Credibility is crucial for coaches—so, how can coaches make sure they are walking it like they talk it? Longtime S&C Coach, speaker, and author Missy Mitchell-McBeth joins Episode #7 of the podcast to talk about ways to narrow down core values…and more importantly, promote values that you can model and execute.

Coach Mitchell-McBeth discusses how consistency and transparency are her foundational principles, which then support countless other important qualities: hard work, integrity, honesty, and more. With an extensive professional background to pull from, she explains how she learned from her mistakes as a young high school coach, how expertise and deep knowledge can be sources of credibility in place of surface factors, and how she emphasizes the concept of “embracing discomfort” as a key part of the growth and development process. For Mitchell-McBeth, that growth process has taken her from the D1 coaching ranks to now balancing a professional day job and her own entrepreneurial career, all while still training competitive club volleyball athletes.

Those values of consistency of transparency also come into play as Coach Mitchell-McBeth discusses some of the routine professional challenges facing entrepreneurial coaches: managing their content on social media platforms, setting professional boundaries for when to say yes and when to say no, and recognizing how to draw the line between answering questions for an inquisitive younger coach or peer and when that time/expertise needs to be invoiced as a paid professional consult.

Chapter List

00:00 Introduction to Coach Missy Mitchell-McBeth

01:42 Intrinsic Motivation in Coaching

04:11 Modeling Values as a Coach

10:28 Balancing Professional and Personal Life

15:55 Getting Comfortable with Discomfort

20:52 Setting Boundaries as a Coach

33:13 Effective Communication for Coaches

Erik Becker, Head Football Coach and Sports Nutrition teacher at his alma mater, Daniel Hand High School in Madison Connecticut, joins Episode 6 to reflect on 25 years in the coaching field and how he views his “why” as a mission to develop capable, positive, healthy, and well-rounded young men.

Coach Becker quotes John Dewey in believing that the role of schools are to equip and prepare students to participate in a democracy, and he sees athletics and sports as a crucial vehicle in that effort. Speaking from the heart, Becker discusses how his job involves teaching athletes to bravely face risk, to be willing to grow at the edge of their comfort zones, and to rise to the demands of being leaders on and off the field.

Becker also emphasizes the importance of embracing those same values in the social and political sphere. He shares his faith in the noble ideas America aspires to, believing in Ronald Reagan’s ideal of the shining city on the hill and the words on the Statue of Liberty, “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” And in striving for the ideals of a “more perfect union,” he expresses that we as a nation must never lose touch with our better angels.

Chapter List

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Philosophy

01:41 The Importance of having a 'Why' in Coaching

04:11 Education and Democracy: A Coach's Role

07:05 Risk and Bravery in Sports

12:10 Modeling Leadership and Accountability

15:48 Patriotism and Shared Values in Coaching

In team environments, we consistently teach our athletes they need to be willing to be THE ONE: whether it’s winning a 50-50 challenge, coming through with a clutch hit, or stepping up to take a charge, effective players bypass the “maybe someone else will do it” instinct.

In Episode 5 of the Truth In The Arena podcast, Coach Ken Vick discusses the need for coaches to be willing to step up and be the ones to offer leadership beyond the team setting and to enforce norms of acceptable behavior at the community-state-national levels. We bring up the widely-accepted coaching truism, “your team culture is set by the worst behavior you are willing to tolerate” and expand that to broader applications where our social and political cultures are set by the most toxic, corrupt, or divisive behaviors that WE are willing to tolerate.

In addition, we cover the need to have a foundation of “first principles” to guide important decision-making and the dangers of black/white absolutist thinking, whether in terms of online debates over exercises and methods or in arguments on hot-button culture war issues. Those first principles are also crucial for the notion of America as a meritocracy, as the country’s prominence as a “land of opportunity” is based on guiding principles of hard work, know-how, courage, expertise, honesty, and ability being the tools to open doors to those opportunities. Coach Vick also emphasizes the importance of curiosity, a willingness to learn from failure, and resilience—these qualities are crucial for growth and progress in any environment. Finally, Vick advocates for a non-partisan version of patriotism that is based on the respect for shared values that fellow citizens are willing to stand up and fight to protect.

CHAPTER LIST

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Philosophy

03:51 The Role of Sport in Personal Development

08:47 Leadership and Values in Sports and Society

12:47 Navigating Absolutism in Coaching and Life

16:50 The Importance of First Principles

20:55 Patriotism and Meritocracy in Coaching

24:55 Engaging in Political and Social Issues

“What if I don’t speak up? What’s going to happen?”

Coach Scott Charland, Manager of Human Performance for Parkview Sports Medicine in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins Nate Huffstutter on the Truth in the Arena podcast to discuss leadership, activism, and being invested enough in America to stand up and criticize our country when it fails to live up to its standards and founding principles.

Based on over 20 years in the trenches of collegiate strength and conditioning at Saint Louis University, Temple, and Butler, Charland shares insights into how the current policies of the Trump administration negatively impact the lives and career stability of coaches who, in many cases, may have voted against their own interests.

Charland’s core philosophy as a coach is to treat every athlete equally—regardless of the sport, regardless of their status on their team—and takes that view of valuing everyone equally beyond the athletic realm and into how he sees his role in society as having a fundamental willingness to stand up and fight for someone he doesn’t know...and who does not resemble him.

Charland discusses his experience creating the “Strength Coaches for Harris” group leading up to the 2024 presidential election and his thoughts on the information environment leading up to it. Ultimately, for a healthy media diet, coaches and athletes need to vet information the same way they vet online demos of exercise methods and techniques to see if it holds up to scrutiny. Meanwhile, Americans must be willing to hold their country to the same scrutiny—are the principles laid out in the US Constitution being upheld or are they being trampled on and cast aside?

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Values and Principles

08:25 The Evolution of Coaching Motivations

14:12 Connecting Coaching Values to Political Perspectives

20:52 Impact of Political Decisions on Coaching Careers

25:18 Activism and Advocacy in Coaching

33:16 Strength Coaches for Kamala Harris and Voter Engagement

33:43 Voting for Health: A Call to Action

42:01 Navigating Media: A Healthy Information Diet

49:12 Patriotism vs. Blind Faith: A New Perspective

58:57 Coaching Standards: Holding America to Its Values

In Episode 2 of the Truth In The Arena Podcast, Coach Kendall Green—Asst. S&C Coach at Alabama A&M University—speaks with host Nate Huffstutter about how his coaching principles inform his political perspective, focusing largely on the culture war battlegrounds of DEI, “Woke,” and the attempted erasure of black excellence from the historical record.

Green outlines his core values of Discipline, Effort, and Accountability: through his extended career in the performance field, he has worked to instill those principles in his athletes as keys to success both on and off the field. Importantly, Green always believes that his influence isn’t limited to the weight room or sports field, recognizing that the S&C motto “Do No Harm” extends to the fullness of his athletes’ lives.

Identifying a problem in the coaching field—a lack of female coaches in women’s sports and a lack of black coaches on sports dominated by black athletes—the coaches discuss how efforts to recruit and retain more female and minority coaches have been derailed in the backlash attack on DEI.

Discussing definitions of woke tracing back to 1990’s “conscious rappers” and beyond, the conversation shifts to the controversy over the erasure of Jackie Robinson’s military accomplishments as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskagee Airmen, and LGBTQ service members as a means of redefining “meritocracy” as the domain of the dominant culture.

Ultimately, Green emphasizes his belief that systems are composed of people and the way to change systems is to do the hard work of changing people. Emphasizing “people over profits,” Green discusses the need for leaders in any realm to show empathy and genuinely care for the good of the whole. From there, “patriotism” can become a unifying principle to uplift communities rather than simply celebrating a romanticized version of the past.

Chapter List

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Values and Principles

01:41 Guiding Principles of Coaching: Discipline, Effort, Accountability

06:51 Political Leadership and Coaching Values

10:37 Addressing Diversity in Coaching

11:48 Systemic Issues in Coaching and Society

18:29 Changing Perspectives in Culture Wars

21:55 Defining 'Woke' and Its Origins

25:50 The Battle for Recognition in Sports and Society

29:42 Human Development Beyond Sports

35:13 Mental Health and Athlete Well-being

43:05 Navigating Media and Information

44:29 Redefining Patriotism and Community Responsibility

Kicking off Episode 1 of the Truth In The Arena Podcast, longtime track coach and retired chemistry teacher Tony Holler speaks with host Nate Huffstutter about the intersection of coaching, personal values, and political beliefs.

Holler’s Feed the Cats model is based on “inarguable” valuable props, such as “Make practice the best part of a kid’s day” and “kids are good at what they like and obsessed with what they love.” In the conversation, Holler discusses how coaching transcends sports and serves as a platform for teaching life lessons and fostering community.

Holler shares insights on the importance of evolving perspectives, the challenges of navigating personal and professional identities, and the need for coaches to engage with political issues while maintaining their core values. As with the “inarguable” values of Feed The Cats, he expands on how his support for the progressive movement and Bernie Sanders is driven by inarguable points such as “having cancer shouldn’t make you also go bankrupt.”

Holler shares insights on the importance of evolving perspectives, the challenges of navigating personal and professional identities, and the need for coaches to engage with political issues while maintaining their core values. As with the “inarguable” values of Feed The Cats, he expands on how his support for the progressive movement and Bernie Sanders is driven by inarguable points such as “having cancer shouldn’t make you also go bankrupt.”

Chapter List

00:00 Introduction to Coaching and Values

02:35 The Influence of Personal Principles on Coaching

05:50 Navigating Personal and Professional Identities

09:27 Evolution of Perspectives in Coaching and Politics

13:23 Connecting Coaching Principles to Political Views

18:34 Challenges in Political Pragmatism and Progressivism

25:50 Voting Against Self-Interest

28:31 Media Diet and Misinformation

33:48 The Toughness of Coaches

36:27 Evolving Perspectives

41:47 Progressivism as Patriotism

45:56 Finding Common Ground

In Episode 3 of the Truth in the Arena podcast, Nate Huffstutter speaks with Coach Zach Evan-Esh, founder of the Underground Strength Gym in Manasquan, New Jersey. Coach Even-Esh draws on his deep experience coaching across a range of levels in the community, from teaching in school PE programs to training competitive high school athletes to working with the general adult population.

For Even-Esh, it all starts with family, health, and a base of fitness and strength. Reflecting on the twenty-plus years that he has been working with kids, he’s marked a notable downturn in general levels of physical fitness, nutritional awareness, and overall robust health.

Passionate about ways to positively impact better health in his community, Even-Esh discusses his support for the MAHA movement and some of the “inarguable” pillars, such as encouraging better elementary school physical education standards, more dynamic park equipment, limiting highly-processed and unhealthy food, and focusing healthcare on returning sick people to productive health vs. managing illness.

The coaches discuss Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s role in spearheading the movement, as well as some of the controversies that RFK’s detractors consider disqualifying. Ultimately, Even-Esh shares his take on how he believes political leader should embody the same principles as coaches, but there’s a pragmatic, money-based factor in terms of who can outlast competition to effect actual change.

In addition to the importance of prioritizing real food and a healthy diet, the coaches also discuss the building blocks of a healthy media diet. Even-Esh points out how often physical exercise and strength improvements corelate with confidence and a positive outlook, and just the same, consuming too much negative media content and misinformation causes emotional stress. Community is again an important resource, providing ways to vet information and be exposed to different viewpoints.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Values and Principles

01:56 Evolving Coaching Perspectives

07:24 Coaching and Political Principles

18:35 The State of Physical Education and Health

29:23 Inarguable Principles of Health Advocacy

35:02 Protecting the Next Generation's Health

39:05 The Role of Politics in Health Initiatives

44:49 Education and Community Health

55:56 Media Consumption and Its Impact on Health

01:01:48 Patriotism and Community Involvement