The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

The Multi-Faceted Journey of Chris Johnson, University of Arkansas' Head Coach in Waiting

In this enlightening episode of the Connections Podcast, host Mike Cunningham sits down with Chris Johnson, the future head coach of the women's Razorbacks track and field team at the University of Arkansas. Chris shares his transformative journey from being a high school coach to clinching multiple Big Ten and SEC titles. Initially planning to become a high school athletic director, Chris found his true calling in coaching. As he puts it, "It's about who you are and where you are right there at your place."

Chris provides a deep dive into his coaching philosophy, emphasizing that he considers himself "a track coach" first and foremost. The episode also explores the year 2004, a pivotal moment in his career, when his team performed exceptionally well in Sacramento. Chris reflects, "This was '04 actually, 2004. That right, yeah."

Listeners will gain valuable insights into Chris's approach to coaching, his experiences at Penn State and Arkansas, and his anticipation for his new role at the University of Arkansas. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in track and field, coaching philosophies, and the intricacies of building a successful athletic program.

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Happy LLC Day!  Zoltar our favorite fortune teller from the movie BIG, will help guide the conversations this week.  Starting with some track is back...SHEESH!  Then the first fortune to come out of the machine is: NFL predictions; who's moving on???  Next fortune to be told is coaching jobs.  With the new coaching limitation, who's going to have the bigger staff? Who's going to be able to have the bigger staff?? Lastly, Zoltar helps navigate the convo of females in the BIG seat...why aren't they hiring more females to occupy roles?    Well, tune in to hear what the tiles have to say!

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Press play and get ready for some laughs and some tears. 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Dan O'Brien sits down to talk about the coaches that poured into him during his career as one of the top decathletes in the world. You'll learn of Larry Hunt the coach responsible for steering Dan into the decathlon and by that very act changed the world of track and field for the better. We'll learn of the multiple heart breaks including the 1992 Olympic Trials. Dan gives us a behind the scenes look at the famous 'Dan and Dave' Reebok commercials, and we learn what he's up to now. ENJOY! 

Check out Dan's book on AMAZON.

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Straight from the mouth of the tiles, the show goes up, down, back, and forth with the phrase "I said what I said".  Starting off with the NFL play off weekend picks, the tiles are standing by what they pick for the weekend...which one is making an unruly prediction???  Next, going thru the variety of indoor facilities and now outright acknowledging  that there are facilities that are producing better marks...does the descending order have merit?  Lastly, with mention of marks...there are a WHOLE  faction of marks that are missing from the World Athletics rankings.  The NCAA marks, by-in-large, will not be accounted for.  What do the tiles say about that???  Sit back and enjoy!

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You're not going to want to miss this one! While we get a great look into Erik's background as a Hilltopper of Western Kentucky University and his new role as the head coach of the University of South Florida, we dig really deep into conversations around coaching salaries, personal responsibilities versus professional, and more. We bust the myth of 'cleaning house' when you take over a new program and why keeping a member of the former staff might just end up being the best hire you'll make. And we get to learn the power and influence of mentors to Erik's journey in this great profession. ENJOY!

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Sammy Dabbs is a highly successful track coach who's achieved outstanding results in the high school, college and professional ranks. Recently he held an Instagram Live event espousing his opinions and suggestions for high school coaches and club coaches to work together for the betterment of the program and athletes. While Sammy is very Texas specific in his examples, there is a lot of great information for all coaches of all levels to soak up and consider. We think there is merit to this discussion and therefore asked for and received permission to replay his talk on the Gill Connections podcast as a bonus episode.  At Gill Athletics, we believe all coaches who invest in communication, education, and equipment have longer healthier careers producing life long track athletes and fans that go on to become the next generation of coaches. You can follow along and communicate with Coach Dabbs on Instagram and Twitter @hurcoachdabb.

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What are some goals that are being brought up this week?  Relay selection is up to the plate first: the tiles address what THEY THINK is the goal of the selection process?  Next, the NCAA has passed legislation doing away with the "volunteer coach" position and now allowing for an additional coach for baseball and softball.  What would be the goal for collegiate programs with another permissible coaching position that can now recruit? Lastly, the NFL...what teams do we think are going to get to their goals of moving out of the wild card weekend?    It's a fun one, this week!  See you in a few clicks!

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Director of Track and Filed of the Spire Academy, Kibwe Johnson joins us to talk some track. We get a fresh look at his athletic career that culminated in becoming an Olympian. This was a dream instilled into him by his grandparents who were Olympics super fans! We then explore his roles as the throws coach of IMG Academy and now as head of the Spire Academy, two unique institutions immersed in sports and academics. We round out the interview getting his thoughts and feelings around the Tao of Hammer. 

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Sir FWP aka Sir Lucious has gotten a rep for dropping knowledge and they are tending to be words that start with the letter P.  Well this week, not only does Sir Lucious drop some valuable Ps...Clyde, The Governor, and Lamar throw a couple too!

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"I'm not going to fail, I'm not a failure."

Today we explore the journey of second year head coach of the Sooners, Tim Langford. From his days growing up in Virginia under the mentorship of Coach Rufus Knight, Tim has always blazed a trail not many have tried before. You'll hear the amazing story of how a near death car crash helped show him the light of coaching track and field, what it was like to coach collegiate track full time as a 22 year old, and the successes along the way at smaller schools. We get into a great conversation on talent identification as well as how to manage a collegiate track program on less than half the maximum allowable limit for scholarships. 

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