'brien Vince Lombardi on Leadership: Life Lessons from a Five-Time NFL Championship Coach Paperback by Pat Williams and Jim Denney 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 paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.