Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
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Many football fans remember that as the score of Super Bowl LI when the Atlanta Falcons led the New England Patriots midway through the third quarter. The Patriots would end up coming back to win that Super Bowl in dramatic fashion.
Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?
We all remember the iconic scene from the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” when the teacher (played by Ben Stein) is having no success trying to get the class to participate. We have all been around those people that might have been really smart but we just didn’t like them much. They didn’t inspire us. They didn’t motivate us. Think of the people that have meant the most to us. Most of the time, it was probably because of how they made us feel.
I remember how I felt about second grade and my teacher.
Nate Bain is the social media manager for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. He joined the club in 2017 after three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, where he was the team’s digital media manager. As social media manager, he is responsible for all the club’s social media accounts, strategy and content ideation. Bain has also worked in the athletic departments at the University of Tennessee and the University of Oregon.
Michael Lombardi spent three decades in the NFL as an executive with the 49ers, Browns, Eagles and Raiders. From 2014-16 he was also an assistant to the coaching staff of the Patriots. In addition to his current work with The Athletic, he’s also worked for other media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, the NFL Network, NFL.com and The Ringer. He is a frequent guest on talk shows, podcasts, and NFL shows. Lombardi worked alongside such NFL legends as Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh, and Al Davis. He and basketball coaching legend, George Raveling, provide daily insights through their site The Daily Coach. The former Cleveland Browns General Manager also hosts his own podcast “The GM Shuffle” with Adnan Virk, and co-hosts a Saturday morning sports betting program on Sirius XM for Vegas Stats & Information Network. In late 2018, Lombardi released Gridiron Genius: A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL, featuring a foreword by Bill Belichick.
Bill Curry has been the head football coach at Alabama, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, and Georgia State. He was a 2x SEC Coach of the Year, ACC Coach of the Year, as well as the National Coach of the Year in 1989 for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Before embarking upon a coaching career, he played 10 years in the NFL as a Center. He played in Super Bowls I, III, and V, winning two Super Bowl rings with the Packers and the Colts.
Click here to read Coach Curry’s complete resume and biography.
You can find out more about Coach Bill Curry, his motivational speaking opportunities, and his book “Ten Men You Meet In The Huddle” by visiting www.BillCurry.net.
Brandon Bostick is a former NFL Tight End. He is originally from South Carolina and starred at West Florence HS before going to Newberry College. While at Newberry, he played Wide Receiver and scored 19 touchdowns in only 39 total collegiate games (24 starts). Brandon’s journey has been a story of overcoming the odds to achieve his goals. He played two full seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He would also spend time with the Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Jets during his NFL career. Unfortunately, on January 15, 2015 in the NFC Championship Game, he was involved in a play that would be the low point in his career. He fumbled an onside kick, which gave the Seattle Seahawks one last chance to score. The Seahawks scored and would eventually win the game in overtime, advancing to the Super Bowl. Despite this setback Brandon has maintained a positive attitude. He is a good example of a person being resilient and understanding how blessed he is. He had a great career and got to play with some of the best to ever play the game of football.
You’ve probably heard of guys like Tom Brady, Joe Montana, John Elway, Terry Bradshaw, and Peyton Manning. These are some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. But none of them – or anyone else for that matter – has ever done what Ryan Fitzpatrick has accomplished through the first 3 weeks of the NFL season. Ryan Fitzpatrick (“FitzMagic” as he is known) has thrown for more than 400 yards in all three games. No NFL quarterback has ever thrown for 400 yards in three straight games. Ever!
JJ Birden played 9 years in the NFL as a Wide Receiver after a stand out career as a star track athlete at the University of Oregon, which is known as “Tracktown, USA”. A 5’10”, 157-pound wide receiver, JJ was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 1988 NFL Draft and played nine seasons (Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons). To play nine years in a profession where the average players career last an average of 3.2 years is something special. Two of those nine years was with Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana. He certainly was not the biggest, strongest, or fastest guy on the field, but he knew how to seize his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and maximize his success through dedication and hard work.
He is now a motivational speaker and representative for the health and nutrition company Isagenix. He is an engaging communicator and a leading expert at helping individuals seize their opportunities in life. In his presentations, JJ shares lessons from his experience as a small man in a big man’s game. JJ’s time in the NFL helped shape the message that he now delivers to audiences around the world. After seeing the successes and failures of others at the highest level, he developed a set of principles that others could follow to achieve greatness, no matter how they defined it or what they’re pursuing.
JJ has also written a book entitled, “When Opportunity Knocks: 8 Surefire Ways to Take Advantage.” He and his wife Raina have 8 kids, including 5 that are adopted.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Darrin Gray serves as President and CEO of The Lions Lead. Darrin has more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in communications, media, branding, sports philanthropy and non-profit sectors and has managed annual budgets as large as $40,000,000. Based upon his work with All Pro Dad, the national non-profit founded by Tony Dungy, Darrin is recognized as a thought leader and speaker on the topics of family, fatherhood, mentoring and leadership. Darrin co-authored The Jersey Effect, Beyond the World Championship, and supports his community by serving on non-profit boards and as the President of the Center for Serving Leadership at the Sagamore Institute, an action-oriented think tank. Darrin has a unique window into the National Football League by virtue of his day-to-day involvement with All Pro Dad, Family First’s national fatherhood program cofounded by Tony Dungy and Clyde Christensen. Darrin interacts with NFL athletes, coaches, and alumni that serve as spokesmen for All Pro Dad, and he has conducted programming with over half of the NFL franchises. He develops innovative partnership strategies to reach families via special events, broadcast, and new media with the assistance of media partners and corporate sponsors. He conceptualized The Jersey Effect years ago when he wondered what motivated some athletes like Tony Dungy to use their professional platform in sports, their jersey, to make a positive impact both on and off the field. A few years later he invited NFL punter Hunter Smith, while he was still playing in the NFL, to coauthor the book and to help him explore the many ways that sports shape culture, with the help of his world champion teammates and coaches.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
Alicia Jessop is a much sought after expert in the sports business industry. She is the founder of RulingSports.com and a sports law professor at Pepperdine University. Her expertise lies at the intersections of sports, business and the law. With a law degree from Chapman University School of Law, cum laude, with an emphasis on entertainment law and a bachelor’s of science from the Colorado School of Mines in economics, Alicia’s educational background provided her with the tools necessary to analyze some of the most pressing and complex issues facing the sports world today. This background has allowed Alicia to become a sports contributor to Forbes.com and The Huffington Post, after launching the widely read sports law website, RulingSports.com. Through covering sports on a national level, Alicia received opportunities to visit and speak with students at universities across the country. Through these opportunities, Alicia realized that her passion was teaching others about sports, business and the law. In August 2013, Alicia became a professor at the University of Miami, teaching Legal Aspects of Sport and Sport Governance. She moved on to Pepperdine University at the start of the 2017-18 school year. Alicia is an attorney licensed to practice law in California and Colorado.
In today’s episode, we discuss: