Coach Forward Podcast

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [09:22] - Writing Personal Notes For Each Game
• [16:51] - Taking Care of Yourself as a Coach
• [23:58] - The Lesson Coach Ivey Learned The Hard Way
• [26:10] - Protecting Relationships w/ Players and Staff
• [29:27] - The Differences Between Head Coaches and Assistants
• [32:09] - Bringing Energy to Your Staff and Players

I’m excited to be joined today by Coach Jessie Ivey. Coach Ivey is entering her third season as associate head coach at The University of Toledo Women’s Basketball. Last year she helped lead Toledo to one of their best seasons in program history, tying the school record for wins in and setting a MAC record for most conference victories in a season on their way to winning the 10th MAC Regular Season Title in school history.

Ivey came to Toledo after two seasons as head coach at NCAA Division II Tiffin University and served as an assistant before that at Bowling Green University.

As you’ll here in this episode, Coach Ivey’s approach really sets her apart as a coach who cares deeply about her players and goes the extra mile to build relationships with them based on trust. 

This approach has led to national individual honors of Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Assistant Coach of the Year - and Ivey was also named to the WBCA’s inaugural Thirty Under 30 honoree list.

Here is the list of books Coach Ivey suggested reading for coaches:

• Walk On- Alan Williams
• Eleven Rings- Phil Jackson
• Legacy- James Kerr
• Wolfpack- Abby Wambach
• It takes What It Takes- Trevor Moward
• The Culture Code- Daniel Coyle
• Atomic Habits- James Clear
• Leaders Eat Last- Simon Sinek
• Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell
• Dear Coach- Sara Erdner
• Dare to Lead- Brene Brown
• The Energy Bus- Jon Gordon
• The Tough Stuff- Cody Royle
• Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader- Christopher D. Connors
• Heart of a Husky- Mel Thomas
• What Drives Winning- Bret Ledbetter
• Be an Impact Player- Liz Wiseman 

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [11:22] - Finding Ways to Grow as a Coach
• [14:50] - Using Freshmen and Transfers as Captains
• [23:27] - Building a "Happy Locker Room"
• [28:08] - Kermit Davis' Best Advice After 27+ Years
• [32:34] - What's On The Coaching Horizon

I’m excited to be joined today by Coach Kermit Davis. Kermit Davis is in his fifth season at the helm of Ole Miss Men's Basketball. 

A nine-time conference coach of the year, Davis is 30th among active Division I head coaches with 467 career wins over 24 seasons, including stints at Middle Tennessee, Idaho and Texas A&M. In 27 seasons as a college basketball head coach, he has amassed 533 wins.

After leading Middle Tennessee to conference championships and NCAA Tournament runs, Davis was named head coach of the Ole Miss basketball program in March 2018.

Prior to returning Ole Miss, Davis guided Middle Tennessee to league titles in 6 of his last 9 years in Murfreesboro, between Conference USA and the Sun Belt. Middle Tennessee was one of five programs he led to conference championships.

Under Davis’ watch, Middle Tennessee made 3 NCAA tournaments and defeated No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 5 seed Minnesota in back-to-back seasons.

With a 25-8 record in 2018, MTSU reached the 24-win mark for the sixth time in seven seasons, which in turn led to six postseason appearances during that period. The Blue Raiders won consecutive Conference USA regular season titles in Davis’ final two years, posting a 33-3 mark in C-USA play.

In two tours of duty as Idaho head coach in 1997 and from 1989-90, Davis compiled a 63-29 record, the best three-year total in the program’s history, and earned NCAA Tournament berths in 1989 and 1990.

Davis took the helm at Idaho before the 1989 season after two years as an assistant coach under Tim Floyd, and at the time, was the youngest Division I head coach in the nation at age 28. It was not the first time Davis had been the country’s youngest head coach. When he was hired as the head coach at Southwest Mississippi Community College in 1984, he became the youngest junior college coach in the nation at age 24. His youth served him well at Southwest Mississippi, as he put together a 39-20 record in two seasons. His 1986 squad won 22 games, posting the school’s first 20-win season in 17 years.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [5:40] Great players don't make great coaches
• [7:21] Shifting from assistant to head coach
• [13:38] The challenges that come with winning a national championship
• [15:15] Building a program is bigger than X's and O's
• [17:02] Writing a Championship Manual
• [26:15] Creating time and space to talk about world events
• [30:41] Looking past wins and losses

I’m excited to be joined today by Coach Craig Skinner. Coach Skinner is the head women’s volleyball coach at the University of Kentucky, where he has led them to national prominence as the programs winningest head coach over his 18 year tenure.

In 2020, Coach Skinner led the Wildcats to the NCAA National championship - the first for any SEC team and was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.

The Kentucky Women’s Volleyball program has won consistently under Coach Skinner, making 17 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

In addition to Skinner’s success at Kentucky, he was selected as the head coach of the 2006 U.S. Junior Women’s National Team, where he led the team to the gold medal in the Under-20 Championships.

Prior to joining the Wildcats, Skinner spent five seasons as an assistant at Nebraska under John Cook and was named head assistant coach in 2003. During his tenure, the Huskers put together a 154-11 record and claimed the 2000 NCAA title with a perfect 34-0 record.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

[05:35] Valuing experience over compensation
[12:56] Using joy to improve your culture
[20:05] Chasing individual goals to create team success
[27:32] The best NBA teams are led by the players
[32:28] What technology is changing locker rooms
[36:33] Integrating mental practices into training

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at MaxOne. To see the MaxOne platform, schedule some time here.

I’m excited to be joined today by Coach Jesse Mermuys, Assistant Coach with the Orlando Magic.

His 20 year career includes coaches experiences that started at the middle school level and includes stops in high school, college, the G League, and now at the NBA level.

His 15 years in the NBA include time with the Sacramento Kings, the LA Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets. At the college level, he spent time at the University of Arizona, New Mexico State, and Southern Utah.

Coach Mermuys is a true student of the game who is passionate about improving his craft every day, and is a living testimony that prioritizing experience over pay does pay off in the long-run.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [05:12] Coaching vs. the business of basketball
• [07:11]  How to fill your own cup as coach
• [09:22] Letting players get to know you at their own pace
• [13:41] The dilemma of trusting your instincts
• [23:37] Helping players envision their futures
• [32:08] Deciding how to coach players differently
• [39:04] Stepping stones for young coaches

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at MaxOne. To see the MaxOne platform, schedule some time here.

I’m excited today to be joined by Coach RJay Barsh.

Coach Barsh is an assistant men’s basketball coach at Florida State University.

Before joining FSU, he was an assistant coach at Boise State where he helped lead the Broncos to the 2022 NCAA Tournament as they set program records for total wins (27) on their way to winning the Mountain West regular-season title outright and capturing the winning the conference tournament.

Prior to his tenure at Boise State, Barsh spent the previous seven seasons as the head coach at Southeastern University, where he earned a nod as a finalist for the Don Meyer National Coach of the Year Award.

He also had coaching stints at his alma maters Tacoma Community College and University of Puget Sound.

His journey, with stops at many levels, has given him a unique perspective on athletes today and how to build meaningful relationships with them.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [06:06] Coaches learn when they listen
• [07:55] Teaching athletes to take pride
• [12:10] Meaningful check-ins
• [17:31] What to do when your players aren't their best
• [22:18] Steal this idea — leadership journals
• [29:33] Ask your players this question
• [34:30] The safest place to fail
• [39:16] Person > Player

I’m excited today to be joined by Coach Stephen Mackey. Coach Mackey is known for his character development curriculum, 2 Words, which was chosen as the official curriculum of the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA).

He has an uncanny ability to connect with people of all backgrounds through his humor, wisdom, and infectious energy. He has helped teams reach their goals, businesses succeed, and groups impact their communities as a result of his work with them and through 2 Words.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

Highlights from the episode:

• [4:57] Moving from coordinator to head coach
• [6:36] Believing in players
• [10:05] Belief in the system as a staff
• [14:13] Belonging to a community
• [16:17] Juggling dad duties AND coaching duties
• [18:03] Leaders are created, not born
• [24:18] Player input on discipline issues
• [31:26] Use your influence

I’m excited today to be joined by Coach Matt Entz. Coach Entz has been the head football coach at North Dakota State University for the last 3 seasons. Over his time with the Bison as head coach and previously as defense coordinator, he has been part of 7 conference championships and 6 NCAA national championships.

He was named the FCS National Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021 by the American Football Coaches Association. Entz became the first Division I head football coach to go 16-0 in his first full season at the helm.

This is the first head coaching job for Entz, who was an assistant coach for more than 20 years including 15 years of experience as a defensive coordinator and eight as an associate head coach in two programs.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at OWN IT.

• [9:58] Being where your feet are
• [14:49] Using football to care about people
• [18:54] A moment he wasn't proud of
• [24:52] Giving players opportunities to talk
• [26:08] Friend or coach?
• [39:48] Parent meetings and social gatherings
• [44:59] How teaching elementary school has made him a better coach

Today, I'm excited to be joined by Coach Kurt Hines. Coach Hines is the head football coach at Coronado High School in California. He has coached football for over 20 years now (on both the east and west coast) and has been successful both on and off the field.

Coach Hines’ passion is to work with individuals, teams, and businesses, to create winning cultures, and to EMPOWER those he works with to be and to accomplish more than they ever thought possible!

He believes that great coaching has so little to do with the players, and SO MUCH to do with people!

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has 15+ years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes. His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he can impact them beyond the basketball court.

More recently, Jason founded the OWN IT System to help bring data-driven sleep and health coaching to student-athletes and their teams.

Join the discussion with Coach Forward on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Enjoying the podcast? Please leave us a review.

Episode Notes:

[4:24] His first coaching lesson at age 16
[7:35] Teaching w/ details
[9:50] The power of team retreats
[14:47] The 3 H's at Link Academy
[19:06] Sunday huddles
[21:30] Talking w/ the OG Coach Carter
[23:18] Using family to establish culture
[27:18] Chop Wood, Carry Water
[32:15] Too much training?

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at MaxOne. To see the MaxOne platform, schedule some time here.

Today, I'm excited to be joined by Coach Rodney Perry. Coach Perry is the inaugural head coach at Link Academy, finishing their first year as the #2 team in the nation after losing in the 2022 GEICO National Championship to Montverde Academy.

Coach Perry has experience coaching in the Nike EYBL as head coach of the Mokan Elite, where he developed elite NBA level talents like Trae Young, Michael Porter Jr., and more. Prior to his time at Link Academy, he served as a collegiate coach at places like Oral Roberts, Western Illinois, Kansas City, and more.

Coach Perry believes that relationships are at the core of coaching, and he lives that out in the way he leads his program on a daily, weekly, and annual basis.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has more than 15 years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes.

His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he could have an impact on their lives beyond the basketball court. More recently, Jason founded MaxOne to be a platform that makes coaches' lives easier and helps them use technology to have a bigger impact on the lives of their athletes.

Keep up with Coach Forward on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram. 

Enjoying Coach Forward Podcast? Consider subscribing or leaving us a review!

Episode Notes:

[4:35] His time as a walk-on at UGA
[6:20] Moving from coordinator to head coach
[8:41] The role love plays in sports
[12:20] Standards and balance as a pillar of the program
[15:56] How much is too much for a kid?
[17:26] Saying no as a head coach
[18:50] Keeping it fun
[25:13] The freedom to not know
[28:07] Creating a leadership council

Coach Forward is an interview-style podcast hosted by Jason Mejeur (Coach J), accomplished Coach, Mentor, and Founder/CEO at MaxOne. To see the MaxOne platform, schedule some time here.

Today, I'm excited to be joined by Coach Ben Reaves. Coach Reaves is the newly hired head coach at Milton HS (GA), where he served as offensive coordinator for the past five seasons. Milton is a national powerhouse in high school football that is regularly competing for state championships and a top 100 national ranking.

Prior to Milton, Coach Reaves served at Collins Hill HS (GA) and Bay Shore HS (FL) as well. His passion for building a team, putting players first, and leading with an approach of love and fun make him stand out as one of the nation's best coaches.

About Jason Mejeur (Coach J)

Jason has more than 15 years of experience coaching basketball at the college and high school level and has lived on the sidelines and in the locker rooms working to build teams and inspire athletes.

His mission is to build authentic relationships with his players so that he could have an impact on their lives beyond the basketball court. More recently, Jason founded MaxOne to be a platform that makes coaches' lives easier and helps them use technology to have a bigger impact on the lives of their athletes.

Keep up with Coach Forward on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram. 

Enjoying Coach Forward Podcast? Consider subscribing or leaving us a review!