The Mental Mettle Podcast

What does it mean to be an authentic leader? How do you stay true to who you are while adapting to the people you lead? And how should your faith shape the way you coach?

On this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with veteran college basketball coach Matt Bollant for a conversation about authenticity, adaptability, faith, and what it takes to develop young people.

With more than 475 career wins and experience coaching at Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Bryan College, and now Southwest Baptist University, Matt has learned plenty about building successful programs. But some of his most valuable lessons have come from looking inward, recognizing his own strengths, and learning to adjust his approach.

Be Yourself. Know Your Players. Live Your Faith.

One of the central themes of this conversation is that great coaches must understand who they are while remaining willing to change how they lead.

Matt discusses learning that he couldn't simply imitate another successful coach. He needed to understand his own personality, strengths, and leadership style. At the same time, he had to recognize that his players were individuals who didn't all respond to the same approach.

We explore what it means to remain authentic without becoming stubborn, to adapt without compromising your values, and to maintain high standards while genuinely loving the people you coach.

Faith is another essential part of Matt's identity. We discuss the importance of making sure our actions align with our beliefs and how faith should influence the way we treat people, respond to adversity, and lead when things get difficult.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Authenticity: Why trying to be another coach can prevent you from becoming the best version of yourself.
• Adaptability: How understanding your players helps you adjust your approach without lowering your standards.
• Self-awareness: Why effective leadership begins with knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.
• Love and accountability: How to care deeply about athletes while still holding them responsible for their development.
• Humility: Why successful coaches must remain willing to learn, change, and admit when something isn't working.
• Faith in action: Why claiming to believe something means little if our daily actions don't reflect it.
• Developing people: Why coaching is about much more than wins, losses, playing time, and basketball skills.

A Few Questions for Coaches to Consider

Are you coaching authentically, or are you trying to be someone you're not?

Do you understand your players well enough to know what each one needs from you?

Are you willing to adjust your approach when something isn't working?

And do your actions reflect the values you say you believe in?

These questions apply far beyond basketball. They matter to anyone responsible for leading, teaching, mentoring, or developing other people.

If you're a coach who wants to grow as a leader and become more intentional about developing the mental side of your athletes, this conversation is for you.

Connect With Matt Bollant

Matt is the head women's basketball coach at Southwest Baptist University.

• Southwest Baptist University coaching profile: https://www.sbubearcats.com/staff-directory/matt-bollant/429
• Email: [email protected]

Follow Southwest Baptist Athletics for program updates:

• X: https://x.com/sbubearcats
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sbubearcats/

Connect With Coach Matt Thomann & Mental Mettle Coaching

At Mental Mettle Coaching, we help athletes, coaches, parents, and teams develop the mental skills needed to build confidence, handle adversity, and perform at their best.

Our work focuses on the mental side of performance: confidence, focus, emotional regulation, positive self-talk, and responding effectively when things don't go according to plan.

Whether you're an athlete looking to strengthen your mental game or a coach who wants to build a mentally tougher team, let's connect.

• Website: https://www.mentalmettlecoach.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Schedule a free informational session: https://calendly.com/coachthomann/45-minute-mental-coach
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-thomann-a4b9945b/

Explore our individual mental coaching, team coaching, coach development, and professional development services at MentalMettleCoach.com.

How Would Jesus Coach? — A Bible Study for Coaches

How would Jesus coach?

Think of the old WWJD question—What Would Jesus Do?—applied to how we lead our teams, develop our athletes, and respond to adversity.

I'm leading a Bible study for coaches built around that question. We'll read Scripture, have honest discussions, ask good questions, and hold one another accountable as we work to become more Christlike in the way we coach.

I'm leading the study, but I'm not claiming to have all the answers. I'm there to learn and grow, too. We have some great Christian coaches involved, but you don't need to be a Bible expert or have extensive knowledge of Scripture to participate.

If you're interested in coaching and interested in Christ, you're welcome.

No cost. No sales pitch. Just coaches trying to become better at what we do and more Christlike in how we do it.

So, how would Jesus coach? Let's figure it out together.

If you're interested in joining us or simply want to learn more, reach out to me directly at [email protected].

If you found value in this conversation, please like the video, subscribe to the channel, and share it with another coach or leader who could benefit from it. Your support helps us reach more people who want to become better coaches and better leaders.

What does it mean to coach for character?

On this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, I sit down with Coach Will Rey, head varsity basketball coach at Northridge Prep School and a 50-year coaching veteran with experience at both the college and high school levels.

Coach Rey's philosophy is simple but powerful: Coaching for Character.

He believes athletics should be a vehicle for developing better people, with winning being a byproduct of the process. But one of the biggest takeaways from our conversation was how he puts that philosophy into practice: by choosing to celebrate character when he sees it.

In this conversation, we discuss:

🏀 Coaching for Character: Why developing character should be at the heart of athletics.

🏀 Building Team Culture: Why coaches must intentionally establish their team's standards, expectations, and values.

🏀 Celebrate Character: How recognizing effort, unselfishness, resilience, and accountability reinforces the behaviors we want to develop in athletes.

🏀 Teaching Through Winning and Losing: Why the scoreboard shouldn't determine your standards or dictate how you coach.

🏀 The Coach's Own Growth: How coaching provides an opportunity for personal character development, too.

One of my biggest takeaways is this: As coaches, it's easy to get caught up in correcting mistakes. We see the missed assignment, the bad pass, and the poor decision. But how intentional are we about recognizing the things our athletes are doing well?

Here's your challenge: Spend less time looking for mistakes to correct and more time looking for character to celebrate.

Character doesn't happen by accident. We have to develop it, reinforce it, coach it, and yes, celebrate it.

Follow Coach Will Rey:

• X: @coach4character
• Northridge Prep Basketball: @NRP_Hoops
• Official Coach Profile

WANT TO BUILD MENTALLY TOUGH ATHLETES?

That's what I help coaches do through Mental Mettle Coaching and my Ember to Inferno program.

Ember to Inferno helps coaches develop practical tools for building mental toughness, creating a positive team culture, and preparing athletes to respond to adversity. Mental toughness isn't something we should simply demand from athletes. It's something we can intentionally develop through our everyday coaching.

Don't just wish for mentally tough athletes. Build them.

Learn more at www.mentalmettlecoach.com.

Questions about Ember to Inferno or bringing mental toughness training to your team or organization?

Email me at [email protected].

HOW WOULD JESUS COACH?

I also lead a Bible study for coaches built around that question. Think of it as the coaching version of WWJD: What Would Jesus Do?

I'm far from having all the answers, but the goal is to explore how our faith can shape the way we lead, teach, compete, and care for our athletes.

Interested in joining us? Email me at [email protected] for more information.

What if mental toughness isn't something athletes either have or don't have—but something coaches can intentionally develop?

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with Lexi Demott, Head Girls Basketball Coach at Galesburg High School, to talk about what it really looks like to intentionally build mental toughness into a team.

Lexi has experienced Galesburg basketball from just about every angle. She played there, went on to play college basketball at the University of Dubuque, returned as an assistant coach under legendary coach Evan Massey, and is now entering her third season as the head coach.

And she's had tremendous success, including back-to-back Regional championships and a 28–5 season in 2025–26.

But the wins aren't what make this conversation so interesting.

Lexi is intentional about teaching the mental side of the game.

She creates shared language around mental skills. She builds routines and predictability into her program. She recognizes when athletes are struggling mentally and gives them tools—and teammates—to help them respond. She understands that failure is part of development, and she knows that mental skills require repetition just like basketball skills do.

One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation is simple:

You can't expect athletes to do something you haven't taught them.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why “be mentally tough” isn't enough
• Creating a shared language for mental skills
• Helping athletes recognize and respond to emotional struggles
• Why consistency and routine can help athletes perform under pressure
• Knowing the difference between productive discomfort and pushing an athlete too far
• Using failure as a learning opportunity
• Why mental toughness requires repetition
• How coaches can intentionally build mental skills into everyday practices

If you're a coach who wants to do more than simply tell your athletes to “be tougher,” this conversation is for you.

Connect with Lexi and Galesburg Girls Basketball:

Facebook: Streaks Girls Basketball
Instagram: @streaksgirlsbasketball
X: @streaksbball

Learn more about Mental Mettle Coaching:
mentalmettlecoach.com

Coach Matt Thomann
[email protected]

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A free resource for parents who want to build confident, resilient athletes without accidentally getting in the way of their development.

[Resilient Parent's Playbook — Mental Mettle Coaching]

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Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep forging your mettle.

What do you do when things don't go the way you planned?

Do you make excuses—or do you figure out what you can do next?

In this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, I sit down with veteran Illinois basketball coach and athletic director Ron Spencer for a conversation about mental toughness, adversity, accountability, and what it means to take responsibility for your response when life gets difficult.

Ron has spent more than 30 years coaching basketball, won a state championship, and has experienced plenty of adversity along the way. But some of his most important lessons didn't come from basketball.

He shares the story of failing seventh grade, the influence his mother had on his toughness, and the phrase a teacher gave him that has stayed with him ever since:

“Excuses satisfy those who make them.”

We also talk about turning around a struggling basketball program, starting a state championship season 1–4, and being down 16 points in the state championship game before asking his team, “Is this how it's going to end?”

Then the conversation gets much more personal as Ron shares his battle with cancer, losing 50 pounds during treatment, his mother's cancer diagnosis, and the decision to return to coaching just days after completing chemotherapy.

Throughout it all, one theme keeps coming back:

You may not control what happens to you, but you can control what you do next.

And Ron's story offers an important lesson for coaches: mental toughness isn't just about teaching athletes to fight through adversity. It's also about modeling accountability, owning your mistakes, and being willing to say, “I was wrong.”

If you're a coach, parent, or athlete, I think there's something valuable in this conversation for you.

Work With Mental Mettle Coaching

Mental Mettle Coaching works with individual athletes, teams, coaches, and schools to develop the mental skills that help athletes perform, respond, and grow through adversity.

🌐 www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com

Free Resource for Parents

Want to help your athlete develop resilience without trying to become their coach?

Check out my free Resilient Parent's Playbook:

The Resilient Parent's Playbook

If you enjoyed the episode, like, subscribe, and share the Mental Mettle Podcast with a coach, parent, or athlete who could benefit from it.

What does it really take to develop mentally tough athletes?

For Jeremy Adolphson, the answer has changed dramatically over his 28 years in education and 26 years as a head football coach.

Jeremy admits that for much of his career, he believed mental toughness was developed by making athletes tired, uncomfortable, and battle-tested. But experience changed his perspective.

Today, he believes athletes need to be prepared, confident, and clear about their roles so they can perform when the biggest moments arrive.

In this episode, we talk about:

🏈 Why conditioning isn't the same as developing mental toughness
🏈 Building confidence through skill and preparation
🏈 Making practice look like the game
🏈 Creating roles around what athletes do well — including the story of “The Jake”
🏈 Giving athletes solutions instead of simply correcting mistakes
🏈 Practicing failure and adversity
🏈 Why coaches have to model the mental toughness they expect from their athletes
🏈 Building a culture where athletes feel comfortable asking questions and learning

Jeremy Adolphson is the Athletic Director, Math Teacher, PE Teacher, and Head Football Coach at Monmouth-Roseville High School in Monmouth, Illinois. He is in his 28th year of education, 26th year as a head football coach, and 16th year leading the Monmouth-Roseville Titans. He has over 100 career wins and multiple playoff runs.

This conversation is a great reminder that sometimes developing mental toughness doesn't mean making athletes tougher.

It means preparing them to be ready.

Connect with Jeremy

X/Twitter: @MonRoseFB

Connect with Mental Mettle Coaching

Website: https://www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com

Mental Mettle Podcast: https://www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com

Follow Mental Mettle Coaching for more content on mental toughness, coaching, confidence, and developing athletes.

If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a coach who could use it.

And always remember to Forge Your Mettle.

#MentalMettle #MentalToughness #Coaching #HighSchoolFootball #AthleteDevelopment #SportsPsychology #CoachMentality #Leadership

Mental toughness doesn’t just happen.

We spend years teaching athletes the skills of their sport. We train their bodies. We develop their technique. We build strength, speed, and conditioning.

But what about the mental skills?

In this episode of The Mental Mettle Podcast, I sit down with Raphael McMaster, Founder and Executive Director of Indivisible Arts, mindset coach for the Mira Costa Basketball Team, and creator and author of the Fundamental Life Tools book and curriculum.

Raphael’s work centers around mindful awareness, emotional resilience, human potential, and developing practical tools that people can use to navigate life more effectively. Indivisible Arts was named Hermosa Beach’s Non-Profit of the Year in 2025, and Raphael has also been named Hermosa Beach Person of the Year.

His background is incredibly diverse. He has worked in art, photography, music, design, entrepreneurship, snowboards, and clothing—including product design for Puma and award-winning website work, including a site created for Matthew McConaughey. But his passion today is helping people develop the mental tools necessary to pursue their potential.

Raphael and I talk about why mental skills need to be developed and practiced, just like physical skills.

We dive into the Fundamental Life Tools, mindful awareness, breathing, visualization, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and the importance of practicing these tools before you need them.

We also talk about something I believe strongly: athletes have three skill sets—the game skills, physical skills, and mental skills. We have spent decades intentionally developing the first two. It's time to give the mental game the same attention.

And these skills aren't just for athletes. They're life skills.

In this episode:

• Why mental toughness needs to be trained
• The Fundamental Life Tools
• Why practice is essential to using mental skills under pressure
• Mindful awareness and staying present
• Visualization and the power of imagination
• Forgiveness and moving forward after mistakes
• Building emotional resilience
• The role of coaches and parents in developing athletes
• Why mental skills should be developed before adversity hits
• Pursuing human potential
• Turning mental concepts into practical tools

Connect with Raphael on Instagram:

📸 Instagram: @indivisible_arts
📸 Instagram: @resin_hermosa
📸 Instagram: @mcmaster.peace

Connect with Mental Mettle Coaching:

Mental Mettle Coaching
www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com

The Mental Mettle Podcast
Hosted by Coach Matt Thomann

If you're a coach, parent, or athlete who believes the mental game deserves the same attention as the physical game, this conversation is for you.

The mental game isn't something you simply have. You build it. You practice it. You Forge your Mettle.

What happens when you find something that makes you dream—and then decide to pursue it even when it's hard?

In this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, I sit down with Travis Vaughn of Upward Sports and Upward Running to talk about running, faith, mental toughness, community, setbacks, and the pursuit of goals that push us beyond our comfort zones.

Travis shares his own seven-year journey toward qualifying for the Boston Marathon, including injuries, setbacks, and the mental shifts that helped him keep moving forward. We also talk about the mental side of running, the power of community, how faith fits into competition and endurance, and why focusing on what you can control can change the way you approach difficult challenges.

But ultimately, the message is simple:

“Find something that makes you dream and makes you want to go achieve something that you've never done before. Make it hard. Do hard things.”

Whether you're an athlete, coach, runner, or simply someone looking for the next challenge, I think there's something valuable in this conversation.

Connect with Travis & Upward Running

Upward Running:
Upward Running

Kinda Fast Podcast:
Kinda Fast Podcast — Upward Running

Kinda Fast is hosted by Claire Boyce and Travis Vaughn and covers running, training, faith, and the real-life challenges that come with pursuing your goals.

Upward Sports:
Upward Sports

Connect with Mental Mettle Coaching

Mental Mettle Coaching

If this conversation resonates with you, subscribe to the Mental Mettle Podcast and share it with an athlete, coach, runner, or someone who needs a reminder that doing hard things can be exactly what helps us grow.

#MentalMettle #MentalToughness #TravisVaughn #DoHardThings #Running #FaithAndSports #MentalPerformance #AthleteDevelopment

Lauren Busalacchi is entering her 14th season as the head women’s basketball coach at Ripon College, after spending three years as an assistant and two years as a part-time assistant. During her time at Ripon, she has built one of the most successful programs in the Midwest, winning eight consecutive Midwest Conference championships, making five NCAA Tournament appearances, and earning induction into the Ripon College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2025. She has also been named the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association’s Private College Coach of the Year twice and has led her staff to seven consecutive Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

But this conversation isn't really about the championships.

It's about what happened when Lauren realized that X's and O's weren't enough.

After struggling early in her tenure—including a 2–21 season—Lauren recognized that building a successful program required something deeper: an intentional culture. That led her to the Tribal Leadership model, which now provides the framework for the language, behaviors, and culture within Ripon's program.

Lauren and I talk about what it means to intentionally build culture, how coaches can teach athletes to respond to adversity, and why mental toughness can't simply be demanded—it has to be trained.

We also dig into two concepts that have become important parts of the Ripon program: E + R = O and the Chinese proverb, “Behind the mountains, there are more mountains.”

Lauren believes one of the most important responsibilities of leadership is to continually help and challenge people to respond better. We may not control the events we experience in life, but we do have control over our responses—and those responses affect everyone around us.

We talk about vulnerability, asking for help, player ownership, leadership, adversity, family, faith, and the ongoing challenge of becoming better leaders and coaches.

Because no matter how much success you've had, you never really arrive.

There is always a next mountain.

Connect with Lauren & Ripon College Women's Basketball

Facebook: Ripon College Women's Basketball
Instagram: @riponwomensbasketball

Connect with Coach Matt Thomann & Mental Mettle Coaching

Mental Mettle Coaching: www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com
[email protected]

Mental Mettle Coaching helps athletes, coaches, and educators develop the mental skills necessary to handle adversity, build confidence, and perform at their best.

Forge Your Mettle.

In this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann sits down with Jeremy Clodfelder, Head Football and Softball Coach at Paris High School, for a powerful conversation about leadership, mental toughness, personal growth, and what it really takes to build a strong culture.

With more than 20 years of coaching experience, three rebuilt football programs, over 100 career football victories, and a record-setting career as a softball coach, Jeremy brings a wealth of experience to the conversation. But his greatest lessons haven't necessarily come from winning. They've come from overcoming adversity, confronting his own struggles, and learning how to lead differently.

Jeremy believes mental toughness is a skill. Just like any other skill, it has to be intentionally developed and trained.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why you shouldn't just trust the process—you have to attack the process
• The power of standard over feelings
• Jeremy's Code of Standards: Consistency, Ownership, Discipline, and Excellence
• Why winning is a byproduct rather than the ultimate goal
• How to hold young athletes accountable while still giving them grace
• Why coaches need to be demanding without demeaning
• Creating environments where athletes feel safe enough to be vulnerable
• Why mental toughness requires daily, intentional practice
• Discovering your personal "burn" and what drives you to show up
• Jeremy's powerful mantra: Master Your Mirror
• How coaches can develop mental skills as part of their everyday culture

This is a conversation about overcoming challenge and adversity, continually pursuing peak performance, and becoming the kind of coach who develops more than athletes.

Connect with Jeremy Clodfelter

📧 Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Jeremy Clodfelder
Instagram: @jeremy_clodfelder
X: @Coach_Clod
LinkedIn: Jeremy Clodfelder
Speaking: Leadership • Culture • Mental Conditioning

Connect with Coach Matt Thomann

Mental Mettle Coaching
Helping coaches, parents, and young athletes develop the mental skills necessary to perform, grow, and thrive.

🌐 Website: www.mentalmettlelifecoaching.com

🎙️ The Mental Mettle Podcast: Helping coaches develop mentally tougher athletes through better coaching and intentional mental skills training.

If you got something from this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with another coach.

And always remember to Forge Your Mettle.

In this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, I sit down with Dan Stratford, owner and partner at Kick It 3v3 Soccer, for a conversation that goes far beyond soccer.

Dan and I dig into a problem I think every youth sports coach and parent needs to think about:

Are we giving our youngest athletes the coaching they actually need?

Too often, the youngest players get the least experienced coaches, even though coaching young athletes requires a very different skill set. We talk about why youth coaches need to understand the developmental stage of the kids they're coaching—and why development should be the priority over simply winning games.

We also get into the role of 3v3 soccer and why small-sided games can be such a powerful developmental tool. More touches. More decisions. More creativity. More opportunities to make mistakes, solve problems and learn.

Some of the big ideas we discuss:

•  Why our youngest athletes may need our best coaches
•  Why development is always winning, but winning isn't always development
•  The danger of parents tying their ego to their child's success 
•  Why being on the "best" team isn't necessarily best for development 
•  How small-sided games encourage creativity and decision-making 
•  Why kids shouldn't be coached like miniature professional athletes 
•  How we can redefine what "winning" means in youth sports 
•  And ultimately, why we have youth sports in the first place

Dan brings decades of experience as a player, coach, parent and youth-sports leader to this conversation, and I think there's something here for coaches and parents in every sport, not just soccer.

Learn more about Dan and Kick It 3v3 Soccer:
Kick It 3v3 Soccer

About Coach Matt Thomann & Mental Mettle

I'm Coach Matt Thomann, an ICF-certified coach and the founder of Mental Mettle Coaching, where I help athletes, coaches and educators develop the mindset and mental skills needed to perform, lead and thrive.

Through individual coaching, team coaching, professional development and speaking, Mental Mettle focuses on building confidence, resilience, self-awareness and mental toughness.

🌐 Mental Mettle Coaching: mentalmettlelifecoaching.com