

The Rising Coaches Podcast
Rising Coaches
From young assistants to head coaches, Rising Coaches sits down with some of the brightest minds in basketball to talk about their rise through the profession and what they are working on now.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 3, 2025 • 50min
Episode 133: Ganon Baker, Skills and Development Trainer
Ganon Baker is an experienced Skills Development trainer, KeyNote Speaker, Life Development coach, Consultant and Author. Coach Baker has been in the industry helping athletes from all levels including the youth all the way to the NBA. Baker currently works alongside numerous clients in the NBA, NCAA and WNBA as well as numerous other countries as well. Baker has worked with many players, a few including Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Maya Moore just to name a few. In this episode we learn about what goes into Coach Baker’s workout plans, how he prepares for them in advance to make sure his clients get the best out of their workouts and also some different ways you can best use your communication skills to be the best leader possible.

Jan 30, 2025 • 52min
Episode 132: RJ Allen, Head Coach, Newman University
RJ Allen is the Head Coach at Newman University. Coach Allen has grown himself in the industry, following his playing career at Hutchinson Community College, he started in a Graduate Assistant position at Concordia University. He grew in his role and ended up taking an assistant coach at Woodbury High School before being appointed the Associate Head Coach at Newman University and ultimately being appointed Head Coach, where he has been for 8 seasons. In this episode we talk about some bumps in the road as a first year head coach, how his coaching philosophy has evolved and on their growth so far this season.

6 snips
Jan 27, 2025 • 56min
Episode 131: Ryan Pannone, Assistant Coach, University of Alabama
Ryan Pannone is the Assistant Coach at the University of Alabama, Coach Ryan Pannone. Coach Pannone has worked his way up the coaching ranks holding positions in 5 countries including China, Slovakia, Israeli, Germany and South Korea as well as positions including Wallace State Community College, Erie Bayhawks, New Orleans Pelicans and currently the University of Alabama. Pannone has a strong coaching background and a wealth of knowledge for the game overall as you will come to learn. Pannone speaks on common threads amongst the different countries he has coached in, some of his favorite offensive actions as well as how to build a strong team culture in a program.

Jan 23, 2025 • 52min
Episode 130: Rob Lanier, Head Coach, Rice University
Rob Lanier is the first year Head Coach of Rice University, Coach Rob Lanier. Coach Lanier joins us with a current 141-135 Head Coaching record holding head stints at Siena, Georgia State, SMU and now Rice University. Coach Lanier started his coaching journey at Niagara University as an assistant and held various other assistant positions at St. Bonaventure, Rutgers, Texas, Virginia, Florida and Tennessee.On this episode, we talk about some takeaways Coach Lanier has learned working under legendary coaches Rick Barnes and Billy Donovan, how to grow and maintain a culture as a first year head coach and an overview of the style of play Rice has been looking to incorporate this year.

Jan 20, 2025 • 54min
129: Carlin Hartman, Associate Head Coach, University of Florida
Carlin Hartman is the Associate Head Coach at the University of Florida. Following Hartman’s playing career at Tulane, he played a few years in a Semi Professional league and then right into his first coaching position at Rice. Following Rice, Hartman held various positions at McNeese State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Richmond, Centenary, James Madison, Columbia, Oklahoma, UNLV and currently The University of Florida. In this episode Coach Hartman talks about some of the biggest challenges he has faced in his growth as a coach, how the game of basketball has evolved over his years as a coach as well as how analytics plays a major role in basketball to this day.

Jan 16, 2025 • 53min
Episode 128: Dedrique Taylor, Head Coach, California State Fullerton University
Dedrique Taylor is the Head Coach at California State Fullerton University. Coach Taylor is in his 12th season as a head coach, all while at Cal State Fullerton. Coach Taylor started his coaching career following his playing career at UC Davis and pivoted into various roles at Loyola Marymount, Portland State, Nevada and Arizona State. Looking back on Coach Taylor’s coaching career, we take him back to his first year as a head coach and learn what he would have done differently as a head coach, we dig deeper into some of the biggest challenges he has faced as a head coach as well as how him and his previous teams as an assistant overcame the ups and downs of a season to learn and grow from things the next season.

Jan 13, 2025 • 48min
Episode 127: Jason Hart, Assistant Coach, University of Kentucky
Jason hart is the Assistant Coach at the University of Kentucky, Coach Jason Hart. Coach Hart joins us starting in the AAU circuit as well as High School ranks as a Head Coach at Taft High School following his 9 year NBA Career. Following Coach Hart’s year stint with Taft he has made coaching stops at Pepperdine University, USC, NBA G League Ignite and currently The University of Kentucky. Coach Hart talks to us on this episode about his experiences growing in the ranks from coaching in High School to one of the highest College basketball programs, some things Kentucky and Coach Pope have looked to instill into Kentucky their first year as a staff as well as some differences he has learned coaching in NBA in comparison to College.

Jan 9, 2025 • 54min
Episode 126: Don Showalter, Director of Coach Development and USA Basketball Youth Coach
Don Showalter, a legendary high school and USA Basketball coach with an impressive history of 10 gold medals, shares his coaching journey and philosophies. He discusses the evolution of youth national teams and the importance of adapting to different cultural approaches in training. Highlighting the unique focus on skill development in basketball camps, Showalter emphasizes the necessity of communication and trust among players. His insights on fostering teamwork and measuring success beyond wins provide valuable lessons for coaches at all levels.

Jan 6, 2025 • 49min
Episode 125: Jim Shaw, Associate Head Coach, Stanford University
Jim Shaw is the Associate Head Coach at Stanford University. Coach Shaw joins us with a strong career of winning, while being a part of 19 NCAA tournament teams in his time making stops at Western Oregon State as a player, and holding various assistant positions at Idaho State, Oregon State, University of Portland, Oklahoma, University of Washington, Saint Mary’s, Washington State and Stanford, while also holding a Head Coaching stint at Western Oregon University and posting a 102-30 overall Record as a Head Coach. In this episode, Coach Shaw talks about some things he looks for when searching for that next assistant coaching position, some common threads amongst all of his successful teams and a breakdown of a typical college practice lay out.

Jan 2, 2025 • 48min
Episode 124: Jamie Wood, Founder and CEO of HYPHENATED ATHLETICS
Jamie Wood is the Founder and CEO of HYPHENATED ATHLETICS, Jamie Wood. Jamie Wood joins us as previously holding an assistant athletic director position at Ohio State University as well as formerly being the Assistant Athletic Director of NIL at Texas A&M. Now he currently runs his own company called HYPHENATED ATHLETICS which helps student athletes with their NIL. In this episode we talk heavily on the new elephant in athletics, NIL or Name, Image and Likeness. Jamie talks about what a typical person in a NIL coaching position would handle on a day to day basis, what all NIL consists of for college athletics as well as how coaches best work with their athletes to ensure NIL does not become a distraction in their day to day lives.