Today’s guest on the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast are Dr. Brian Gearity and Dr. Clayton Kuklick, professors of sport coaching at the University of Denver. Dr. Gearity has been the director of the Master of Arts in Sport Coaching program at Denver since 2014. Before teaching at Denver, Dr. Gearity spent five years at the University of Southern Mississippi as an assistant professor of Sport Coaching Education. As a coach, Dr. Gearity’s specialty is in the strength and conditioning side. Dr. Gearity worked as a strength coach at the University of Tennessee for nine years and received his PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Tennessee in 2009.

Dr. Kuklick works as a clinical assistant professor for the Sport Coaching program at Denver. The previous two years, Dr. Kuklick has worked as an assistant professor of Athletic Coaching Education at West Virginia University. He also previously received his PhD in Human Performance and Recreation: Administration and Teaching at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2014. In coaching, Dr. Kuklick has worked as an assistant coach for baseball teams at Shepherd University, Georgia College and State University, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Kutztown University. Dr. Kuklick has also worked as a head coach for several college baseball summer leagues.

On today’s podcast, Dr. Gearity and Dr. Kuklick talk with host Keith Grabowski about their teaching experience, important tips for coaches and how to make the art of coaching better every day.

Show Notes

1:25 Coaches helping football participation

3:31 Long-term athlete development plan

6:51 Changes in developing young athletes over time

10:52 How to be an effective and developed coach

17:23 Helping volunteer/parent coaches at the youth level

21:58 Strategies for instructing coaches in the classroom

30:10 Mentoring coaches and utilizing that knowledge

39:39 Getting better at coach/player relationship

42:22 Using technology as a tool in coaching

46:25 Coaching problem-solving in virtual reality

48:54 One tip to being successful as a coach in 2018