Coaches Clubhouse

Few, if any, coaches in college sports came out of the COVID year more impressively than Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes. After missing out on a chance to take her alma mater to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 last year, her program became the breakout stars of this year's March Madness, making their first Final Four in history and taking down perennial juggernaut UConn. She did that all while juggling an infant she gave birth to during the pandemic and a system not set up to support working moms, an issue she was ready to call out in front of the national media. Nicole Auerbach talks to her about all of that, plus her relationship with Aari McDonald and where she can take the program from here.

On this edition of Coaches Clubhouse: The COVID Year, we have an interview that Nicole Auerbach did with Maryland football coach Mike Locksley before the previous Big Ten football season. They discuss how he used his new free time during the early days of the pandemic to start the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches to help promote diversity within his profession. They also talk about the approach he took to prepare his athletes for any number of playing scenarios that could occur due to the uncertainty around the season.

On this episode of Coaches Clubhouse: The COVID Year, Nicole Auerbach talks to East LA College men's basketball coach John Mosley. ELAC and their 2019-2020 campaign were featured on the most recent season of Netflix's hit show "Last Chance U" and Coach Mosley is in the unique position to have his reaction to his sport being shut down due to the pandemic on tape and seen by millions of viewers. He and Nicole discuss how he felt when his team lost an opportunity to compete for a state championship, the struggle to get his players scholarships and the severe strain in junior college athletics still being felt.

As we continue our Season 2 exploration of how coaches from all over the sports world dealt with the COVID year, we turn to a unique circumstance. All of the other coaches we've talked to have long, established relationships with their athletes, but that wasn't the case of Brown University Quarterbacks Coach Heather Marini, who had just gotten her job right before the pandemic shut down the sport. Nicole Auerbach talks to Marini about navigating that transition to a fully virtual coaching schedule, how they dealt with the Ivy League cancelling the 2020 season completely, and what it means for her to be a woman coaching in Division 1 football.

Coaches Clubhouse continues it's deep dive into how coaches dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year with another Olympic coach. This time it's US men's swimming coach Dave Durden. Nicole Auerbach talks to Durden about the relief he felt when the Tokyo games were postponed, how the team was able to find ways to train in the most surreal circumstances and how to develop a schedule when you have no idea what shoe will drop next.

The COVID Year affected all of sports dramatically, but no coaches or athletes were as impacted as those preparing for the Olympics. On March 24th, 2020, the games that were supposed to take place that summer where officially postponed for a year, throwing everything around them into chaos. One of the biggest stars set to appear in the 2020 Summer Olympics was 4-time gold medal winning gymnast Simone Biles and in this episode, Nicole Auerbach talks to her coach, Cecile Landi, about everything that happened with their team and preparation since the delay was announced.

Episode 2 of Coaches Clubhouse: The COVID Year gets you ready for the first March Madness in two seasons by talking Baylor men's basketball head coach Scott Drew. Nicole and Drew discuss losing a chance to win a National Championship last year, coming back to get a 1-seed this season, how his program dealt with the lockdowns and uncertainty and how this experience has brought the best out of coaches and players.

On the first episode of Coaches Clubhouse: The COVID Year, Nicole Auerbach talks to Toronto Raptors Head Coach Nick Nurse. They discuss the confusion around the early days of the pandemic, when it hit the NBA, what he did with his free time during lockdown and the NBA Bubble experience. All of that, plus his new book: "Rapture: Fifteen Teams, Four Countries, One NBA Championship, and How to Find a Way to Win -- Damn Near Anywhere".

Season 2 of Coaches Clubhouse premiers on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Nicole Auerbach is looking back on the year of COVID and how it impacted the world of sports. She's talking to coaches from all over the sports landscape about where they were when their life changed, what they were feeling, and how they dealt with the aftermath.

On the final episode Coaches Clubhouse's first season, Nicole Auerbach talks to longtime NFL head coach Jeff Fisher. His coaching career unofficially started while on injured reserved for the 1985 Bears and over the next three decades he saw stints for five different franchises, and eight different cities, including coming just a yard short of a Super Bowl title. He also found time for his other passion, which is appropriately....fishing.  

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to RB Salzburg Manager Jesse Marsch. After a coaching career in the MLS and with the US Men's National Team, Marsch landed in Austria in 2019 and proceeded to become the first American manager to win a top flight European league, as well as the first American to coach in the Champions League. He's also found time to pursue his other passion, traveling. He and his family have visited almost 70 countries, including a 6 month trip around the world in 2012.

On this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to Hall of Fame Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer. The trailblazing coach has seen first hand the evolution of women's sports in America, from a promising youth player with no organized competitive outlet, to coaching the USA Women's National Team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, with a few college national titles thrown in as well. They also discuss her love of music, which prompted her to take up the piano as a release after the Olympic success.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to Bob Bowman, best known as Michael Phelps' lifelong swimming coach. They discuss how he first came to work with Phelps, the historic run of Olympic success, coaching in college at both Michigan and Arizona State and his other passion...cooking.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to Super Bowl winning head coach Dick Vermeil. He has amazing stories from his time coaching, and winning, at every level of football, like befriending a young graduate assistant named Bill Walsh, stepping away from the game shortly after a run to the Super Bowl and bribing a kicker with a bottle of wine. After growing up in the Napa Valley, he's come full circle and started his own wine label after retiring from football. He discusses his love of wine, and even gives some recommendations.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to D-D Breaux, who just announced her retirement after 43 years leading the LSU Gymnastics program. They discuss how she grew the program from a club sport when she was hired as a graduate student in 1977, into a top 10 powerhouse. She also has a passion for gardening, a hobby she picked up from her parents and is now passing down to her grandchildren.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to longtime Florida State men's basketball coach Leonard Hamilton. They discuss his upbringing in the segregated South, how it centered around church, his winding road as a young basketball coach and the foundational lessons he teaches his players. They also get into his love of gospel music, which led him to start his own gospel record label — 5ive Oceans.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach is joined by longtime DC United skipper Ben Olsen. They discuss how much soccer culture in the US has changed, his deep passion for DC United after playing and coaching at the club for over 20 years and how he was forced to learn on the job after unexpectedly becoming the head man. Plus, they get into his love of art and painting, which lead him to set up his own art studio in The District, where he can get away to really express himself on the canvas.

Inside this edition of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach is joined by Duke Football Head Coach David Cutcliffe. They discuss the secret behind his legendary work with quarterbacks, how he helped rebuild Peyton Manning's career out of a basement, when he knew he wanted to become a coach, and much more. Plus, they dive into his love of books and reading. He gives recommendations for adults, kids and anyone looking to enrich their lives.

On the first episode of Coaches Clubhouse, Nicole Auerbach talks to Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce about how his background shaped him as a leader, how he's stepped up to help promote social justice within the NBA coaching community, and how music builds culture.

Welcome to the Coaches Clubhouse. Join Nicole Auerbach for the first episode, with Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce, on Wednesday, July 8th.