Success is a Choice

Adam Gordon spent 17 years in the coaching industry, making stops from the JUCO level to High-major Power 5 basketball. In 2010, along with Andy Farrell, he co-founded a company called Rising Coaches with the mission of servicing the coaching industry. In June of 2019, he stepped away from his coaching career and decided to run Rising Coaches full-time. He is now growing his passion project which...

Michael Lombardi spent three decades in the NFL as an executive with the 49ers, Browns, Eagles and Raiders. From 2014-16 he was also an assistant to the coaching staff of the Patriots. In addition to his current work with The Athletic, he's also worked for other media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, the NFL Network, NFL.com and The Ringer. He is a frequent guest on talk shows, podcasts, and...

Mark Immelman is currently the host of the "On the Mark" podcast on pgatour.com.  He also covers live golf for the PGA TOUR on their live-streaming mobile app, PGA TOUR Live, on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio  and for Golf Channel and CBS Sports.  In addition to his broadcasting career, he's also the Director of Golf at Columbus State University and the author of  Scandalously Simple: The Easy Way to Acc...

This is a replay of one of our more popular episodes (#47 with Alicia Jessop). Alicia recently gained a great deal of attention when her $22 Maine lobster roll was stolen out of her hand by a seagull. It was all caught on camera and the photobombing seagull became one of CNN's best pictures of 2019. Below are the original show notes from Alicia's episode... Alicia Jessop is a much sought after exp...

Lori Thomas is the commissioner of the Heart of America Athletic Conference . Prior to leading the HAAC, she was the Senior Vice President for Membership and Character Initiatives at the NAIA. Thomas has also been a collegiate volleyball coach and professional volleyball player. In addition to her current leadership position, she is also a speaker with Proactive Coaching . Click here to see Lori's...

Webb Simpson won this past week's Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff against Tony Finau. As usual, Simpson's trusted right-hand man (Paul Tesori) was by his side the entire time. In fact, it was probably all Paul when Webb hit his first hole-in-one of his professional career on Saturday. In honor of Simpson winning, we thought this would be a good time to replay our 2018 episode when Paul...

Jennifer A. Garrett is an internationally recognized author, life coach, and motivational speaker. She is the host of the "Move The Ball" podcast and the author of "Move The Ball". Jennifer currently works as an executive coach, corporate consultant, and Judge Advocate in the Army National Guard. She has seven college degrees: Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering, B.S. in Biomedica...

With the Super Bowl being played in a couple of days, we thought it would be good to replay a popular interview that we had with 2x Super Bowl champion, Gary Reasons. You can see the complete show notes below ... Gary Reasons spent nine years as a linebacker in the National Football League.  He was a fourth round draft pick in 1984 by the New York Giants and was instrumental in helping the team wi...

Bill Curry has been the head football coach at Alabama, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, and Georgia State. He was a 2x SEC Coach of the Year, ACC Coach of the Year, as well as the National Coach of the Year in 1989 for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Before embarking upon a coaching career, he played 10 years in the NFL as a Center. He played in Super Bowls I, III, and V, winning two Super Bowl rings with the P...

The Kansas City Chiefs are in next week's Super Bowl so we wanted to replay our interview with former Chiefs Wide Receiver J.J. Birden. This was a fun conversation as we talked about a lot of great topics, including JJ catching passes from Joe Montana. Ironically, Montana played for both the 49ers and Chiefs during his career. I guess regardless of the Super Bowl outcome, his team will be a winner...

Jim Johnson won more than 400 games as a high high school basketball coach. He only had one losing record in his 30 years of being a head coach. However, he is probably best known for what he did in 2006.  His kindhearted gesture of giving an autistic student (now known affectionately as "J-Mac") on his team the chance to make his dream come true has captivated the hearts of millions of Americans....

Episode 075 with Emily Chapman Richards was one of our most popular episodes. Since appearing on our podcast, Emily was named the Executive Director of Show Hope. If you originally heard the episode, it still might be worth listening to again as Emily has a bunch of great stories to share. If this is the first time, then you are in for a treat!   Emily Chapman Richards is the vice president of  Sh...

Jake Thompson is the Founder & Chief Encouragement Officer at the global lifestyle brand Compete Every Day.  He is a speaker, writer, & active participant in life. Prior to launching CED, Jake spent years in both the sports representation industry & later, as a creative & strategic marketing consultant. Now, he is focused on utilizing his passion for changing lives to remind all that their life is...

"The Bus Trip", Jamy Bechler's third book, was released on 11/25/19. The modern-day sports leadership fable can help student-athletes understand how to be better teammates and more positive leaders. Lexis Garcia, a current college athlete, came on the show to share her thoughts after reading the book. For more information, please visit www. TheBusTripBook.com  

The U.S. Marshals is the oldest American Federal law enforcement agency. The service was created way back during the presidency of George Washington.  Joining a long and storied list of American lawmen, in 2003, Peter Elliott was appointed by President George W. Bush as a U.S. Marshal. Since then, he has been retained by presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Elliot is one of only 94 U.S. marsh...

Jon Beck is a must-follow on twitter for coaches and athletes. After his stellar playing career at Division I Arkansas State University, he went on to have a successful career as both a boys and girls basketball coach in Tennessee. He has been trained at Nike Skills and Pure Sweat clinics and coaches academies and has worked Nike Elite camps and completed a summer internship in Los Angeles, CA for...

Swen Nater won two NCAA Championships as a basketball player for the legendary John Wooden at UCLA. He would become the first player to ever be a NBA first round draft choice despite never starting a college game. During the 1973-74 season, Swen would earn ABA Rookie of the Year status. He would go on to play professional basketball for 12 years for the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Spurs, and Nets. He...

Patti Phillips is the CEO of women leaders in college sports. This is the nation's premier organization that develops, connects and advances women working in collegiate athletics.  Patti Phillips is the former president of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2015, she was a recipient of the NCAA's Champion of Diversity Award. Phillips has served as the CEO of the Women Leaders in College Sport...

Mark Fauser is the author of "Because of Burt" and "Cool's Angel". He has been a television and movie actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He had parts in such shows as Jag, Evening Shade, Coach, SeaQuest, and Quantum Leap. He moved from Hollywood to Marion, Indiana in the early 2000's and proceeded to help build up the Community School of the Arts as the Executive Director. He has continu...

Laura Gassner Otting has appeared on Good Morning America and the Today Show talking about how to live a limitless life. Her book "Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life" has been a Washington Post and Amazon best-seller. Highly recognized for her impact within the nonprofit sector, Laura Gassner Otting is Founder & CEO of Nonprofit Professionals Advisory...

Dr. Jon Steinbrecher is the commissioner of the Mid-American Conference. He has held the position since 2009. He was previously the commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference.  In July of 2019, Steinbrecher became the first Division 1 commissioner to be elected to a NCAA council leadership position when he was elected as vice chair of the NCAA Division 1 Council. Steinbrecher has previously worked...

Heather Macy is a college basketball coach and author of "Two Feet Forward" . She is also the founder of the non-profit Influence and Impacters. Macy is a highly requested speaker at civic organizations, hospitals, schools, non-profit organizations, plus in private industry. During these presentations, topics like teamwork, accountability, and discipline to achieve success are explored. One of onl...

In light of UCLA's 2019 softball national championship, we are replaying this great interview with Hall of Famer, Sue Enquist. Coach Enquist was UCLA Softball's first All-American, National Champion, and Hall of Famer. In 2006, Enquist concluded her storied 27-year career as head coach of the UCLA Bruins with a 887-175-1 (.835) record, making her the winningest softball coach among all active coach...

Bob Vecchione is the Executive Director of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. NACDA is THE professional association for individuals working in college athletics. Nearly 16,000 individuals and 1,700 institutions belong to NACDA. During his tenure, NACDA has initiated a multitude of programs that provide value-added benefits to the ever increasing membership. Programs suc...

Kevin Eastman is a corporate speaker and an internationally-known basketball clinician who brings his knowledge and experience in sports to the business world. He speaks on various topics, including championship culture, teamwork, leadership, motivation and individual success. Over his 40 years in the game, Kevin has coached basketball at all levels, including 13 years in the NBA. He was a top ass...