Devin Cannady starred as a basketball player at Princeton University and is now a pro, with experience in the NBA and G League. Devin is also known for developing Isowdev, an simple yet innovative training platform that aims to increase access to skill development for young people. In this episode of the SGG podcast, we discussed: 1.  Playing multiple sports growing up. 2.  The local AAU team that he played on until his sophomore year in high school. 3.  What factored into his decision to change to a national level AAU team, including family sacrifices that had to be made. 4.  The relationships that were important in his AAU journey. 5.  Mentoring his younger brother through his basketball journey. 6.  His mother’s role in leading the family through sports. 7.  How basketball prepared him for success at Princeton. 8.  How and why he developed Isowdev. “It was just a way to stay connected.” 9.  “I can be one of those resources that people have access to.” 10.  “Technology can be a good thing when used properly…There are a lot of things that technology can’t pick up on, such as the feel of the game. There are nuances that make the game of basketball so beautiful. It’s an art form. The way you move is not meant to be rigid and robotic and too technical.” 11.  Creating more access to opportunity in sports.

Intro to SGG special series on youth sports. 

Kevin Bullis is the head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s football team, one of the most successful programs in the country. Beyond leading his team to many victories, Coach Bullis has impacted hundreds of lives in a positive fashion. In this episode of the SGG podcast, we discussed: 1.  The impact of his parents who were always “helpers.” 2.  The coaches who influenced him growing up, including Coach Champ who paid attention to detail, kept things fun, and cared for his players. 3.  What he learned from marching band. 4.  The importance of trust…and knowing “why” things are done on a team. 5.  Knowing what concepts and ideas to adopt…and which don’t fit. 6.  “Failure is not an option. It’s a requirement.” 7.  The importance of identity: “Who am I and why am I here?” 8.  “I am a teacher…I’ve always known that.” 9.  UWW football team identity: “Fast, physical, and disciplined”…using these pillars to be the lens for the program. 10.  Lessons learned in 2017. 11.  Holding others to the same standards he holds himself. 12.  What it means for the head coach to “determine the banks of the river.” 13.  Teaching staff and players to be better teachers. 14.  1% goals (specific each day)…and aiming to get 3% better each day. 15.  What you “see, hear, and feel” at a UWW practice: energy and teaching. 16.  “The only people in our program who are not teachers are freshmen during their first semester.” 17.  Never attaching degradation to teaching: “Degradation is a distraction from learning.” 18.  Building trust through teaching each other. 19.  Doing the ordinary things better than everybody else. 20.  Listening with the eyes. 21.  Taking notes. 22.  Holding doors open for others. 23.  No bullies in the locker room. 24.  Team discussions on race. 25.  Showing people you care.

Pat Cerroni is a WFCA Hall of Fame coach at UW-Oshkosh. Coach Cerroni’s teams have achieved great success on the field, emerging as one of the top D-III programs in the country. But his biggest impacts may be found off the field, where he’s encouraged a culture of leadership service in his team. He joined the SGG podcast and we discussed: 1.  Learning to see and understand the game at a young age. “That was what intrigued me…The ability to see things was given to me.” 2.  Learning from coaches in Johnson Creek. Gary Garin. “That was the guy I wanted to be.” 3.  How his Air Force experience benefited him: “It really gave me confidence…I thought, ‘I can do anything at this point.’” 4.  His brother’s influence on him finding a way into teaching and coaching. 5.  Gaining appreciation for home by leaving and seeing other places. 6.  Being 19 years-old and in charge of a plane. 7.  Learning from other coaches. “I didn’t mind the journey. I started at the very bottom.” 8.  Learning different concepts from Coaches Taraska (Arrowhead) and Young (Catholic Memorial). 9.  Being aware of perceptions of football coaches in high school buildings…and taking active steps to address them. 10.  Being a teacher first at the high school level…and using teaching principles to coach football. 11.  The team’s leadership council. 12.  Establishing new values, a new theme…and a “brand new team” each year. 13.  Knowing when to let others lead: “I have such a strong personality that I realized a long time ago that sometimes I don’t need to be around.” 14.  Allowing the senior leadership council to write the shared values and theme for the year. “The story is this: The day I shut up was the day we started winning games.” 15.  The spring routine of allowing the seniors to run the off-season program. 16.  Learning from John Gagliardi. 17.  Using a business model to run the team: “forming, storming, norming, performing” 18.  Recruiting players that align with team values. 19.  Assigning assistant coaches duties to allow them to indicate their commitment to the team. 20.  How his team found the right fit for community service: “Be the Match” and “EAA (honor flight).” And the impact the partnerships have had on the team. (Brett Kasper)

Monte Burke is a New York Times best-selling author and a former writer and editor for Forbes. As author of Saban: The Making of a Coach, Monte gained unique insight into one of the all-time great coaches. He joined the SGG podcast, where we discussed: 1.  The initial days Monte spent with Coach Nick Saban. The importance of being prepared and demonstrating that he was prepared. 2.  “The greatest role of an interviewer is to be quiet and to really, really listen.” 3.  “All of these people, even the greats, they hear everything. It’s all about how they respond to it.” 4.  How Coach Saban uses the media as another way of conveying his message to players, recruits, and fans. 5.  Saban getting fired by Coach Earl Bruce at Ohio State. 6.  How Saban learned to run a system – including his uneven development at different stops in his professional career. 7.  Using temper flare-ups strategically. 8.  “How you do anything is how you do everything.” 9.  Two sides of Saban: “prickly” and “charismatic.” 10.   Saban’s greatest strength: recruiting. 11.  One of Saban’s initial strategies: Spreading a common message to boosters and getting everyone on the same page. 12.  The role Mrs. Saban plays on the team: gatekeeper and surrogate mother. 13.  Strength coach as “bad cop” on the coaching staff who “sets the tone for the program.” 14.  Putting lots of energy into the “squeaky wheels” on the team. 15.  The importance of routine in Saban’s daily life – and his ongoing discussion of:  “thoughts, habits, and priorities.” 16.  Liking the minutiae of coaching. 17.  “The dangers of ‘relief syndrome.’” 18.  Broader leadership lessons from Coach Saban. 19.  Breaking things down in “little systematic ways.” 20.  Pete Carroll. 21.  Obsessions found in leaders…and some of the down sides associated with being obsessive.

Gunnar Roberge grew up playing multiple sports in Sparta and then Seymour, Wisconsin. Gunnar went on to play football at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a multi-year contributor. He joined SGG for the final episode of our special series on football in the state. We discussed: 1.  Starting football at a young age in Sparta, Wisconsin – and being “a big teddy bear.” 2.  The benefits of being on a sports team. “The most valuable piece for me personally was just the sense of family.” 3.  “A lot of my childhood, and even now, I’ve tried to seek out positive adult male role models… And luckily I’ve been fortunate that many of my coaches throughout my football career did a good job filling that role.” 4.  Seymour football coach Matt Molle: “He’s a family man. He taught me about positive masculinity. He taught me it’s good and ok to be emotional. It’s ok to say ‘I love you’ to other men. It’s ok to talk about your feelings. And he taught us all that while at the same time being a hard-nosed football coach.” 5.  His “trust, commit, care” bracelet at Seymour HS – and the powerful story of Coach Molle sharing his own bracelet with Gunnar. “He’ll literally give you the shirt off his back.” 6.  Coach Molle being the first person Gunnar called after his brother passed away. 7.  “The thing about your teammates is that they become your brothers.” 8.  Playing football in “small town America.” 9.  How family helped him throughout his sports journey. 10.  “The person who has had the biggest influence on my life and on my sports journey is definitely my mother. My mother is my hero.” 11.  His mother always ensuring that he got what he needed to be successful in sports. “No matter what was going on, she was always there to support me.” 12.  The poem Gunnar shared with the team at one point during the season: The Station by Robert Hastings. 13.  Gunnar’s football dreams as a 17-year old…and how some of those dreams did not come to realization. 14.  Changing his definition of success in football: Sharing ownership in the team’s success. 15.  “The relationships I had with teammates is what mattered most with me.” 16.  “Imposter syndrome” in college. 17.  Learning to live more in the moment. 18.  “I didn’t get the stadiums full of people chanting my name, but I still had to find something to enjoy about that experience.” 19.  When his career had just ended … and the moments right after that Rose Bowl defeat. 20.  What Gunnar is doing now…and what he aspires to do in the future. 21.  Learning to enjoy school during a time when he was injured. 22.  Would he do it all again?

Seth Davis is a college basketball reporter for CBS Sports, a managing editor at The Athletic, and the author of Wooden: A Coach’s Life and Getting to Us: How Great Coaches Make Great Teams. He joined the SGG podcast to share insights on some of the great coaches he’s covered over the years. We discussed: 1.  What he learned covering high school sports for the New Haven Register: Coaches aren’t that different across levels. 2.  His memory of Gary Palladino, a legendary high school basketball coach in Connecticut telling his player, “I love you!” 3.  A main indicator of coaching quality in youth sports: Demeanor. How are they talking to their players? 4.  Wherever you’re coaching, it’s all about the relationships and authenticity. 5.  Out-coaching the pros in the USA Basketball Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas – winning the gold medal!  “They loved that I cared so much!” 6.  The relationships between coaches from different schools – and why there tends to be more collegiality among basketball coaches. 7.  The peer pressure of giving back at clinics, etc. John Wooden saying, “If you don’t do it, they say you’re a high hat.” 8.  “There’s a real camaraderie among coaches.” 9.  “Whatever business you’re in, you find that it’s a small community. That’s why I say be nice to everybody. Treat everybody well. Because you don’t know where they’re going to be…The same people you on the way up, you’ll see on the way down. 10.  How Armen Keteyian supported him at a key career juncture. 11.  Simple tip for how to operate in whatever line of work you’re in: “Be a mench!” 12.  What should we think about with regard to finding the right fit in terms of where to coach? “Happiness.” 13.  Coaches who “avoid the joy” for fear of losing their edge. 14.  Coaches finding comfort amid tension and adversity. 15.  Recalling Dick Vitale’s words: “I’m at my best as a parent when my kids are going through something tough.” 16.  “Controlling the controllables.” 17.  The challenges that families of coaches face. 18.  Why Seth doesn’t create “hot seat” lists: “I’m not just looking at a coach. I’m looking at a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a boss of a staff. So there’s a lot more involved than just the person who’s in that chair.”

Steve Jones is the head football coach at Kimberly High School in Wisconsin. He has won multiple championships as well as state and national coaching awards. Coach Jones also teaches leadership courses at the high school and is recognized as a dynamic speaker on leadership development. In this SGG episode, we discuss: To learn more, refer to Coach Jones’ Twitter feed; a brief article and video about the culture of Coach Jones’ program; a short article describing a couple of his keys to sustained success; and short article describing his team’s formula. 1.  His family experiences growing up – especially learning from his brother with disabilities. 2.  The impact that a fifth-grade teacher had on his life. 3.  His daily habits: reading, taking care of his mind and body, early-day inspiration, making intentional contact with people who need him. 4.  “Leading by ‘intentional’ wandering around.”  5.  Servant leadership – what it is and how it takes shape on his team.  6.  Why he doesn’t talk about winning, rather the “habits of winners.” 7.  Kimberly’s camp for kids with special needs. 8.  Centering love in the football program. 9.  Planting seeds as a leader. 10.  The unique positives offered by football. 11.  The ultimate goal of the program. 12.  Kimberly football’s mental skills program – focus on “being present.” 13.  Getting players to find their “performance number.” 14. His struggle to enjoy the process.

Wquinton “Q” Smith was a standout football and basketball player at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee before becoming a point guard for the University of Wisconsin’s Men’s Basketball team. Q joined the SGG podcast, where we discussed: 1.  What Rufus King is known for: academics and basketball. 2.  The “Wall of Fame” at King. 3.  The neighborhood surrounding King High School. 4.  What makes King such a good school. “Everybody takes pride in it.” 5.  Playing football in the Neighborhood Children’s Sports League growing up. “It prepared me.” 6.  Why Q nearly quit football after his freshman year of high school. 7.  What Q didn’t like about football. 8.  Sub-par facilities and equipment for the football team at King. 9.  How King’s identity as an academic and basketball school may have served as a barrier to the team’s football program. 10.  “If you build it, they will come.” 11.  Why some kids at King couldn’t go out for football. 12.  Dwindling football participation across the country. 13.  Building character and friendships through football. 14.  “Football helped me branch out and meet different people…Once I started playing football, I started opening up to people and trusting people more. And I brought that with me to UW-Madison.” 15.  Ensuring all kids opportunities for out of school sport development.

Art Rainwater was the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District from 1998 until 2008. He later served as a revered faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Art was formerly a football coach in Arkansas and Texas, as well as a school principal in Alabama. In this SGG episode, we discussed: 1.  His high school football and basketball coaches being “people I could talk to.” 2.  Starting a little league in his Arkansas hometown. 3.  Why he asked the coach of his college if he could join the team as a scout team member: “You really need to experience the things you’re asking people to do.” 4.  Keeping in touch with players he coached 55 years ago. 5.  The school administrator in Texas who first recognized his administrative potential, and the innovative way he prepared Art for a leadership role. 6.  In the coach-player relationship, “kids see through you… you can only be honest if you’re going to be successful with them.” 7.  “The ability to lead is based solely on trust and trust can only occur if you’re truthful.” 8.  Success stories of families he’s worked with, including the Flowers family at LaFollette High School in Madison. 9.  What he looked for in building a leadership team. 10.  Non-negotiable beliefs. 11.  Providing developmental and leadership opportunities for members of your staff. 12.  His daily routines as a leader, including detailed planning, early starts, and generous time allotted each week for individual team members. 13.  Carving out time for reflection. 14.  Being conscious of power in relationships.