You Wouldn’t Be Any Good at It

A Proactive Coaching podcast interview with Dr. Dennis Janzen — founder of Applied Coaching Education; former professor of sport psychology, athletic director, and six-time NAIA national champion volleyball coach at Fresno Pacific University; four-time AVCA National Coach of the Year with an 867–168 career record; US Men's National Team assistant; and recently head coach of Singapore's men's and women's national teams — hosted by Bruce Brown as part of the "Greatest Coaches You've Never Heard Of" series. Topics covered: the guidance counselor who told him he'd be no good at coaching, and the college coach who changed his life; mentors (Del Reimer, Chet Roberts, Marv Dunphy, Fred Sturm, John Dunning, Jim McLaughlin, and his dad); building camps and clinics at Fresno Pacific when there was no budget; the abnormal path — a best-in-the-country practice gym, differentiated instruction, "players will do what you train them to do," and the trust-relationship-commitment continuum; the 373–18 final decade and the teammate emphasis ("make the people around you better"); leadership as behavior that influences, and going captain-less with 14 leaders; non-negotiables (how players treat each other, effort) and the entitled Singapore star he nearly left off the team; his faith and "dream dreams big enough to fail"; book recommendations (Legacy, Chop Wood Carry Water); and advice for the next generation — be a student of the game beyond X's and O's, know the why, and define success by influence.