Captains & Coaches Podcast

Luka Hocevar [ @lukahocevar ] didn't choose coaching because it was safe. He chose it because nothing else gave him the same feeling — watching someone go from doubt to capable, from stuck to moving. Twenty-one years later, that hasn't changed. Luka is the founder of Vigor Ground Fitness in Seattle, one of the most respected performance gyms in the country, and the creator of Built to Last — a con...

You made the team. You earned the spot. You hit the goal. Now what? In this episode, we break down one of the hardest truths in sports—and in life: the habits, effort, and mindset that got you here are now just the baseline. If you don’t evolve, you get passed. We dive into why athletes lose motivation after reaching big goals, the difference between outcome goals and process goals, and how elite...

What happens on the youth sports field doesn't stay there. The culture a coach creates — the trust built, the conflict navigated, the way kids learn to repair relationships — travels with athletes long after the final whistle. And for the ones who go on to wear a badge, carry a weapon, or run toward danger for a living, those early lessons either become the foundation they stand on or the cracks t...

Most teams don’t have an effort problem. They have an identity problem. In this episode, we break down why yelling, punishment, and “trying harder” don’t fix the real issue—and why so many athletes today shut down, nod their heads without changing, or quietly check out while still showing up. Using lessons from the 1985 classic Vision Quest , we explore the most overlooked truths in leadership. Yo...

Most teams are coach-led. The best teams are player-led . We sit down with Matt Couch of University of Texas Baseball to break down what it actually means to build a coach-fed, player-led program—and why that standard separates elite teams from everyone else. This isn’t about motivational speeches or surface-level culture. This is about ownership, accountability, and daily behaviors that hold up u...

Episode 100 was a milestone. Episode 101 is the reflection. This isn’t just a highlight reel—it’s a blueprint. Over the past 100 episodes, we’ve sat down with elite coaches, athletes, and leaders to answer one question: What actually builds leaders that last? In this special clip episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the moments that hit hardest—the ones that challenged how we think, coach, a...

For Episode 100, I’m joined again by Cali Hinzman — long-time friend, first-ever podcast guest, and someone who always brings honesty, perspective, and just enough pushback to make the conversation better. We get into a topic that shows up everywhere leadership exists: what happens when people protect egos instead of telling the truth. From sport to law enforcement to everyday life, we talk about...

Confidence doesn’t grow in a straight line. Tex breaks down the four stages of confidence every athlete and leader experiences on the path to real leadership. Inspired by a story from Bert Sorin, this lesson centers around a simple but powerful leadership tool: the mirror . When athletes stop blaming others and start evaluating themselves honestly, self-awareness becomes the foundation for growth....

What if the problem in youth sports isn’t that kids aren’t training hard enough… but that we’re training them wrong? In this episode, Tex sits down with performance coach Jeremy Frisch [ @jeremy_frisch17 ] to unpack why early dominance can be a false positive, why puberty is the great equalizer, and why rough-and-tumble play might be the missing ingredient in modern athlete development. From wrest...

Being the loudest voice on the field doesn’t make you a leader—it makes you noise. Tex breaks down why loud does not equal leadership and introduce a simple, powerful framework every team captain needs: The 3 T’s of Team Communication—Tone, Target, and Timing . You’ll learn how great captains hold teammates accountable without disrespect , communicate with clarity instead of volume , and lead in t...

What does twenty years of service actually cost your body — and what can you do about it before the bill comes due? In this episode of the Captains & Coaches Podcast, I sat down with Rebecca Rouse and Joel Del Rosario, co-founders of Machine Strength, a human performance company built for the tactical and first responder world. Rebecca brings the coaching expertise. Joel brings the lived exper...

Ever started working on a skill and suddenly felt like you were performing worse instead of improving? That’s not failure — that’s the learning process doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. In this episode, we break down why performance often drops right after coaching, feedback, or technique changes, and how that frustrating phase is actually the gateway to mastery. You’ll learn the four stages...

Coach Ashley Kowalewski [ @ashleykowalewski ], LSU Volleyball's Strength & Conditioning Coach, joins us in the depths of Death Valley. AK's coaching philosophy centers on two powerful concepts. Quiet reminders, those moments she echos the gentle but powerful guidance. Then Lighthouse leadership, providing awareness and direction without controlling the journey, offering bumpers to guide athlet...

Why do athletes execute perfectly in practice… but freeze under pressure? In this episode of the Captains & Coaches Podcast , we break down one of the most misunderstood challenges in coaching: athletes aren’t always being defiant — sometimes their brain simply isn’t ready yet. Coach Tex McQuilkin dives into cognitive development through the lens of sport, unpacking how athletes learn, why tee...

Why are today's most skilled athletes struggling to play together? In this conversation, mental performance coach Vinny Malts [ @coachvinnymalts ]—known as "the player whisperer" for his work with NHL, ECHL, and elite youth hockey players—breaks down the hidden crisis in team sports: we're creating individual wizards who can't think collectively. In this episode, you'll discover: The mental effort...

Teenage athletes will fail. That’s not the problem. The problem is when failure becomes identity. In this episode, Coach Tex breaks down the four types of failure every teen must learn to navigate —calibration, climb, consequences, and circumstances—and explains how to coach athletes to see mistakes as feedback instead of personal judgment. You’ll learn how to give athletes language, structure, an...

JL Reppert, Head Men's Lacrosse Coach at Holy Cross and Marine Corps veteran, joins Tex to explore the leadership principles that shape championship programs and transformational coaching.   JL breaks down the critical distinction between "setting the example" versus "leading by example"—and why one actually gets people to follow while the other leaves you walking alone.   The conversati...

Championship teams aren’t built on ego or metrics—they’re built on coachability. In this episode of the Captains & Coaches Podcast , Tex breaks down why self-awareness and humility are the real competitive advantages in sport and life.  You’ll learn how level-setting on skill set, accepting feedback, and choosing humility under pressure unlock faster improvement, stronger team chemistry,...

Coach Loren Landow, Head of Football Performance at the University of Notre Dame, joins Tex to share his approach to speed, culture and leadership development for the Fighting Irish.  Coach Landow shares his approach to teaching agility, acceleration & transitions, why he makes freshmen train in tennis shoes instead of cleats, and how he builds a culture where "if not now, then when?" isn...

Most athletes are taught what to do — very few are taught how to think.   In this episode of Captains & Coaches, we break down how great teams develop athletes who can analyze situations, make adjustments, and lead under pressure.    Using a coaching-friendly lens on Bloom’s Taxonomy, this episode shows how players move from following instructions to owning the game — and why th...

LSU Baseball's Head Coach Jay Johnson—a two-time national champion who has built one of college baseball's premier programs. From his humble beginnings transitioning from player to coach at Point Loma Nazarene to leading LSU to back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2025, Coach Johnson shares the leadership principles and developmental philosophies that have shaped his legendary career. In this ep...

Maybe —a simple word drawn from an ancient Chinese parable that challenges how we judge life's wins and losses. In this episode, you'll hear the story of a farmer whose horse runs away, then returns with seven wild horses, then causes his son to break his leg, which saves him from war. At every turn, the neighbors rush to label each event as disaster or blessing. The farmer? He simply says: "Maybe...

We train our athletes' bodies religiously—but what about their minds? In this episode, I sit down with Shenna Jean [ @shennajean ], founder of Make One Day Happen, to explore why the mental training gap in athletics is costing our athletes performance, confidence, and long-term well-being. Shenna brings sound visualization, breathwork, and nervous system regulation to everyone from Division I team...

You don't have lazy athletes. You have athletes who don't feel ownership over who they're becoming. In this episode, we break down the exact language progression that transforms teenage effort from something you have to demand into something they generate from within. Using the "I Want → I Am" framework, you'll learn how to guide athletes through seven identity-building stages that turn fragile mo...

In this fireside chat from the NSCA Tactical Strength & Conditioning Conference, I sit down with Alex Morrow—creator of MOPs & MOEs (Measures of Performance & Measures of Effectiveness)—to unpack how leaders in both the military and sport can stop confusing activity with impact.   We dig into the “Nazareth Syndrome” (why your own people overlook your expertise), the real story beh...