There Is No Algorithm for Leadership: Sally-Ann Briggs on Coaching Change, Feedback, and Building Female Cricket in Tasmania

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.. Sally-Ann Briggs, now head coach of Cricket Tasmania’s female Hurricanes (T20) and Tigers (50-over), discusses what great coaches do differently: strong self- and other-awareness, balancing support and challenge, creating high-support/high-challenge learning environments, and treating people fairly but not the same. She reflects on learning from boys’ cricket in Grimsby, her disciplinarian father’s immediate feedback, and her own feedback approach emphasizing timing, framing challenge as support, and knowing each player. Briggs explains her early focus in Tasmania on vision, “winning hearts and minds,” and building trust across the organization after a program that won five games in ten years. She describes developing all-round cricketers, embedding player-led behaviors (“being the one,” “protect our pack”), lessons from the AIS women’s leadership program on vulnerability and self-awareness, managing emotions under pressure, leading change despite stakeholder resistance, promoting safer spaces for girls, and her legacy goals of inspiring women leaders and leaving every environment better.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Joe Prunty on Building Chemistry, Accountability, and Sustainable Team Culture

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it. In this Great Coaches podcast conversation, NBA coach Joe Prunty joins from Phoenix after a successful 2–0 Team USA window in Indianapolis and reflects on lessons from working with elite coaches and players. He argues great coaching centers on strong relationships across an organization, attention to detail, flexibility, and accountability for preparation and contribution. Prunty explains how he approaches joining new teams by listening, learning organizational philosophy, studying film and analytics, and quickly settling family logistics. He describes building team chemistry through psychological safety, clear roles and goals, constructive feedback, and players “coaching each other,” citing Finals examples. He discusses rapid chemistry in short national-team windows, head-coaching responsibilities in Summer League, administrative challenges and sustainability issues leading Great Britain (2013–2017), coping with being fired through reflection and growth, and how playoff coaching intensifies through repeated matchups and constant adjustments.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Jan Kodeš on Coaching, Confidence, and the Mental Game of Tennis

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it. Retired Czech tennis legend Jan Kodeš speaks from home in Prague about why tennis is mentally difficult and why coaches don’t win matches—players must execute under pressure. He distinguishes teachers (for beginners), coaches, advisors, and “hitters,” arguing champions need internal motivation and discipline. He recounts his upbringing training against a wall under Karl Semrad using Bill Tilden’s system, winning Czech titles across age groups, learning as a ball boy, and valuing love of the game. He describes advisor Jaroslav Drobný helping him reframe excuses and focus at Wimbledon, and shares examples of Björn Borg’s mindset and Ivan Lendl’s extreme discipline and openness to advice. Kodeš emphasizes concentration, self-belief, reducing easy errors, and adapting to conditions. He outlines Czech tennis history, politics under communism, his Davis Cup role, defending Lendl against officials, building the Štvanice stadium, and founding the first ATP event in a communist country.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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There Is No Algorithm for Leadership: Dorette Badenhorst on Culture, Discipline, and Building the Spar Proteas

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.. In this conversation, Spar Proteas head coach Dorette Badenhorst discusses coaching through constant change during lockdown, learning from mentors (including Norma Plummer) while keeping her own identity, and how her father and her teaching background shaped her people-first approach. She outlines her philosophy—coaching is about the player, opportunity, and hard work—plus non-negotiables like discipline, punctuality, and respect. Badenhorst explains managing succession after retirements, building culture and accountability with player involvement, and developing mental toughness by giving more players international exposure despite ranking pressures. She describes calm sideline behavior, handling self-doubt through confident communication, leading diverse squads via communication and adaptation, and her legacy goals of expanding opportunities, developing coaches, and creating a second touring team.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Billy Walsh on High Performance Coaching, Team Culture, and Building Team USA Boxing.

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.

On the Great Coaches podcast, Paul interviews Irish boxing coach Billy Walsh from his home in Wexford after traveling with the USA team to tournaments and camps in Spain and France. Walsh discusses influences including Mick Dowling, Nicholas Cruz, and Zaur Antia, and says great coaches combine relationship-building with technical and tactical expertise to earn athletes’ respect. He describes moving from boxer (starting at age seven, competing at the 1988 Olympics, winning seven Irish senior titles) into coaching, then leading Ireland’s high-performance program by creating structure, raising targets, selecting by international performance, and building an environment with support staff and testing. He explains mental skills, visualization, corner communication, and identity as “warriors,” and outlines how he organized a previously fragmented Team USA, emphasized team ethos, and helped implement a multi-level coach education system to improve fundamentals and leave USA Boxing stronger.

Q. What does "world-class" look like in what I do, and have I mapped out the steps to get there?

Q. Am I leaving the people and places around me in a better state than I found them?

Q. When pressure hits, do I stay in the moment and control the controllables — or do I get distracted by everything else?

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Julia Price on Coaching Through Relationships, Integrity, and Building USA Women’s Cricket

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.

On the Great Coaches podcast, Paul interviews cricket coach Julia Price in Hobart, Tasmania, discussing her global coaching career and what great coaches do differently. Price emphasizes that coaching is fundamentally about relationships, trust, integrity, honesty, and accountability, balancing care for players with objective decisions for the team. She compares well-resourced men’s franchise environments with leading the lean-budget USA women’s program, where she prioritizes development over perks and uses creativity, free tools, and online learning. Price describes entering new teams by listening, aligning expectations, and setting clear goals, and explains fostering healthy competition through strong domestic structures and objective peer analysis. She outlines USA priorities—building a female domestic structure, talent ID, engagement during COVID, and mental skills work including mindfulness, meditation, and normalizing psychology—while reflecting on lessons about self-care from her Tasmania role and her parents’ influence on honesty, resilience, and travel.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Charlie Walsh on Coaching Philosophy, Self-Challenge, and Building the Best Mind in Competition

There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it. In this Great Coaches podcast episode, cycling coach Charlie Walsh, speaking from Adelaide, reflects on coaching across six Olympic Games and 15 World Championships, arguing great coaches are clear, disciplined, athlete-centered, ego-free, and guided by an all-encompassing philosophy while remaining open to learning from other sports. He describes how science and measurement transformed preparation, but says the psychology of self-challenge and performing under duress has not changed, emphasizing training the “best mind in the competition” and making good decisions when tired. Walsh recounts early South Australian programs that built resilience and produced Olympians, explains motivation must come from within, and details the 1984 Olympic team pursuit gold achieved despite minimal funding, full-time jobs, inferior equipment, rule changes, and doping pressures. He outlines managed severe challenge, advises coaches to define and protect their philosophy, and describes strict anti-doping principles and team integrity as central to his legacy of hard work and self-challenge.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Our Great Coach on this episode is Joanna Gamper Cuthbert.

Joanna is a trained dancer, a former cheerleading athlete, a head coach, and the current Chair of the Board at SportCheer England, the National Governing Body for competitive Cheerleading

She was a founding member of ParaCheer International where she was instrumental in helping develop the Adaptive Abilities division for the sport of competitive cheerleading.

In 2017, Joanna led Team England ParaCheer to their first Gold medal at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships.

Joanna has spent over 15 years working extensively as an education manager for dance companies and conservatoires in the UK,

She is also is a freelance consultant offering safeguarding and child protection training through Squad Safe.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Our Great Coach on this episode is Paul Roos.

Paul is a former professional Australian Rules Footballer and coach.

He began his professional playing career in 1982, eventually retiring with 356 games, 5 Best and Fairest awards, 7 All Australian selections and the 1986 Leigh Matthews Medal under his belt.

Paul began coaching in 2002 with the Sydney Swans. It was here that he implemented his high performance dialogue philosophy, and in 2005 he coached the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years. He was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club from 2014 to 2016

Paul was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

In 2008 he was named Australian Father of the Year in recognition of his ability to balance the needs of his family with the responsibilities of managing a high-profile sports team

He is currently a director at Performance by Design 

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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Our Great Coach on this episode is basketball coach Sandy Brondello.

Sandy is a former professional basketball player and the current coach of the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.

She started playing for Australia at the age of 18 and went on to represent the national team at four Olympics winning three medals. She has played Basketball for teams in America, Australia and Germany.

In 2003 she began her coaching career as an assistant with the San Antonio Silver Stars

She became a Head Coach of the Phoenix Mercury in 2010 and in 2014 won the National Title and the Coach of the Year. 

In 2017, Sandy was appointed head coach of the Australian women's national basketball team, The Opals.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [email protected] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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