Vulnerability, Relationships, and Building Leaders with Coach Brad Stamps

What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. My name is Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher and host of the teaching champions podcast. And today I have a fantastic conversation with you is a conversation with a phenomenal high school basketball coach. And being a former assistant coach myself, I absolutely love to hear what coaches have to say. And before we get started, I just want to say this. While I was an assistant coach, I had the opportunity to watch some practices put on by elite level Division One coaches, I saw Bob Huggins, who's the head coach of West Virginia University. And I also had the chance to go and watch Shaka smart when he coached at VC. And while you go to these practices, you pick up on drills, and so much basketball knowledge of these gentlemen are passing along. But I was also interested in how they communicated with their players. What were some of the things that they did to get their players to not only compete, but to play for one another, and to buy into the team over the individual. And I learned so much, and I was able to bring so much back into the classroom. Because if we think about it, coaches are teachers. And the only difference is their classroom is on the court or is on the field. So when you hear my guest today, think of the knowledge that he gives us, how he talks about communicating with his players, how he builds trust and community with them, how he demonstrates the power of vulnerability, how he doesn't just build his players to win. But he invests in them to become men who go out and are productive members of society, and young men who are good family men. And think of what are some of the ways that you can incorporate the information that he gives us back into your classroom. And today's conversation is with Coach Brad stamps. He's the head varsity coach of the federal Bulldogs, which is one of the top programs in Arkansas. Coach stamps drops a ton of great takeaways in this. I hope you enjoy it. And as learn as much from this conversation, as I did want to welcome Coach Brad stamps to the teaching champions podcast, Coach stamps, I'm excited to have you today because I think it's great to have a basketball coach here with us because we can learn so much from coaches and bring it back to the classroom. So welcome to the podcast, Coach stamps. Thank you for having me on here. Brian, I'm excited about doing this. Appreciate you. It's gonna be a great episode. Now, could you please tell us a little bit about your path and where you came from to where you're at now? Yeah, you bet. You know, I'll try not to get too long winded with you, Brian. But you know, when I think about and I reflect and look back, it was for me, I grew up a kid in Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and a great community a place that is an awesome place to be as a kid or and to raise a family. And that hasn't changed over the years, it's still a community that I'm proud of. And growing up it was it was always the Boys and Girls Club for me and many of my peers, and just learning how to play the game through some different leaders that we ran into. And that was lifelong relationships, like those that group of people that, you know, that you grow up with, that you compete against. And then at one point in time, I think we all as an athlete, we get to a point where we can't play the game any longer. And so then you have to make decisions on what do I want to do with the rest of my life or, or, you know, part of my life and so for me, it was I wanted I love the game of basketball and I wanted to stay in the game of basketball. So how can I do that without being a player and so it was it was pretty easy. It was it coaching came out and so what I did at that point in my life, this is after college is I reached out to My mentor, I have a guy I played for in junior high, who was still coaching. And so I reached out to him and just asked if he needed any extra help as a volunteer. And he obviously, you know, said yes, and so I jumped in as a volunteer and did whatever he asked me to do and more to earn his trust, and I fell in love with it. And it was absolutely one of those things where, you know, I felt like I could be around the game that I loved, but also impact lives. And so I jumped in, I started with him woodland junior high, was there for a period of time, and then had the opportunity to move up to Fayetteville high school or where I played, you know, which was my alma, my alma mater, and, and served there for a few years, and then I had an opportunity to become a head coach, shallow Christian, a smaller school, private school was pretty close to mine, you know, home and so I jumped into that role and was a head coach at Shiloh Christian for four years had a great experience, there, growing and learning. And, you know, we're all green, when we start and so, I learned a lot in those four years and then had the opportunity to move up the ladder again and took a six a West head coaching job at Springdale, high school there for six years. And we had success there, loved every second of Springdale, high school, as far as the leadership that I was working for, as far as the principles go, and the different people I was around the staff that I built at Springdale, who are all now head coaches now, who were giants in the game and the high school game here that I learned with and learned, you know, how to compete the right way. And then, you know, your alma mater, calls you, you know, kind of back home, once again, my mentor was back in play. And he needed a sidekick as he was fixing to retire. And so I jumped back in with him and got to serve Him as He spent his last four years of his career, wouldn't try to second of that experience, and, and then was named head coach of Fayetteville High School. And here we are, fixing the inner ear for as a head coach back in home water. And that's kind of my, you know, path to where I am now. And, you know, it's a lot of learning along the way and success as well, as you know, some heartbreak. And so I think that's, I think that's good. I think there's growth in both. Absolutely. And I love that story in the journey, and how, and we got into a little bit before taping this, but you essentially took over a basketball program, you became a head coach of program that struggle, and you build it all the way up until you're competing basically for the state championship. And you get that cough from your mentor. And he asked you to leave that position and come and be an assistant coach. And I just think it speaks volumes to your character, where you're willing to step away from that program, to join rejoin your mentor, to complete his journey to take that step back a little bit. Your assistant coach is is a huge position. But you know, you're not that head coach and to take that spot and learn from your mentor and be there is he turns over the reins to you is pretty special. appreciate you saying that. Right? And you're exactly right. It was It wasn't an easy decision to do that. You know, you got to check your ego, you got to look at a lot of different things you ask tough questions, as I've told people before, is, I don't think I ever would have made that move. Matter of fact, I know I would never have made that move, to go from Head Coach coming off a state championship game in building something special, to back to a different role if it hadn't been for two reasons. One, I have a high school, my alma mater, which means so much and to my mentor, you know, needing me to come back. And so those two things, were the reasons that I came back and those I wouldn't have done it any other any other way. Yeah, absolutely. Those mentors plays such a big role in our lives. And I know I've had some special mentors too, and it's just to serve under them and that chance to learn with them is so pivotal. Now, I didn't realize until I contacted you and we talked a little bit about how big Fayetteville basketball is. Can you let everybody know a little bit about the tradition that you have at your school and the success that you guys have? Yeah, I'd be glad to do that. We, you know, Fayetteville basketball was the It's, it means a lot to a lot of people, you know, it's, it's one of those things that I look back and talked about a little bit before about my path was, there was always so much pride to say you were, you know, a part of a Fayetteville basketball program or being a Fayetteville kid. And so, you know, you go to games, or I did as a kid, and, you know, it was just always you saw that you smell it, you felt it, there was just something special about being in that gym, and being a part of something like that. And then when you become a player in high school, and you see that the community is just pouring into your program, you, you go to the games, and you see your your friend's parents or your, your parents, friends and people in the community community leaders that your games. And then as a head coach, you know, coming back and just seeing the former players that come back seeing the, you know, the people in the stands that, you know, are running our local businesses or, or, you know, just involved in so many different things in the community is it's a big deal. The tradition of phyto basketball has been strong for so long. And it started with, with our, my coach that I played for many of us played for coach for toe Kretser. Mr. Hall of Famer in his own right. Tough, demanding, but a winner. And so, you know, he kind of built that, that program. At his program, I think you asked my mentor who also played for kretchmer, the previous head coach, he would tell you the same, it all goes back to Joe kretchmer. His fundamentally sound just every day, presence and the passion he poured into the program. And we we don't have to come in here and change something drastically, as far as culture goes. Because it, it's been there. And then we've been a part of it. And so we just have to make sure that we maintain it and keep it to where it's always been, which is strong. You know, there's been state championships. It's been a while since we've worn one. But there's been state championships in the 70s, the 80s in the 2000s. And so we've been close several times in the last 10 or 15 years. But it's hard. And the big thing is just making sure that we're doing everything every day to make sure that we're maintaining what are our people before us had built? Absolutely. And I love it that you were telling me earlier that and I don't think many high schools can say this across the country, that every single coach that has coached at Fayetteville has been an alumni of that school. Yeah, that's a neat, it's a really neat deal. We don't take that for granted. You know, it's I think that's special. And he talked to, you know, obviously, being in the business for as long as I have developed relationships with coaches all over the country, in high school and college. And that's one thing that those guys would tell you is that's rare. We're blessed that they've allowed us our district and admin has allowed us to keep that. That lineage, I guess you should say and that tradition of, you know, the guy in the number one chair has always been a faithful Bulldog. And in that fraternity and so it's something that that I feel very good about, you know, and so, we want to carry on that tradition. No, I think that's great. Now, being a high school coach is not easy, and it's very time consuming. And that you have to give up a lot. You have to have passion for the game for the sports for for the students. What drives you as a coach? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I think there's been maybe a well, I know there has been for me is a mindset shift, maybe over the years, it's evolving. But when I started out, you know, when I talked about my path and my journey when I started out and became a head coach for the first time at Shiloh, it was my mindset was I'm going to prove people wrong I'm going to a program that had never one program that you know, was offer one win season and a football dominant school and I had doubters as to whether that was the right job to jump into and so my mindset I was concerned with let's prove people that we can get it done here let's let's all my passion, all my energy needs to be not only developing kids, but it was it was more towards succeeding and winning. And as the years have gone on, since that first year, I started to realize that that's you know, that's that's pretty shallow, if that's your, you know, your end goal was to win games that's pretty shallow and your, your mindset shifts a little bit and so And, you know, it just became for me, okay? Along this journey, you're, you're spending so much time with your players on and off the floor. And that relationship piece started to just completely consumed me with, you know, you, you celebrate in their successes and our journey. And you heard when they struggle, and so it was, you know, maybe a complete, you know, opportunity for me to grow as a leader to understand that it's not all about, you know, the wins and losses, it's there's so much more to me, that's what drives me today is making sure that, you know, each one of those kids gets an awesome experience, and gets lifelong memories that they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. That relationship piece is so big, and I love how you talked about like, the joy in finding, like helping them through their struggles, and, and their successes, like there's something special and you know, when you're sitting on the sideline, it was great when you're younger, and you're out actually out there on the court when we could play and we score those baskets, and you hear the crowds cheer and everything. But they're I think, maybe it's comes with age, but the older you get, and you can be on that sideline, and you see the joy that they have out there on the court, yeah, when that when they make those plays, so you go back in those locker rooms, and you share, you know, the tough moments, because at the end of the season, that's probably a, it's it's a tough moment in those locker rooms when it comes to an end. Or those times when you go into the locker room, and they've, you know, you win a sectional title or the league title. It's just so joyousness those relationships and, and you were telling me beforehand about the relationships that carry lifelong, because it's not just when they're with you, it's when you see them in the community, sometimes they come back and you know, all pumped up to see you or you see pictures, and they have their kids and you just see them transition into men. And that relationship is, is key. And it's a journey, like you said, and I think they you said from the beginning, it's all about that growth. And we grow a lot, especially from our first year to where you are now. So what would you tell coach, ah, first year coach stamps, if you could go back in time. Oh, that, you know, it's not all about me. It's, you know, it's, it's a way not me. And that, you know, it's what I've learned and what we share with them, we can talk about this in a minute, we talked about culture or whatever, but it's, for me, it's surrounding yourself with great people, great man, which I've been fortunate and blessed to work with some awesome staff to talk a little bit about the staff I had at Springdale, but the staff I have at Fayetteville. They're good men, they're good fathers, they're good husbands, they're active in the community. They coach our kids hard, but they love him even harder. And it's just it's a collective responsibility. And so I think when I started my journey, as a head coach, I didn't see all that I didn't understand the importance of that, even though I'd come from Fayetteville a program that had had that it's a little different when you're the number one guy number one chair, you know, the responsibilities change the you just feel, you know, maybe a sense of urgency of, okay, I've got this amount of time, what are we going to get done in this amount of time. And it was, a lot of it was probably selfish, selfish on my part of, you know, like I said, I want to prove people wrong. And instead of really diving into what's important, and what's important is making sure that you're passionate about seeing kids grow, not just on the floor, but more importantly, watching their growth off the floor of becoming a man and becoming a, you know, a future husband and a future father and an active member. I would say, over a course of time, that that's what I would look back at and say, Man, how foolish were you? You know, to, to have that mindset here, one as to year 22. So that's kind of where I'm at with that. And I think those are great now, and we talked about we're gonna get into team culture now. And yeah, and I think this is huge. And this is something that we both been in the classroom, and we both worked out on the court that I've taken so much from basketball and onto the court and team culture wise and brought it back to the classroom. So I read a book this summer, then it was called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. And the five dysfunctions are absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results, an example of that would be like a player comes down and in scores 30 points the eye, and they're really proud of themselves for scoring 30 points, but it could have been in a loss. And so putting their personal statistics above the team, and I think it's key that we do the opposite of those. So what are some ways that you feel because you talk about the Fayetteville culture that's built there? What are what are some building blocks that you have in your program to to make these? Yeah, and I'll, I'll get to maybe each area of those five dysfunctions because I've I've, I have not read the book yet. But I've, I've studied some of those. specifics, those five specific for sure. But then I'll kind of twine it back to culture, whether it's team culture, whatever it is, and our philosophy, it's pretty simple. In our programs, we really stress the three C's, we talked about the three C's and our parent meeting, we talked about the three C's our players all the time and that community classroom and the court, we want to be successful in all three, and how do we become successful? And all three? Well, there is play and there is something that we, you know, we stress, we put our kids in the community with so many different No, no, that'll be a question later on, that will hit on them. But we put our kids in the community in front of people. We want them to be active in the community. And for us, we look for different things every year that are going to not only impact our community, but it's going to impact our players. And those are the types of things we look for we want to be successful, as part of our culture. The classroom is a big deal for us. We've had a national merit finalist, several years, within our basketball team, and we celebrate that we, we we talk about it, we praise it, we do everything we can to make sure that everybody knows that you're not just here to play basketball. We're here to get an education of quality education, you're here to be a leader in the classroom, we stressed are guys that are harder and harder with you know, COVID and post COVID The way the classroom structure and management and all those things. I mean, that's a whole new podcast if we ever one dive into that, because it's it's difficult today, it can be done. But it's more difficult today than it ever has been as far as your traditional classroom and what that looks like we still talk about, we still stress, we want you to be in the first couple rows of a classroom, we want you to be active and involved. We have a member of my staff that is our academic advisor. What I mean by that is he's constantly checking grades on Gradebook, he send weekly emails out to our teachers and our ability, you know, stress and high send us it's not just send us when a kid is messing up, send us things that our players are doing well, so we can celebrate them at the end of practice. And talk about it and then, you know, obviously the court, we want to be successful on the court as well. You know, we want to push our kids to the, to the max, we want to take our kids to on a regional on a national level to compete. We want to share our product with people, we want people to be proud of what we put on the floor. And so when you combine those three C's into one package, I will say that our culture is very successful in the classroom, the court and in the community, because I think they all build on each other. And I think we've been successful because we've been successful in each one of those areas. That's great. I love those three C's. And I love how what we speak to the kids, what we put at the forefront, and it's a repeated message, I think gets ingrained in them. And I love how and we're gonna get into the community piece a little bit later. But how you brought in the classroom piece in that you had that academic advisor that contacts the teachers and what I really liked is how you said don't just tell me what's going wrong. Tell me what's going on. Right? Because if you know if we can celebrate what's going right and let the the guys know, Hey, your teachers are praising you for showing up in the classroom for sitting in the front of the classroom. getting your work done being that leader in the classroom. That is that's important. It's important to for that player and it's important for all the other guys around to see that as well. I think So Brian, we talked about win the day you can win every day in something So, when we get those, you know that feedback, it's there's power in that there's power in, you know, going through to our practice, but the practice saying, hey, you know what, you know, Miss Bogart sent us an email, let me read this email, you know, so and so is today after class coach went around the room and picked up trash that wasn't his and threw it the trash can, or a today in the lunchroom saw so and so walked by, you know, and set with a student that you know, normally doesn't have somebody set with. And so those things carry so much more weight than anything else. They're stuff that they're things that need to be celebrated, because we talk about that daily. And so we want to make sure now that you are going to get bad reports, that's just part of it. And we talk about those as well, maybe some of those more on an individual basis, pulling them away from their peers and saying what's going on today? What happened, tell me about it, and then try to figure out a way to get them rewired, rebooted in the right direction. So that's going to happen, we know that we're all going to fail, at some point in time. And, you know, we take the classroom very serious, even though we, we all come up short. From time to time, we just have to make sure that we're emphasizing the right things. And that's what we're gonna continue to do in our program. Absolutely. And I love how you said that, like, you know, we have to understand all of us are going to come short, at one point or another. As adults, we come up short. And as a 16 1718 year old, they're gonna they're gonna make mistakes, and it's part of our job to understand that. So hold them to be accountable, but also to, hey, I love you, I care about you, I'm here for you, and how can we handle this? What can we do differently next time, and right on some of these kids, whether it's a father figure, or like, viewing us as a bigger brother for maybe the younger system coaches, and everything that they need, that they need a little love, and a little guidance. Yeah, and you know, your, your staff is comprised, ours is of different personalities, some kids feel more comfortable with that personality type than maybe another. And so, you know, with our staff, we want our kids talking to us, we want to spend time, you know, away from the floor of getting not only to get our kids, what their struggles are. So we can address them so we can make sure they understand that that's not abnormal, to have bad feelings towards something or be dealing with something, we all have it and don't have it. And so I think that's healthy, I think it's healthy. And that's one of the you know, the dysfunctions of a team is absence of trust, or, you know, fear of conflict, all those things kind of twined back into that. They're intertwined. And so, you know, the absence of trust piece is, you know, we want to recognize all player strengths. And we, you know, when you get to know that by putting them through situations to find out what their strengths are, and then we want to talk about them, we don't want to hide them, we want to talk about what each player or person brings to our program to make us successful. And maybe we spend more time celebrating those than even pointing out major weaknesses, because we all have weaknesses, but I just, that's just my philosophy. And it works for us that we don't spend as much time you know, maybe picking each other apart with our weaknesses, but really celebrating what our strengths are and how those strengths are going to help us be more 100%. I love that. Like, let's focus on what is right, and putting each other in the position where we can succeed the most in that, you know, we are we used to say Kyp like no your personnel. Where can we put our players in the best spot? Where can the guys put each other in the best spot to be successful? And let's focus on that. Let's pick each other up. Now, part of that, too, is being that leader. And I don't think sometimes I've come across guys that came up through through the program that I was with, that had that natural leader instinct, but I found that that was few and far between that a lot of people don't have that they need to be taught that and it's a process. Is there anything that you guys do with your team to help build that leadership? Because I think a player led team is one of the strongest teams that you can have. No and that's what we're at After we're after that we, it's, I would say more than anything, it's just a consistent theme back to consistent. In our player meetings, we talk a lot about leadership, we talk about what good leadership looks like and what bad leadership looks like we talked about how Leadership isn't, isn't always doesn't have to be are always a demanding out front, maybe over vocal it can be in the form of just showing up and doing your job every day, the right way. It can be, you know, helping pick up a teammate it's down, it can be a phone call after a practice, Amen. You know, you're good. And so we're constantly giving our players feedback about how can you lead a group of young people, your peers, the best way, and it's, it's different every year as far as what that looks like. And, you know, some players come into our program as sophomores and they don't have a leadership skill. And I would say, as far as you know, even though they show up and work, but as far as you know, what, and so we have to walk them through it. And by the time they finish, I think they're, you know, when I graduate, we see such a change in them to where they step away. And, and now they're, you know, vocal or now they're recognizing that they do have some leadership ability, and people are going to follow them because of what not only they've accomplished, but how they've dealt with adversity and how they've dealt with things that have been have happened over their, their time at Fayetteville High School. And so it's ever evolving. But it is something that we stress and talk about, and all of our team meetings, you know, we pull players aside, during the school year, which is really one of my favorite parts of the relationship piece is getting the players or a player away from their comfort zone. You know, and we talk about five minutes, talks, and that can be anything, it can be stopped by one of our coaches office and just stick your head in and, and you know, Hey, Coach, how you doing? I'm doing fine. Hey, what's going on your life? What's going on? What are you doing tonight? What do you, you know, let's go home this weekend, as your sister has a brother, anything like that builds on itself. And then all of a sudden, you get a sense of trust you you're not asking them to trust you, you're building that trust, and you're building accountability. And you're, you're building a commitment level, that you avoid some of these dysfunctions of a team because it's just, it's, it's stuff that's taken place every day of behind the scenes before you ever even step on the floor, to start trying to you know, compete at a high level, which is hard enough, and you're never going to be successful on that 90 feet, if you don't have those things already built in previous. So that's kind of where we're at, we were always talking about ways that we can develop leaders in ways that our basketball team can be successful. Absolutely. And I love that that five minute talk, because letting the guys know that you're more than just a basketball player to me, you're more than, you know, 10 points and five rebounds. They I see you for who you are, and taking an interest and and that's some of the neatest parts, like you said, as far as that relationship piece, hearing who they are away from the basketball court and what their interests are and what's going on. And that's huge with the trust. Well, okay, so and we're all from, you know, we all have different backgrounds, we all have different, you know, strengths, weaknesses, we all have different things that we deal with different hurts different struggles. And so and that may be back to your previous question about year one, as a coach till now is making yourself being vulnerable, you know, maybe and letting go of, you know, the pride or of the internal pride that you have, and being humble and telling your players that, you know, I may be the head coach of program, a major program and our traditional pitch program, but guess what, I was just like you do I have the same struggles you do I deal with things before I get to the practice floor just like you did. You wake up and you might have a bad day with something's going on at home. Well, guess what? So do I like you know, and so, I want them to see that. I want them to feel that. So now it's all of us together pulling in the same direction because we all understand each other where we come from, I think is so big and so That's never going to stop, it's always going to be something that we will you work at. And the players understand that it's a two sided thing. Absolutely. And I think that's, that's huge. And if you can build that relationship piece, and I'm sure that they, you, your staff has this sometimes, like, some days that the guys just don't have it, and they, they need a little extra motivation from us, what will always say on those days is, you know, we'd round them up at the end. And it might not be the head coach, maybe the head coach was getting after him pretty hard. And it would be myself or the other assistant coach. And we would step up, and we would say, you know, he's getting after you, because He loves you so much, because he cares about you so much. It's one, he stopped paying attention and getting on knew that, that's when you gotta be worried. And if we build those relationships, I think that allows us the ability, and you talked about it, to coach the guy's heart. Without a doubt, Brian, that's that's, that is it. And I love the way you said it. We talk about that our Apparently our preseason parent meeting in October 15, through around the middle of the month of October, before we really started our first official practice, when I have all of the parents in a room together. And with our staff, as we talked about that, like, look, this is going to be successful, and here's why. But understand, we're all going to fail, we're all going to deal with adversity during this year, whether it's off the floor, with illness, death in the families, whatever takes place life was going to take place, how are we going to deal with it together. And this is for our coaching staff, I understand we're going to coat dirty and hard. But guess what, we're gonna love them even harder. We want to partner with you, as a parent, we want a partnership to where we're gonna get the most out of your out of this child. By coaching them hard, loving them harder, and pushing them to the limit. And getting whatever we can out of them in a way that's gonna make us all proud. And so the finished product we're more interested in than anything else. And so when we let them go from our program, the fruit, if you should say is when they you know, get a college education or they get a job or they get a family. That's the fruit. That's the that's the pay. That's the real paycheck for us as coaches is to see the success they gave us. Absolutely. I love that that is the paycheck that is the the fruit right there when you see them afterwards. And they're successful. And they're great young man. Now and I think talking about that failure piece is a great segue into the next, the question is the self confidence piece, because you know, what we'll talk about on the court, but I think we can take things and bring into the classroom as well, like basketball is, in sports in general, like failure is immediate. And it's right there, whether it's, you're in a big game, it's the fourth quarter, two minutes, it's a tie game, and you come down and you make that turnover, or you shoot and you miss that shot. You got to keep that healthy mental space and keep playing. Is there anything that you do for your players that to help them or if they're on the coach, shooting streak to help them break out of that? Yeah, so you know, there's lots of ways and lots of different things that we do that sometimes we don't necessarily talk about other than just, we do it. And that's, you know, wrapping your arm around them. And just, you know, in a game, it's different, because you got to get them right quick. But it's, it's putting them in situations in your offseason in practice to where they're mentally, mentally mentally exhausted, physically, physically exhausted, and having them perform at a high level on those situations where they're not at their best. And so it's our job as coaches to put them in those situations so that when something arises, or something that comes in a game, they can fall back on the mental toughness and the things that they've already overcome that was much tougher than an opponent. And so that's the odd part, I guess, as far as developing an offseason program and is trying to figure out ways where we can push our players because every player is wired differently. You know, some are more passionate about every day than others. Some are, you know, I wouldn't say more competitive because we're all competitive but more competitive. So, as far as winning every single thing that they do, during a day, instead of just being present, you know, being a being a winner in every every rep, everything that you do. And so we've got to stay on top of it as coaches to push them and manage that part out to wear when things happen in again, good, bad, indifferent, that they've already been through that. And, like I said, before, Brian, it's, we're not going to be perfect, I'm going to fail as a coach over the course of the game, there's going to be things that I after a game, my wife will tell you, I get home and you know, the reflection cases, I've got one spot my house, win or lose that I go to, after a game where I can reflect, because I don't want to, you know, I don't want to go to sleep without having that peace of maybe comfort of okay, I've looked at it this way. You know, maybe I should have done something a little different. It may be a player had a, maybe it failed over the course of the game, that something missed a free throw, or turned it over in a tight spot or gave up something on defense. And, you know, my players will tell you that I may get a text message from me before I go to bed and before they go to bed, you know, just something uplifting or, or, you know, something that, you know, hey, you know, we're, you're gonna be okay. You know, it's always a middle of the technical side of this businesses is so important, maybe much more important than anything else is, you know, building that with your players. We're all going to, we're all going to fail, we're all going to come up short. How are we going to be better and how we're going to learn from those failures? Because I think there's a lot of learning involved in failure. It's how you handle it, and how you deal with adversity is everything that's gonna reveal your true character. 100%. And I absolutely agree like that preparation. And helping them build that self confidence is huge. And one thing that the guys I used to coach with would always preach to the kids would be like, next play. And yeah, what, for those that are listening might not be familiar with that term, as I know you are that. But next play like you miss that shot. Well, we can't do anything about the shot. We can't do anything about the turnover that you just made. But what we can do is, we can get back and play on defense and focus on that next play. And but that had to happen every day in practice talking about that, in order for when it happened in the game to say that next play, we couldn't just wait for the game to happen. It had to take place during practice. No, you're right. And, you know, it's funny, because, you know, as a former staff member of our Ronnie Brewer, when he was with me, he's now with COACH MUSSELMAN with the Razorbacks, but when he was with me, he was kind of our guy of when a player came off the floor got subbed in and something good, bad, whatever bad body language, or whatever it was, they sat right next to Ronnie, and he was kind of our, you know, our team, psychologists, psychiatrists, wherever you want to look at it, is he was so good at that. Okay, walking him through what just took place and getting them, you know, ready to go back into game. And so you got to have that person on your staff in game that can deal with things because as a head coach, sometimes I'm a standard, I can't sit still I have to be up walking to the sidelines. And there's lots of things that take place behind my back on the bench or, or whatever that I don't see. And so it's important to have somebody on your staff that recognizes bad body language or something that's going on to where they can reboot them and, and really get them back focused in on what's important. And what's important is the next player the next, you know, few minutes to the basketball game, so they're doing what just took place. Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, the head coach doesn't have that time like in game, you got to take care of everything that's happening outside on that court. So having that support staff behind you can get the guys talk them through it. Recognize that bad body language is key. You talked about earlier and we talked about community and part of the three C's Community Classroom court, and you said Fayetteville is you know, big basketball city and that your high school, the Bulldogs are big in the community. What are ways that you take out the players and get the guys out there so that you get the use in the program because I think You know, I'm big on High School Sports as far as the schools in the community, just I think it can be great to get the community excited, bring some to bring everybody together. So what are some ways that you guys go out into the community? Yeah, we we stress and talk about service a lot to our kids about serving be a servant, don't wait around for somebody to hand you say or do something for you, let's go do something for other people that sometimes those people wouldn't ask, you just step up and take charge and do some things. And so we're always looking for creative ways to do that. And so along with our parent meeting, we talked to our parents about creative ideas, if they have, you know, something that you know, a non charity or just something that's going on, you know, we do an angel tree every year, which is something that we've known for forever, our booster club president is really good at getting involved in that as far as allowing the kid some money. And we go shop together for kids that maybe couldn't afford some Christmas gifts, or have a Christmas and we last year, we got an opportunity to go to a assisted living place. And we delivered some gifts during COVID. They didn't have visitors and so family wasn't coming in to see them. And we want to make sure that those people had a Christmas. So we are our parents stepped up, donated some money. And our booster club did and we went bought a while the gifts delivered them to them under their Christmas tree at the Assisted Living Center. We go to Children's Hospital, and read and spend a day in the hospital with the kids that are dealing with, you know, major, major things. You know, for us, it gives us an opportunity for our kids to see what they have and what others may not have. But that they can be a huge impact. Just being present, and just being involved with him. What we've seen Brian with that specific is we set out to impact those kids. But in turn, those kids are impacting us, which those are, those are fun. service opportunities for us is when that happens. And that happens a lot. Last year, we have unfortunately, we have a large population in our city of homeless individuals, we have a couple of homeless facilities. And so they had reached out to us the shelter did about they had some some old park benches and different picnic tables and things that made it painting and made it some get some work done. And so we bust our pliers out to this shelter. We painted we, you know, put nails in and we built some stuff and just added a out there at the homeless shelter observing that facility. Got some great feedback from that, you know, we're always looking for ways as far as community service, those are just some examples. We there's many more that we get them out doing stuff like that, as far as our youth goes. As far as our players, we do kids clinics in the summer, especially where we have this year we had 100 Close to 200 kids ages second through eighth grade and our gym, and all three of our gyms. And we had our players coaching those kids in skills and drills and competitions. We have an AO here, as well as the Boys and Girls Club. And so we were highly involved our program is is you know we our staff is always seen that those games on Saturday mornings or practices during the week, we may stop it and watch it third a team practice their school team and you know, we have our players present at, you know their games and different things that they do. Because we want them growing up to be a bulldog, but we want our Bulldogs term Bulldogs to show them what it means to be able to org and how to represent not only yourself, your family, but your community. And so it gives us many opportunities to do that. You want to put our kids at the forefront of that. It's a it's a major piece of what we do. And that's great. And I think you know when you're a younger kid, I teach second grade and when you when you see like the 789 year olds or even the middle school kids and they come to the varsity games like those varsity players. They're so huge and can have such a big impact and like when when those guys are putting on the clinics form that I'm sure The kids just have to eat that up. So being able to interact with the guys and everything. I also love, like when you talk about going out into the community, whether it's the Children's Hospital, or you talked about going to the homeless shelter, because we're the goal of a coach, and I think you've talked about this so eloquently is to raise good man. And it's one thing we can talk about volunteering, we can talk about service all day long. But it's completely different. When you show up there. And you're sitting in that hospital, and you're reading to those kids. And like you said, the impact and how your players got more from that than, you know, then they gave, it's just just that they get to do it, they get to experience it, they get to feel what it means to be that number the community and give back. So those are great things, Coach. Thank you. You know, a big thing is we're raising student athletes, is there anything that any tips that you could give for any educator or a coach out there to help make that student athlete where they find success on the court or the field or, and inside the classroom? I would, I would say, and we're currently, with our plight, one of our individuals that played for me a few years ago, he's in college now, and he's dealing with, he just feels overwhelmed by so many things all at once, I would say, making sure the time management piece of maybe prioritizing what needs to happen now and what you can maybe hold off, you know, maybe for a period of time and, and really hitting the things that are need to be done right away setting a timeline of okay, this is I need this done now. But this can wait till Wednesday or Thursday, but I need to make sure I get this done by Friday. And really being intentional about making a daily plan, a daily plan of light that down, you know, every night before you go to bed or whatever it is. This is the here's some things that I have to do tomorrow to make sure that I'm getting everything I need to be done. It's such a big deal, I'm learning that I did a professional is actually intended to be a personal growth plan for myself there and COVID that I've been fortunate to share with some different college coaching staffs and some different people that I'm proud of, and, and a lot of that growth for me was was that was just being deliberate, intentional about having an everyday journal or task to get done. As far as being present in the classroom, it's, it's just making sure that you know, you're an active listener, you're engaged. It's not just buying time to say, Hey, I'm gonna sit in here for 55 minutes. And then I can check off the box that hey, I was present in class today, coach, well, where are you actually present? Were you engaged? Were you? What did you take from class today? What did you write down? What did you, you know, that you can go back and look at. And so as an educator, or later, I think it's fine in ways to, you know, to maybe bring more relevant to that specific classroom, real life experiences are powerful. And so those kids are that your audience, whatever the audience might be, whether it's you're talking to a group of adults, or you're talking to a group of kids, I think real life experiences are are powerful. And you're teaching, you know, and then maybe back in what you're what you're talking about. So there's different ways there's different areas. I think it's evolving, I think every day is, you know, always look at it this way. We're always talking to our players and stressing to our players the importance of what are you doing outside of our practice time to improve and get better? What were you doing individual? Were our using your time wisely? What are you doing with it? Well, it's kind of hypocritical or maybe even if we're stressing that to our players, and we're not doing that as coaches or leaders or educators. That's not right. And so, we always want to be lifelong learner. We want to have a growth mindset. How can I get better as an educator so I can be better for my players? And, you know, let's don't push our players to the brink of they've got to spin this amount. Time to, you know, be great at a craft whenever we're not trying to be great at a craft ourselves. And we're always, you know, I think learning great learning takes place, whenever we get out of our comfort zone, whenever we look at something as a challenge, or maybe a fear that we dive right into, and really figure out how to, you know, to learn or get better at something that maybe we never thought we would. So I'm always listening to podcast, I'm always, you know, a matter of fact, I was texting, coach, neighbors, Razorback women's coach, who's an avid laborer, he stresses reading and was really good at new books and different things, and I was just texting with him this morning about some different books or podcasts that are out there that I can learn from, so I can be better when I go back to school in August. And so you know, it's it is a growth mindset every day is a new day. And so I think as an educator or a, you know, a young, a young person, it's tackling every day is a new opportunity to get better at something. Absolutely. And, couple, a lot of great gems in there, you talked about being that model, pushing ourselves into that fear zone. And I find myself and that's one thing recently that I've been trying to do is making that conscious effort to step in, in run into that fear. Because it's easy to become the older we get, it's easier to become complacent. And sometimes I think, we forget what it's like to be new at something or to do something that we're not good at right away at first. And but we're asking our players or our students to do that all the time. So it's good to remind ourselves of what that feels like. And also you talked about, like that time management piece, that's something that I've struggled with, even as an adult. So teaching our kids how to make that daily routine, putting first things first, how to manage our time. And also you talked about that act of listening and modeling for our kids. It's a soft skill, but it's an important skill. And it's something sometimes I think we just take for granted. Like, you shouldn't be listening. Well, what exactly does that mean, you know, for our kids making that visible for him and everything? No, I think so. Brian, I think it's the the just the the act of listening is, you know, is you making eye contact? Are you listening? Are you actively involved in eye contact and listening to the message that's been delivered? And, and? Or are you focused on the delivery of the message instead of the message itself? Are you there's so much, you know, for all of us in, in any relationship or any conversation with somebody is, you know, I think you walk away from a conversation with somebody, and you can be turned on or turned off by just the direction of the conversation. And I think our country is struggling with that. Today is in we'll talk about that takeaway, or maybe at the end of the podcast day, because that's something else that that drives me years that I'm passionate about, as you know, some of those things. Yeah, no, I, it's very unfortunate. I think that how much we struggle with with conversations and how we deal with people that might not see the world the same as we do or how we can have a real conversation and hear what each other saying, but and we'll get that at the end. Real quick. And I love great segue you talked about you are texting with the coach of the women's basketball team about books and podcasts. One things that I love about coaches is you guys are always learning and pushing the envelope. So what are some books or podcasts that you would recommend for the listeners? Yeah, in books I'm always looking for specifically just because that's kind of my realm where I want to focus a lot of my time now I will pick up something that's just fun or whatever to read. But when I talked about getting better or growth for me there's there's a couple of things there's there's one that just got bought and I haven't read it yet but it's on my my list to go buy recently. Is there the lead? I just did dive into that. Then there's humble leadership. It's really dazzling the powerful relationships and openness and trust. And I think it's it's it's one that I read not too long. ago that's really good. The eight paradoxes of great leadership is one. The power of moments is something that that is very good too, that I just recently loaned out to somebody. You know, especially when we're in that business of, you know, creating memories of a lifetime or, or being involved in some of our moments. It's really good. As far as podcasts go, my podcast log is continuously getting larger because of restaurant or coaching friends of mine, my former staff that I talked about at Springdale were on a group text about one of them sent me a couple days ago. You know, learning the next generation podcast till Tim Elmore who's written some really good books. There's one called conditional performers. That's really good. And, and I think the Buzz Williams was recently on there. And that's, that's I have not listened to that specific one on BUZZ WILLIAMS yet. But that was one that was sent to me. The great coaches, leadership in life is another one. Chris, all over the basketball podcast, if you're basketball, whatever he does, into some things, is really good. And then Brian Martin's got a good one good podcast as well, I appreciate that. Coach steps. And, you know, I dare to lead, I think every Brene Brown fan out there was going over that one. And I've read the power of the moments too. And that's a great, great book. Like you said, we're all in whether it's in on the court or in the classroom. Like we're always creating those moments. So thank you for that that greatly. I got some good podcasts, listen to now. So thank you. Absolutely. And I'd be glad when we're finished, if you've got some that I didn't mention, share with me. I'm interested in those things. Yeah, no, absolutely. That I know, one. I was thinking about you, coach, because it's what Brendon sir, I think was coaching you live or I'll have to look. But I had the Arkansas head coach on there just a couple of weeks ago, and I saw that I was thinking about you there coach stamps? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's a good one and Justin Sua. Um, he's another favorite one. For like, the mental conditioning aspect, that I think he brings a lot of good stuff. Now, if you coach as we wrap up here, could leave the coaches or the teachers with one takeaway from this podcast episode, what would that be? One takeaway from this specific podcast, I mean, I just think being passionate, being vulnerable. You know, we're all in this together. It's, it's a daily, you have to be intentional about your daily task, whether that's an even in your downtime there, you're still being intentional about whatever that might be. But I think if you really have a growth mindset, and you want to get better, I think it's been intentional about that. It's, it's what are you gonna do? You know, today that's gonna make you an impact or change your life tomorrow. And so that's something that I've, that keeps me awake at night. It's something that, you know, I don't know how much longer I have to be doing what I love to do. It's a blessing to do what we do. It's harder today than it was yesterday, it's harder than it was 10 years ago, parenting has changed, coaching has changed. You know, this generation of kids have changed. You know, it's, it's instant. Now. It's instant gratification. It's, it's easy to to push the reset button instead of finding ways to navigate through it and problem solve. And so I think it's, it's an everyday journey that, you know, we just feel like, you have to dive into and you got to put fear aside and, and understand that we all have a story. Every one of us has a story, good or bad. I want to talk about the things that I struggle with, as far as the overall picture is i for the life of me, I don't understand how you and I may have a difference. We may have a difference of opinion on something but that doesn't mean we can't be close and can't be respectful and can't be friends and can't sit by the eye and talk about our differences without being you know, judgmental are harsh. And I struggled with seeing that all over the country every day, because of your political viewpoint, or your political side, or, you know, maybe your religion or whatever it is, whatever it is, I know I'm preaching here, but just struggle with those things I struggle with how people can communicate and come to a solution without, you know, tossing stones or throwing darts, we're all in this together. And so it's gonna be a continuous for me ways to find out how to maybe be an impact and, and be a light to people and change lives. That's what we're all in it for. Absolutely, and I love that coach, and I agree with you 100%, it breaks my heart, sometimes. Some of the stuff that you see out there, but I love and I just want to say thank you for being here. And I love how you talked about like that, that passion piece, that vulnerability piece, it just comes out of you when you talk. And you know, a coach, you said, you know, we're only here, or we only have so much time. And I think about that sometimes like with for our coat your coaching career, my teaching career, there's only so much time left. And you know, you can say, Well, you got 1015 20 years. But, man, when you look back and see how fast the last 10 or 1520 years goes by the blink of an eye, and being passionate about that. And there's no doubt in my mind how passionate you are about the game, but about the guys and the young men that you serve. So the coach can have such a power of powerful effect that you grow young man, and to serve the community. So thank you so much for all your wisdom that you share coach stamps, and thank you for for being that light, and doing that for your place. Thank you, Brian, I appreciate you having me on today. And I appreciate the fact that you know, continue to listen. Excellent. And I appreciate that and best of luck to the Bulldogs next season. Thank you so much. Such an amazing interview. Coach stamps is a fantastic model of what it means to be a phenomenal coach. Now, this is a teaching champions take where I share three of my favorite takeaways. The first gem that I loved is how coach stamps talked about surrounding yourself with great people. He talked about the strength of his staff and how they connect with his players, especially during the game when he's managing everything that is happening out on the court. His assistants recognize the body language and demeanor of the players. And they're able to respond to what the players need. And it reminds me of our classrooms, and how important every adult that works in the classroom is. And on a bigger scale, we should look at our school as one big team. We can make connections with students who are not in our class. Maybe it's with a student who we had the previous year, or that student that's in the classroom across the hallway. Like Coach stamps assistant coaches, we can affect students outside our own classrooms, if we're willing to take that time and make those connections. The second gem that I loved is how coach stamps talked about not always focusing on a player's weaknesses. He talked about recognizing their weakness, but more importantly, recognizing their strengths and building off of those strengths. And that's one question that we should all be asking ourselves. Are we only focusing on the weaknesses of our students? Or are we seeing their strengths, making those strengths visible to the students visible to their peers as well? And are we putting the students in situations where they can shine where they can experience success. And the last gem that I truly loved was when Coach stamps, talked about relationships and the power of vulnerability. He talked about letting go of the ego. Being humble, letting players see what vulnerability is letting them feel what vulnerability is. Think of the life lessons that coach stamp is able to pass on to his players by breaking down that wall and think about how strong the relationships are that he forms when he opens himself up to his players and these are just a few of so many great takeaways. Hit me up on social media and let me know what were some of your favorite takeaways from this conversation. I just want to say a big thank you to coach stamp for giving us so much phenomenal wisdom. And thank you to all of you. I truly appreciate your time. And if you think someone would benefit from this message, please share the teaching champions community is all about supporting, encouraging, and lifting each other up. And always remember, it doesn't matter whether you're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain. We're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. Keep being amazing, my friends, and as you go out into the week, May you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody