Pro Mindset® Podcast

This episode of Pro Mindset Podcast, hosted by Craig Domann, a NFLPA licensed football agent, is focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, which challenges systemic racism and white supremacy. This podcast features guests Michael Lehan (former 5th rounder who played for the Browns, Dolphins & Saints) and current assistant superintendent of 5th largest school district in the state of Minnesota and Greg Scruggs (former 7th rounder who played for the Seahawks, Bears & Patriots) and current defensive line coach for the University of Cincinnati.

This episode of Pro Mindset addresses some very challenging, but important topics regarding the generational and systemic discrimination that naturally results in trauma for the black community.

Domann starts off the podcast by asking Michael and Greg about their experiences as a young black man where they were mistreated by the police force or people of authority. Michael shares several experiences where he was discriminated against and made to feel like “the other” and felt like people treated him to be “less than.” Greg expresses how racism is undeniably real, proven by many experiences that he has had over his lifetime.

Domann switches the conversation over to the NFL realm, asking both players if they had ever experienced discrimination or racism on their teams. Lehan expresses how the business structure of the NFL creates rankings of players, making it a dehumanizing culture.

Both Michael and Greg talk about the hardships of intergenerational racial trauma, which is integrated into the NFL player experience. Bringing up current events and the death of Rayshard Brooks, the players share how racial trauma is deeply rooted in black communities.

This podcast, addressing topics such as the mental, psychological influences of racial violence in life and in the NFL, the athletes express their frustration that these problems are passed down through generations, continuing a toxic pattern of making black communities feel “less than.”

Former Division II National Champion and NFL wide receiver Paul Browning shares with Pro Mindset Podcast host Craig Domann his journey as a black man living in a world with systemic oppression, profiling and a nation with history of long-standing discrimination.

Paul shares a few stories of his encounters with the police, one of which took place in his front yard and other occurred when he was riding in the car with his dad and brothers.

Paul and Craig candidly discuss current issues black men deal with on a daily basis and the “talk” parents give their black sons about how to deal with the police and how to avoid getting targeted for shoplifting and other crimes by not being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Paul played college football at Colorado State University–Pueblo, where he earned All-American and All-Conference honors, as well as, won the Division II National Championship in 2014. Browning’s final collegiate touchdown catch would end up being the only touchdown scored in the national championship game against Minnesota State- Mankato. It was a story book ending for Paul Browning.

He was signed by the Cleveland Browns after the 2015 NFL Draft and he also played with the Carolina Panthers. Paul has also played for a couple teams in the Arena League.

Former NFL RB Justin Forsett shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his attitude of “Do What I Do”, “Why Not Me?”, “Make Room” and “Always Be the Exception” even though scouts, coaches and fans doubted him and underestimated him.

Justin is former 7th round NFL Draft selection of the Seattle Seahawks in 2008 out of Cal Berkeley. He played college football with Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch. He is now a successful entrepreneur. He played for nine seasons for seven NFL teams including the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, and Denver Broncos. His best NFL season came in 2014 as a member of the Baltimore Ravens when he was selected to the Pro Bowl.

When Justin retired after nine NFL seasons, he explained in one of his retirement interviews "Against all odds, critics, and naysayers, I accomplished something great," he said. "Scouts measured my height and said I was too short. They measured my 40-yard dash and said I was too slow. They looked at my build and said I wouldn't last. But they couldn't measure my heart, my faith and my perseverance."

The versatile playmaker added: "I am living proof that dreams come true and God answers prayers, and I thank God every day for the opportunity to live out my dream."

He is currently an entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of Hustle Clean. His business has been featured on Shark Tank, Fox, CBS, NBC and Cheddar. The Company’s products, including an on-the-go shower collection called ShowerPill which consists of a novel body wipe proven to kill 99.9 percent of germs, have taken off with availability at over 1,000 locations including Target, Crunch Fitness, Pharmaca, and UFC Gyms. His investors and advisors include many professional athletes including Jonathan Stewart, Steve Smith Sr., Ronnie Lott, Kyle Juszczyk and Prince Amukamara.

Justin’s company mission is to inspire and empower people to live their best lives. He believes that the cornerstone of this mission includes his commitment to give back. He and his company have been on the ground to offer needed help during the crisis at Flint Michigan, Hurricane Harvey (Texas) and Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria.

Dr. Patrick Cohn, sports psychologist and mental training expert with Peak Performance Sports (www.peaksports.com). Dr. Cohn has experienced firsthand how beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets influence performance. He shares with Pro Mindset Podcast host Craig Domann, “Confidence is the Cure-all, making plays sometimes means playing with reckless abandon and throwing away the book.”

Dr. Cohn’s passion for sports and sports psychology started early in life and continued to grow as he participated in sports such as football, hockey, baseball, lacrosse, racquetball, and golf.

As the President and Founder of Peak Performance Sports, LLC in Orlando, Florida, he provides mental toughness training to individual and team athletes.
Dr. Cohn is also a mentor to many others in the field of mental game coaching and performance. As a mental toughness specialist, many recognized sports figures and teams have sought out Dr. Cohn’s expertise. He has consulted with high profile teams such as the Miami Dolphins, NASCAR winners, NHL Players, National Motocross Champions, as well as PGA Tour professional golfers such as Brian Watts and J. L. Lewis.
Go to peaksports.com to download his free “10 Costly Mental Game Mistakes Athletes Make Before Competition.”

While watching “THE MATCH” golf event a couple weeks ago with Super Stars Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady (four of the best all-time performers in professional sports on the planet), Craig had the idea of exploring and discussing the elements of a Pro Mindset related to Tom Brady’s career in today’s episode and for Peyton Manning in a future episode.
When you look at Tom Brady and his successes and the hurdles that he has overcome, you see from the beginning of his NFL career in 2001, being drafted as the 199th pick in the sixth round, he had firmly planted a huge chip on his shoulder. Tom has used this chip and the Brady6, the QBs that were drafted ahead of him to motivate him and to fuel his fire to unprecedented success as arguably the “GOAT” of all NFL QBs in the history of the NFL.
Tom’s Wikipedia is 47 pages long! Tom’s belief, passion, motivation, training, lifestyle, winning habits, and situational performance are all Pro Mindset components that Tom has off-the-charts. Pro Mindset Podcast host Craig Domann gives examples of Tom Brady's belief in himself, his passion and motivation for football, his extensive diet and training, especially being a middle-aged man playing a young man's sport, and his lifestyle that is conducive to perseverance and endurance and longevity.
Tom’s NFL records, his unmatched success in the playoffs and Super Bowls, getting recognized as one of the ten best QBs in the 100-year history of the game of pro football, and the only QB to be named as QB of the decade for two consecutive decades are only a tip of the iceberg of his accomplishments. He has a PRO MINDSET and Craig shares his insights on such.

Tommy Lazzaro (former Central Michigan QB) shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his experiences as a college QB including his highs and lows. Craig was Tommy’s QB Coach in high school when Tommy was two-time state champion. Tommy graduated from Central Michigan in December (2019) and completed his final football season by scoring 9 TDs. Moving forward, Tommy was recently accepted into the Special Forces Training and Tommy shares his next goal is to kill the training and become a leader in the US Army Special Forces.

Tommy enjoyed lots of success in high school at Pine Creek High School (Colorado Springs) but had to go the junior college route as he went to Dodge City Community College. Tommy shares the challenges of adapting to a small town and a college about the same size as his high school. The silver lining for Tommy about his time at Dodge City is he learned to connect with so many players from different backgrounds from all over the USA. Tommy played at Dodge City Conquistadors for one season and lead his team to a conference championship before moving on to the Central Michigan Chippewas.

During his first season at Central Michigan, Tommy played behind former Dallas Cowboys QB and current New York Giants QB Cooper Rush. Before the NCAA changed the redshirt rule to allow players to play a max of 4 games and still retain their redshirt, Tommy played less than a handful of plays in one game his first season and lost a year of eligibility. Tommy again developed some very strong friendships with his teammates at CMU. Although Tommy scored 9 TDs this past season and lead the offense in the wildcat formation, Tommy was not the fulltime starter. He had different coaching staffs and several QBs he had to compete with during his time at Central.

Tommy thought about quitting football more than a few times during his college career but he did not want to let his teammates down so he stuck it out. Tommy was rewarded by his teammates at his senior football banquet when he was selected the most inspirational player and received the Kurt Dobronski Award. Tommy did it for his teams and he plans to attack the US Army Special Forces with the same mindset which is do it for the man on your right and on your left.

Sam Vines, Colorado Rapids Soccer Pro, was discovered by Pro Mindset host Craig Domann at his 3rd grade May Day! Craig was coaching his son’s soccer team and saw Sammy win every event at his elementary school’s May Day event and invited Sammy to join the “Strikers” competitive developmental soccer team.

Sam participated in the MLS developmental soccer program with the Rapids and signed his first professional soccer contract at 17. He is 20 today and a starting left back for the Rapids and this year received his “cap” for getting invited to US National Team and earning a roster spot.

Sam shares his high school to the pros experience. He has travelled the world on his soccer journey, and he is just getting started. Sammy aspires to and is on his way to playing in the next Olympics and representing the USA, as well as, playing in the World Cup for the USA.

Sam’s biggest dream is playing with the best in the world and playing in the English Premier League or as Sammy refers to as the “Prem.” Craig and Sammy discuss the mindset necessary to make those dreams come true.

Sam Vines honors include: Man of the Match honors after making his first-ever MLS start on April 13, 2019 and he earned Major League Soccer’s Team of the Week (Week 17) honors after his performance vs LAFC on June 28, 2019. He’s had 23 US Youth National Team call-ups and was named MLS Homegrown roster that took on Guadalajara’s U-20 team on July 30, 2019. Vines wore the captain’s band for the second half of the match and converted his penalty during the penalty shoot-out.

Ric Serritella shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his passion for scouting players in advance of the NFL Draft and his founding of NFL Draft Bible. The NFL Draft Bible was Ric’s brainchild that he started over 18 years ago and it focuses on player evaluations for the NFL Draft. He travels the country watching college games and scouting players. He shares his professional perspective on what separates the players who are successful in the NFL from the others.

Ric shares his viewpoint about scouting players, and he believes every scout and every team is unique in that scouting players truly is “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Every team has a similar but not identical prototype of what it takes physically and mentally to make it and be successful in their system.

Kevin Robinson shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his experience as a 20-year veteran NFL player agent. Kevin mentors his NFL clients to exert their “will” on their opponents. He believes, as I do as well, that the sport of football is different from other sports because it is a game of WILLPOWER due to the physicality of the game.

Kevin offers his opinion that 90% of a player’s evaluation for the NFL Draft is his game film - this is consistent with what most NFL scouts/coaches will tell you as well. Kevin talks about game film serving as a video resume for college players as they go through the pre-draft evaluation process.

Kevin coaches his clients to control the controllables, master position techniques, develop great relationships with their coaches, take care of school, and treat people around the football program (trainers, equipment managers, etc.) as NFL scouts will do their research about every player’s off-the-field character.

Kevin is a very successful NFL agent who has a strong and recognizable client list. Kevin is excellent at connecting and relating to his players and negotiating top contracts.

Frisman Jackson shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his perspective as a former NFL wide receiver and current WR coach for the Carolina Panthers. As the title states, Frisman describes the biggest difference between playing in the NFL compared to college is an “Overtime” mindset. Players that build and sustain a NFL career are the ones that do the extra work all the time. Pros don’t punch the clock, they don’t have scholarships, and they are grown men fighting for their careers and their families.

Frisman also talks about the key to success for making a roster is keeping the main thing the main thing” instead of counting reps, thinking about roster spots, analyzing whether the coach likes you or letting your mind wander about things other than getting better every day and doing your job.

Frisman, a former college QB, coaches and teaches his receivers to learn the offense from the QB’s viewpoint. He tells his players that they must be involved in their own success meaning he as a coach cannot want it more for them than they want it themselves. Fris tells them they have to invest in themselves.

Frisman loves redheaded lefty quarterbacks – must listen to find out why!