Episode Details

https://teachhoops.com/

From a 24 hour drive for a Division II job to Dartmouth, Chicago State, and a study of 200 college coaches who did not know their own leadership style.

Dr. Matthew Raidbard did not have a relative in the business, a friend in the business, or a practical degree. He had a history major, a resume full of travel team experience, and a habit of following up one more time than anyone asked him to. That relentlessness got him a Division II assistant job in Silver City, New Mexico, and started a college coaching career that ran through Dartmouth, Florida Gulf Coast, and eight seasons at Chicago State before he moved into athletic administration.

In Part 1, Coach Steve Collins and Dr. Raidbard walk through that journey, what changes from Division II to the Ivy League to a traditional Division I program, and why he calls Chicago State the toughest job in the country. Then they get to the research behind his book, Lead Like a Pro: a study of more than 200 college basketball coaches, and the surprising gap between the leadership style coaches think they practice and the one they actually do.

In this episode

• The games that hooked them both on basketball, from conference championship week to the old Wisconsin Field House
• How coaching his younger brother's travel team turned into a career
• Relentlessness as a separator: you only need one yes
• Learning to do everything at a small Division II school, from game operations to driving the softball team
• Dartmouth, the Ivy League experience, and going toe to toe with Jeremy Lin and Harvard
• Florida Gulf Coast and the difference between Ivy recruiting and traditional Division I recruiting
• Eight seasons building Chicago State, and why it may be the toughest job in college basketball
• Earning a doctorate while coaching, and moving into compliance and administration
• His current role as executive senior associate athletic director at the University of Hartford
• The dissertation that became the book: do coaches know the leadership style they actually practice?
• Why transformational leadership, paired with quick decision making, came out on top
• The five leadership styles every coach should understand

Chapters

• 00:00 TeachHoops.com pre roll
• 00:28 Meet Dr. Matthew Raidbard
• 02:20 The games that hooked us on basketball
• 05:08 Coaching his brother's travel team
• 06:58 The 24 hour drive to Western New Mexico
• 07:46 Relentlessness and the one yes
• 08:52 Two years at Division II
• 09:48 Dartmouth and the Ivy League
• 11:12 TeachHoops.com mid roll
• 11:40 Florida Gulf Coast
• 12:08 Eight seasons at Chicago State
• 12:56 Obstacles from Division II to Division I
• 16:44 Why Chicago State is the toughest job in the country
• 18:40 Moving into administration
• 19:36 Hartford and life as an athletic director
• 20:32 How the book Lead Like a Pro came about
• 21:56 The gap between the leader you think you are and the leader you are
• 22:24 The best leadership style for coaches
• 23:20 The five leadership styles
• 23:48 Why coaches need real leadership training
• 24:16 Post roll

Coach challenge: Write down the leadership style you believe you practice. Then ask one assistant and one player to describe how you lead, and compare the answers.

Resources: Dr. Raidbard's book, Lead Like a Pro, is available wherever books are sold. Practice plans, leadership and culture resources, courses, and on court clinics at https://teachhoops.com/

Continue the conversation in Part 2.

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