The Highest Level Podcast with Evan Burk

Marc Stcherbina is a leadership consultant and sports broadcaster, and previously played professional rugby and represented Australia on the national team during a 12-year professional career. In this conversation, Evan Burk talks to Marc about the great teams he played for during his professional career, the importance of fair and honest communication from leaders, and how he uses the principles...

Chris Canetti is professional soccer team executive who is currently serving as the President of the Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee. Canetti has previously served as a team executive in pro soccer and baseball for over 20 years, including 8 seasons as team president for the Houston Dynamo's, and 3 seasons as GM with the Rockies minor league team, New Haven Ravens. In this conversation, Evan...

Ben Rosenberg and Bret Levine are behavioral psychologists who study how people and teams interact with themselves, and also host "Head Games", a light-hearted podcast focused on using the psychology of human behavior to help explain current events in professional sports. In this conversation, Evan Burk talks with Ben and Bret on the differences of situational and internal motivation, the methods...

Robert Yip is a sport psychologist and strength and conditioning coach that has worked with individual athletes and team-based sports from soccer, rugby, volleyball and Gaelic games.  He currently works as a performance coach for professional esports organizations, focused on helping players, coaches, and teams reach their peak performance. In this conversation, Evan Burk talks with Robert on his...

Victor Cruz began his career in scouting and player development with the Boston Red Sox, worked with agent Scott Boras in player representation for over a decade, and currently represents esports athletes through his firm, Brandy Ro Gaming. In this conversation, Evan Burk speaks with Victor on how major league baseball teams scout players on and off the field, the lessons he learned on how the Bos...

Paul Svagdis is entering his 19th season as the Head Baseball Coach for Azusa Pacific University. Before arriving at Azusa, he spent 6 seasons as the head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, and in 25 years as a college head coach holds over 600 wins and has been named PacWest coach of the year each of the last 3 seasons. In this interview, Evan Burk speaks with Paul on how he uses his football mentality in h...

Clif Carroll is in his first season as the Head Coach for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Men's basketball team, after having previously served as the head coach at McMurry University and Sul Ross University, and had the privilege to spend his early career working under two Hall of Fame coaches, Steve Green at South Plains College and Bobby Knight at Texas Tech. In this interview, Evan Burk s...

Dr. Alex Auerbach joined the Toronto Raptors as the Director of Wellness and Development in May 2020, after spending the previous two years serving as the Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology for the University of Arizona. Alex is a former football coach-turned-sports psychologist who specializes in sport and performance psychology, and has worked with elite athletes at every level of competi...

Steve Stigall played college football at the University of Texas, worked as a member of the football coaching staffs at UT and SMU, and currently serves as a Pastor at the Eastside Community Church in Dallas, Texas. In our conversation, we dive into what led to the rise of UT football under Mack Brown and his leadership, the culture change he experienced first-hand during his time with SMU footbal...