Contacts Coaching Podcast

On the Contacts Coaching podcast, host Justin Clymo welcomes back Cal State East Bay men’s basketball coach Bryan Rooney to unpack the program’s dramatic turnaround from 11–17 to an undefeated run until a loss in the Elite Eight, finishing at 33-1. Rooney credits player commitment, continuity, the team mantra “just get better,” and this season’s theme “burn the boats,” emphasizing role definition, accountability, and dominating roles across both players and staff. He explains how relationships, habits, staying present, and not reinventing the wheel helped sustain success under pressure, shares moments showing player-led ownership and deep teammate care, and describes weekly one-on-one meetings as a nonnegotiable culture builder. Rooney also discusses empowering assistants, adapting tactically (including sending five to the boards), navigating recruiting and the transfer portal case-by-case, the importance of administrative alignment, and guarding culture by prioritizing character fit.

00:00 Welcome Back Coach Rooney

00:27 Quick Coaching Background

01:16 From 11 Wins to Elite Eight

02:33 Burn the Boats Mindset

04:16 Pressure Proof Habits

06:51 Team First Chemistry

09:07 Family Moments and Loss

11:30 Weekly Meetings and Trust

13:53 Making Roles Matter

17:24 Keeping the Fringe Ready

20:27 Player Led Turning Points

23:33 Empowering the Staff

26:51 Trust and Effort Standards

28:46 Staying Present in Success

29:49 Next Game Focus

30:20 Control The Controllables

31:27 Transfer Portal Reality

37:16 One Year Journeys

40:20 Alignment And Innovation

43:37 Turnaround Lessons

47:24 Raising The Ceiling

48:43 Protecting Culture

50:16 Authentic Gratitude

52:47 Closing Thoughts

On the Contacts Coaching podcast, host interviews Melissa Fortenberry, founder of Heat Sense, about proactively monitoring heat strain in athletes to prevent heat illness. Fortenberry, a former Texas athlete and tech professional, describes being sick during a 107-degree football game and researching why existing guidelines focus on symptoms, meaning athletes are already ill once dizziness or nausea appears. She explains limitations of heat index and wet bulb globe temperature for team decisions because athletes differ in hydration and acclimation, and argues core body temperature is the key metric, though gold-standard measurement is rectal thermometry. Heat Sense uses a Swiss wearable (bicep/chest) plus heart rate to estimate core temperature within about 1°C, flag rising heat strain trends via an app and team dashboard, and support cooling interventions. They discuss adoption models, rotating sensors to identify sensitive athletes, EAP planning, and “cool first, transport second” protocols.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:32 Melissa’s Origin Story

02:05 107 Degrees Spark

03:44 Why Heat Guidelines Fail

06:05 Core Temp Monitoring Tech

08:31 Accuracy and Thresholds

12:00 Cooling Protocols in Practice

13:03 Practice Risks and Acclimation

16:17 App Dashboard and Pricing

17:33 Adoption for Schools and Clubs

20:27 Parent Checklist and EAP

21:42 Cooling First Transport Second

22:18 Regional Risk and Humidity

23:57 Where to Learn More

24:10 Wrap Up and Takeaways

https://heatsense.com/

In this Contacts Coaching podcast episode, former guest Bre Smedley, co-founder of Elite Competitor and a championship high school volleyball coach, shares how her mental performance framework has evolved into plug-and-play tools for coaches and resources for parents. She explains key skills—failure recovery (the “snapback routine”), self-talk, and visualization—and describes how the snapback routine (breath, reset word, reset signal) helped her team stay composed in a state championship comeback. Reflecting on a season that ended in third after four straight titles, she discusses how pressure can reveal cracks in culture and the need to systemize values, communication, and accountability. Bre also covers parent influence, including avoiding badmouthing coaches/teammates, improving car-ride conversations, and supporting athlete autonomy, plus guidance on aligning college-sport goals with habits and recruiting effort.

00:00 Welcome Back And Reintro

01:10 Bre’s Coaching Origin Story

02:55 From Framework To Coach Program

05:10 Snapback Routine Explained

09:18 State Title Pressure Test

13:02 After The Streak Lessons

16:46 Culture Cracks And Systems

19:49 Parents Coaches Athletes Triangle

22:30 Parenting Mistakes To Avoid

25:38 Postgame Parent Mindset

26:07 LOVE Talk Framework

27:05 Autonomy Over Pressure

28:34 College Dream Reality Check

31:17 Coach Truth Without Crushing

34:40 Parents Driving The Dream

37:45 Female Coach Double Standard

43:39 Systems To Prevent Drama

45:56 Delegation And Injury Lesson

49:30 Resources And Wrap Up

Previous Episodes: 

Bre Smedley Pt. 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zipbClx90G2u2vOkkYt3c?si=72dca5bf8abb4f3c

Bre Smedley Pt. 2: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ba0v7bdGmrI28ziyZ7xjc?si=445b608c271e40f2

On the Contacts Coaching Podcast, Josh Duke, Executive Director of Athletics and Operations at Grace Prep in the DFW Metroplex, shares his path from Grace Prep student to Abilene Christian student manager, then coaching at Fort Worth Christian (freshman, JV under Jeff Bell, and varsity head coach) before returning to Grace Prep in 2020 as athletic director and head boys basketball coach. He explains Grace Prep’s university-model schedule, how families make it work, and the broader Texas homeschool sports landscape. Duke outlines Grace Prep’s sports offerings, enrollment size, and the realities of sustaining football participation, while emphasizing the value and role-management of multi-sport athletes. He discusses balancing in-season/off-season demands, how roster makeup changes basketball strategy, the importance of mentors, AD lessons learned during COVID, culture-building through parent/community engagement and monthly team dinners, and how conversations with other coaches shifted his thinking on using pressure defense to control tempo.

00:00 Welcome And Introductions

00:42 Josh Duke Coaching Journey

02:54 University Model School Explained

06:44 Homeschool Sports Landscape

08:10 Grace Prep Sports Offerings

08:42 Building Multisport Culture

10:45 Roles And Expectations

12:09 Making Room For Leaders

14:50 State Title Multisport Example

15:28 Football Numbers Reality

16:47 AD Coach Conflict Balance

17:24 Offseason Basketball In Texas

19:45 Adapting Style To Talent

22:06 Simple Vs Complex Offense

23:57 Playing Downhill And Pace

24:48 Assistant to Head Coach Shock

25:50 Finding Your Own Style

26:57 Leveraging Veteran Assistants

28:19 Mentors and Accountability

30:29 Becoming Athletic Director

33:42 Stealing Culture From Others

37:41 Coaching Through Parenthood

39:44 Team Dinners Build Culture

43:58 Changing Minds and Tempo

46:55 Pressing to Control Pace

49:09 Final Thanks and Wrap

On the Contacts Coaching podcast, host Justin interviews Cody Bartlow, newly hired head men’s soccer coach at Kansas Wesleyan University, about his path from an unplanned start coaching a U6 co-ed team in high school to 25 years in coaching across club, high school, and NAIA college programs in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas. Bartlow explains why he now calls sessions “training” instead of “practice,” emphasizing scenario preparation and player autonomy in a sport with no timeouts. He discusses lessons from coaching co-ed and both genders, building belief in female athletes through relationships and individualized approaches, and borrowing concepts from football, track, basketball, hockey, rugby, and baseball to teach soccer. He also covers multi-sport development, workload management, referee relationships, why back-to-back soccer games raise injury risk, regional differences in soccer culture, and the administrative reality of small-college coaching.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:30 Coach Bartlow Journey

03:54 New Kansas Role

04:17 Training Not Practice

06:10 Coed Team Lessons

11:13 Building Confidence

16:25 Cross Sport Coaching

22:11 Specialization Club Tension

26:34 Managing Multi Sport Load

28:58 Coed Season Juggling

29:41 Managing Back To Back Games

29:57 Respecting Referees

32:15 Building Ref Rapport

34:30 Soccer Scheduling Safety

36:19 Recovery And Injury Risk

40:22 Texas Vs Midwest Sports

42:46 Club Culture And Ego

46:01 Small College Coaching Reality

51:52 Growth Mindset And Mentors

54:42 Process Driven Training

58:19 Final Takeaways And Thanks

On the Contacts Coaching podcast, Duarte High School athletic director and PE teacher Coach Perry Skaggs shares his path from LA Unified student and Fairfax High alumnus to coaching and athletic administration across private and public schools, including Pilgrim, Viewpoint, Flintridge Prep, Westmark, and LAUSD sites before landing at Duarte eight years ago. He explains why he moved between sectors—job security, parent access, and career stability—and why Duarte feels like a “small town” community where relationships drive athletics. Skaggs discusses lessons from eight-man football, emphasizing coaching adaptability and culture, and outlines Duarte’s multi-sport philosophy and sport offerings, including additions like girls flag football, stunt, and boys volleyball based on student interest. He also describes evolving from dogmatic coaching to more collaborative communication and focusing programs on positive student-athlete experiences over championships.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:55 Coaching Roots and Early Stops

02:37 Flintridge Prep to Westmark Shift

03:44 Westmark Lessons and Eight Man Success

04:40 Back to Public and Finding Duarte

07:05 Private vs Public Realities

13:02 Why Duarte Feels Like Family

17:36 Stepping Into the AD Role

21:51 Eight Man vs Eleven Man Football

25:42 Eight Man Culture and Community

28:04 Eight Man Football Shift

28:44 Selling Multi Sport Culture

30:32 Cutting And Adding Sports

34:27 New Programs And Tradeoffs

36:23 Do New Sports Hurt Others

37:50 Culture Over Championships

41:57 Post COVID Team Mindset

46:30 Changing Coaching Style

50:15 Staying Old School Tools

53:02 Final Wrap And Thanks

Justin interviews Fonzo Martinez, boys basketball head coach at McKinney Christian Academy in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, about his path from high school and college basketball—derailed by severe knee injuries—to working as a train engineer and in corporate sales before feeling called to coach. He details getting his start at Coram Deo Academy, rebuilding a losing program into a playoff and state tournament team, then moving to McKinney Christian, where he became head coach four years ago and has led a dominant run including TAPPS state titles in 2022 and 2026 (39–1 this year; 77–3 over two years). Martinez explains Texas scheduling and associations (UIL, TAPPS, SPC), emphasizes adjusting style to personnel, and shares culture-building practices like weekly leadership days, player speeches, peer feedback sessions, bench standards, and boundaries that prioritize family and healthy time commitments.

00:00 Meet Coach Fonzo

00:44 Playing Days and Knee Injury

01:56 Railroad to Coaching Leap

05:58 First Head Job at Coram Deo

06:52 COVID and Move to McKinney

09:04 State Title Run and Scheduling

11:29 Texas Leagues Explained

13:25 What New Coaches Miss

17:32 Adapting Style to Personnel

26:11 Offseason Rules and Multi Sport

34:10 Culture Staples and Leadership Day

35:44 Culture Over Winning

36:33 Inside Leadership Day

38:36 Weekly Player Speeches

39:51 Practice Time Breakdown

41:41 Attitude And 95 Percent Rule

45:25 Role Clarity Exercises

46:38 Peer Feedback Meeting

49:21 Bench Energy Standards

51:03 Stealing From Other Sports

52:17 Player Led Timeouts

58:47 Pregame Warmup Upgrades

01:02:08 Changing Mind On Time

01:05:55 Closing Thoughts

On the Contacts Coaching Podcast, host interviews Drew Snelgrove, athletic director and men’s basketball coach at Big Valley Christian in Modesto, covering his 30-year journey from Humboldt County athlete and BMX racer to college player at College of the Redwoods and Bethany University, pro/overseas stops in Australia and a tryout in Germany, and a transition into coaching and administration. Snelgrove recounts program-building roles at Capital Christian/Destiny Christian, a Division I assistant stint at Sacramento State, returning to Bethany as AD and coach, 13 years at Valley Christian San Jose, and two years at Vacaville Christian before Big Valley. He discusses shifting from “contests” to “events,” creating systems for safety and operations, improving efficiency with digital ticketing and segmented game-day roles, advocating multi-sport participation for athlete health and development, setting parent communication standards, and his disillusionment with NCAA NIL and the changing college landscape.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:39 Humboldt Roots and BMX Days

01:59 College Hoops and Overseas Break

02:59 First Coaching Steps

03:57 Building Programs at Capital

04:38 D1 Assistant to AD Pivot

05:38 Valley Christian and Career Moves

07:15 Overseas Lessons and Perspective

12:02 Choosing Administration Path

14:19 Big Valley AD Mindset Shift

17:57 Streamlining Game Day Systems

20:08 Small School Multi Sport Culture

26:31 Multi Sport Reality Check

27:49 Parents Over D1 Dreams

31:34 Servant Leadership Lessons

34:13 Culture Ripple Effects

35:24 No Playing Time Talks

37:15 Weight Room Scheduling Hacks

42:14 Coach To AD Identity Shift

46:13 Being Seen Across Sports

48:41 NIL And College Disillusionment

51:46 Find Your Calling

53:52 High School Last Hurrah

54:17 Closing Thanks And Wrap

On the Contacts Coaching Podcast, Half Moon Bay athletic director Mike Barragan shares his path from being an undersized multi-sport athlete to coaching Little League, high school baseball (including at South San Francisco High), and eventually becoming AD in his hometown. He discusses lessons from varied sports and jobs (restaurants, construction, special education), the value of sociology for empathy and reading people, and why he strongly promotes multi-sport participation—especially at small schools where rosters and program health depend on it. Barragan describes navigating relationships with alumni coaches and parents, balancing what’s best for individual athletes versus the program, and using team culture practices like bonding meals. He also explains recent focus on improving sportsmanship amid growing trash talk and social media-driven behavior at games.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:45 Mike’s Sports Roots

04:43 Tony Gwynn Moment

05:15 First Coaching Break

06:57 Hometown Coaching Drama

08:48 Carlmont Reality Check

10:51 Teaching and Varsity Leap

14:38 Back to Half Moon Bay

15:00 Becoming Athletic Director

16:59 San Diego Detour

20:49 Life Skills and Empathy

23:08 Multi Sport Advocacy

29:53 Program vs Kid First

31:37 Program First Culture

32:02 Leading Without Micromanaging

33:19 Parents Communication Balance

34:33 Coaching Nuggets Learned

37:24 Cuts Roles and Development

42:44 Alumni Town Dynamics

48:52 Sportsmanship Stand

58:26 Closing Thanks and Wrap

In this Contacts Coaching Podcast episode, host interviews Nate “Blackjack” Pototschnik, associate director of strength and conditioning for BYU football, about his path from the U.S. Military Academy to flying helicopters for 10 years, deploying twice to Afghanistan, and using GI Bill benefits to earn a master’s in exercise physiology at the University of Virginia. Nathan shares why he left the cockpit for coaching, how success habits built his confidence, and how trusting his gut and prioritizing family guided career decisions when coaching opportunities shifted. He explains what transferred from aviation to coaching (explicit vs tacit learning, staying calm under pressure), discusses not tying self-worth to wins and losses, and outlines strength-and-conditioning priorities: movement quality screening, full-range training preferences, power clean vs full clean, building culture through standards, objective feedback and competition, staff alignment, and maintaining daily relationship touchpoints with athletes.

00:00 Meet Coach Blackjack

00:40 From 9/11 to Coaching

03:27 Betting on Yourself

05:22 Confidence and Gut Calls

10:04 GI Bill Explained

11:59 Combat Pilot Lessons

16:51 Staying Detached from Outcomes

18:50 Weight Room Priorities

24:08 Movement Screening Basics

26:52 Full Depth vs Quarter Squats

29:33 Power Clean vs Full Clean

31:03 Be Ready Before Promotion

33:20 Head Coach Time Demands

35:48 Hiring and Coaching Trees

38:58 Healthy Dissent Culture

43:07 BYU Grouping and Mods

44:25 Testing Buckets and Profiles

47:08 Freak Athletes and Standards

49:10 Environment and Competition

52:33 Leadership Lessons and Alignment

55:10 Building Relationships at Scale

56:40 Strength Coaches as Conduit

57:58 Wrap Up and Next Round