The Underdog Podcast

After 17 years as an assistant coach Jack Owens finally got the opportunity to lead his own program.  However right before he began his head coaching journey, he lost his father, the man who had been cheering him on his whole life.  Coach Owens has went on to turn Miami University basketball around.  

In 2011 Craig Aukerman had lost his first job as an NFL coach, his wife was 34 weeks pregnant and they got stuck in a blizzard.  With so much on the line and not knowing what would come next, Coach Aukerman got a call that would help change the trajectory of his coaching career.

Traditional or Untraditional.  Coach Jedd Fisch decided as a young boy that he wanted to be a football coach.  Growing up a star tennis player and never playing organized football, this would seem unlikely.  Through persistence and pure grit, he landed a graveyard shift job with the Florida Gators while in undergrad.  The rest is history! 

Chris Creighton constantly reminds himself why he still coaches after 31 years.  Transformational rather than Transactional coaching has been the key to his success.  When his players understand that 90% of his love is tough love and they embrace who they are, the results speak for themselves.  

There's only a few people in our lives when they ask you to do something no matter what it is, you're going to do it.  After 25 years at the same mid major college and on a leap of faith Dan Dalrymple joined the New Orleans Saints with Sean Peyton the season following Hurricane Katrina.  He's now a Super Bowl Champion and was 2018 NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year.

When his father told him at a young age "someone is always praying for you" those words stuck.  In order to play 13 years in the NFL you must be intentional when it comes to a growth mindset, and it didn't happen naturally for Frostee, this is something he had to figure out during some of the most adverse moments of his career.  

Coach Heard joins the UDP to talk about some of the adverse moments in her career.  From turning around Kentucky State as a young head coach to understanding her process to develop relationships.  They keys to her success lie in building a foundation from the day she steps on campus.  

As a little girl in the 1960s Tara VanDerveer loved playing basketball.  However there were no organized sports for girls at the time.  After a stellar college playing career, Tara became 2x Coach of the year at Ohio State in the early 80s.  Fast forward to 2021 her Stanford Cardinals won their 3rd National Championship (90' & 92').  Coach VanDerveer is the definition of Sustaining Excellence! 

Tony Pike was 6th on the depth chart as a junior and didn't know what the future held going into camp.  After a talk with his dad and a fair chance from Coach Brian Kelly, Tony became the starter a few weeks into that same season.  Although injuries followed, he was still able to help lead the University of Cincinnati to it's largest Bowl Appearance in school history his senior year! 

Coach Wes Miller was a walk-on at North Carolina after spending his freshman year at James Madison.  Only a few years after graduating he found himself as a 27 year old head coach.  Finding success through core values and hard work at UNCG, he's bringing that same mentality to the Cincinnati Bearcats!