The much-anticipated July 25 release of Jamy Bechler’s The Leadership Playbook: Become Your Team’s Most Valuable Leader proved to be a giant success as it was named the #1 New Release for basketball coaching books on Amazon.com.
Overall, it reached a high of #2 on Amazon’s list of basketball coaching books. Other books on this list include Jay Bilas’ Toughness, Pat Summitt’s Sum it Up, Mike Krzyzewski’s Leading with the Heart, Lew Alcindor’s Coach Wooden and Me, and Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings.
Bechler is a John Maxwell certified leadership coach and former college basketball coach. He works with various teams and businesses to maximize their success by developing leadership skills and creating a championship culture. His clients have included teams from the NBA and the Big Ten, as well as multi-million dollar corporations.
Rob Miller is a partner and motivational speaker for Proactive Coaching, which is one of the top leadership training platforms in the country. Along with his Bruce Brown, they help coaches positively impact their athlete’s lives. Rob is also the commissioner of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, with schools in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Throughout his career, Rob has been a coach at the high school and college levels. He was also instrumental in building up the NAIA’s Champions of Character program.
Jay Korff is a general assignment reporter with ABC7/WJLA-TV & News Channel 8 in Washington D.C. He is also the director of the 
Misty Young is the best author of the best-selling book “From Rags to Restaurants: The Secret Recipe”. In 2003, she leveraged everything she owned and bought the “cutest little hippie restaurant” north of Lake Tahoe, California. The Squeeze In restaurant north of Lake Tahoe was her family’s favorite restaurant so in 2003, she leveraged everything she owned and bought the “cutest little hippie restaurant”. Since then they have grown sales from half a million to more than $5 million. Misty personally owns 5 restaurants and is a partner in 8 others. Her family and the Squeeze In restaurant was featured on Food Network’s Bobby Flay Throwdown. The Restaurant Lady is the creator of the Restaurant Smart program and teaches people how to grow their business and franchise their restaurants.
Troy Kirby is the host of the very popular Tao of Sports podcast. He has done more than 800 episodes with some of the top people in the sports business world. He has worked in the sports industry for more than 15 years, at three different university athletic departments, and one professional soccer team. Kirby is a much sought after sports business consultant and keynote speaker. He is the president of The National Association of Athletic Ticket Sales & Operations.
Larry DeSimpelare is the commissioner of the Crossroads League, which is arguably the best NAIA conference in the country when it comes to combining national-level competition and an emphasis on character-building. The Crossroads League has schools from the state of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Before becoming a commissioner, Larry served as a collegiate men’s basketball coach at Cleveland State University, Rutgers University, Kent State University, Eastern Michigan University and Concordia University. Along the way, DeSimpelare helped guide those programs to three league titles, eight NIT berths and four NCAA bids, where he helped Eastern Michigan take out Duke and Cleveland State upend Wake Forest in a pair of opening round upsets.
Everyone has a chance to be a hero to someone. You don’t even have to be dead to be a hero. With Memorial Day approaching, it got me to thinking about those in my life that I have looked up to as heroes. Unfortunately, holidays like Memorial Day and funerals seem to be the only times that we really stop and think about the impact that someone had on our lives. These are the times that we remember, or better yet, celebrate their life and their lasting legacy on those that they touched.
The summer typically brings vacations and down time for many people.
“The greatest tragedy in life is wasted talent” (Robert DeNiro’s character in “A Bronx Tale”)