On this episode, we go Beyond The Whistle with Matt Johnson, Director of Men’s Basketball Strength and Conditioning at Butler University.

Matt and I discuss:

• The role of the strength and conditioning coach during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Using Instagram to connect with athletes during this time
• The focus on coaching player’s lifestyle - sleep and nutrition
• Coach LaVall Jordan’s leadership during crisis
• Breakdowns create breakthroughs
• Tough times reveal the mindset of elite athletes - resilience in body and mind
• His career journey - be ready when you get the call
• “The big time is not a place. It’s the state of your heart.”
• The importance of the interviews AFTER you get the job
• How his position, being dedicated to one sport, allows him to play a role to skill development, game planning, practice planning and recruiting
• Causing adaptation and absorbing adaptation
• Why coaches need their strength and conditioning coach on speed dial
• The leadership of Ralph Reiff at Butler
• Progression - The key to a successful return to normal

• Website: Butler University Men’s Basketball
• Website: StrengthCoachConcepts.com
• Twitter: @StrengthCoachMJ
• Instagram: @StrengthCoachMJ

• Website - McCantsSports.com
• Twitter - @odellmccants
• LinkedIn - Odell McCants

We're going Beyond The Whistle with the first Coaches Roundtable. Our roundtablers are Kevin Sutton, Assistant Coach at Rhode Island and Randolph Childress, Associate Head Coach at Wake Forest.

This was the most fun I have had as a podcaster. It's a conversation amongst friends about our high school coach, mentorship, fatherhood, leadership, COVID-19 (of course) and more.

Kevin, Randolph and I discuss:

• How Randolph ended the season in a sling and how he's doing now
• Lessons from our high school coach, Stu Vetter
• Kevin coaching Randolph in high school
• How Randolph was Steph Curry before Steph Curry
• The lost art of players understanding how to play without the ball
• Coach Vetter's coaching tree
• Randolph's experience recruiting and coaching his son, Brandon Childress
• The importance of keeping relationships simple and consistent
• How Kevin and Randolph's teams responded to the cancellation of basketball due to COVID-19
• How they are spending this time with family, their teams and time working on themselves

If you would like to be on a future Coaches Roundtable episode, drop me an email at odell@mccantssports.com. I welcome coaches from men's and women's basketball and from programs at all levels to share experiences and dicsuss topics impacting the coaching profession.

Connect with Randolph Childress

• Twitter: @r22childress
• Website: Wake Forest Basketball

Connect with Kevin Sutton

• Twitter: @coachsutton
• Website: Kevin Sutton Basketball
• Website: Sutton's Living Trophies
• Website: Rhode Island Basketball

Connect with Odell McCants

• Website: McCantsSports.com
• Twitter: @odellmccants
• LinkedIn: Odell McCants
• Email: odell@mccantssports.com

On this episode, we go Beyond The Whistle with George Lynch. I go back with George all the way to high school, where we both played for legendary coach Stu Vetter and nationally ranked teams at Flint Hill School in Virginia. George was a member of the 1993 University of North Carolina NCAA national championship team. George played 12 years in the NBA, and his coaching career includes serving as an assistant at UC Irvine, Southern Methodist University and the G-League's Grand Rapids Drive. Most recently, George served as head coach at Clark Atlanta University.

Along George's basketball journey, he has played for and coached with some of the greatest minds in the game. From his high school coaches - coach Vetter at Flint Hill and Woody Deans at Patrick Henry in Roanoke, Virginia, to Dean Smith at UNC and Larry Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers and at SMU. He's also committed to improving the educational experiences of student-athletes at HBCU schools through his newest venture, HBCU Heroes.

George and I discuss:

• How he developed into a great defensive stopper (second all-time in steals at UNC)
• The experience of leaving home to finish high school
• How putting team first actually made him a better player
• How his approach to the game as a player has become the foundation of his coaching philosophy
• What he has taken from each coach he has played for and coached with, and how he has woven those experiences into his coaching style
• What he has learned about himself since becoming a head coach
• How the COVID-19 pandemic and required distance learning has magnified the educational technology needs of many HBCU student-athletes
• Founding HBCU Heroes and the goal of procuring 6,000 computers for HBCU student-athletes

Connect with George Lynch

• Website: HBCU Heroes
• Instagram: @georgelynchcoach
• Twitter: @Glynchcoach
• Twitter: @HBCUHeroes

Connect with Odell McCants

• Website: McCantsSports.com
• Twitter: @odellmccants
• LinkedIn: Odell McCants
• Email: odell@mccantssports.com