Holding the Ladder in Sport and Leadership

Chris Kreider is an assistant men’s basketball coach at NCAA Division I Georgia State University. He has served at the college level at Rice University, Virginia Military Institute, George Mason University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia Tech, USC-Aiken, and University of Great Falls, as well as served as a high school head basketball coach at St. Francis High School in Alpharetta, Georgia d...

Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh is from County Galway in the west of Ireland. She is an award winning sports broadcaster who works in the field of sport psychology in Ireland. She is a Sport Ireland Institute Accredited Sport and Exercise Psychologist, is a fluent Irish speaker with over a decade working bilingually in radio, television and print journalism with Raidió na Gaeltachta, TG4, RTÉ, The Iris...

Kelly Wells is completing his second year as Director of Athletics at the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Wells served as head coach of the men's basketball program at UPIKE for 13 seasons dating back to 2006-07. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration at Morehead State University in 1995 and...

Dr. Thomas Stallworth is in his first season as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League (NFL). Stallworth came to the Falcons after three seasons with the New York Football Giants. Prior to his time with the Giants, he was the Head Strength and Conditioning coach at Western Kentucky University. Prior to his stint at WKU, Stallworth spent on...

Maeve Coleman's name is synonymous with basketball in Ireland. She has over three decades of experience having started coaching at the age of 19 when she was a member of Marian Basketball Club in Dublin, Ireland. She has since gone on to coach boys and girls, men and women at national and international level including U15 Women, U16 Women, U20 Women, and the Irish Senior Women’s team all at Europe...

Jason Killeen is the Sports & Societies Officer at Griffith College in Dublin, Ireland. He oversees the organization and running of sports and societies in the college. This role allows him to work with a diverse student population and dedicated staff to deliver the best possible experience for the student body. His previous position was as Head of Development and Coaching Officer for Basketball I...

Donna Finnie was named the fifth head coach in Houston Baptist University program history on April 17, 2013, making history in the process as she became the first international ever to land a head coaching position in NCAA Division I basketball. Finnie came to HBU after spending 10 seasons as a national team coach in Scotland. She started as an assistant coach for Arthur McGuire and then was promo...

Jesse Cole is the founder of Fans First Entertainment and owner of the Savannah (GA) Bananas, a member of the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat collegiate summer league. He has welcomed more than 1 million fans to their ballparks and has been featured on MSNBC, CNN and ESPN. Cole's teams have been awarded Organization of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Business of the Year and have won three CP...

Dr. Angel Brutus is a member of Mississippi State University’s Sports Medicine and Performance team serving as Assistant Athletic Director of Counseling and Sport Psychology.  There, she provides clinical and performance enhancement services to address MSU’s sports culture. She serves in this role after managing a private practice based in Atlanta, Georgia where she provided clinical and spor...

Jamy Bechler is the host of the "Success is a Choice" podcast and author of three books, including "The Bus Trip." He spent 20 years as a college basketball coach and high school AD. Bechler now works with high-level corporations and sports teams helping them maximize their potential in the area of leadership, culture, and teamwork. His website address is https://jamybechler.com and you can f...

Lori Thomas has been the commissioner of the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC), a conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), since 2014. Prior to leading the HAAC, she was the Senior Vice President for Membership and Character Initiatives at the NAIA National Office in Kansas City, MO. She started with the NAIA in 1998 as a Marketing Assistant and was pro...

Bo was the Head Basketball Coach at Flagler College for 31 years where he amassed an all-time record of 491-362 with the Saints. Bo was a three-time All-American at the University of Central Florida where he is still the all-time scoring leader in school history (2,886 points). He played semi-pro with Athletes in Action (U.S.A.) in 1980-81. Bo is a member of the University of Central Florida Athle...

Sinéad Gordon is an experienced project manager, with a proven track record in delivering international world-class competitions and events. She is currently working as the Director of Governance & Strategy at Sport Ireland and previously was the Operations Manager for the Sport Ireland Campus. Sinéad has also worked as General Manager with Basketball Ireland, as the Head of Basketball Operati...

Tim Folan serves as the Senior Associate Athletic Director, Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Pennsylvania in the Ivy League. Named the 2019-20 National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) Fundraiser of the Year, Folan led his team to raise a record $63.4 million in commitments to Penn Athletics during the 2019 fiscal year and accumulated a record breaking 6,0...

Matt Doherty played and coached basketball at the University of North Carolina. He started on the 1982 National Championship team with NBA greats Michael Jordan & James Worthy. The program was led by legendary coach Dean Smith. After one year as the head coach at Notre Dame, Matt took over the UNC program and led them to the 2001 Regular Season ACC Championship while being named AP National Co...

Dr. Maggie Tieman is a Sport and Performance Psychology Professional, NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Referee, FIBA Referee, professor, nutrition specialist, and certified strength and conditioning coach. Following a decorated NCAA Division I softball career at the University of Vermont, Dr. Tieman taught physical and health education in Connecticut for 14 years and coached field hock...

James A. DeMeo has an extensive background in security and the sports industry. After a 21-year law enforcement career, he helped open the Barclays Center in 2012 and also served as a security supervisor at the Cedar Park Center-HEB Center in Austin, Texas. He has a consulting business, Unified Sports and Entertainment Security Consulting-USESC (http://www.smeeventsecurity.com/), based in Raleigh,...

Dr. Vickie Denny is the head women's volleyball coach at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. She has over 40 years of teaching and coaching experience at the high school and college levels. She has led her teams to 17 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Division II national titles, has won over 1,000 games as a head collegiate volleyball coach, and is a member of both the N...

Joanne P. McCallie has been an NCAA Division I head women's basketball coach at Maine, Michigan State, and Duke. She also has head coached her teams to 628 wins during her 28-year head coaching career. She also head coached the US Under 20 women's National team to the 2006 FIBA Americas Championship and the US Under 21 women's National team to the 2007 FIBA World Championship. She was the National...

Andy Vlajkovich, the Head Boys' Basketball Coach at Canton McKinley High School in Canton, OH, is our guest this week. Vlajkovich has an extensive knowledge of the game of basketball that has helped his Canton McKinley teams to great success in his first few years as the head coach, including a 20-win season in 2019-2020. He is at the helm of one of the winningest programs in the nation in high sc...

Our guest this week, Andrew Conley, has extensive sales, design, and marketing experience in the running shoe industry. He is the Senior Director, Global Product for Altra Running, based in Denver, Colorado.  At Altra, he leads design, development, merchandising and other areas worldwide. He has led respective brands to become global leaders in their markets. He has also served as the directo...

Nate Miklos, the Head Women's Golf Coach at Youngstown State University, is a three-time Horizon League Coach of the Year. Miklos has led both Loyola University Chicago and Youngstown State to Horizon League titles during his 10-year head coaching career. In 2015, his Youngstown State ladies earned a berth in the NCAA Regional Tournament, a first in program history. He has been part of conference...

Kieran Shannon is a sport journalist with the Irish Examiner in Ireland. He is an award winning sport journalist and author, writing six books including "Hanging from the Rafters: The Story of Neptune and the Golden Age of Irish Basketball," the definitive book on the game’s golden era on the Emerald Isle. He is also a sport psychology professional. You can go to the following links for more on hi...

Kieran Shannon is a sport journalist with the Irish Examiner in Ireland. He is an award winning sport journalist and author, writing six books including "Hanging from the Rafters: The Story of Neptune and the Golden Age of Irish Basketball," the definitive book on the game’s golden era on the Emerald Isle. He is also a sport psychology professional. You can go to the following links for more on hi...

The host, Tim Rice, introduces you to this new podcast designed to provide knowledge from experienced sport and leadership professionals.