The Dynamic Leadership Podcast

New Indiana State Head Men's Basketball Coach Josh Schertz joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss his keys to growing and maintaining success at his previous institution, Lincoln Memorial, how he plans to bring his culture of success to Indiana State and much more.   2:22 – What were the keys to maintaining the success you had at Lincoln Memorial? 7:27 – Did you alter your approach each year or do you have a formula you repeat each year? 13:44 – At a program that has had success, how do you fit the culture you want to instill into what it takes to win at Indiana State? 18:49 – How will you handle failure at your new program when you are so accustomed to winning? 24:26 – What would you say is the one thing that separates your teams and their successes from others?

Vanderbilt Head Women's Basketball Coach Shea Ralph joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss preparing to run her own program as an assistant, establishing a winning culture, the art of recruiting, her definition of leadership and much more.   1:35 - What did you do to prepare yourself as an assistant coach for the day when you're going to run your own program? 3:36 - Can you give me an example of that something specific where you put yourself in an uncomfortable position to help grow? 9:41 - What were you looking for when you put your staff together? 12:55 - How do you go about establishing a winning culture in a program that's not used to winning? 16:08 - Do you have a definition of leadership for your team and how would you describe your leadership approach as a coach? 17:47 - Who's the best leader you've ever played with or you've ever coached and what made them so special? 22:45 - Is a competitive edge something you can recruit or can you teach that? 26:00 - If I were to come to one of your practices at Vanderbilt, how am I going to describe it when I walk away?

Tennessee State Head Men's Basketball Coach Brian “Penny” Collins joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss how his experience as a player at Belmont impacts his philosophy today, recruiting the right student-athletes, influences on his coaching style, his tenure thus far at Tennessee State and much more.   0:59 – Going into your first head coaching job at Columbia State, did you feel prepared when you took over? 1:56 – What did you learn when you first became a head coach? 3:09 – Playing under Coach Rick Byrd at Belmont, what made him such a good coach? 4:19 – How was the adjustment as a freshman in college joining a structured program in college? 5:18 – Did your strict culture as a player impact how you target prospective student-athletes? 6:07 – What are some of your non-negotiables as a coach? 7:42 – In recruiting, how do you balance talent, character and culture fit? 9:48 – As a high school coach, what did your dad instill in you that you carry forward as a head coach today? 13:44 – What was your plan early in your tenure at Tennessee State and how did you execute that plan? 15:41 – How does the tradition as a school and tradition as a basketball program at Tennessee State help what you're doing? 18:25 – What are your practices like? 19:43 – How do you ensure your players are competing hard and at a high level? 21:37 – What is one book you would recommend a young coach to read?

Michigan Head Men's Soccer Coach Chaka Daley joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss Daley's leadership approach and preparing to be a head coach at 26 years old, communicating with individual student-athletes, the growth in his leadership style, creating his staff to complement his weaknesses and the important characteristics of his most successful teams.   1:26 – What was your approach and how did you prepare to be a head coach at 26 years old? 6:04 – How have to grown to communicate with each of your players differently? 9:23 – How important is culture in soccer and how different are the leadership dynamics on a soccer team? 13:21 – Did you form your staff with the differing mentalities of players at different positions in mind? 16:45 – What are the most important characteristics from your most successful teams? 19:50 – Over the last 20 years as a head coach, how has your leadership style evolved?

VCU Head Men's Basketball Coach, Mike Rhoades, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss what Rhoades learned from his Division III coaching experience, becoming a head coach at 25 years old, how his head coach experience made him a better Division I assistant, his leadership style and how it has developed throughout his career and more.   1:11 – How did your Division III playing experience impact your desire to be a coach and your approach to coaching? 2:18- Taking over the Randolph Macon at 25 years old, how did you prepare for that as an assistant coach? 3:57 – Had you even started thinking about becoming a head coach and your philosophy when you took over at 25? 9:05 – How would you describe your leadership approach as a head coach at age 25? 11:00 – How did your leadership style adjust as you developed as a head coach? 12:26 – Was it a tough decision to leave Randolph Macon to go back and be an assistant and how did it impact your ability to be an effective assistant? 14:18 – As an assistant under Shaka Smart, what makes him so good? 16:27 – When you took over as the head coach at Rice, how did you approach building the culture and adapting your leadership style? 20:13 – At Rice, when you were not having as much success, was it a struggle to get the student-athletes to buy in and stay bought in? 22:46 – How much has your leadership approach evolved as a coach throughout your career?

Bryant Head Men's Lacrosse Coach, Mike Pressler, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss Pressler's leadership approach and evolution over his 35 years as a head coach, the importance of captains on his team, team building, preparing for and handling adversity, and much more.   1:06 – How would you define your approach to leadership and building a team? 2:28 – How do you look for and define leaders on your team? 6:12 – How do you handle when a student-athlete is selected a captain, but may not fit the leadership mold? 10:35 – Do you find your captains have to be a top player to have credibility with the team or can a backup serve in that role? 12:49 – How has your leadership approach changed or evolved over your 35 years as a head coach? 15:51 – Having been to your practices, how do you emphasize and demand such a high level of communication? 18:04 – You said confident players are better communicators. If a student-athlete is not communicating enough on the field, do you have to coach their confidence? 19:19 – As a coach, do you ever feel that you need to take a step back and allow the team to communicate? 21:37 – How do you set your team up to deal with adversity?

Cincinnati Head Men's Basketball Coach, John Brannen, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss Brannen's unique experiences in taking over at Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. Brannen discusses his approach to leadership, adapting his style to his personnel, creating buy-in among student-athletes, handling success and much more.   1:00 – How would you describe your approach to leadership? 2:30 – How do you get your players to really take ownership of what they're doing every day and give them some control? 4:49 – When you were working to change the culture at Northern Kentucky, did you change a lot of personnel or was it the same group? 6:23 – How did you create buy-in without the on-court success? 7:55 – Once you start having success, how do you handle that success? 9:43 – How do you handle coming into a team that's looking at a new head coach, but is used to winning? 12:42 – How much did you have to change your approach and how much did your student-athletes have to adjust? 14:40 – Did you make some adjustments as far as style of play and how you were playing to better fit the personnel? 15:54 – How much pressure did you feel to have success with this group in your first year and how did you handle it? 17:42 – Was there a point this year in January or February where you felt more comfortable with your team? 18:31 – Looking back on the season, was there something you could've done differently to become more comfortable with your team quicker? Or was it a matter you needed time to get to know each other and you need time to understand each other? 20:35 – How much have you grown, adapted, changed your approach since you've been a head coach? 23:19 – How important is it and how do you go about finding a comfort zone with people around you who are going to make you uncomfortable and are going to challenge you?

Cincinnati Head Women's Basketball Coach Michelle Clark Heard joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Clark Heard discusses her approach to building a program, being transparent and open with her players, creating buy-in, and the challenges of rebuilding a program.   1:28 – How has your approach to team building culture evolved since you first became a head coach? 2:34 – How have you shown your players transparency as you've evolved as a head coach? 5:08 – How do you lead each of your players differently? 7:34 – What did you learn from being an assistant under Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz? 9:43 – Do you think a lot of coaches struggle with being direct and honest with their players and showing that transparency? 13:48 – How do you develop your culture and create buy in with your players when they don't see immediate success? 15:51 – What do you do when you get challenged by your players when rebuilding a program? 18:32 – If I were to go to a Cincinnati women's basketball practice, what am I going to see? 20:01 – Who's the best leader you've come across and what were their attributes that made them so good?

Chris Holtmann, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Ohio State, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Walsh opens the podcast with the list of the seven Head Men's Basketball Coaches who have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in the last five years, which includes Holtmann. Holtmann discusses his approach to rebuilding the Ohio State program upon his arrival, creating buy-in from his players, the ups and downs of the 2019-20 season and his thoughts on sustaining success. 3:39 – What was your approach going into Ohio State to try to establish yourself, your culture and your approach to building a team? 6:11 – What were your expectations and how did you manage that as you started to have success? 8:07 – Was there any resistance to what you were trying to do with your players and how did you deal with that? Was there any pushback throughout and what was your response to it? 11:00 – How was Christmas this year given how the season had gone at that point? 13:32  – Is there any way to prepare for adversity and getting knocked around without actually going through the adversity? 15:57 – What did you do to try to help dig your team out of the mid-season slump where you lost 6 out of 7? 18:17 – In post-game conversations with your team, are you asking and listening to your players about their perspective on what is happening? 21:31 – Is it a significant part of your approach to prepare your team on how they respond to adversity? 23:05 – How much has your approach evolved since you first got into coaching and became a head coach? 24:52 – How do you continue to sustain success and how much do you have to adapt to be able to do it?

Steve Pikiell, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Rutgers University, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Pikiell talks about his philosophy of making himself invaluable when he was an assistant coach and how it helped him prepare for a head coaching position. He also talks about the lessons he learned while playing and coaching for Jim Calhoun at UConn. The conversation goes into building programs at his previous stops and staying focused when the wins aren't there yet.

Jamion Christian, Men's Basketball Head Coach at George Washington University, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. The two discuss Christian's thoughts on why he doesn't have team captains. They also talk about the leadership enhancement plan that Christian puts his teams through and the kind of player he looks for when recruiting, listing talent as one of the most overrated commodities.

Guy Gadowsky, Men's Hockey Head Coach at Penn State, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. The two discuss Gadowsky's thoughts on developing culture. Gadowsky has found success at a number of different institutions by following the simple phrase, “enjoy what you do.” The conversation also covers choosing which player wears the captain's ‘C' on their hockey sweater, the traits of top team captains, and transferring leadership to player.

Kevin McGuff, Women's Basketball Head Coach at Ohio State, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. The two discuss McGuff's thoughts on giving Student-Athletes a voice, self-awarenes as a coach, choosing captains, and the importance of defining what's important to an organization. McGuff also talks about how talent only takes a team so far but successful culture can take a team a lot further.

Louisville Head Baseball Coach Dan McDonnell spends time with IMG Academy Technical Director Bob Walsh and details his leadership philosophy of, "To love and to serve." McDonnell reviews the key traits of competitiveness and toughness as he considers the nature vs. nurture argument for each. McDonnell also touches on how his role has changed as the attitudes and behaviors of the modern student-athletes continue to evolve. 

After wrapping up a successful second season with Stetson Baseball, Coach Steve Trimper visited Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to talk culture, leadership, and much more. Trimper, coming off of a 48-13 season and an NCAA Regional title, discusses his four keys to building a great culture (1. Good people, 2. Relationships, 3. Trust 4. Loyalty). Trimper and Walsh also talk about how the sheer volume of games played in baseball helps players and coaches to quickly learn from failure.

John Becker, Head Basketball Coach at University of Vermont, joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Becker has led the Catamounts to five of the last seven America East conference championships, winning two tournament titles and three regular season championships. Discussing his evolution as a head coach, Becker expounds on communication, running practice, understanding team dynamics, and much more. He points to leadership in the locker room as the key to his sustained success.

Coach Porter Moser, Head Basketball Coach at Loyola University-Chicago, visits Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss the focus that was needed to take Loyola to the 2018 NCAA Final Four. Moser, in his third head coaching stint, talks about the lack of patience in college athletics and how he dealt with being let go from his previous job leading a program. With regard to focus, Moser emphasizes winning the game right in front of you as opposed to focusing on tournament championships.

Ryan Odom, Head Men's Basketball Coach at UMBC, joins Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. The two discuss Odom's leadership during the historic 2017-18 postseason as he led his team, as a No. 16 seed team to victory over a No. 1 seed. Odom touches on his philosophy on cultivating player led teams. He also address his unique approach to utilizing his staff for scouting and practice.

Lon Kruger was the first basketball coach to take five different programs to the NCAA tournament and the only coach to win an NCAA tournament game with five different schools. Kruger, Head Basketball Coach at Oklahoma visits with Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Coach gives his thoughts on multi-sport athletes, his two-year stint as an NBA head coach, and coaching a superstar player who draws heightened media attention. He also gives his opinion on what he would change about college basketball.

Scott Drew, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Baylor University, discusses the challenge he faced building a program which overcame tragedy. From calling for walk-ons to recently playing in the Elite Eight, Coach Drew talks in depth on how he has developed continuity and leadership within his program.   Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Jeff Van Gundy, TV analyst and former NBA head Coach, talks about the leadership lessons he learned from different players and coaches during his coaching career. He addresses the intricacies of working in the NBA and the dynamics between players, coaches, administration, etc. Coach Van Gundy talks in depth about the leadership style of Pat Riley and the impact it had on his career.   Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Chris Mooney, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Richmond, joins the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Going into his 13th year as a head coach of the Spiders, Coach Mooney reflects on playing for a Hall-of-Fame coach in college and using the system he played in (the Princeton Offense) to find success at his program. Mooney addresses the misconceptions of the Princeton Offense and how it is used successfully in the NBA. On the topic of today's players, he talks about the importance of coaches adapting rather than expecting the players to immediately adapt to the coach.

With a 90% win percentage and a 31 game conference winning streak, few coaches have dominated the sport of college football over the last four years like Jacksonville State's John Grass. In this episode of the Dynamic Leadership Podcast, Coach Bob Walsh visits with John Grass, head football coach at Jacksonville State University. Coach Grass goes deep as he talks about minimizing the discussion on winning or losing and maximizing the focus on developing the whole person....himself included.

Fran Dunphy, Men's Basketball Coach at Temple, discusses taking over for a hall of fame coach including making changes to fit his personality and leadership style. Speaking on success during his time at an Ivy League institution, Coach Dunphy talks about how players who are smart off-the-court don't always translate to smart basketball players. He has over 200 wins, and has taken two different teams to the NCAA tournament at least six times. Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Frank Martin, Head Men's Basketball Coach at South Carolina, speaks on the challenges leading to the best MBB  year in school history and the effects it had on him and the staff after the season. Coach Martin also addresses leading with honesty and consistency, and learning to communicate with the current generation of players. Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Long time Cal Rugby head coach, Jack Clark, talks about his unique view of leadership and how he defines a glossary of terms so his teams will understand the core values of the program. From mental toughness to his definition of the alpha male, Coach Clark talks about the aspects of his philosophy that has led to his overwhelming success. Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Richard Pitino, Men's Basketball Head Coach at University of Minnesota, discusses team leadership, media, and bouncing back from an eight-win season to become the Big Ten Coach of the Year. Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Ed Cooley, Men's Head Basketball Coach at Providence College, talks about leadership styles, managing internal vs. external expectations, relationships, and much more in this episode of the Dynamic Leadership Podcast. Hosted by University of Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bob Walsh.

Buzz Williams, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Virginia Tech, discusses long-term decisions making, perception vs. reality of his style, and cheering for people who others don't think can be successful. Speaking on learning from others, Coach Williams addresses his leadership style and a number of other interesting subjects in this episode of The Dynamic Leadership Podcast with Maine Men's Basketball Head Coach Bob Walsh.