Coaching Culture

John Mayer had just won LMU's first conference championship when he started questioning everything about how he coached. He had a system that worked. He changed it anyway. JP Nerbun sits down with John Mayer, head beach volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount and the 2025 AVCA National Coach of the Year, to unpack the research that pulled him away from being the coach with all the answers. You will h...

Your team meetings tune the car, but practice is the road. JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson take on a question a coach brought to JP: what do you do when there is almost no time to build culture outside of practice? Their answer is that practice is where athletes experience culture most and where a coach can push hardest on it. You will hear how to move values from the wall into the...

Billy Armstrong wants every player he coaches to chase one truly impossible goal. In part two of this conversation, three years after his first appearance on the podcast, Bergen Catholic head coach Billy Armstrong digs into the goal-setting philosophy behind his program's vision: making Bergen the best place to play high school basketball in America. Billy explains why he pushes players toward imp...

Billy Armstrong hasn't just won four state championships in six years. He's become, in his own words, a completely different human being. In part one of a two-part conversation, three years after his first appearance on the podcast, Bergen Catholic head coach Billy Armstrong opens up about the personal transformation behind his program's sustained success: trading a hidden self-improvement journey...

A standard isn't a standard unless it's enforced. That's the line JP Nerbun keeps coming back to in this solo episode, his first since the podcast's earliest days back in 2017. JP unpacks twelve mistakes transformational coaches make, opening with the story of Anson Dorrance, the UNC women's soccer coach who paired relationship-building with ruthless competition, and closing with the story of a fo...

LeBron James just left the Lakers for a shot at one more championship with the 76ers, and JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson use that move to dig into a question every coach eventually faces: what do you actually do with a player who has more talent, or more influence, than anyone else on your roster? They unpack why coaches say nobody's bigger than the team but quietly lower standards...

What happens after you finally admit the grind stopped working? That is where part two of this conversation with journalist Lindsay Crouse picks up. Lindsay and JP dig into the physical cost of never backing off, talk through Simone Biles' 2021 Olympic decision, and unpack the "never enough" trap that keeps high achievers chasing a finish line that keeps moving. Lindsay also shares why she left a...

"Quit" might be the most forbidden word in sports. Journalist Lindsay Crouse says that's exactly the problem. Lindsay spent 15 years at The New York Times covering the extremes of human performance before turning the question on herself: what if the constant pushing through wasn't actually working? Her new book, The Case for Quitting, argues that stepping back is often the smarter, braver choice,...

Are your three closest teammates a friend group, or a clique the rest of the roster feels shut out of? JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson dig into Level 4 leadership this week: the real difference between a clique and a close friend group, why almost no team builds a genuine culture of honest feedback, and Betsy's own story as a Division I captain who left a program midseason. Whether...

Most coaches have someone they pour into. Almost none of them have someone who pours back. In part two with Zach Brandon, JP and Zach go deeper into what it actually takes to develop coaches — not players, coaches — and why that investment may be the most overlooked lever in any program. Zach shares the story that reoriented his entire career: a coach who could not remember his own family moments...

Zach Brandon spent years inside one of the most pressure-filled environments in professional sports. The biggest thing he took away was not about performance. It was about connection. In this first conversation with Zach, JP sits down with the former Head of Mental Performance and Coach Development for the Arizona Diamondbacks, on staff during their 2023 World Series run, to explore what he learne...

Every coach says they want more leaders. But most are picturing the wrong level entirely. JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson unpack Level 3 leadership, the one-to-one relational work that has to exist before Level 4 (leading the whole team) ever works, including the Joey Votto story of a star player who took up Spanish and improv classes just to become a better teammate. Whether you&#3...

Dr. Jody Carrington says the most vulnerable emotion on the planet is not fear or grief. It is joy. In part two of her conversation with JP, Dr. Jody Carrington gets specific about what it means to regulate yourself before you can lead anyone else, why joy requires every defense to be down, and why she collects information before she directs a hard conversation. This one is for any coach who has e...

If the big people aren't okay, the little people don't stand a chance. That is the idea psychologist Dr. Jody Carrington has built her career on, and it flips the entire athlete development conversation on its head. In part one of this two part conversation, JP sits down with Dr. Jody Carrington, a clinical psychologist and founder of Carrington and Company who has spent decades studying emotional...

Is your best leader always your best teammate? JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson are not so sure, and the answer says a lot about how you build culture this season. This episode continues an ongoing conversation around JP's new book, The Culture Captain, with the group digging into Level Two: leading yourself before you ever try to lead anyone else. They unpack why the chapter on effo...

Making athletes work harder is one thing. Making athletes better is something else entirely — and Rustin Dodd draws that line clearly in this episode. In part two of JP Nerbun's conversation with Rustin Dodd and Elise Devlin of The Athletic's Peak section, the discussion moves from habits and rituals into the heart of transformational coaching. Elise covers Dan Quinn's player PowerPoint presentati...

Most coaches spend their careers shaping athletes. Rustin Dodd and Elise Devlin spend theirs learning from them — and what they've found might change how you coach. Rustin and Elise write NY Times feature, The Peak for The Athletic, a section devoted to the mental side of elite sports. In this episode with JP Nerbun, they unpack what a year of "I Tried" journalism has taught them: Ko...

JP Nerbun's 10-year-old daughter said something on the walk to the bus that stopped him cold: "She's climbing the mountain of achievement without any purpose." That one line is the heart of this entire conversation. This special episode drops on the launch day of JP's new book The Culture Captain — a field guide for athletes learning to lead from the inside out. JP sits down with longtime friend J...

What does it mean to truly know yourself — not perform yourself, not brand yourself for public approval, but honestly know who you are at your core? JP Nerbun, Betsy Butterick, and Nate Sanderson explore that question in this roundtable, the first in a four-part series on JP's new book, The Culture Captain. Betsy shares the story of an athlete and what she filled in her personal definition led...

Most coaches think they're having conversations with their athletes. Marcia Reynolds says they're mostly just talking. In this episode, JP Nerbun sits down with Marcia Reynolds — executive coach, neuroscience researcher, and author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem — to unpack the science of what makes a coaching conversation actually transformational. Marcia explains why telling athlet...

The Art of Communication: Finding Your Voice as a Coach JP Nerbun sits down with co-host Betsy Butterick to explore how intentional communication transforms athlete relationships, team culture, and coaching identity. TOC 3-2-1: 3 Quotes, 2 Questions, 1 Resource3 Quotes Worth Writing Down "Anytime someone says 'that's just who I am,' what immediately comes up for me is — no, that's who you've been....

🏆 What does "buy-in" actually mean and how do you build it as a leader? Every coach talks about buy-in. But most coaches struggle to define it, measure it, or create it in a consistent, repeatable way. In this episode, JP Nerbun, Nate Sanderson, and Betsy Butterrick break down what athlete buy-in really is, what it's NOT, and give you a practical, systematic approach to building gen...

What does transformational leadership actually look like in practice? Father Mike Schmitz, 15-year director of the Newman Center at UMD, sits down with coaches to share the leadership principles, culture-building strategies, and mentorship frameworks that have transformed thousands of lives on a secular college campus. Whether you're a coach, team leader, manager, or anyone invested in buildin...

Every coach will face a culture killer on their team. Whether it's a star player with a toxic attitude, an athlete stirring drama behind the scenes, or a kid whose behavior is slowly poisoning team morale — knowing how to respond is one of the most critical leadership skills a coach can develop. In this episode of the Coaching Culture Podcast, JP Nerbun, Nate Sanderson, and Betsy Butterrick ge...

Taking hard feedback is one of the most underrated leadership skills — and most of us are doing it wrong. In this episode, JP, Betsy, and Nate get real about the emotional side of criticism: why feedback feels so personal for coaches and leaders, how to regulate before you respond, and the mindset shift that turns brutal feedback into your greatest tool for growth. Whether you're a coach, athl...