F-Bombs and Old Fashioneds with Bev Yanez

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're looking
forward to learning about the next big WNBA free agent
signing via an edible arrangements Instagram story. How many melon
wedges does it take to spell Jackie Young? It's Thursday,
April ninth, and on today's show, we're joined by last
year's NWSL Coach of the Year, Racing Louisville's Bevanez. We
talk about the type of evolution she's hoping to see

(00:22):
from her team this season, how an inauthentic first season
as a head coach forced her to step into her
own form of leadership, how much has changed since she
retired as a player six years ago, and the importance
of shared expectations when saying yes to a new job.
Plus another attempt at sorry it's core season and wake up, babe,
a new SUPERB job just dropped. It's all coming up

(00:44):
right after this welcome back slices, here's what you need
to know today. Let's start with the WNBA, with free
agency getting on away. Earlier this week, teams had two
days to extend core offers. Now, before we get to

(01:05):
who got a core offer, a quick refresher on what
a core offer is each team can core one player,
sort of like the franchise tag in other sports. The
core offer gives that player the franchise's only supermax contract
one point four million dollars this season, and gives the
team exclusive negotiating rights to that player. The base contract

(01:25):
is that fully guaranteed one year deal worth the Supermax,
but the player can negotiate different terms. Both restricted and
unrestricted free agents are eligible to receive core offers, but
there is a limit on how many core offers a
player can receive in their career. The players who have
received core offers this year are Sabrinia and Escu from
the New York Liberty, Nafisa Kllier from the Minnesota Lynx,
the Indiana Fevers, Kelsey Mitchell, Los Angeles Sparks, Kelsey Plum,

(01:48):
Arigae Agunbowale from the Dallas Wings, Ali Schagrey from the
Atlanta Dream, Ariel Atkins from the Chicago Sky and the
seattlestorms Azzi Magnagor Now. In addition, Expansion Draft signees Bridget
Carlton and Marie to Maybury were also coreed by Portland
and Toronto respectively. Now starting yesterday, Those players had three
days to negotiate with the team that coreed them to

(02:09):
see if they could come to terms on a deal,
or teams and players can agree to a sign and
trade that will send the player elsewhere. Either way, coring
a top player basically ensures that they don't walk without
the team getting something in return. Friend of the Show
Richard Cohen wrote an excellent story for her Hoopstats breaking
down CORE offers team by team and also explaining which
players weren't eligible for the designation. So if you're wondering

(02:32):
why Las Vegas, Phoenix, Washington, Golden State, and Connecticut didn't
CORE anyone, go check out his breakdown. We'll link to
it in the show notes. More WNBA news. Per sources
at Amazing Balloons, Minnesota, neca ogumkay is headed to the
Minnesota Links. Maybe yep, the longtime veterans departure from the

(02:52):
Seattle Storm might have just been broken by a balloon company.
Amazing Balloons posted a picture of a beautiful welcome arrangement
on the Lynx's court to their Instagram stories on Wednesday.
Oops a daisy, Now listen, this might just be an
overture from the links to Oguo Mackay part of a
campaign to woo her to the North Star State, which
is what Friend of the Show an ESPN reporter Alexa

(03:15):
Philip who reported a few hours after the balloon story broke,
she responded to the photo leak with quote, to clarify this,
I'm told Neko Oguo Makay is on a free agency
visit in Minnesota. This is not an official decision slash
announcement end quote. I mean, I think it's quite clear
it's not the official announcement. I think probably Necka and
or the team would be involved if it was. But

(03:36):
does feel like maybe her team could just be covering
up the leak in the hopes that they get to
pop the news themselves in a few days. Either way,
Oguo Mackay, a fourteen year veteran who's also president of
the WNBPA, is rumored to be looking for a new
team after the storm We're once again bounced in the
first rout of the playoffs and fired their head coach,

(03:56):
Noel Quinn. Keep you updated on that story as news breaks.
Someone else who also looks to be walking Satu Sably.
Friend of the Show in Front Office sports reporter Annie
Costable is reporting that Sably is not expected to re
sign with the Phoenix Mercury and is taking meetings with
other teams. On Wednesday, Saboly posted highlights from her year
with the Mercury with the caption my best year yet.

(04:18):
Thank you Phoenix, Nelis and all these WNBA deals are
coming fast and furious, so we'll link to an ever
updating list of transactions in the show notes so you
can keep up. Moving on to college hoops, on Tuesday afternoon,
Yukon coach Gino Oriama issued his second statement in four
days following his outburst at Don Staley during Friday nights
and caa semi final game. Now Unlike his earlier statement,

(04:39):
which was issued on Saturday, this one directly mentioned and
apologized to Staley as an individual, not just to the
South Carolina program as a whole. Orima said he spoke
to Stay Tuesday morning to apologize for his behavior and
wrote quote, I apologize to Dawn, her staff and her team.
I've lost more games in the Final four than any
coach in history, but Friday I lost something more important.

(05:00):
I lost myself. Those who know me know I have
nothing but respect, an admiration for the game, and the
coaches who coach at Dawn and her team deserve to win,
and they deserve better for me. End quote. Now a
reminder that earlier on Tuesdays Daily had released a statement
of her own, saying she has great respect for Oriama
and what he's meant to the game, and asking that
everyone turned the page more college hoops. Just three days

(05:22):
after the University of Virginia fired basketball coach Amaca Agugua Hamilton,
the Cavaliers have announced the hiring of Aaron Russell. Russell
takes over following seven seasons at the Helm of Richmond,
where he led the team to NCAA tournament appearances during
the last three seasons. Now, in the days since Agugua
Hamilton's dismissal, at least three Virginia players have entered the
transfer portal, So we'll be watching to see if Russell's

(05:43):
hiring stops the exodus or maybe even convinces any of
those three to stay put. To college Softball, where we'd
like to share an update on the latest national rankings,
But in order to do that, we have to go
on a little journey together, because did y'all know that
there are five different organizations that issue weekly college Softball Rankings.
We sure didn't, but we discovered this after seeing reports

(06:05):
that Alabama had moved into the number one spot after
winning two of three games against Texas over the weekend.
But it turns out that's just according to the Softball
America Rankings and the NCAA Women's Softball RPI list. Meantime,
the joint ESPN slash USA Softball Pool, the NFCA slash
go Route poll, and d onesoftball dot com, a website

(06:26):
with a real bad pop up problem by the way,
all have Texas Tech in first place. Now, some of
you are probably thinking, what difference does this make? Well,
dear slices, think of all the times during college basketball
season where we reference the number one Yukon Huskies or
the number two UCLA Bruins. Because in basketball and most
other sports too, there may be multiple polling bodies, but

(06:47):
there's almost always a clear consensus on which one will
be used to discuss teams. But in softball it seems
kind of like the Wild West. Even the teams don't
seem to know what to use after moving into the
top spot, sort of. Alabama posted the news on its
Instagram story, but did include the number three ranking the
team had in the other three polls as well. Anyway,
if anyone knows why college softball is like this, or

(07:10):
if there's some sort of behind the scenes power struggle
for whose poll matters the most, please get in touch.
Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com. Some more softball news.
A few more AUSL Golden tickets had been delivered, including
to Tennessee Ace CARLN. Pickens, whose invite to the athletes
Unlimited Softball Draft was hand delivered by none other than
Pitching Great and pickins Idyl Jenny Finch very cool. Seven

(07:35):
of seventeen total golden tickets have now been doled out
as we near the AUSL College Draft show on ESPN
two Monday May fourth. Finally, in job News, friend of
the Show and former Yukon and WNBA star Sue Bird
is adding another line tour resume. Now you heard her
tell me in Saturday's live show that the ink was
dry on at least one new gig well. Front Office

(07:56):
Sports reported on Wednesday that Bird will be an analyst
on NBCNP COX WNBA coverage. You might remember Bird spent
the past six years co hosting a women's NCAA Final
Four altcast with Dinah Trossi on ESPN, but that didn't
return this year. All right, slaiceys. Before we move on,
I mentioned the WNBA players who have received core offers

(08:18):
and what that process looks like for teams and athletes.
But with free agency in full swing, let's do a
quick refresh on some of the other terms that you're
likely to hear in the coming days. First, unrestricted free agent. Now,
that's a player who can negotiate with any team during
the free agency period without any hindrance. A restricted free
agent is a player with four years of service in

(08:39):
the league whose contract is expired and who receives a
restricted qualifying offer from their previous team. Restricted free agents
can negotiate with other teams, but any offer that another
team makes can be matched by their previous team to
retain them. If a restricted free agent doesn't get a
restricted qualifying offer from their previous team, they become an
unrestricted free agent. Now a reserved player as a player

(09:01):
with three years of experience or fewer whose contract has
expired and whose previous team extends them a reserved qualifying offer.
They're then subject to that team's exclusive negotiating rights, they
can't make a deal or get offers from anyone else.
If a reserve player doesn't get a reserve qualifying offer
from their previous team, they become an unrestricted free agent.

(09:22):
Got it. Yeah, it's kind of complicated, but we'll all
get through this together. We're going to take a break
when we come back. F bombs and old fashions. With
Bevannez joining us now, she's the head coach of Racing
Louisville and last season's NWSL Coach of the Year. A

(09:43):
former pro player, she suited up for RAINFC in the NWSL,
the Western New York Flash, and Washington Freedom in the WPS,
as well as teams in Australia, Japan, Finland. A Moreno Valley,
California native graduate of the University of Miami, mom of
humans and dogs, she got Louisville off the schneid and
into the playoffs last year, becoming the first person in
NWA SELL history to reach the playoffs as both a
player and a head coach. It's Bevy naz Hi.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Bev Hi, how are you good?

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Thank you for having me excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
When you won Coach of the Year last year. You
mentioned in your speech that you had a chance to
create an identity last year and you did it in
short order. So how different were the same Do you
think this year's identity is.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, look the learnings from twenty twenty four into twenty
twenty five and where we spent our attention as a
tech staff coming into the twenty twenty five season. You
can never predict either how quickly it will come together
if you've got the right pieces in the right place.
But we spent a lot of time assessing the type
of characters that we were bringing into the environment, the

(10:43):
type of characters that we had, and built really more
of a cultural foundation and kind of went around that
cultural foundation to create buy in from a style of
play perspective. We were very excited with the group that
we had going into twenty five and didn't expect for
it to click so great. Obviously, in that you have

(11:06):
your ups and downs. It's life, that's football, that's sport.
So it was not easy by any means, and it
was not perfect in any way, shape or form. But
coming out of twenty twenty five, obviously with that identity piece,
with that strong cultural foundation, coming into this year. A
big piece that we've discussed now from twenty twenty five
to twenty twenty six is what type of evolution do

(11:26):
we have now within it? Right? We know from a
goal setting perspective and coming into a preseason with the group,
we know we can't do the same things and expect
the same results. We have to step it up a
notch and a lot of capacities. And I think that's
been our biggest focus coming in this year is what
do we look like in those evolution pieces in reference
to our identity and focusing in on that and continue

(11:47):
each great buy in from there.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
You mentioned the chemistry and getting everyone to sort of
get to know each other and be a part of
this team. I listened to another interview you did. You
had this great line. I think you had heard it
from someone else that men battle each other in order
to bond and women like to bond in order to
go into battle. And so that feels like it was
probably very intentional for you to make sure you worked
on team chemistry and then wanting to work together before

(12:13):
maybe even getting to all the soccer stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah. Absolutely, and you know focused on intentionally putting those
pieces in place where they best fit, right, was it
a pre training meeting and what type of topic would
it be, how interactive was it going to be within
the group, And we also come we came to a
position was it last year, end of last year maybe

(12:36):
start of this year, where we got little whiteboards, little whiteboards,
little erasers, and little markers. So when we do do
our interactive activities in those pre training meetings or from
a set piece recap perspective, and we're adding in some
kind of cultural interactive activity or any opportunity to check
for kind of understanding within the style of play, we
try to be very interactive with it, allow players to

(12:58):
have a voice, feel valued, feel heard, but feel like
they're a part of the process. And I think a
lot of that reflection has been what my experiences of
it been as a player and kind of the coaches
that I felt, you know, I enjoyed playing for, and
that's kind of the outlook that I take in this
role and what my leadership is. And I think one
big key piece from twenty twenty four to twenty twenty

(13:21):
five was I felt that I was not authentic to
who I was and what my personality was. I felt
like I had to be a certain way as a
head coach to have the respect and understanding that everybody
saw me as a head coach, and it led me
to an unauthentic state in my opinion of who I
truly am as a person, which is I like to
perceive the world. I like to perceive the industry as

(13:42):
the glass half full, and so when I am putting
things in place, I'm trying to find like minded people
that know, hey, I can have an impact in this game,
but there's more that I can give, and I want
to give more, right And it's really funny being in
this role now and having an opportunity to actually assess
who I am, what type of leadership I do have
very potentially naturally, and then from my experiences and kind

(14:05):
of putting all those pieces together, and I think, you know,
it's often looked as is like, you can't be a
nice head coach, right if you're a head coach. You're
a head coach, right, Like you're very demanding, You're very
That's how it's perceived. And I clashed a lot with
that from the start because it's not really my style.
And I've been in a much better position now having

(14:26):
a bit more experience to embrace actually who I am
in the role and that it doesn't have to be
that way that's maybe how we perceive it. So it's
been really fun to learn more about myself through the
role and you know, learn more about how I could
be a better leader but still true to who I am.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Well, and if you have success doing it that way,
then you get to help change the narrative. Yeah, you know,
I want to get to how you got into coaching
and sort of found your way as a coach and
what kind of leader you want to be. But I
quickly want to ask first the whiteboards. That's so that
players can express something but maybe not disrupt and interrupt,
and then you can get to them if you want
within the flow. Is that why you use those?

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah? Yeah, And it's just an opportunity to like write
down okay, Like you know, one thing that we've done
in the past, for example, is okay, get out your whiteboards.
We'll show a picture and write down all the blue
things that you see in the picture, okay, and we're
gonna flash it really quickly and then we're going to
shut it off so it comes up and then everybody's
like scribbling it and writing it down and then okay, done,

(15:21):
hold up your boards. And so everyone's like, oh, how
many blue things did everybody get? You know? And then
we said did anyone see the yellow thing? And everyone's
like what? And it's like, whatever you spend your attention
on is how you perceive things. You've missed the yellow
thing because we're all focused on the blue thing. So
just being intentional about where and how we can relate
things to sport, where and how we can grow as

(15:42):
a group, where and how we can continue to change perspective.
What I've realized through all of this is, you know,
how they perceive themselves in the environment is what we're
saying about the environment twenty four to seven. So if
I can get them to talk about it instead of
it being like, well, coach thinks this, now it's like, oh,
my peer thinks this, my colleague thinks this. This is

(16:03):
truly who we are. Is a much different feel than
somebody just in a leadership position that gets a platform
to speak consistently to say that this is who we are. Right,
So it's more of that, it's more of those interactive pieces.
But I want it to be authentic to them I
don't want it to feel forced. I don't want it
to feel like, you know, she's trying to lead us
to this narrative.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Team building exercises can feel very corny unless it works.
Then if it does work, you do get buy in
in a way that's very different from top down leadership,
since everybody kind of co leading. As far as this
season goes kind of a slow start, you're still looking
for your first time. What have you seen from your
team in the first couple games.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, Look, I think the thing I've been the most
proud about is we've walked away from each match so far,
four matches in. Obviously one point we're fully aware of,
but we've walked away from each game with a little
bit of a learning and I feel like what we've
addressed throughout that week and what we've put into place
that following match has been very exciting. We can have
two choices at this point, the opportunity to focus on

(17:02):
one point and what the past is the past, or
we can choose to see what we could and should
have in the future. And I think I'd feel in
a much different position if I didn't feel like the
learnings and the things we discussed have not gotten better
through those four matches, but I feel very confident in
the space that we have improved. We've talked about things,
and I think essentially we're building our toolbox at this

(17:23):
point that when we do become challenged in multiple different
ways and do have the pressure through mid season towards
the tail end of season, that we feel prepared, and
I think that's the most important thing. I also think
it's really important to understand that nobody's journey is the
same and nobody's journey is different. You saw Gotham do
it last year where they sat on the table and
went to one win the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
You're at the international break through April twenty fourth, do
you have a specific focus you're going to have in practice.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
You know, we're in the position right now with two
players out of the environment. I'm so excited for those
two players to be in their respective national team environments.
But yeah, feel like we have a good core group,
an opportunity to potentially get some injuries back during this
time frame, and opportunity, you know, to get a game
in next week. Push a little bit here, give some break,
some time for reflection, some time to just remove yourself

(18:10):
from the game. You know, that's what we live, breathe,
and go buy every single day. So a chance to
remove ourselves, get some good family friends time and is
going to be really important for us. But ramping back up,
pushing and doing everything we can during this break, having
the majority of our group together.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, you've got a couple of players who leave, and
I mean, particularly if you're going to play under Ema Hayes,
there's probably a lot of belief that they're going to
learn some great things and they're going to be led
very well. But you still have to think about what
are they being taught or expected to do that might
be different from what they're being told here. How do
you balance that and how do you make sure the
players understand and have enough communication between their national team

(18:46):
and you to know what they bring back to you
will make them better within racing as opposed to feeling
conflicted about messages they've gotten about their role or what
they should work on.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Absolutely, and I think you know, look, I have the
utmost respect for Ema Hayes. I think what she's done
is is incredible. I think who she is is an
amazing person. I've known her for a long time now
back when she was with Chicago Red Stars at that time, right,
and what she's been able to do at Chelsea and
now proving what she can do at the national team level.
I have so much respect for her, especially as a
female in this industry. They are incredibly communicative about what

(19:19):
they're doing, what they're talking about, their communication to the players.
So for me, it's been no problem that all the
communications been there and we feel very confident in all
of those spaces.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
You know, you were on the pitch not long ago.
You were just playing right up until twenty twenty when
you were retired. You went right to coaching. Twenty twenty
one assistant with Got Them, then you were an assistant
with Racing before becoming the head coach in twenty twenty four.
What are some of the most meaningful ways that your
time playing in this league influenced how you now coach
in this league.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah. The fun underlying fact to all of that is
I actually played and coached at the same time, because
back when I played, it was only a six to
seven month season and we were only paid during that timeframe,
so forced to find something on the side. There was
conversation about me being a Barista at one point kind
of gave that up, which I'm glad I did, but

(20:07):
came into this kind of private lesson. Really enjoyed the
small details to the game, really enjoy the small detail
to positional profiles. So I thought, Wow, this is something
I'd like to explore. So way back when I was playing,
I was coaching full time. I mean, I'm running three
to four sessions after every training day in the off season.
The only way I could stay in Seattle was to
run my business full time and be paid during that

(20:28):
time because I had to then pay for a gym membership.
Much different world, even though you're saying twenty twenty and
six years ago, it was a much different world. I
left the game maybe making twenty eight thousand dollars a
year even back then. So I feel like I knew
the calling. When the calling would come, I was not
aware of but I knew at that point everything that

(20:49):
I was teaching these sixteen year old girls, these fifteen
year old boys. I was still wanting from my game,
right something as simple as scanning, checking to receive which
foot you're playing. So I really enjoyed that aspect of
I felt like I was growing and becoming a better
player through coaching these young individuals, analyzing the game, running
tactical analysis within the business, et cetera. That the calling

(21:09):
came when I was ready to start a family and
had to pick at that point because there was no
other option, so chose to start a family and knew
at that point I'm putting the boots up. And this
has been a passion of mine for so long, So
very grateful to say that I was very passionate about
what I did and retired from the game and get
to do a very similar passion in a different capacity.

(21:30):
But it's always been in me. I've always enjoyed the connections,
not only with people because it is a people industry,
but also the yeah, the deep dive into the game,
all the games intricacies, not only from an individual standpoint,
but how to get a group to want to play
together and execute those beliefs in a style that we
know that they're capable of. So it's definitely always been

(21:53):
there for sure.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
You know, it's sort of a wild story actually about
one of the sparks for coaching for you was when
you were in Japan. So you're also to play for
Skyblue for another season, when the Women's Professional Soccer League folds.
You're just a couple of weeks out from the start
of the season, but tickets and hotel rooms have already
been bought for this preseason trip to Japan. So a
bunch of you end up going. The team says we
already have this, we can't get the money back. We

(22:14):
send you out there, and you get called into camp
for Japanese team. While you're out there, you end up
on the roster, You fly your fiance out and while
you're there, you realize that you're behind on understanding a
lot of technical stuff, a lot of the ways that
they see the game. And you said in an interview
that was sort of one of the first sparks for like, Oh,
like I kind of want to maybe get into this

(22:35):
coaching thing as I'm watching how they are coaching their
players differently.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, the players were coaching me. I couldn't speak Japanese,
the coach didn't speak English. There was one other American
player alongside me during that time, out of a roster
of maybe twenty five twenty six players, one also spoke.
One particular individual spoke English as well from her time
spent over here in the US. But I was really

(23:00):
forced for the first time to assess, like, who am I,
what am I good at? Because I didn't have a
coach to get any sort of feedback from right, but
respected the way he ran the sessions, respect the challenges
that he presented to us individually and collectively, to the
point that I'm like, wow, I feel so behind from
my technical and tactical understanding of the game. But I
was coach. After every session, we had magnets with our

(23:21):
faces on them, and after every session they would move
my magnet and say like, basically, this is what we
want from you. And I understood it through that and
then also understood it through a passing pattern. I had
to put myself three players back assess one touch there,
two touch there. Okay, now it's round two. What's going
to change? I had to step back and look at
because I couldn't ask, I couldn't explain what's changed here,

(23:41):
you know. So I really learned a lot about myself,
how to be a little bit more observational, how to
sit back and understand the expectations. But it almost gave
me a different lens in a view to the game
that I could see what was going on and then
see myself within the environment and then also understand you know,
that was the first time I was really challenged in
my career to play a different position. And I grew
up playing midfield, whether it was a six or the

(24:02):
ten more predominantly, and then was asked to play the
nine during my time there, so played a different position.
Didn't have much belief in my ability to be able
to do that. In two months in changed my mentality,
committed to the position, and ended up being the first
foreign player to ever win a Golden Boot in the league.
So I realized, d yeah, not to but I realized

(24:22):
through that experience how much those types of motivations, those
pieces essentially meant to me as a player. And now reflecting,
I try and look at that a lot in my
leadership position.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Now, yeah, I mean wanting to give that to other players,
wanting to open up the way they see the game,
kind of like open the aperture and let in a
little bit more light on all the different aspects that
you've learned yourself. You also got to go through this
US Soccer program. You were one of the first people
to benefit from this initiative that US Soccer did with
the NWSL allowing current and former players to enroll in
a C licensed coaching class, and you did that in

(24:56):
twenty eighteen. Then in twenty twenty one, another scholarship via
similar initi have, this time for a B licensed coaching class.
Did those programs sort of give the bridge that you
needed from the spark in Japan to the individual coaching
you were doing while playing and being able to pick
up as a coach right after you left the league.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah. Absolutely incredible platform that I got to be a
part of, an incredible opportunity. I think it gave me
the chance to say, like, this is something I'm passionate about,
but like, am I like good at it? Is this
something I could like actually pursue. It gave me the
environment to test kind of my communication skills, my leadership skills,
my ability to develop a session, my ability to make

(25:34):
sure that that session had a theme and outcome, What
were its learnings? How do I check for the understanding?
It gave me like a totally different perspective. And I
think when you're a player and you show up and
you see cones laid out, you're very focused on your
individual preparation for a training session, you want to walk
away of course, always feeling like, hey, I did my
best today, right, and I played well. I trained well today.

(25:56):
But you never ever process, and you could never ask
for a player to process what goes into it. I
mean we're discussing every morning we're a balls being passed
in from. Are we going to have it alternating so
they don't get stuck into receiving the ball from one
side right? Where are they coming in from? Are we
going to rotate teams? Are we going to compete for
a point in this exercise? What do we want to

(26:17):
see from them from an in possession perspective and an
out of possession? Who's going to coach? What who's going
to have touch points with certain individuals on them wanting
to face forward play forward? There is so much to
it that it's hours and hours and hours of planning
and the players show up and just see a session
and then they decide based off of that is it
a good session or not? And did I train well
or not? Right? So changing that whole perspective, but also

(26:39):
being able to sit in my position and not expect
them to understand something I never thought of. I know
they're not going to think of those things. I know
there's players that are maybe not passionate about that being
a part of their next step and their career at
some point. So I think I use a lot of
that to understand again like why I enjoyed playing, what
was it about it that I enjoyed, But also to

(26:59):
understan the players a bit more in depth. And I
think that's the most extraordinary part about it.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Probably helped while you were playing and certainly made it
easy for you to make the transition as soon as
you retired. You know, soccer's coaching license is pretty different
from other pro sports, both at domestic and international levels,
and also can be very expensive, like thousands of dollars
to get these certifications. So what exactly do they teach?
Is it more x's and o's. Is it safety and protection?

(27:25):
Like what is the majority of what you're getting from
those licenses?

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, and then I'll speak a bit more about my
recent one from the pro course, And I think the
pro course is just understanding a bit more about who
you are. Right. We have a particular individual that comes
in and teaches a bit more of like meditation, how
to sit in like a nice space, how to understand,
how to be the best version of yourself and how
to have the clear headspace to be able to you know,

(27:49):
act almost as performers as well. Right, a lot of
the athletes are seen as the performers, but the coaches
have to be in a nice head space to make
the right decisions on whether there's a sub or a
tactical change. So seeing us as formers as well also
providing us, you know, opportunities to hear from other people
in the business. You know, what have they done, where
did they feel that they got it wrong? What are

(28:09):
their learning lessons from that? And I think it was
a great opportunity to more focus on who we are,
what type of leaders we are, why we are that way.
And then the earlier courses are a bit more about
like the foundation of a session, what is your primary objective,
what is your primary focus and how are you getting
that out of the group. Within that a bit more

(28:30):
of your recognization of periodization. You can't go too hard
four days in a row. Why would you do a
light session, why would you do a medium session, Why
would you do those spaces? What types of excels details
are you looking for versus high speed running? So it's
a lot There's a lot that goes into it, and
it's based off of each level being a bit more
narrowed focus to at the end in that pro course

(28:51):
being the highest license understanding who you are now, how
do you apply.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
All of that nwslsie's a lot of coach turnover. In
the last year, eleven teams out of sixteen have had
a change in head coach. Does it feel like normal
part of pro sports culture or does the NWSL kind
of seem like an outlier to you when it comes
to just the frequency of those changes.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, I think across the board you're seeing it, aren't
you in a lot of different sports, not just football
and not you know, just a specific league. I think
you know it's it's really important. I think one of
the biggest pieces through the pro course that I learned
was they did a big chunk on interviews, the interview process,

(29:32):
how to describe who you are, what you would bring
to an environment, but also the recognition of like, throughout
the interview process, who would you be working with? Who
is this individual? What is there a role within the organization?
And I think they did a fantastic job about educating us.
Outside of my experiences currently and my experiences in the
past of you know, who are you around, what would

(29:55):
it look like, what is the expectations for you in
this role at this specific club. Everything's different, and I
think being very intentional about that is really important to understand.
And one of the big things they said in the
pro course that I'll never forget was who would you
spend your worst day with? If you can answer that
throughout your interview process, it could potentially help guide you.

(30:17):
You know, it's not going to be the end all,
be all factor, but just yeah, being very intentional about
what it looks like to be in the right place.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Who with the team would you spend your worst day with?
Meaning like art, will you have allies and resources?

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yes? Yes, yes, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
It sounds like you think that the issue of turnover
is as much about potentially the wrong hires to begin with,
Like the right questions aren't being asked on either side
to set up for success.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Well, I think it's it's always a mix, isn't it,
Because and then it's always based off asking the right questions.
What is success to you? If success is in three
months time, you know, or is success for you in
four years time? This is what you want? You want
to be a top five club, right, So I think
that there's also the understanding of all those pieces and
those questions. I have realized the importance of them. Shared expectations, Yeah,

(31:06):
shared expectations for sure.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
When you led Racing to the postseason last year, you
were the first American woman at the Helm for a
playoff team since twenty thirteen. How much pride do you
take and maybe how much pressure do you feel and
being example of female presence on the sideline of player
to coach, pipeline of something that a lot of folks
clamored for in this league, particularly after the investigations and
sort of the uprooting of a lot of old patterns.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, I know, very grateful. Didn't know any of these
facts until post all of this started coming out. I'm like, wow,
I had no idea.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
It's nice to be the first and not be aving
for it. It just happened.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I think that, you know, that's
kind of the outlook that I try to take. You know,
you want something so bad in the sense that you know,
I wanted the group to make playoffs for the first time,
not because I was at the Helm of making playoffs
for the first time as a head coach, but because
I genuinely believe the group deserved it right. And you
don't often get to say that also is what happens right.

(32:06):
It could be six years time that you say it,
but you say, for the past six years, I've been
telling myself they deserve this right, and I think that's
the most important piece to me. I'm not in this
industry for accolytes. I'm not in this industry because I
believe I'm the best at what I do. I still
think I have a ton to learn. I'm willing to learn,
I'm willing to put in the work. But I'm in
this industry because I care about these players. I care

(32:28):
about their experience, I care about their development. I care
about this coaching staff, having the right people around me
that someday hopefully have big ambitions and big goals, and
being a small percentage of what that growth looks like.
And I care a lot about this league. I've been
a part of the progressions as a player, and now
to be a part of the progressions as a coach
is something I value very heavily. So for me, it's

(32:49):
never about the pressure. And it sounds very odd because
This is a very pressured industry, but it is what
it is, it will be what it is. And you know,
I always say, you know, if I get let go tomorrow,
they'll find a new head coach in two days. Right.
I am a mother at home and I'm irreplaceable at home,
and I want to be true to who I am.
I want to lay my head down every night and

(33:11):
say I've given this the best. I'm making the best
decisions that I can and that's all I can say.
So I feel very proud in that sense, and I
alleviate the pressure because there's going to be people that
continue to come along and exceed even more expectations, and
I'm just excited to be a part of that and
watch those journeys you mentioned.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
You're just a couple of years in as a head coach.
Who's your number one call if you have some problem
you can't quite get to the root of some mentor
some longtime coach, someone from the biz that you're like,
I need to get a different perspective on this. Who
you calling?

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah, To be honest, I've got a few of them,
in the sense that I'd probably reach out to people
for different things, different mentors for different things. Someone maybe
removed from the game, not necessarily a head coach, would
give me like a totally different type of perspective potential
head coaches that obviously you know I've played for. There's

(34:03):
there's an array of individuals. And I don't mean that
in the sense of I know a million people and
I'm so grateful to have a lot of connections, but
more of, like I've tried to have genuine connections in
the sense of, if it's something specific to this area,
I know I'd go to this person. If it was
specific to this area, I'd go to this person. But
I think it's important to have that.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
And they call it your board of directors.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
You need a personal board of directors that who's going
to be the most honest, who's going to be the
most supportive, who's going to be the most critical. But
it's going to be exactly what I need to hear,
like exactly you have all of those? Do you also
see your youth though, as an advantage just a few
years older than something of your players and they know
that you were just in that position not long ago.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yes, but it's a very fine line for me. I
think One of the big things I kept telling myself
is to not put myself in a position where it's like,
when I played, I did this, like no one wants
to play for head coach. It's like, oh, I just
did this recently, so hey try this. So I'm very
intentional about not saying that just because I feel like
it would annoy me. But yeah, I mean, look, I

(35:05):
try to be a relatable type of individual in the
way that I speak. I engage the players, but not
because I know best, and I think that's really important.
I'm a very vulnerable type of leader. And look, in
twenty twenty four, I'm like I wasn't and in twenty
twenty five I was vulnerable and we ended up making history.

(35:28):
Now can I do the same thing again and expect
the same results? No, I can't. What is my evolution
now as a leader? When to be vulnerable, when to
be and when to not, when to challenge a bit more?
Maybe right, But I'm a very I'm not claiming to
know everything, And I think that was a big thing
for me. I really didn't enjoy people playing for people
that were like, do this, and it's like, but why,

(35:48):
because I didn't want to explain why right, I'm okay
that if I said, I'm in front of and explain
and go, yeah, yeah, I did say this, But we
could probably adjust a bit here and you know, meet
a little bit. You're You're probably right. There's some things
I don't budge on. They know that I'll say that.
There's things I'm not going to budge on, but there's
things that I definitely feel that collaboration is really important.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
I'm so glad that leadership's going in that direction because
it just makes sense, and that's what people want to
feel respected and a part of it, and then they
want to give you your all. And as an athlete,
that's what I always wanted from coaches as opposed to
just being told what to do. So it's great that
you're helping lead the charge. You know, I'm wondering understanding
what these players are feeling having just been in their shoes,

(36:28):
even though the league has certainly changed a lot in
just a couple of years since you retired. What's your
pitch to keeping players stateside in the NWSL.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Yeah, I think just a little bit off of that
is it's no longer the area of air of hey
get on the line, go from here to there, and
you're not going to get why. You're going to get why.
So embrace that and be okay with that. It's not
a challenge because you know, they don't think you're good
at what you do. They just want more context to understand,
and you provide more context. I'm big on over communication

(36:58):
and education. Educate them them, over communicate them to them
and they go, okay, I'm bought in. I know where
we're headed. We're going to be the most fit team
in the league, right And I think that's a big
piece of it, is embracing that versus resisting it. And
you know, I really value that in an environment and
I think, look, this is the most competitive league. In

(37:18):
my opinion, this is the most competitive league in the world.
I think on any given day you're set up against
someone that it could go either way. I think it's
quite entertaining to be watching these football matches to let
alone being a head coach of one of the teams
in the league. You just never know what to expect.
I mean, you saw our last match. Four pks in
one game. You really don't know. And I think it's

(37:41):
because of that. I think continuing to keep that competitive
balance is really important.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Yeah, I mean for those who aren't familiar, you know,
there's some really great teams across the pond, but then
the drop off is pretty severe. So there's a lot
of gimmis and then a handful of really competitive matches.
And the NWSL does pride itself on parody and we
are sure we're seeing that off the top this year
with a lot of surprises of where people are sitting
on the table early on. What do you make of

(38:06):
the high Impact Player rule that you know, obviously nwsl'
is using in part to keep their talent. How do
you think that impacts roster building for teams?

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Yeah, look, I think it's it's an approach right now
that the league is taken to continue to assess, obviously
with the salary cap that we have, how to keep talent,
big talent here in the US. And I'm excited to
see what it looks like this year obviously its first
year being rolled out, and what that looks like for
teams and where the spending and it's just the organization

(38:36):
behind the scenes to see where that's distributed, how it's distributed,
And yeah, I'm just really curious more than anything to
see how it goes this year.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
You mentioned getting to be a little bit more of
yourself last year and heading into this season and have
more of your own leadership style, which you mentioned was
glass half full. I thought you were going to say
you just like to drop f bombs and you wanted
to be a little bit more of that person and
a little bit less of the stereotypical leader accidental f
bombs in front of the kids. Are we doing that
at home? Or have you perfected that? Like two separate

(39:04):
languages depending on where you are thing, Because as a
radio host that used to do live radio who also
swears a lot, I really had it down like it
was never happening on the air, but it was happening
all the time off the air.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah. Look, I don't know where I've gotten this. I
do know my dad for sure. I do know I'm lying,
and yeah I can't. It's happening everywhere, and every time
I think I'm going to resist it and pay a
bit more attention to it, it's gone. So yeah, it's
at home. My husband would prefer it not to be
at home. It's at home, it's at work, it's in film,

(39:38):
it's everywhere. So yeah, sorry about that.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
I believe in a well placed f bomb. Sometimes it's
the right word for the moment. So I get that
it just.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Excites everything, doesn't it. It's almost like a period at
the end of the sentence or an exclamation where you
could use it however you want.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Yeah, no, they do actually say that there's a part
of your brain that fires up in moments of using
swears it because it feels and so it does impact
people differently than any other word. And of course your
viral speech from last year had a lot of them.
And then you put the earmuffs on the kid in
the huddle, which I appreciated. You mentioned your husband, You've
been married to your high school sweetheart. I mean, dating

(40:14):
sets fourteen is such a long time to enjoy someone's
company or get super annoyed with them. So what's your secret?
What's your secret to meeting someone at fourteen and loving
them at thirty seven?

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yes, well, this year we will have been married for
fourteen years. We will have been together for twenty four
We dated for about ten years before we got married
back in twenty twelve, before leaving to Japan. But yeah, there, look,
we were a big fan of each other's dreams. He
wanted to play professional soccer. I did too. That was

(40:48):
where we first hit it off, in like six period
pe playing soccer, playing soccer every day of the week
with our friends, two shoes as goals on the end
on the grass, and then stream lights came on it
was time to go home right back in that type
of setting, and it was always like, you go to
the college you feels best for you. I'm going to
go to the college I feels best for me, and

(41:09):
if things continue to work, it was meant to be.
And we always believed in that, and I think ultimately
we were best friends and I think that's lost a
little bit in today's world. Is we're best friends. First,
we have an amazing relationship. We laugh all the time together.
He's literally my best friend. And I also am very
much so in love with him. So the foundation of
our relationship has always been very strong. And to see

(41:30):
him as a dad, my gosh to two girls, I mean,
he is a girl dad. He is the best dad
in the world. To watch him interact on how much
those girls love him. Look, I'm just so grateful he
gave up his pursuit of the playing professionally back in
about twenty ten or so and joined my journey and
has been my support system since then. So I wouldn't

(41:52):
be here without him. I wouldn't be who I am
without him. So to continue to say that and to
be able to, yeah, just enjoy our for the rest
of our lives. I'm so excited and every year it
just it's exciting for me. It doesn't ever feel old.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
You know.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
You've also opened up about some of the struggles you
and your husband have had suffering miscarriages last summer and
the summer before. Were you surprised by how much that
vulnerability and honesty publicly kind of became a connection point,
gave an opportunity for people to offer you love and
support too.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
One hundred percent so taken back, well, first it was
like do you want to say something? Do you not?
And I'm like, no, I want people to know. I
want people to know that, like, you know, I'm struggling,
I feel so alone, I feel so hurt. I was
so shocked, like couldn't believe it. You know, we cried
for days. And then after of course the second one,

(42:45):
You're like, no way, I thought, Okay, you know, maybe
you know, it wasn't meant to be last time, and
now two times, it's so I'm so distraught, I'm so confused,
I'm so alone. And I think through sharing it, I realized, Wow,
this has happened to so many people, and in a
time that felt so dark for me, has been so
dark for so many people, and we're just not supposed
to talk about it. I don't think it's a thing

(43:06):
to speak about it. And I realized that, you know,
people would stop me, men, women would stop me and say,
you know, we lost two before we had our third.
We never we've never had kids, unfortunately, And I just realized, like,
it's a chance for us to have some commonality. And
in today's world, where you know, we're searching for what

(43:27):
our differences are versus what we have in common, I
was so touched. I was so touched that we could
be there for one another, support each other, and not
ever meet before and share each other's pain. And I think,
you know, it was very shocking to me to see
how many people have gone through that, and I'm thinking
of all of those families that have experienced that, because

(43:48):
it is it's it's one of the worst feelings in
the world of thinking about what could be that wasn't.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
So yeah, well, it's very brave of you to talk
about and obviously you helped a lot of people doing that,
and that's a message across a million different things. Right,
there's so many other people going through what you're going
through and reaching out and talking about instead of holding
it and is probably going to serve you much better.
Before I let you go, You're about three years and
in Louisville. So I'm going to do a Louisville speed
round for you.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Oh is this like about the city? Like what I
know about the city.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
It's not a quiz so much. There's only one that's
a quiz. The rest is just opinions.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
I barely learned my freeways.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Okay, Well, because we had two of your players on
last year and they did not know what a Louisville
staple was. So we're gonna I'll just start there. Do
you know what a hot brown is? I I saw
it with you down there.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
I saw it on the menu and I totally forgot
what it was. I just saw it at Lulu Target.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
I don't want you guys to have when it sounds gross,
it's just it's every time I've been to Louisville, I
get assured that it's very important to the culture there,
and yet nobody from Louisville eats them or knows what
they are. It's some sort of weird sandwich involving meat
and maybe calling it a hot brown was the first
problem that could be part of it. Okay, do you
have a favorite whisk you?

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yes? I love old fashions. Now. Never knew. We have
like a little bar at home. My husband makes the
drinks at home.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Probably, Oh gosh, I like, was it called Basil Hayden.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, Okay, that's probably my favorite right now.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
I think all whiskey tastes like fire, But if I
had to choose one fire, it would be angels envy.
That tastes the least like fire to me.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
There you go. You need a cherry, the cherry in there,
and you need the you need the old fashion, you
need the big ice cube, the sliver of orange slice.
I mean, I'm telling you, Once you drink them and
you get your simple syrup in there and you have
a drink, You're like, I understand why people drink these. Now,
Before I didn't understand.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
I'm still at like the dakery face. I'll eventually become
a grown, grown adult, a grown man and drink for you.
Do you own a fascinator?

Speaker 2 (45:51):
No? Come on?

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Have you been to six' Ten? Magnolia? No gosh, it,
coach what are you doing thinking about football?

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Day getting on the freeway doing from my home in
the training?

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Facility, WELL i just sent one of your newest players
who just made the transfer To racing to six' ten
magnolia with my Friend Chef Edley. Rachel hill she had
a great. Meal there he welcomed her to. The city
so if you need a hook up at, SOME point
i have a nice anniversary meal with, your husband experience

(46:26):
some culture in your. Own city, DONE deal i will.
Do it i'm. Doing it thanks so much for. The
time it was so great talking.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
To you, Of course thank you guys for having me.
Take care.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
Thanks AGAIN to bev for taking. The time we love
hearing that. Coach perspective by, the way don't forget you
can now watch full length good game interviews On The
iheartwomen's sports. YouTube channel so if you want to see,
the bright shining faces of Me, and bev you're. In
luck we got to take another break when we come
back the long awaited second Installment Of diva's Up. The
Court Welcome back slices got to give a shout out

(47:08):
To Super Slice, amanda, vallo who after learning about THE
old Wnba soundtrack divas Of The court volume one in
our Chat With emma Bachelori And, jordan robinson decided to
make Her own divas Of The court. Volume two you
can check out the playlist via the link in our,
Show notes amanda says she used the five d's to
decide what songs made. The Cut danceability decibel's aka. Power

(47:31):
dissertation is there someone being dist or called out in the?
Song drama does the artist display highly dysregulated intense emotion
and her? Words dykeness if it's a song sung by
about or to another dike you're in go check. It
out we always love to hear. From you to hit
us up, on email good Game at wondermedia neetwork, dot

(47:51):
com or leave us a voicemail at eight seven TWO
two o four, fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe
a rate. And review it's. Easy watch remembering there's AN
actual wnba season happening after ALL this cba free agency
draft sprint is through rating thirty out of thirty seasons to,
Celebrate review i've been so in, the weeds learning the

(48:14):
details of THE new cba and tracking the destinations of
free agents and watching all the college stars move up
and down the. Mock drafts i've basically forgotten to get
excited about the point of, all THIS the, wnba season
and not just, any season the thirtieth season FOR. The, wnba,
now thankfully the, Legend Herself, cheryl swoops got me back,

(48:34):
on track specifically a new Ad featuring swoops baby goats
and highlights of some of the league's top, players, shooting,
shimmying screaming. And, celebrating now if you haven't seen, it
yet just try to watch and not get hyped for
what's likely to be, the, biggest baddest, most competitive, most
hyped most covered and, debated season yet also trying it

(48:54):
to say ah because, you know. Baby. Goats oh also
THAT new nba thirty logo and all the anniversary celebrations
and activations and merchant content. BEING teased i. Cannot wait
we'll link To the swoop sad and the anniversary press
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slices now it's, your turn rate. And review thanks, For

(49:17):
listening see. You tomorrow, GOOD, Game Bev, Good Game Amazing.
Balloons minnesota you pro soccer schedules for not giving players
and coaches enough free time to explore. Their city we,
need someone Anyone FROM racing fc to review a. Hot
Brown good Game With sarah spain Is an iHeart women's
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(49:39):
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Kingdom of Fraud

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}F-Bombs and Old Fashioneds with Bev Yanez