August 29, 2025 • 53 mins
🥎🎙 Championship Lessons from Brandon Elliott
Brandon Elliott has built Virginia Wesleyan into one of the most dominant softball programs in NCAA Division III history. With three national championships, a national runner-up finish in 2025, 11 ODAC titles, and nearly 700 career wins, he’s the winningest coach in program history—and a leader whose impact stretches far beyond the scoreboard.
In this episode of the Significant Coaching Podcast, Brandon shares the blueprint for sustaining excellence year after year. We talk about how he’s cultivated a culture that drives buy-in without shortcuts, why speed and pressure have become the DNA of his program, and how he’s evolved as a leader over nearly two decades at the helm. He also reflects on the mentors who shaped his journey, the highs and lows of championship runs, and what it takes to lead a program with clarity and conviction.
Whether you coach softball or any other sport, this conversation is packed with lessons on culture, consistency, and championship leadership.
For more info, visit CoachMattRogers.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
And I've taken my pride out ofit enough to be able to admit it
and to be able to tell our womenlike, Hey, listen, if I'm in the
bullpen and I'm instructing whatyou're doing from a mechanic's
perspective, we're gonna be in alot of trouble.
And so what I'm gonna do is goout and recruit the best arms
that I can.
And I think I'm very talented inidentifying that in recruiting
(00:21):
and getting those women here.
And we've consistently done it.
Then I'm gonna turn that over tounbelievable pitching
instructors, and then I'm goingto trust them and I'm gonna give
them the tools and the trust andthe time Welcome back to the
(00:43):
Significant Coaching Podcast.
I'm your host Matt Rogers, andtoday's guest has built one of
the most remarkable programs inall of college softball.
You just heard a clip fromBrandon Elliot, the head coach
at Virginia Wesleyan University,where he's become the winningest
coach in program history In 18seasons, he's guided the Marlins
to three national championships,11 conference titles, and most
(01:07):
recently.
Back-to-back trips to the NCAADivision three World Series,
including a national runner upfinish in 2025.
His teams have set recordsproduced All Americans and year
after year remain among the verybest in the country.
But what makes Brandon's storyso compelling isn't just the
wins and the banners, it's howhe sustained a culture of
(01:29):
excellence without shortcuts.
His approach to leadership,player development, and culture
building offers lessons forevery coach at any level.
In this conversation, we diveinto the building blocks of
long-term success.
The role of speed and pressurein his team's identity and how
he's evolved as a leader overnearly two decades.
(01:51):
At the helm, you'll also hearabout the mentors who shaped
him, the highs and lows thatdefined his journey.
And what it really takes to leada program with consistency and
conviction.
And before we get started, aquick reminder, if you're
looking for tools to helpfamilies and athletes navigate
the recruiting process, checkout my books on Amazon,
(02:12):
including.
The Softball Recruits Journaland my newest addition to the
series, the Volleyball RecruitsJournal, both are available
today.
This isn't just about softball.
In this conversation, it's aboutleadership that lasts.
All right, let's get into it.
Here's my conversation withCoach Brandon Elliot.
(02:33):
Coach Elliot, so great to haveyou on the show.
Welcome to Significant Coaching.
What a blast.
I appreciate it and blessing tobe here and first day of
classes, so there's a lot ofexcitement going on around here
as well.
There's nothing better than thatfirst day, that first week of
school is there.
It doesn't matter how longyou're doing it, when the kids
come back, there's something tothe energy that, that it gives
them the confidence and the joyit brings.
(02:54):
No doubt.
My wife's a teacher, so I'm notsure she'll say the same thing,
'cause summer's over for her.
But certainly here, it justbrings that buzz.
It's just such a quiet campus,as you go through the summer.
So to get your women from me, toget our women back here on
campus, popping in and outta theoffice just brings a lot more
joy around here.
Coach my first head coaching jobwas at Maryville University in
St.
Louis.
We were division three at thetime, and I was there for nine
(03:17):
years.
I had five presidents and I hadsix different supervisors, if
you can imagine.
Oh man, that doesn't sound likefun.
It was like I had a differentphilosophy and direction every
six weeks it felt like.
You've been at Virginia Wesleyan16 years?
17.
This will be my 19th season as ahead coach, but 26th year.
(03:39):
I just, a lot of people juststay in college for 26 years,
yeah.
And that's me.
I wanna know about why you'vestayed.
What's that culture like oncampus that has kept you there
for that long and kept you soexcited?
We had a conversation beforethis.
(03:59):
I couldn't tell if this was year26 or year one for you.
You're just so excited for thekids to come back.
No question.
I start out at the first thing Isay, everything that's great in
my life started here on thiscampus.
And I say that in truesignificance.
So certainly, we can look at mycareer and I worked in
enrollment for a few years.
I was a volunteer with baseballfor a few years.
I helped run our student centerhere, the JP Batten Student
(04:20):
Center for eight years.
I've been the Title IXcoordinator and dug into some of
that, and certainly a now slidinto some administration and
athletics.
But everything great in my lifeand from my education to my
career to my best friends, I metmy wife here, which certainly is
is probably the greatest thingthat's ever happened in my life.
I met my wife here.
My father-in-law is an alum.
(04:41):
And you know what a lot ofpeople don't know is actually I
have two children, my son Cooperwho's 13, and then my daughter
Ryland, who's four and Rylandhad to be carried by a
surrogate.
And our surrogate and herhusband are both alums of the
university.
So when I say everything that'sgreat in my life.
Has a connection to this place.
I genuinely mean it.
(05:01):
And I think when your roots areso deep and so many of the highs
and lows are at one place, it'sjust it makes sense.
It's home for me.
That's great.
And it warms my heart to hearthat because when coaches get
that opportunity and they getthat environment around them,
it's amazing what a good coachcan do.
When they've got that supportand that feeling and look at
(05:23):
what you've done.
It's just outta this world.
How big of a great, of a programyou've built.
Let's go back to 2007.
What was your vision back then?
What were you thinking aboutthat you wanted to build?
Did you envision three nationalchampionships?
Absolutely not.
I think if you'd have gone backto that arrogant kid, I was 25,
26 years old.
(05:44):
I thought I had it all figuredout.
I wish I could go back andstrangle that guy.
And there's probably a lot ofothers that felt the same,
including some of the players.
But, I was a volunteer assistantwith a baseball program.
The ultimate goal was to be ahigh school baseball coach.
And a lot of people have heardthat story.
And I think God just had otherplans for me.
And at that time.
Our softball program or thecoach had taken, it all had
resigned and about eight gamesleft in that season.
(06:06):
And I say my OGs, the women thatwere in that program he brought
me over and they didn't evenknow in the middle of getting
ready to start a practice andbasically was like, Hey this is
gonna be your new your interncoach for the next eight games.
I remember that crew.
I remember Christie Whitesaying, have you ever coached
women before?
I was like, no, I have not.
You ever been a head coachbefore?
No, I have not.
Everything I said was No.
(06:27):
And they still gave me anopportunity, but started there
and really the goal there, whenthe university came back, was
like, Hey, what's your, what doyou think we should do with this
program?
You took it over two to threeweeks.
They paid me 15 bucks an hour,man, I was loaded$15 an hour.
Is what I was making at thattime, which might be more than
what I make now per hour.
Honestly, it may be, they may bemore real than we know.
(06:49):
But I remember, our athleticdirector, Sonny Travis, just
grabbing me and saying, allright, what do you think this
program needs?
And I said, one, you need tomake it a full-time position.
And I said, then two, I thinkyou need to hire a female.
And these women are dying forthat leadership in this role.
He said how about we hire youand we make it part-time?
And I was like, sounds like afantastic idea.
(07:10):
Let's do it.
I took it for 77.
My, my original contract's uphere and$7,726 and 61 cents was
my initial contract.
And I remember sitting andpraying about it with my wife
that we didn't want to take it.
But going back to your question.
I have a leadership co coach,his name's Bob Groves.
I talk about him all the time.
And his real big thing was whatare your BHAGs, what are your
(07:31):
big, hairy, audacious goals?
And the 25, 20 6-year-old me waslike, we're gonna win a national
championship.
I, and it's gonna be reallyeasy.
We're gonna do that in the next30 seconds.
And it took a really long timeand it's really hard.
But I think that was theultimate, crazy goal.
And as we started to get alittle bit closer to that.
Potentially being a reality,then it was just full head of
(07:54):
steam and we're here.
And we can do that.
And I remember when we won thatin 2017, it was like, holy
smokes.
Like we did that.
And then somebody saying nowthat you've done that what's the
next thing?
And I just rattled off I want anew facility and I want a
full-time assistant coach and wewanna win this again, and we
wanna have, more women have morejoy and do those things.
I just think that we juststarted speaking it out loud and
(08:15):
when you have a group of womenand coaches in, in a room.
When we talk about our goals,that is what we talk about,
which goes against every facetof leadership, right?
We talk about we wanna beperfect in everything we do.
We talk about, we don't wannamess up in everything we do.
We talk about we wanna win thenational championship.
We don't talk about the journey,which again, goes against
everything that people say, butI'm just a guy that says, we're
(08:37):
gonna talk about what we want toaccomplish as wild and as crazy
as it is, and we're gonna put itout there.
Then we're gonna do everythingevery day that adds up to that.
And if we fall short of thatgoal, that's okay, because it
still was significant, but wedid everything that we could and
just having a room of believersis huge for us.
(08:58):
It's such a Ted lasso story andit.
I guess so.
I'm just not as witty or as goodlooking, that's debatable.
Come on now.
Face for face for radio forsure.
We haven't seen you dance yetthat's really the key to it all.
Yeah.
Amen.
And just so you know, my first,you got me by$26.
My first contract was 7,000.
I negotiated up from six.
(09:19):
There we go.
That was my first year as a headcollege coach.
It's easy to talk about thenational championships.
It's easy to talk about the 671wins.
I remember our first year atMaryville when we went to the
national tournament for thefirst time.
We started one in 11 that year.
We were just, we couldn't get abreak.
We lost so many games by acouple, and I was like
(09:41):
basketball coach.
And we came back from Christmas.
We beat the number four team inthe country and won 12 in a row,
won our conference, went to thenational tournament, but.
Up to that point.
That was year two and a half forme.
I thought for sure I was gonnaget fired.
I just thought they're gonnafire me.
(10:02):
At what point did you know I hadto get through the fire to get
to where I could be confident Icould be who I wanted to be.
What did that look like back inthose days?
I think early on it was, therewas so much opportunity for
growth, right?
Academically, athletically,roster wise.
(10:25):
And it was a grind through thosedays.
I would work, I was veryfortunate.
Land Work's Unlimited.
I was owned by Jeff Miller,said, Hey, I'll hire you, you
make your own schedule.
But I worked for landscapingCompany from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM
and I drive an hour back and runpractice.
I honestly think those first fewyears, it was just autopilot.
It was like, what can we do?
Let's get into practice, makethem better.
(10:46):
Let's make them feel better.
Let's do this.
Let's try to fundraise money.
Let's get the alum involved.
Let's win some games on the roadand you have this false sense of
confidence.
That you know what you're doingand you are gonna be the best at
it.
And then you really get into thecrux of it.
And you go from a bad softballteam to a mediocre softball team
and program, and you startcompeting with people that you
(11:08):
didn't think.
Then you think you're on top ofthe world and then you get
smacked.
Yeah, and you get smacked.
Not only, and I'm not justtalking about wins and losses
and losing games and those hurtand you're like, I'm so far from
the goal and where I want to benow.
And like it just knocked me downa couple levels.
If it humbles you, but I'mtalking about the losses as far
as sometimes you get so in thethick of competing one of my,
(11:30):
one of my best friends in thegame and one of my greatest
mentors is Don Simmons at theUniversity of Lynchburg.
And I will tell you the firstcouple years we, it wasn't that
way because they were the who wewanted to be.
They were in the World Seriesand they were winning the odac
and Dawn was.
Queen of queens and she stillis.
And I was this young whippersnapper that was like the
threatening guy coming in.
And I think early on, lookingback at it, there was just some
(11:52):
arrogance about me that, and Ithink it was the competitive
fire in there that it wasn'trelationally right.
And I just remember her one timesitting there eating a bag of
chips and she's if you didn'targue every call, you might win
one.
And I remember in that momentbeing so angry that she said
that, but then be able to stepback and be like.
I think she's right.
I think she's right.
(12:12):
And it took a couple things inmy personal life and even in
hers that for us to make areally deep connection and once
we did that, yeah, we still havea big rivalry, but it's a
respectful rivalry and momentslike that allowed me to grow.
Maybe not X's and O's, but as ahuman being and as a leader in
that, yeah, I can wanna beatyour brakes off when you're on
(12:33):
the other side of the field, butI also still care about you as a
human.
And when we start caring aboutpeople as human beings, like our
success rate goes around andthen those people root for you
when they're not playing you orplaying against you.
And I think those were probablythe most significant moments,
and there's some others inthere, but Dawn comes right to
mine because I just have atremendous amount of respect for
(12:54):
her as a coach, but also for heras a human being and as a
friend.
And those were the moments Ithink were probably the.
Where you hit rock bottom,you're like, man, I'm not as
good as I, I think I am.
Maybe I'm good at XOs and maybeI'm good in the cage, but am I
as good as a human as I think?
And ultimately, if I'm gonna getwhere I want to be as far as
influencing people and makingpeople better humans and better
(13:16):
softball players, then I'vegotta make some changes in what
I'm doing.
And I think those are more ofthe humbling moments than the
losses on the field, to behonest with you.
Or whether it's an a, a currentplayer that you're having real
conversation with.
I remember Tori Hiba and was oneof the best players ever played
for me here.
And having a deep conversationwith her.
She's I love being pushed.
(13:36):
I love how hard you're on me.
I love that you grind our gears.
She's but sometimes that teeterson the side of intimidation
versus motivation.
And that was a punch in the gutbecause I, and you know that as
a coach and as a leader even asa parent.
Yeah.
When someone's intimidated byyou, they say that somebody you
care about says that.
Oh man, that's that's a toughpill to swallow because I, I
(13:59):
don't wanna lead by position, Iwanna lead by permission.
I want to have permission, aleadership in their lives.
And when you're intimidating butfor one of your best players to
say that Hey, I love you and Icare about you, and I know what
you do for us and the thingsthat you do.
There's times like, I, I needyou on this side of the marker.
(14:20):
I think those are the things Ican check back into my career
that were probably the biggestmoments of growth where you had
to step back and evaluate alittle bit.
It's amazing what, whether it'sone of your kids or one of your
players, when they have thathonest moment with you, how much
you realize you need it.
(14:42):
Yeah.
I was one of those coaches too.
I was constantly barking andpushing and wanted them to reach
their potential.
And when I had kids that weren'tafraid to turn around and poke
the bear a little bit, I, I knewI was onto something because
that fear, they knew that theycould test it a little bit and
get to the humanity of who Iwas.
(15:03):
I love hearing that lead bypermission.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna hang on tothat one for a long time.
When did you know that you wereonto something special?
I think once we made a run, likegoing back and I believe it was
2013 when we got here, the hadnever won an NCA tournament
game.
And so getting to the NAtournament was a big deal and we
(15:25):
went and we got smoked 2011 andwe got smoked and we came back
2012 and we didn't make the NNCAA tournament.
And I thought that we shouldhave.
And then finally in 2013, wedid, we went up to New Jersey
and we made a run and we lost inthe, and that was at the times
where it was the eight teamregional, and we lost in the
finals to get to the nationalChampionship series.
And that was when it was finallywe could sit around and see
(15:49):
those teams, the teams that wesaw in the top 25 that weren't
in our region, that we didn'tsee every day that were
competing to win nationalchampionships.
And we were on the same fieldwith them and we could see'em
and see'em play.
The respect for those teams washuge, right?
Like we could say, Hey, a res,lot of respect for them.
Oh, you left the ballpark.
Saying we're there and like wecan compete with them and trying
(16:09):
to do things to put our teams inpositions where they can see
those teams.
Maybe not play'em or beat'em,but if we can see those teams
and then they can really startsaying, Hey, that's just not.
Texas, Tyler at the time orChristopher Newport or Salisbury
or Trine University or TLU andWade, let's go in Linfield.
I remember the first timewatching Linfield play being
(16:29):
like, holy cow.
But our kids were like, Hey,they're great.
We feel like we're great becausenow we can compare there.
And that was that first, that 13we finally saw outside of the
teams we see every day in ourregion, we saw teams outside of
our region that were in the topfive 10 in the country.
And it was like, Hey, we belongin that conversation.
Yeah.
And then once we got in thatconversation, it was like, let's
(16:51):
start chipping away at thisthing.
And then when winning became anexpectation because of that team
in 13, it became an expectationevery year to not only get to
the NCA tournament, but to makea run in the NCA tournament.
Then it started chipping away tosay Hey we've got a chance here
to make a big run and make somenoise and maybe really do this
(17:11):
thing.
How much of that evolution waslearning the type of player you
needed on your roster versus howyou were coaching and your
philosophies and youraggressiveness?
What was the combination of thattoo?
To get you over that hump?
To get you to that level youwanted to be?
I think those first years withanybody, you try, you think you
(17:33):
know what your philosophy oryour type of kid is, right?
And then as you get into it alittle bit more, you find
yourself recruiting a certaintype of human and a certain time
of athlete.
And then it gets into like, allright I always tell our women
it's like a video game.
Like I, it's already loaded inthe system.
I just got to press the rightbuttons.
And pressing the right buttonsand getting those kids to go.
But if you don't have the teamloaded in the game, you're in
(17:54):
trouble.
So the recruiting piece washuge.
And the philosophy there waswe're always gonna try to
recruit women better than thewomen that we have.
And certainly that doesn'talways happen.
But the goal is to come in.
If I could bring nine freshmenevery year that are starting
every year, that means we justgot better.
And then my nine starter tobecome role players.
Certainly, talent becomes a partof that and experience becomes a
(18:16):
part of that and, a couplefreshmen trickle in and don't.
Every time you're challengingthe middle of your core, of your
team to make that third, fourth,fifth player, your sixth,
seventh best player and you'regetting better.
You're bringing in better kids,then that elevates the entire
roster and team.
And I think that started to be apart of it.
And Iron shoppers iron.
And what we were trying to usein the recruiting piece was
(18:38):
early on, I remember BrittanyBrown was the first electric arm
that we had recruited and had,and she transferred in.
So I would intentionally try tobring big type of pitchers in
and let them see us practice sothey could watch this kid
throwing in 60, 62 to be like,wow, she's really almost
intimidated.
Oh, she's way better than Ithought.
So then that started being like,oh, I wanna go play with
(18:58):
somebody like that.
Yeah.
And so trying to put them aroundthe better players to say I
wanna pair you up with here.
Here's our vision with this.
And then that just startedgrowing and it organically
turned from, as we got better onthe field.
We also got better in theclassroom.
And it just really startedelevating that.
And if I think anything to acoach, I just always recruit
humans above your head andalways recruit players above
(19:21):
your head.
And the worst thing that's gonnahappen is they're gonna say no.
We just go after kids that wethink are better than what we
really need or want here, and wetell'em that you're better than
what we think.
And then they get here andthey're like, I'm valued.
And as those things startedadding up, then it started to
click and we started gettingbetter.
And then you're starting torecruit off of your history.
(19:42):
Yeah.
And the biggest predictor of thefuture is to look at the past.
Yep.
And so if I can look at the pastand say, Hey, in the last 15
years you've had two winningseasons.
As a head coach, I'm predictingyou're probably not gonna have
winning season.
But if I can look in the pastand say, Hey, over the last 10,
12, 15 years, they continue towin, then the future says
they're going to continue towin.
(20:03):
And you've gotta use that inyour recruiting to bring those
people in.
If I went to a practice back in2013 and one-to-one today, would
the, what kind of differenceswould I see?
I think you're gonna see moreefficiency within the practice.
Our current players might notfeel that way.
One of the things I think firstand thirds and bunk coverages,
(20:24):
right?
I would run those and if theydidn't go well, which any coach
knows first and thirds bunkcoverages, cuts and relays,
they're always terrible.
And it doesn't matter what levelyou're on, it's always terrible.
It's team defense.
It's always goes terrible.
But I remember early, early, wewould just keep going and keep
going.
It never got better.
But if it was scheduled for 20minutes and it took us an hour,
then we went an hour.
We're now, if we have itscheduled for 20 minutes and it
(20:44):
stinks, then at 20 minutes we'redone with it, and then we're
gonna revisit that tomorrow andwe might add 30 minutes in, but
we're gonna try to come back.
And so I wouldn't say all ofthat because I get a creature of
habit and sometimes get stuck inmy ways.
But I think the efficiency onthat piece is gonna be better.
Technology is gonna be a littlebit better.
I was an anti machine guy backin the day.
And we use pitching machinesquite often.
(21:05):
For preparation work for ourhitters.
And then, just from a coachingpiece, we have a much bigger
staff than we had there.
I think in 2007 it was just meand Rick Straube.
And then, we added a numberpeople on staff and be even able
to be surrounded by a greatstaff that I figured out that I
don't have to have my hand inevery bucket at every practice
in every moment.
And so that made practice longer'cause Coach Elliot was gonna
(21:27):
run hitting, coach Elliot wasgonna run infield, coach Elliot
was gonna run outfield.
He was gonna work with thecatchers, and then it got in
forever instead of Hey, I mightonly be in the cage today.
The trust factor of the men andwomen on our staff to do their
job in, in tech you, that has,has made everything more
efficient and it's just made usbetter.
There's different voices andwe're just really blessed with
some very talented coaches.
(21:48):
Yeah.
If I could give a gift of adviceto every athletic director in
the country, it would be thatlet give the coach the resources
to bring in a staff.
Amen.
Say that louder.
The more.
The more people that have a loveof teaching and have some
competency to teach it,everybody gets better so much
faster.
No doubt.
(22:08):
That's why I push kids toVirginia Wesleyan instead of the
big public schools because.
Whenever you can be in aclassroom with 13, 14, 15 other
kids and you have a professorthat knows your name and know
you're there, you're just gonnalearn at such a higher level.
You're gonna have such arelationship with that
professor.
You're gonna feel more confidentgoing to talk to them.
So the more hands in thekitchen, the better.
(22:29):
I love it.
Aim into that.
Your teams are known for theirgrit and their consistency.
How do you define your teamculture?
I think it's really hard todefine.
There's a lot of intentionalityin that, just from our first
team meeting last night, thefirst, we didn't walk right in
and read off of a script ofhere's our schedule.
Right from me walking in theroom saying I'm fired up.
(22:51):
And then we went right into someculture and some team building
immediately whether you wannasay culture or team building or
team bonding, whatever it is.
It's the intentionality behind,behind the culture.
And I think what we, to behonest with you, man, I think
what, where we get stuck is wedefine or we look at culture
within organizations andprograms of the past, right?
And I'll use my good friend,coach Murphy at Alabama.
(23:13):
Look at Alabama, and you'relike, it's great culture there.
Murph's got a great culture andhe does, but he intentionally
works on that culture every day.
Every year.
Why?
Because the ingredients in thatculture change every year.
I would say it's hard to say youhad the best culture year you've
ever had.
And I feel like I've said thatover the last three or four
years in a row.
'cause it continues just to keepgetting better.
(23:35):
But last year was unbelievablefrom our parents to to our kids,
to our staff, and just the waythat everybody operated and
cared for each other.
And, we didn't have thatexternal drama like I've spoken
of before.
And I told our women last night,I can't ask for a better
culture.
But I'm asking for a differentculture because we're adding
seven women into our programthis year that weren't here last
year and we graduated at eight.
(23:56):
That won't be here.
And the thing is you know, wemight have taken the, some
ingredients that might bechanging, right?
I might be adding in, brownsugar instead of, cane sugar,
right?
Yeah.
Or I might add vanilla ininstead of honey.
Yeah.
So the ingredients to what we'remaking culture wise are gonna be
different'cause humans aredifferent.
But we're still gonna try to goand bake the same cake.
(24:17):
And we still want it to tastereally good.
And this might not taste thesame, but it's still gonna be
great.
And I think when you can embracethat from a culture piece,
instead of saying, Hey, I'mcoming to Virginia Wesleyan, so
I'm immediately engrossed intothis program.
So I'm part of this greatculture.
Wait, it's not a great cultureyet.
Last year was, but we just gothere together and I've said it
(24:39):
all the time.
We come in and as coaches andeven in organizations and in
businesses, and we throw peoplein the room and we're like, Hey,
it's day one.
We're all together.
I need you to love each other.
And I'm looking, I'm like, Idon't even know that guy.
Or that kid played on my rivalhigh school.
I don't love her.
I hate her.
And and we said this to ourwomen last night that's gotta be
the piece is, and we've gottawork backwards.
(25:01):
I can't say I love you day one,because that's just, that's
false, right?
That's not real, that's notgenuine.
Is we've gotta work from, allright, if our ultimate goal is
to love each other, then let'swork backwards.
What do I gotta do to get love?
Then I, in our program, believeit's trust, right?
There's no one in my immediatelife that I genuinely love, that
I don't trust no one.
Yeah.
(25:21):
No.
Yeah.
And so I can't love you until Itrust you, right?
And so how can I trust you?
Is now I've gotta dig in andI've gotta know your story.
Like I've gotta know your story.
Like I, my trust for you haschanged because I know you're a
division three coach.
I know you've gone through theground.
I know you've doneadministration.
I know the people that have beenon your podcast that are
significant and all of that typeof stuff.
So then that starts buildingrelationships.
(25:42):
And so we kinda manufacture itmore backwards.
I can't love you until I trustyou.
I can't trust you until I knowyour story.
And then, I had a coach send mea text like, how do you continue
to develop teams that have astrong culture and relational
relationships with your kids?
And I'm like, you have to beintentional.
Yeah.
You have to be intentional.
Like there, I don't have anextra hour of my day every day.
(26:02):
I don't.
We're gonna start tomorrow.
We have Days of love and there'sa kid on my schedule tomorrow
that we have a Day of love andI'm gonna remove wherever she
wants to go.
We might go off campus and havecoffee, we might go have lunch,
we might go to Taco Bell and eatreally bad meal.
I don't know what we're gonnado, but I'm gonna carve an hour
outta my day, specificallyone-on-one with that kid.
And we're gonna talk abouteverything but softball and then
(26:22):
we're gonna start figuring eachother out.
And I think that is why ourculture has really started to
shape and find and I can'tdefine that culture.
And I can't define what it lookslike, but I know it when I see
it.
It's like, how do you defineobscenity?
I don't know, but I know it whenI see it.
Exactly.
And that's different foreverybody.
And that's probably the easiestanswer I can give you for the
(26:45):
culture here.
But it's just amazing how whenyou help lead them into
intentionality.
They take it and run with it,and everybody wants to say, oh,
the culture Brandon Elliott'screated at Virginia Wesleyan.
That's bull crap.
I haven't won a nationalchampionship here and I haven't
created the culture.
(27:05):
I've been a part of that.
And maybe I was a small vesselto help'em get to that, but
those women won those nationalchampionships.
Those women are the definitionof culture.
And I can stand in the room andI can say, here's my hashtag.
We're gonna put it on a shirt,believe it says family,
whatever.
But unless they're really boughtin on their own and can create
that on their own.
(27:26):
That's just, that's just surfacematerial.
Absolutely it is.
I wanna, I think I could dropyou on any softball field in the
planet and give you a coupleyears and you would build a
fantastic culture.
It's pretty obvious.
Coach you don't coach to wingames.
You're coaching'cause you lovethese kids and you love being
around them.
Talk about protecting thatculture.
(27:49):
From the outside world, thenoise and the student body,
especially when you win nationalchampionships, everybody expects
you to win it again.
They expect, gotta do it again.
You gotta do it again.
How do you protect that cultureas the head coach, as the leader
of that program?
When you know you're buildingsomething so great, you're doing
the things that you need to do,how do you protect it from the
(28:10):
outside world?
We're just authentic.
And one of the things I said tothem last night is I genuinely
believe that no one's gonnaoutwork you.
I don't feel like anybody's asathletic or as deep as you, I
don't think anybody cares asmuch.
The biggest thing, and thisagain, comes back from our
leadership guy, Bob Bob Grovesis he says that the thing that
teams are going to try to do isthey're gonna try to break your
(28:32):
bond.
And so how are they gonna try tobreak your bond?
And there's just ways withinthat.
And it could be outside noise,like you say, or outside
leverage there.
But just going in there and if Ihear or see or feel that like
I'm transparent, like I comeright out and say it.
We're in the middle of a change.
It was announced lastWednesdays.
The elephant in the room,everywhere I go is we're gonna
transition to Baton Universitynamed after the Baton family in
(28:54):
July 1st, 2026.
There's a ton of feelings aboutthat.
There's a ton of feelings aboutthat.
Did I come and talk about it in,in long form in our team
meeting?
I didn't.
I said, here's the deal.
I said, it's just like politicsfor me.
I'm not gonna tell you how tofeel about it.
I'm not even gonna tell you howI feel about it, because there's
probably 10 to 15 of you in thisroom that it doesn't bother and
you don't need it.
So you don't need to be in adeep conversation.
(29:16):
There's probably three or fourof you guys in this room that
feel very passionate one way orthe other about it.
We're gonna do.
If you wanna really genuinelyknow how I feel, you can come
talk to me and we'll goone-on-one.
I said, but to be honest withyou, as an alum and as an
employee, I'm still digesting itmyself.
I said, but we're not gonna,we're gonna talk about it.
It has happened and it's real,and it's coming, but we're not
gonna dig into it right herebecause at the end of the day,
(29:38):
we, and we had just talked aboutwhy are you here?
I said, no one mentioned theuniversity name of why you're in
this building.
You said, I came here because ofthe women in this program.
I came here because of theculture.
I came here'cause of the smallschool.
I came here'cause of the beach.
I came here'cause Coach LA wasthe only coach that believed in
me.
I came here'cause Coach Smithsaw me and Coach Quinn saw me
and they taught me in.
(29:58):
I came here'cause every time Icame to camp you guys surrounded
me and you loved me and caredabout me.
In essence.
I came here for the people.
I came here for the culture andI came from what's surrounded
and I just told him, I said,none of that is going to change
whether you like it or you don'tlike it.
We're not getting into that.
But my job as your head coach isto influence you and to make you
better humans and bettersoftball players.
(30:18):
And that's not gonna change.
And I said, now we're justgonna, and if you have an issue
with any of that, I, my door'swide open, let's have a
conversation about it.
But we're not gonna broach thatinto what our team's gonna do.
And we'll do that and we'll dothat with everything.
You think about since we've beenhere, we've had COVID, what a
contentious time.
I didn't stand in front of ourteam and say, this is what I
believe on vaccination statusand not.
(30:39):
I said, this is what I'm doingfor the health of my family
because I really don't have achoice here.
And here's the things that wehave to do in order to play, in
order to play and have a team.
I'm not gonna tell you how tofeel about it.
You think about every time wehave an election year.
We've got Republicans, we've gotDemocrats, we've got people
sitting in the middle.
We've got all of that.
But worst thing I can do isstand in front of my team and
say, I am a and you should voteand try and divide them.
(31:02):
Yeah.
And try a, divide them.
But B, now they're gonna judgeme based off.
My opinions and my affiliationswith something instead of what's
in my heart.
That's right.
And no different between ifthey're straight or if they're
gay, if it's L-G-B-Q-T or ifthey're a philosophy major or an
engineering major, like none ofthat.
I wanna know who you are in yourheart as a human, and that's who
(31:22):
I love and care about.
That's right.
And is more of, we'retransparent about those things
and if there is a team issue, ifthere is.
An issue going around campus orin the community or like we're
gonna bring it in and we'regonna say, Hey, this is what
we've got going on.
I'm not gonna tell you how Ibelieve or what I believe.
If it's contentious, I'm gonnatell you I'm gonna support you
and love you no matter what.
(31:43):
And we're gonna resolve theseconversations one-on-one in an
environment.
And so trying to get them to seehow much.
I think we go into that and tryto figure out how different we
are versus, how much we are thesame.
Yeah.
And I think when we can do thatwithin our team and then those
issues outside or people tryingto break in that outside, then
you can almost calm the noisedown.
(32:04):
And at the end of the day, myjob is to keep the people, oh.
Keep the people that don't likeme away from the ones that are
undecided.
And it, it's the same thingwithin our program.
If you come here and this isn'tthe place from you, I need to
keep you away from the womenthat are trying to figure it
out.
Absolutely.
And so your program is and thewomen within your program are
gonna be the filters of that iswe wanna make it so
(32:27):
uncomfortable.
If you're not a part of cultureand love and all that, we wanna
love on you so much and make itso uncomfortable for you that
you're either like, Hey man, I'mgetting in this group hug, or
I'm at it.
Yeah.
And it's a fine line, but Ithink the answer going back to
it is being transparent andhumanizing yourself as a coach,
(32:48):
being vulnerable.
Vulnerability.
Amen.
And asking the women in yourprogram to be vulnerable.
Yeah.
Be open-minded, to care aboutthe human being before you care
about anything else.
I, coach, I can't thank youenough for that messaging.
We need to multiply you andclone you because we just don't
have enough of that.
And that's why.
(33:08):
I can't get out of coaching tosave my life.
'cause I love it.
I just, I want more of it.
I want be a part of that.
I think that, and there's just alot of things I'm good at.
So this is what I wanna do.
You're fantastic at this.
I could, again, I could put youanywhere and you'd be good at,
because you're a leader, you'rea natural leader and you care
about people first.
And it's a, I've said this foryears, my biggest strength and
(33:30):
my biggest flaw is my empathy.
I care too much about how othersare, what others are going on
and I think you have to have ahuge empathy in your life to be
a coach.
No doubt.
And then going back to what yousaid there, this again goes, I
keep saying Bob'cause he saidsuch a big huge influence in my
life.
But one of the things he said tome, working.
One-on-one with me.
'cause he's the guy that can getin my junk drawer and call me
(33:51):
out.
And he just reads I saw youblink on your left eye.
You're lying.
And I'm like, I'm not lying.
Why are we crying?
I'm not crying.
But one of the things he said,and we talked about this as a
team last year, is like he said,your biggest strength.
And I think that's where you'regoing.
He's your biggest strength outof balance becomes your biggest
weakness.
Yeah.
And if yours is empathy, mine'spassion is, and I hope you can
feel that, right?
Oh yeah.
I'm passionate about everything.
(34:12):
But when that becomes out ofbalance.
That's when it deflects into, isit intimidation?
Is it anger?
Is it rage?
Or is it competitive fire?
Is this guy trying to push me?
And so we've gotta have peoplein our lives that balance that
out and say Hey man, this isyour biggest strength, but we
need it on this side.
Or your unbalanced in whatyou're doing.
I love it.
I could talk culture with youuntil the cows come home.
(34:35):
My favorite thing, but I wannatalk pitching with you.
You've produced some elitepitcher, pitchers.
You got Hannah Hall, you gotEmma Adams.
I'm sure you can go on and on.
What's your philosophy ondeveloping and managing pitchers
and pitching talent?
That's a great one.
What I'll tell you two thingsthat are, the secret here is
we've recruited amazing womenwith an amazing amount of talent
(34:57):
in the circle.
Then the second thing is we'vealways had an elite pitching
coach, and it is not the guytalking to you.
It was Rick Straube.
It was Jim and Zana.
It was Bobby Wells.
It was Mary Pilkington.
It was Bree Cooper.
It's gonna be Millie Thompsonwho just joined our staff.
And we've always had elitepitching coaches.
(35:20):
I think that, I don't know ifthey're attracted to our
program.
God has just blessed me and I'vebeen very fortunate, or I'm
really good at recruiting,pitching coaches, but I've just
always firmly believed thatpitching is, I'm a baseball guy,
right?
And I can do a lot of things.
I can learn it, and I can get inthere and I can talk about
counts and this and that and howwe're attacking hitters.
And I can do all that.
But on, when it comes to howwe're spinning it, what our
(35:42):
backside's doing.
Are we getting through on ourhips?
Are we closing, moving you?
Any of that?
That's not me.
And I've taken my pride out ofit enough to be able to admit it
and to be able to tell our womenlike, Hey, listen, if I'm in the
bullpen and I'm instructing whatyou're doing from a mechanic's
perspective, we're gonna be in alot of trouble.
And so what I'm gonna do is goout and recruit the best arms
(36:04):
that I can.
And I think I'm very talented inidentifying that in recruiting
and getting those women here.
And we've consistently done it.
Then I'm gonna turn that over tounbelievable pitching
instructors, and then I'm goingto trust them and I'm gonna give
them the tools and the trust andthe time to go out.
And we joke about it, I'm like awater boy to the pitchers.
I'm not even an assistantpitching coach.
(36:25):
I'm the guy that just bringsthem water, I'll condition them.
And that's been the key.
The key is recruiting fantasticwomen and fantastic ability.
And then putting them in aposition where they're going to
get the right instruction fromour pitching coaches.
I love it, coach.
Yeah.
Again, the staff is so valuable,and I don't believe you for one
(36:47):
second that you can't teachpitching, but I love your
humility with it, with let'stalk about speed.
Because it doesn't matter if I'mtalking to the guy that just won
the D two national championshipfor baseball or the gall or guy
that just won the D 2D threenational championship for
softball.
It's amazing how often speedcubs up when we're talking about
(37:10):
this diamond sports we all love.
Yep.
What does speed mean to you andhow do you make it a big part of
your philosophy as a coach?
It's a game changer.
And you can see, we've been inthe top, top two or three in
stolen bases, I think probablyevery year since 2013, and that
was the first year we stole ahundred bases.
(37:32):
That is a goal for us every yearis to steal a hundred bases.
The last two years, we've stolenover 200.
My buddy Wade at TLU is isknocked in that 2, 2 30 range.
So we're battling back and forthon that.
Yeah, he and I talked aboutthat.
Yeah.
But but it's a, and he agreed.
It's a game changer for us.
And and it's just all about who,how you use it, the personnel
that you have.
And yes, we've recruited a tonof speed and that's something
(37:54):
that we look at but we alsodevelop it.
But it's also, you combine speedwith aggression.
And then that's where it's at.
And so it's the wild West for usoffensively, is we want every
one of our women to be a threaton the bases.
And not only just a steel bases,but to go first to third, to go
second to home to add thosethings in because we just
believe that movement createspressure and then pressure
(38:17):
creates opportunities.
And any team that we play,they're gonna scout us.
Virginia, Wesley's gonna runVirginia.
Wesley's gonna run Virginia.
Wesley's gonna run.
And they're gonna tell theirkids that they're gonna tell
their catcher that they're gonnatell their middles that.
Even if we don't steal a base,now you're shifting your
shortstop into the five, sixhole.
'cause you're afraid we're gonnasteal third, which opens up the
middle.
We're gonna back off the plate,try to hit ball up the middle.
Now you move the shortstop upthe middle to keep that from
(38:38):
happening.
We, and then we still, stealsecond and third and, or you're
so worried about the run gamethat you miss a pitch call.
You don't want to call a changeup because you're afraid we're
gonna run.
So you call screwball orbreaking ball and then, and then
it's a double in the gap.
And that's just parlayed into alot of things that we're gonna
do, but.
I think for our women, it's notonly just having speed, but it's
the freedom to know that we'regonna go and that we're gonna
(39:02):
get thrown out and we're gonnabe aggressive and we're gonna
run when everybody thinks we'regonna run and we're gonna run.
When everybody says that youshouldn't run all the unwritten
rules, we're gonna do thosetypes of things.
And I think it just puts peopleon their heels a little bit and
just gives you an advantage.
For us.
We don't hit a ton of home runs.
We played a big ballpark.
It's two 30 to center field,which is one of the largest we
(39:23):
play in.
But if you go statistically andlook at it, we have a lot of
doubles.
We have a lot of triples, wehave a lot of stolen bases, and
because of that, we've also ledthe country and sacrifice flies
the last three years.
Everybody's that's a weird stat.
You guys don't have a ton ofpower.
I'm like, no, we're getting thethird with less than two outs
because we're running and thenwe're able to tag and score on
(39:44):
balls that people don't.
If we pop up to shortstop, I'mtagging like we're probably
gonna go.
Yeah.
Which is wild, right?
Yeah.
And so that's just, everybodythinks it's the stolen base.
It's not the stolen base thatdoes it for us.
It's the stolen base.
It's the threat, it's the extrabase.
It's the sack fly.
Yeah.
It's all of that.
And then that just turns youroffense in.
(40:05):
Really just high octane.
And man, I, people don't like totalk about base running.
I get fired up.
If you put me on stage and youwanna talk about base running, I
get fired up and I'm gonna goagainst all the, don't get
thrown out at third with oneout.
Don't get thrown out here.
Don't try to stretch this andthis.
And I'm like, heck with that.
We're rolling.
But how many games are lost in aseason when kids aren't
(40:26):
confident or they don't feelthat coach's confidence where
they hesitate for a second goingfrom first to third, or they
hesitate on that sack fly.
Yeah.
When your kids aren't thinkingabout and they're not worried
about it.
Yeah.
They're a step faster.
They're two steps faster andeverybody's waiting for their
coach.
He's The coach is gonna tell mewhen coach is gonna tell me when
I tell her women all the time,I'm not a ghost sign.
I'm a stop sign.
(40:47):
You go.
I stop.
Yeah.
'cause if you're waiting for meto send you, we're hesitating.
We work on a plus one mentality.
Everything's plus one.
I hit a, I hit a ground ball toleft field.
It's a single.
All right, what's my plus one?
Can I turn a single into adouble?
It's a ball in a gap.
I know I'm gonna get the third.
How can I score?
If we can have a plus onementality and everything we're
doing and we can just add thosethings.
But I think it's not onlyteaching it and recruiting it,
(41:10):
but it's talking about it orlike seeing how passionate we
are about it and saying let's goand showing'em videos of that
was great.
That was excellent.
And I look at a Lacey Campbelland the things that she does on
the bases, and shoot, she scoredfrom we scored two runs in the
World series.
I'm not supposed to call it theWorld Series, but I just did.
But we scored two runs in theWorld Series on stealing.
Second, we stole secondoverthrow, it gets muddled
around by the center fielder.
(41:31):
And we're gonna, we're gonna tryto score.
And we did, and maybe we getthrown out on those and
everybody says that I'm anidiot.
That's fine.
But like I told somebody theother year, you ran us out of
the inning, I said, you'reallowed to tell me I ran us out
of the inning.
If you gimme a high five for the207 stole bases we had.
But until then, you can't be,Hey, we're pumped.
Look at all the double stealswe're doing.
And oh, we, he got us thrownout.
(41:52):
I did, but we also score, wealso stole 207 bases fella.
So yeah, I can get fired up busspeed, but it, it's just a game
changer.
And even coaching against it.
When you coach against it, itjust it's a difficult task
because you've gotta givesomething up to stop it.
Will you text me the names ofthe people that are calling you
an idiot that have a nationalchampionship, please?
(42:14):
Would you just text them to me?
No, I don't wanna do that.
I'd like to have a conversationwith them.
I want to talk about thehumanity of being a coach a
little bit.
'cause I have a lot of youngcoaches that listen to this.
A lot of high school and collegecoaches that listen to this.
And I know you, we, before werecorded, you talked about your
kids and your wife and howimportant this world, this
(42:35):
culture that you live in, thatthey're a part of that.
How do you balance programbuilding with being a husband
and a dad?
I just, I haven't been reallygood at it.
I wasn't either, that's why I'mon this side.
And you're still coaching?
Yeah, and I'm trying to dobetter and I think my son, he's
13 now.
I think my wife said this to meon our anniversary last year
when we were just talking aboutthe relationship from my
(42:56):
daughter when she was three, nowfour, versus my relationship
with my son when he was in thatsame age.
And, I was just talking abouthow closer she is with her dad
and.
My wife's just very honest withme, and she's I don't wanna say
this the wrong way and hurt yourfeelings.
She's but you're more presentwith her than you were with him
at that age.
And she's I'm not saying you'renot present with him now, but
you're more present now.
(43:16):
And she said, you are also at adifferent point in your career.
Yeah.
Which is I hear what she'ssaying.
And part of you is really proudof what you do in your career,
but the other part of you isman, I missed I, I missed, I
swung and missed on that.
And, but I'm learning from that.
I get another shot.
I had a.
Daughter at 40 years old.
And that certainly changed.
And what I would say to some ofthe younger coaches is,
everybody, and I don't know whateverybody's office hours are, we
(43:38):
have office hours that we'regonna work, you're gonna turn
around, you're gonna be atpractice till seven o'clock
then.
And I think early in my career,and it was different.
It was building a program, itwas doing those things.
I was the first person to comein and brag that I was here at
seven 30 in the morning.
How much of that time from seven30 in the morning to practice at
seven, did I really work, work?
Or how much of it was me sayingI was in the office at seven 30,
what were you doing?
And so it was about trying tofind a way to be more efficient
(44:01):
within that time.
And this morning, to be quitefrank with you, I mean I was up
at seven 30, my wife's first dayback to school.
I was in charge of my daughterthis morning and we sat, had
breakfast together, we had a cupof coffee together.
I rode with her to the sitterand I got into the office at
nine 30.
The 26-year-old me would've beenlike, Hey man, it's nice for you
doing a half a day today, comingin at nine 30.
(44:22):
For the 44-year-old me is youknow what, I'm not gonna get
that time back.
And it is a hard balance.
I think Google Calendar has madethat huge for me.
My wife giggles when she's Hey,can you do this for the kids?
Can you pick them up here?
Can you add this?
And I pull my phone out.
I'm like adding to my calendar.
She's like, why do you alwaysadd it to your calendar?
I'm like, because if I put it inthere, I know I have to pick my
son up at two 30.
And I have that kid that comesin the office and is do you have
(44:44):
a minute?
I'm gonna say, Hey, I have toleave at two 30.
I have to pick up my son.
Is this gonna be a minute or 10minutes?
Because in the past I'd be like,no problem.
And then I get home at six 30.
One of the coolest thing that'son my heart to share I got
Jeremy Sheeter.
That is Coach is a phenomenalNAI program and has been with
the A BCA and he did somepodcasts as well.
(45:05):
He invited me to speak at hisbarnstormers clinic down there
last year at Georgia Gwinnettand I went down there and it
was, it's all baseball.
It's all baseball.
It was the softball guy.
It was all baseball guys, whichkind of brought me back in a
moment in time.
The the Auburn head baseballcoach spoke and everybody
stopped and listened.
And I like going to those thingsI speak at.
I like being the first one thereand the last one to leave
(45:27):
because it's like a free clinicfor me.
Absolutely.
And I was the last one to speak.
I was speaking on culture, buthere nor there, one of the
things he said that reallysuper, super resonated with me.
He said, gentlemen, I need youguys to listen.
Young, older or whatever.
And he's and I miss this.
He's I came home from a bigseries.
He's I walked through the door,I was fired up about it, do
whatever.
And he is my wife grabbed me andshe said, I, she, I had two
daughters.
He said, looked at my, he's youare gonna lose.
(45:49):
He is my little girl ran up tome and he is my wife said,
you're gonna lose her just likeyou lost your oldest if you
don't figure something out.
And he was like, I don't knowwhat you mean.
She's you bring, every day whenyou come in, you bring all of
that back into the house and allshe cares about is dad's home.
He said, it made him startthinking, and this is where he
got me, is he said, so I reallystarted doing, he's like my,
he's you have three fives inyour life, your first fives in
(46:12):
your life every day.
He said, your first fives inyour life that you've gotta be
intentional.
And he's as a coach, he's thefirst five minutes of practice
every day.
He said is the most importantpart of your practice?
He said, if you walk in therewith your head down, if you jog
up to the field, if you're late,if you got all your gear, if
you're frazzled, if you'refrazzled, he's your players are
gonna pick up on that five.
He's so I try to intentionallyin that first five minutes of
(46:34):
practice, Hey buddy, how youdoing?
Hey, how's your day?
Hey.
He's I come in with energy.
If it's gonna be a day that I'mfired up in Florida, I'm like,
we're gonna get after it.
I come in with that kind ofmentality.
If it's gonna be a looser day, Icome in looser.
He's I set the tone with myfirst five minutes.
He said the other, my firstfive.
He is I give my first fiveminutes to the Lord when I wake
up.
And he's whether that's mydevotional, whether that's
(46:54):
meditation, he is like, whateverthat is for you is to be able to
spend that first five.
Is it on your cell phone?
Is it this?
Is it that?
To spend that first five.
And he said, which got me themost when you talk about
balance, he said, the first fivewhen I walk in my house.
And I've started and actuallyforgot my watch today, but I've
started intentionally setting mywatch when I walk in after work
and hitting that five minutewatch and like just forgetting
(47:16):
about everything and whetherthat's my daughter running to me
or hollering at my son who's inhis, in his room as a
13-year-old coming down.
Ask him how his day was.
At jumping in to help withdishes or giving my wife, like I
say, a good game as you, asgiving my wife a good game or
kiss or doing that is trying tobe intentional in that first
five.
And that just sets the tone,right?
Yeah.
It's like dad's home.
(47:38):
And that's challenging, but tocarve that stuff out and then
I'm very blessed to coach womenand.
Women are as my mom told me whenI took this job, she said, men
are more, you take a airplaneride with a guy, hand you a
business card, says if you everneed anything, gimme a call.
'cause we're about our jobs andour position and our power.
Same airplane ride with a woman.
(47:58):
And she gives you pictures ofher grandkids and her babies and
her and her dogs and'causethey're more relational driven.
Very blessed to coach women andthere are many a times where I
shouldn't say many a times isthey know coach is gonna be at
practice.
They know coach is gonna grind,they know coach is gonna get
after it.
If there's something that I feelneeds to be more valued than our
(48:18):
team that day, if I need to goto orientation for my son, or I
need to go pick my daughter up,or I need to be at home or be at
something for my family, I tellthem, Hey, as soon as stretch is
over, like I got a bolt.
This is why.
I'm gonna be 10 minutes late.
This is why.
And I think in a culture of men,it's like, ah, this guy where
they're like, coach, you gottago.
(48:39):
Like you go, you're late.
Like we got it.
And I think, again, going backto the transparency pieces,
spend more time with otherpeople's kids than I do in my
own.
And so if I can just make surethat they know what's most
important, that they appreciatethat I wish I could go on a time
machine and go back to my25-year-old self.
(49:00):
Take those lessons that you justtalked about.
'cause I'm 50 and I'm just, Ifeel like I'm just learning some
of this, or I've always knownit, but I'm finally absorbing
it.
Yeah.
And I have to remind myself ofit, how important those things
are.
So they're great.
Coach, this has been awesome.
I wanna do some quick, rapidfire with you just so the
audience gets to know you alittle bit and have some fun
(49:21):
ones with you.
You ready for a little rapidfire?
Alright, let's go.
First thing that comes to yourbrain.
Favorite stadium you've evercoached in East Texas Baptist.
That facility was fantastic.
And Jane Janae and her staff andwe've been in Oklahoma City, but
I'd rather go over there andplay as a phenomenal experience.
It's not the first time I'veheard that answer.
(49:43):
Best hitter or pitcher you'veever coached against?
Shoot.
Best hitter or pitcher I've evercoached against.
Oh man, there's been so manythat have beat my brains in.
The first one that comes as, asfar as offensively I think of
two hitters.
I'm gonna cheat.
Patty Mayo Hanian fromChristopher Newport who just hit
Elite pitching unbelievablywell.
And then Abby Mace that justgraduated from Salisbury
(50:05):
University a couple years ago.
Pretty good choices.
One word your players would useto describe you.
Passionate, pre-game routine.
You never skip.
I can't say eating'cause Iskipped that all the time.
Pre-game prayer.
Biggest pet peeve at practice,rolling their sleeves up on
(50:28):
their short sleeve shirts justtells me you're lazy.
It just tells me you're lazy.
Go to the beach and get a tan.
Favorite championship memory.
Theresa Cardamone hitting athree run Homer against UT
Tyler.
Pretty good one too.
All right, last one, one drill.
(50:49):
Every coach should steal fromyou.
One drill every coach shouldsteal from me.
Is there a drill that you doevery day that you love, that
you just know that makes yourteam better or you get something
out of it?
I probably stole that drill, sothat's the problem.
That's alright.
I probably did too.
I guarantee I stole it fromsomebody or at least part of it.
(51:11):
I think for our infielder, oursmitty's which is named after a
good friend of mine Matt Smithwho owns Hampton Road Sports
Academy here in Virginia Beach.
That's awesome, coach.
Thanks for doing this.
It was a great conversation.
I'm excited to talk recruitingwith you, but thanks for doing
this and, and thanks for sharingyour passion with our audience.
I appreciate you and thank you,uh, for the opportunity to.
(51:36):
What a fun conversation withCoach Brandon Elliott from
Virginia Wesleyan University.
And what a masterclass inleadership and Longevity, three
national championships, anational runner up finish, and
nearly 700 wins in less than 20years.
When a program's built this way,it comes from a coach who truly
loves what he does, loves theculture around him, and loves
(51:59):
the people he gets to go to workwith every day.
There's a lot to learn from howhe's shaped Virginia Wesleyan
into one of the top divisionthree programs in the nation.
As always, thank you forlistening to the Significant
Coaching Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to share it with another
coach, athletic director, or aparent who could benefit from
the lessons here.
(52:19):
And don't forget to check out mybooks on Amazon, including the
Softball Recruits Journal andthe brand new release in the
series, the Volleyball RecruitsJournal that's out this week.
Both are designed to giverecruits and families practical
tools to stay organized,focused, and confident through
the college journey.
You can find more resources,past episodes, and ways to
(52:41):
connect withme@coachmattrogers.com.
Until next time.
Stay focused, stay humble, andkeep leading with significance.
And I've taken my pride out ofit enough to be able to admit it
and to be able to tell our womenlike, Hey, listen, if I'm in the
bullpen and I'm instructing whatyou're doing from a mechanic's
perspective, we're gonna be in alot of trouble.
And so what I'm gonna do is goout and recruit the best arms
that I can.
And I think I'm very talented inidentifying that in recruiting
(00:21):
and getting those women here.
And we've consistently done it.
Then I'm gonna turn that over tounbelievable pitching
instructors, and then I'm goingto trust them and I'm gonna give
them the tools and the trust andthe time Welcome back to the
(00:43):
Significant Coaching Podcast.
I'm your host Matt Rogers, andtoday's guest has built one of
the most remarkable programs inall of college softball.
You just heard a clip fromBrandon Elliot, the head coach
at Virginia Wesleyan University,where he's become the winningest
coach in program history In 18seasons, he's guided the Marlins
to three national championships,11 conference titles, and most
(01:07):
recently.
Back-to-back trips to the NCAADivision three World Series,
including a national runner upfinish in 2025.
His teams have set recordsproduced All Americans and year
after year remain among the verybest in the country.
But what makes Brandon's storyso compelling isn't just the
wins and the banners, it's howhe sustained a culture of
(01:29):
excellence without shortcuts.
His approach to leadership,player development, and culture
building offers lessons forevery coach at any level.
In this conversation, we diveinto the building blocks of
long-term success.
The role of speed and pressurein his team's identity and how
he's evolved as a leader overnearly two decades.
(01:51):
At the helm, you'll also hearabout the mentors who shaped
him, the highs and lows thatdefined his journey.
And what it really takes to leada program with consistency and
conviction.
And before we get started, aquick reminder, if you're
looking for tools to helpfamilies and athletes navigate
the recruiting process, checkout my books on Amazon,
(02:12):
including.
The Softball Recruits Journaland my newest addition to the
series, the Volleyball RecruitsJournal, both are available
today.
This isn't just about softball.
In this conversation, it's aboutleadership that lasts.
All right, let's get into it.
Here's my conversation withCoach Brandon Elliot.
(02:33):
Coach Elliot, so great to haveyou on the show.
Welcome to Significant Coaching.
What a blast.
I appreciate it and blessing tobe here and first day of
classes, so there's a lot ofexcitement going on around here
as well.
There's nothing better than thatfirst day, that first week of
school is there.
It doesn't matter how longyou're doing it, when the kids
come back, there's something tothe energy that, that it gives
them the confidence and the joyit brings.
(02:54):
No doubt.
My wife's a teacher, so I'm notsure she'll say the same thing,
'cause summer's over for her.
But certainly here, it justbrings that buzz.
It's just such a quiet campus,as you go through the summer.
So to get your women from me, toget our women back here on
campus, popping in and outta theoffice just brings a lot more
joy around here.
Coach my first head coaching jobwas at Maryville University in
St.
Louis.
We were division three at thetime, and I was there for nine
(03:17):
years.
I had five presidents and I hadsix different supervisors, if
you can imagine.
Oh man, that doesn't sound likefun.
It was like I had a differentphilosophy and direction every
six weeks it felt like.
You've been at Virginia Wesleyan16 years?
17.
This will be my 19th season as ahead coach, but 26th year.
(03:39):
I just, a lot of people juststay in college for 26 years,
yeah.
And that's me.
I wanna know about why you'vestayed.
What's that culture like oncampus that has kept you there
for that long and kept you soexcited?
We had a conversation beforethis.
(03:59):
I couldn't tell if this was year26 or year one for you.
You're just so excited for thekids to come back.
No question.
I start out at the first thing Isay, everything that's great in
my life started here on thiscampus.
And I say that in truesignificance.
So certainly, we can look at mycareer and I worked in
enrollment for a few years.
I was a volunteer with baseballfor a few years.
I helped run our student centerhere, the JP Batten Student
(04:20):
Center for eight years.
I've been the Title IXcoordinator and dug into some of
that, and certainly a now slidinto some administration and
athletics.
But everything great in my lifeand from my education to my
career to my best friends, I metmy wife here, which certainly is
is probably the greatest thingthat's ever happened in my life.
I met my wife here.
My father-in-law is an alum.
(04:41):
And you know what a lot ofpeople don't know is actually I
have two children, my son Cooperwho's 13, and then my daughter
Ryland, who's four and Rylandhad to be carried by a
surrogate.
And our surrogate and herhusband are both alums of the
university.
So when I say everything that'sgreat in my life.
Has a connection to this place.
I genuinely mean it.
(05:01):
And I think when your roots areso deep and so many of the highs
and lows are at one place, it'sjust it makes sense.
It's home for me.
That's great.
And it warms my heart to hearthat because when coaches get
that opportunity and they getthat environment around them,
it's amazing what a good coachcan do.
When they've got that supportand that feeling and look at
(05:23):
what you've done.
It's just outta this world.
How big of a great, of a programyou've built.
Let's go back to 2007.
What was your vision back then?
What were you thinking aboutthat you wanted to build?
Did you envision three nationalchampionships?
Absolutely not.
I think if you'd have gone backto that arrogant kid, I was 25,
26 years old.
(05:44):
I thought I had it all figuredout.
I wish I could go back andstrangle that guy.
And there's probably a lot ofothers that felt the same,
including some of the players.
But, I was a volunteer assistantwith a baseball program.
The ultimate goal was to be ahigh school baseball coach.
And a lot of people have heardthat story.
And I think God just had otherplans for me.
And at that time.
Our softball program or thecoach had taken, it all had
resigned and about eight gamesleft in that season.
(06:06):
And I say my OGs, the women thatwere in that program he brought
me over and they didn't evenknow in the middle of getting
ready to start a practice andbasically was like, Hey this is
gonna be your new your interncoach for the next eight games.
I remember that crew.
I remember Christie Whitesaying, have you ever coached
women before?
I was like, no, I have not.
You ever been a head coachbefore?
No, I have not.
Everything I said was No.
(06:27):
And they still gave me anopportunity, but started there
and really the goal there, whenthe university came back, was
like, Hey, what's your, what doyou think we should do with this
program?
You took it over two to threeweeks.
They paid me 15 bucks an hour,man, I was loaded$15 an hour.
Is what I was making at thattime, which might be more than
what I make now per hour.
Honestly, it may be, they may bemore real than we know.
(06:49):
But I remember, our athleticdirector, Sonny Travis, just
grabbing me and saying, allright, what do you think this
program needs?
And I said, one, you need tomake it a full-time position.
And I said, then two, I thinkyou need to hire a female.
And these women are dying forthat leadership in this role.
He said how about we hire youand we make it part-time?
And I was like, sounds like afantastic idea.
(07:10):
Let's do it.
I took it for 77.
My, my original contract's uphere and$7,726 and 61 cents was
my initial contract.
And I remember sitting andpraying about it with my wife
that we didn't want to take it.
But going back to your question.
I have a leadership co coach,his name's Bob Groves.
I talk about him all the time.
And his real big thing was whatare your BHAGs, what are your
(07:31):
big, hairy, audacious goals?
And the 25, 20 6-year-old me waslike, we're gonna win a national
championship.
I, and it's gonna be reallyeasy.
We're gonna do that in the next30 seconds.
And it took a really long timeand it's really hard.
But I think that was theultimate, crazy goal.
And as we started to get alittle bit closer to that.
Potentially being a reality,then it was just full head of
(07:54):
steam and we're here.
And we can do that.
And I remember when we won thatin 2017, it was like, holy
smokes.
Like we did that.
And then somebody saying nowthat you've done that what's the
next thing?
And I just rattled off I want anew facility and I want a
full-time assistant coach and wewanna win this again, and we
wanna have, more women have morejoy and do those things.
I just think that we juststarted speaking it out loud and
(08:15):
when you have a group of womenand coaches in, in a room.
When we talk about our goals,that is what we talk about,
which goes against every facetof leadership, right?
We talk about we wanna beperfect in everything we do.
We talk about, we don't wannamess up in everything we do.
We talk about we wanna win thenational championship.
We don't talk about the journey,which again, goes against
everything that people say, butI'm just a guy that says, we're
(08:37):
gonna talk about what we want toaccomplish as wild and as crazy
as it is, and we're gonna put itout there.
Then we're gonna do everythingevery day that adds up to that.
And if we fall short of thatgoal, that's okay, because it
still was significant, but wedid everything that we could and
just having a room of believersis huge for us.
(08:58):
It's such a Ted lasso story andit.
I guess so.
I'm just not as witty or as goodlooking, that's debatable.
Come on now.
Face for face for radio forsure.
We haven't seen you dance yetthat's really the key to it all.
Yeah.
Amen.
And just so you know, my first,you got me by$26.
My first contract was 7,000.
I negotiated up from six.
(09:19):
There we go.
That was my first year as a headcollege coach.
It's easy to talk about thenational championships.
It's easy to talk about the 671wins.
I remember our first year atMaryville when we went to the
national tournament for thefirst time.
We started one in 11 that year.
We were just, we couldn't get abreak.
We lost so many games by acouple, and I was like
(09:41):
basketball coach.
And we came back from Christmas.
We beat the number four team inthe country and won 12 in a row,
won our conference, went to thenational tournament, but.
Up to that point.
That was year two and a half forme.
I thought for sure I was gonnaget fired.
I just thought they're gonnafire me.
(10:02):
At what point did you know I hadto get through the fire to get
to where I could be confident Icould be who I wanted to be.
What did that look like back inthose days?
I think early on it was, therewas so much opportunity for
growth, right?
Academically, athletically,roster wise.
(10:25):
And it was a grind through thosedays.
I would work, I was veryfortunate.
Land Work's Unlimited.
I was owned by Jeff Miller,said, Hey, I'll hire you, you
make your own schedule.
But I worked for landscapingCompany from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM
and I drive an hour back and runpractice.
I honestly think those first fewyears, it was just autopilot.
It was like, what can we do?
Let's get into practice, makethem better.
(10:46):
Let's make them feel better.
Let's do this.
Let's try to fundraise money.
Let's get the alum involved.
Let's win some games on the roadand you have this false sense of
confidence.
That you know what you're doingand you are gonna be the best at
it.
And then you really get into thecrux of it.
And you go from a bad softballteam to a mediocre softball team
and program, and you startcompeting with people that you
(11:08):
didn't think.
Then you think you're on top ofthe world and then you get
smacked.
Yeah, and you get smacked.
Not only, and I'm not justtalking about wins and losses
and losing games and those hurtand you're like, I'm so far from
the goal and where I want to benow.
And like it just knocked me downa couple levels.
If it humbles you, but I'mtalking about the losses as far
as sometimes you get so in thethick of competing one of my,
(11:30):
one of my best friends in thegame and one of my greatest
mentors is Don Simmons at theUniversity of Lynchburg.
And I will tell you the firstcouple years we, it wasn't that
way because they were the who wewanted to be.
They were in the World Seriesand they were winning the odac
and Dawn was.
Queen of queens and she stillis.
And I was this young whippersnapper that was like the
threatening guy coming in.
And I think early on, lookingback at it, there was just some
(11:52):
arrogance about me that, and Ithink it was the competitive
fire in there that it wasn'trelationally right.
And I just remember her one timesitting there eating a bag of
chips and she's if you didn'targue every call, you might win
one.
And I remember in that momentbeing so angry that she said
that, but then be able to stepback and be like.
I think she's right.
I think she's right.
(12:12):
And it took a couple things inmy personal life and even in
hers that for us to make areally deep connection and once
we did that, yeah, we still havea big rivalry, but it's a
respectful rivalry and momentslike that allowed me to grow.
Maybe not X's and O's, but as ahuman being and as a leader in
that, yeah, I can wanna beatyour brakes off when you're on
(12:33):
the other side of the field, butI also still care about you as a
human.
And when we start caring aboutpeople as human beings, like our
success rate goes around andthen those people root for you
when they're not playing you orplaying against you.
And I think those were probablythe most significant moments,
and there's some others inthere, but Dawn comes right to
mine because I just have atremendous amount of respect for
(12:54):
her as a coach, but also for heras a human being and as a
friend.
And those were the moments Ithink were probably the.
Where you hit rock bottom,you're like, man, I'm not as
good as I, I think I am.
Maybe I'm good at XOs and maybeI'm good in the cage, but am I
as good as a human as I think?
And ultimately, if I'm gonna getwhere I want to be as far as
influencing people and makingpeople better humans and better
(13:16):
softball players, then I'vegotta make some changes in what
I'm doing.
And I think those are more ofthe humbling moments than the
losses on the field, to behonest with you.
Or whether it's an a, a currentplayer that you're having real
conversation with.
I remember Tori Hiba and was oneof the best players ever played
for me here.
And having a deep conversationwith her.
She's I love being pushed.
(13:36):
I love how hard you're on me.
I love that you grind our gears.
She's but sometimes that teeterson the side of intimidation
versus motivation.
And that was a punch in the gutbecause I, and you know that as
a coach and as a leader even asa parent.
Yeah.
When someone's intimidated byyou, they say that somebody you
care about says that.
Oh man, that's that's a toughpill to swallow because I, I
(13:59):
don't wanna lead by position, Iwanna lead by permission.
I want to have permission, aleadership in their lives.
And when you're intimidating butfor one of your best players to
say that Hey, I love you and Icare about you, and I know what
you do for us and the thingsthat you do.
There's times like, I, I needyou on this side of the marker.
(14:20):
I think those are the things Ican check back into my career
that were probably the biggestmoments of growth where you had
to step back and evaluate alittle bit.
It's amazing what, whether it'sone of your kids or one of your
players, when they have thathonest moment with you, how much
you realize you need it.
(14:42):
Yeah.
I was one of those coaches too.
I was constantly barking andpushing and wanted them to reach
their potential.
And when I had kids that weren'tafraid to turn around and poke
the bear a little bit, I, I knewI was onto something because
that fear, they knew that theycould test it a little bit and
get to the humanity of who Iwas.
(15:03):
I love hearing that lead bypermission.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna hang on tothat one for a long time.
When did you know that you wereonto something special?
I think once we made a run, likegoing back and I believe it was
2013 when we got here, the hadnever won an NCA tournament
game.
And so getting to the NAtournament was a big deal and we
(15:25):
went and we got smoked 2011 andwe got smoked and we came back
2012 and we didn't make the NNCAA tournament.
And I thought that we shouldhave.
And then finally in 2013, wedid, we went up to New Jersey
and we made a run and we lost inthe, and that was at the times
where it was the eight teamregional, and we lost in the
finals to get to the nationalChampionship series.
And that was when it was finallywe could sit around and see
(15:49):
those teams, the teams that wesaw in the top 25 that weren't
in our region, that we didn'tsee every day that were
competing to win nationalchampionships.
And we were on the same fieldwith them and we could see'em
and see'em play.
The respect for those teams washuge, right?
Like we could say, Hey, a res,lot of respect for them.
Oh, you left the ballpark.
Saying we're there and like wecan compete with them and trying
(16:09):
to do things to put our teams inpositions where they can see
those teams.
Maybe not play'em or beat'em,but if we can see those teams
and then they can really startsaying, Hey, that's just not.
Texas, Tyler at the time orChristopher Newport or Salisbury
or Trine University or TLU andWade, let's go in Linfield.
I remember the first timewatching Linfield play being
(16:29):
like, holy cow.
But our kids were like, Hey,they're great.
We feel like we're great becausenow we can compare there.
And that was that first, that 13we finally saw outside of the
teams we see every day in ourregion, we saw teams outside of
our region that were in the topfive 10 in the country.
And it was like, Hey, we belongin that conversation.
Yeah.
And then once we got in thatconversation, it was like, let's
(16:51):
start chipping away at thisthing.
And then when winning became anexpectation because of that team
in 13, it became an expectationevery year to not only get to
the NCA tournament, but to makea run in the NCA tournament.
Then it started chipping away tosay Hey we've got a chance here
to make a big run and make somenoise and maybe really do this
(17:11):
thing.
How much of that evolution waslearning the type of player you
needed on your roster versus howyou were coaching and your
philosophies and youraggressiveness?
What was the combination of thattoo?
To get you over that hump?
To get you to that level youwanted to be?
I think those first years withanybody, you try, you think you
(17:33):
know what your philosophy oryour type of kid is, right?
And then as you get into it alittle bit more, you find
yourself recruiting a certaintype of human and a certain time
of athlete.
And then it gets into like, allright I always tell our women
it's like a video game.
Like I, it's already loaded inthe system.
I just got to press the rightbuttons.
And pressing the right buttonsand getting those kids to go.
But if you don't have the teamloaded in the game, you're in
(17:54):
trouble.
So the recruiting piece washuge.
And the philosophy there waswe're always gonna try to
recruit women better than thewomen that we have.
And certainly that doesn'talways happen.
But the goal is to come in.
If I could bring nine freshmenevery year that are starting
every year, that means we justgot better.
And then my nine starter tobecome role players.
Certainly, talent becomes a partof that and experience becomes a
(18:16):
part of that and, a couplefreshmen trickle in and don't.
Every time you're challengingthe middle of your core, of your
team to make that third, fourth,fifth player, your sixth,
seventh best player and you'regetting better.
You're bringing in better kids,then that elevates the entire
roster and team.
And I think that started to be apart of it.
And Iron shoppers iron.
And what we were trying to usein the recruiting piece was
(18:38):
early on, I remember BrittanyBrown was the first electric arm
that we had recruited and had,and she transferred in.
So I would intentionally try tobring big type of pitchers in
and let them see us practice sothey could watch this kid
throwing in 60, 62 to be like,wow, she's really almost
intimidated.
Oh, she's way better than Ithought.
So then that started being like,oh, I wanna go play with
(18:58):
somebody like that.
Yeah.
And so trying to put them aroundthe better players to say I
wanna pair you up with here.
Here's our vision with this.
And then that just startedgrowing and it organically
turned from, as we got better onthe field.
We also got better in theclassroom.
And it just really startedelevating that.
And if I think anything to acoach, I just always recruit
humans above your head andalways recruit players above
(19:21):
your head.
And the worst thing that's gonnahappen is they're gonna say no.
We just go after kids that wethink are better than what we
really need or want here, and wetell'em that you're better than
what we think.
And then they get here andthey're like, I'm valued.
And as those things startedadding up, then it started to
click and we started gettingbetter.
And then you're starting torecruit off of your history.
(19:42):
Yeah.
And the biggest predictor of thefuture is to look at the past.
Yep.
And so if I can look at the pastand say, Hey, in the last 15
years you've had two winningseasons.
As a head coach, I'm predictingyou're probably not gonna have
winning season.
But if I can look in the pastand say, Hey, over the last 10,
12, 15 years, they continue towin, then the future says
they're going to continue towin.
(20:03):
And you've gotta use that inyour recruiting to bring those
people in.
If I went to a practice back in2013 and one-to-one today, would
the, what kind of differenceswould I see?
I think you're gonna see moreefficiency within the practice.
Our current players might notfeel that way.
One of the things I think firstand thirds and bunk coverages,
(20:24):
right?
I would run those and if theydidn't go well, which any coach
knows first and thirds bunkcoverages, cuts and relays,
they're always terrible.
And it doesn't matter what levelyou're on, it's always terrible.
It's team defense.
It's always goes terrible.
But I remember early, early, wewould just keep going and keep
going.
It never got better.
But if it was scheduled for 20minutes and it took us an hour,
then we went an hour.
We're now, if we have itscheduled for 20 minutes and it
(20:44):
stinks, then at 20 minutes we'redone with it, and then we're
gonna revisit that tomorrow andwe might add 30 minutes in, but
we're gonna try to come back.
And so I wouldn't say all ofthat because I get a creature of
habit and sometimes get stuck inmy ways.
But I think the efficiency onthat piece is gonna be better.
Technology is gonna be a littlebit better.
I was an anti machine guy backin the day.
And we use pitching machinesquite often.
(21:05):
For preparation work for ourhitters.
And then, just from a coachingpiece, we have a much bigger
staff than we had there.
I think in 2007 it was just meand Rick Straube.
And then, we added a numberpeople on staff and be even able
to be surrounded by a greatstaff that I figured out that I
don't have to have my hand inevery bucket at every practice
in every moment.
And so that made practice longer'cause Coach Elliot was gonna
(21:27):
run hitting, coach Elliot wasgonna run infield, coach Elliot
was gonna run outfield.
He was gonna work with thecatchers, and then it got in
forever instead of Hey, I mightonly be in the cage today.
The trust factor of the men andwomen on our staff to do their
job in, in tech you, that has,has made everything more
efficient and it's just made usbetter.
There's different voices andwe're just really blessed with
some very talented coaches.
(21:48):
Yeah.
If I could give a gift of adviceto every athletic director in
the country, it would be thatlet give the coach the resources
to bring in a staff.
Amen.
Say that louder.
The more.
The more people that have a loveof teaching and have some
competency to teach it,everybody gets better so much
faster.
No doubt.
(22:08):
That's why I push kids toVirginia Wesleyan instead of the
big public schools because.
Whenever you can be in aclassroom with 13, 14, 15 other
kids and you have a professorthat knows your name and know
you're there, you're just gonnalearn at such a higher level.
You're gonna have such arelationship with that
professor.
You're gonna feel more confidentgoing to talk to them.
So the more hands in thekitchen, the better.
(22:29):
I love it.
Aim into that.
Your teams are known for theirgrit and their consistency.
How do you define your teamculture?
I think it's really hard todefine.
There's a lot of intentionalityin that, just from our first
team meeting last night, thefirst, we didn't walk right in
and read off of a script ofhere's our schedule.
Right from me walking in theroom saying I'm fired up.
(22:51):
And then we went right into someculture and some team building
immediately whether you wannasay culture or team building or
team bonding, whatever it is.
It's the intentionality behind,behind the culture.
And I think what we, to behonest with you, man, I think
what, where we get stuck is wedefine or we look at culture
within organizations andprograms of the past, right?
And I'll use my good friend,coach Murphy at Alabama.
(23:13):
Look at Alabama, and you'relike, it's great culture there.
Murph's got a great culture andhe does, but he intentionally
works on that culture every day.
Every year.
Why?
Because the ingredients in thatculture change every year.
I would say it's hard to say youhad the best culture year you've
ever had.
And I feel like I've said thatover the last three or four
years in a row.
'cause it continues just to keepgetting better.
(23:35):
But last year was unbelievablefrom our parents to to our kids,
to our staff, and just the waythat everybody operated and
cared for each other.
And, we didn't have thatexternal drama like I've spoken
of before.
And I told our women last night,I can't ask for a better
culture.
But I'm asking for a differentculture because we're adding
seven women into our programthis year that weren't here last
year and we graduated at eight.
(23:56):
That won't be here.
And the thing is you know, wemight have taken the, some
ingredients that might bechanging, right?
I might be adding in, brownsugar instead of, cane sugar,
right?
Yeah.
Or I might add vanilla ininstead of honey.
Yeah.
So the ingredients to what we'remaking culture wise are gonna be
different'cause humans aredifferent.
But we're still gonna try to goand bake the same cake.
(24:17):
And we still want it to tastereally good.
And this might not taste thesame, but it's still gonna be
great.
And I think when you can embracethat from a culture piece,
instead of saying, Hey, I'mcoming to Virginia Wesleyan, so
I'm immediately engrossed intothis program.
So I'm part of this greatculture.
Wait, it's not a great cultureyet.
Last year was, but we just gothere together and I've said it
(24:39):
all the time.
We come in and as coaches andeven in organizations and in
businesses, and we throw peoplein the room and we're like, Hey,
it's day one.
We're all together.
I need you to love each other.
And I'm looking, I'm like, Idon't even know that guy.
Or that kid played on my rivalhigh school.
I don't love her.
I hate her.
And and we said this to ourwomen last night that's gotta be
the piece is, and we've gottawork backwards.
(25:01):
I can't say I love you day one,because that's just, that's
false, right?
That's not real, that's notgenuine.
Is we've gotta work from, allright, if our ultimate goal is
to love each other, then let'swork backwards.
What do I gotta do to get love?
Then I, in our program, believeit's trust, right?
There's no one in my immediatelife that I genuinely love, that
I don't trust no one.
Yeah.
(25:21):
No.
Yeah.
And so I can't love you until Itrust you, right?
And so how can I trust you?
Is now I've gotta dig in andI've gotta know your story.
Like I've gotta know your story.
Like I, my trust for you haschanged because I know you're a
division three coach.
I know you've gone through theground.
I know you've doneadministration.
I know the people that have beenon your podcast that are
significant and all of that typeof stuff.
So then that starts buildingrelationships.
(25:42):
And so we kinda manufacture itmore backwards.
I can't love you until I trustyou.
I can't trust you until I knowyour story.
And then, I had a coach send mea text like, how do you continue
to develop teams that have astrong culture and relational
relationships with your kids?
And I'm like, you have to beintentional.
Yeah.
You have to be intentional.
Like there, I don't have anextra hour of my day every day.
(26:02):
I don't.
We're gonna start tomorrow.
We have Days of love and there'sa kid on my schedule tomorrow
that we have a Day of love andI'm gonna remove wherever she
wants to go.
We might go off campus and havecoffee, we might go have lunch,
we might go to Taco Bell and eatreally bad meal.
I don't know what we're gonnado, but I'm gonna carve an hour
outta my day, specificallyone-on-one with that kid.
And we're gonna talk abouteverything but softball and then
(26:22):
we're gonna start figuring eachother out.
And I think that is why ourculture has really started to
shape and find and I can'tdefine that culture.
And I can't define what it lookslike, but I know it when I see
it.
It's like, how do you defineobscenity?
I don't know, but I know it whenI see it.
Exactly.
And that's different foreverybody.
And that's probably the easiestanswer I can give you for the
(26:45):
culture here.
But it's just amazing how whenyou help lead them into
intentionality.
They take it and run with it,and everybody wants to say, oh,
the culture Brandon Elliott'screated at Virginia Wesleyan.
That's bull crap.
I haven't won a nationalchampionship here and I haven't
created the culture.
(27:05):
I've been a part of that.
And maybe I was a small vesselto help'em get to that, but
those women won those nationalchampionships.
Those women are the definitionof culture.
And I can stand in the room andI can say, here's my hashtag.
We're gonna put it on a shirt,believe it says family,
whatever.
But unless they're really boughtin on their own and can create
that on their own.
(27:26):
That's just, that's just surfacematerial.
Absolutely it is.
I wanna, I think I could dropyou on any softball field in the
planet and give you a coupleyears and you would build a
fantastic culture.
It's pretty obvious.
Coach you don't coach to wingames.
You're coaching'cause you lovethese kids and you love being
around them.
Talk about protecting thatculture.
(27:49):
From the outside world, thenoise and the student body,
especially when you win nationalchampionships, everybody expects
you to win it again.
They expect, gotta do it again.
You gotta do it again.
How do you protect that cultureas the head coach, as the leader
of that program?
When you know you're buildingsomething so great, you're doing
the things that you need to do,how do you protect it from the
(28:10):
outside world?
We're just authentic.
And one of the things I said tothem last night is I genuinely
believe that no one's gonnaoutwork you.
I don't feel like anybody's asathletic or as deep as you, I
don't think anybody cares asmuch.
The biggest thing, and thisagain, comes back from our
leadership guy, Bob Bob Grovesis he says that the thing that
teams are going to try to do isthey're gonna try to break your
(28:32):
bond.
And so how are they gonna try tobreak your bond?
And there's just ways withinthat.
And it could be outside noise,like you say, or outside
leverage there.
But just going in there and if Ihear or see or feel that like
I'm transparent, like I comeright out and say it.
We're in the middle of a change.
It was announced lastWednesdays.
The elephant in the room,everywhere I go is we're gonna
transition to Baton Universitynamed after the Baton family in
(28:54):
July 1st, 2026.
There's a ton of feelings aboutthat.
There's a ton of feelings aboutthat.
Did I come and talk about it in,in long form in our team
meeting?
I didn't.
I said, here's the deal.
I said, it's just like politicsfor me.
I'm not gonna tell you how tofeel about it.
I'm not even gonna tell you howI feel about it, because there's
probably 10 to 15 of you in thisroom that it doesn't bother and
you don't need it.
So you don't need to be in adeep conversation.
(29:16):
There's probably three or fourof you guys in this room that
feel very passionate one way orthe other about it.
We're gonna do.
If you wanna really genuinelyknow how I feel, you can come
talk to me and we'll goone-on-one.
I said, but to be honest withyou, as an alum and as an
employee, I'm still digesting itmyself.
I said, but we're not gonna,we're gonna talk about it.
It has happened and it's real,and it's coming, but we're not
gonna dig into it right herebecause at the end of the day,
(29:38):
we, and we had just talked aboutwhy are you here?
I said, no one mentioned theuniversity name of why you're in
this building.
You said, I came here because ofthe women in this program.
I came here because of theculture.
I came here'cause of the smallschool.
I came here'cause of the beach.
I came here'cause Coach LA wasthe only coach that believed in
me.
I came here'cause Coach Smithsaw me and Coach Quinn saw me
and they taught me in.
(29:58):
I came here'cause every time Icame to camp you guys surrounded
me and you loved me and caredabout me.
In essence.
I came here for the people.
I came here for the culture andI came from what's surrounded
and I just told him, I said,none of that is going to change
whether you like it or you don'tlike it.
We're not getting into that.
But my job as your head coach isto influence you and to make you
better humans and bettersoftball players.
(30:18):
And that's not gonna change.
And I said, now we're justgonna, and if you have an issue
with any of that, I, my door'swide open, let's have a
conversation about it.
But we're not gonna broach thatinto what our team's gonna do.
And we'll do that and we'll dothat with everything.
You think about since we've beenhere, we've had COVID, what a
contentious time.
I didn't stand in front of ourteam and say, this is what I
believe on vaccination statusand not.
(30:39):
I said, this is what I'm doingfor the health of my family
because I really don't have achoice here.
And here's the things that wehave to do in order to play, in
order to play and have a team.
I'm not gonna tell you how tofeel about it.
You think about every time wehave an election year.
We've got Republicans, we've gotDemocrats, we've got people
sitting in the middle.
We've got all of that.
But worst thing I can do isstand in front of my team and
say, I am a and you should voteand try and divide them.
(31:02):
Yeah.
And try a, divide them.
But B, now they're gonna judgeme based off.
My opinions and my affiliationswith something instead of what's
in my heart.
That's right.
And no different between ifthey're straight or if they're
gay, if it's L-G-B-Q-T or ifthey're a philosophy major or an
engineering major, like none ofthat.
I wanna know who you are in yourheart as a human, and that's who
(31:22):
I love and care about.
That's right.
And is more of, we'retransparent about those things
and if there is a team issue, ifthere is.
An issue going around campus orin the community or like we're
gonna bring it in and we'regonna say, Hey, this is what
we've got going on.
I'm not gonna tell you how Ibelieve or what I believe.
If it's contentious, I'm gonnatell you I'm gonna support you
and love you no matter what.
(31:43):
And we're gonna resolve theseconversations one-on-one in an
environment.
And so trying to get them to seehow much.
I think we go into that and tryto figure out how different we
are versus, how much we are thesame.
Yeah.
And I think when we can do thatwithin our team and then those
issues outside or people tryingto break in that outside, then
you can almost calm the noisedown.
(32:04):
And at the end of the day, myjob is to keep the people, oh.
Keep the people that don't likeme away from the ones that are
undecided.
And it, it's the same thingwithin our program.
If you come here and this isn'tthe place from you, I need to
keep you away from the womenthat are trying to figure it
out.
Absolutely.
And so your program is and thewomen within your program are
gonna be the filters of that iswe wanna make it so
(32:27):
uncomfortable.
If you're not a part of cultureand love and all that, we wanna
love on you so much and make itso uncomfortable for you that
you're either like, Hey man, I'mgetting in this group hug, or
I'm at it.
Yeah.
And it's a fine line, but Ithink the answer going back to
it is being transparent andhumanizing yourself as a coach,
(32:48):
being vulnerable.
Vulnerability.
Amen.
And asking the women in yourprogram to be vulnerable.
Yeah.
Be open-minded, to care aboutthe human being before you care
about anything else.
I, coach, I can't thank youenough for that messaging.
We need to multiply you andclone you because we just don't
have enough of that.
And that's why.
(33:08):
I can't get out of coaching tosave my life.
'cause I love it.
I just, I want more of it.
I want be a part of that.
I think that, and there's just alot of things I'm good at.
So this is what I wanna do.
You're fantastic at this.
I could, again, I could put youanywhere and you'd be good at,
because you're a leader, you'rea natural leader and you care
about people first.
And it's a, I've said this foryears, my biggest strength and
(33:30):
my biggest flaw is my empathy.
I care too much about how othersare, what others are going on
and I think you have to have ahuge empathy in your life to be
a coach.
No doubt.
And then going back to what yousaid there, this again goes, I
keep saying Bob'cause he saidsuch a big huge influence in my
life.
But one of the things he said tome, working.
One-on-one with me.
'cause he's the guy that can getin my junk drawer and call me
(33:51):
out.
And he just reads I saw youblink on your left eye.
You're lying.
And I'm like, I'm not lying.
Why are we crying?
I'm not crying.
But one of the things he said,and we talked about this as a
team last year, is like he said,your biggest strength.
And I think that's where you'regoing.
He's your biggest strength outof balance becomes your biggest
weakness.
Yeah.
And if yours is empathy, mine'spassion is, and I hope you can
feel that, right?
Oh yeah.
I'm passionate about everything.
(34:12):
But when that becomes out ofbalance.
That's when it deflects into, isit intimidation?
Is it anger?
Is it rage?
Or is it competitive fire?
Is this guy trying to push me?
And so we've gotta have peoplein our lives that balance that
out and say Hey man, this isyour biggest strength, but we
need it on this side.
Or your unbalanced in whatyou're doing.
I love it.
I could talk culture with youuntil the cows come home.
(34:35):
My favorite thing, but I wannatalk pitching with you.
You've produced some elitepitcher, pitchers.
You got Hannah Hall, you gotEmma Adams.
I'm sure you can go on and on.
What's your philosophy ondeveloping and managing pitchers
and pitching talent?
That's a great one.
What I'll tell you two thingsthat are, the secret here is
we've recruited amazing womenwith an amazing amount of talent
(34:57):
in the circle.
Then the second thing is we'vealways had an elite pitching
coach, and it is not the guytalking to you.
It was Rick Straube.
It was Jim and Zana.
It was Bobby Wells.
It was Mary Pilkington.
It was Bree Cooper.
It's gonna be Millie Thompsonwho just joined our staff.
And we've always had elitepitching coaches.
(35:20):
I think that, I don't know ifthey're attracted to our
program.
God has just blessed me and I'vebeen very fortunate, or I'm
really good at recruiting,pitching coaches, but I've just
always firmly believed thatpitching is, I'm a baseball guy,
right?
And I can do a lot of things.
I can learn it, and I can get inthere and I can talk about
counts and this and that and howwe're attacking hitters.
And I can do all that.
But on, when it comes to howwe're spinning it, what our
(35:42):
backside's doing.
Are we getting through on ourhips?
Are we closing, moving you?
Any of that?
That's not me.
And I've taken my pride out ofit enough to be able to admit it
and to be able to tell our womenlike, Hey, listen, if I'm in the
bullpen and I'm instructing whatyou're doing from a mechanic's
perspective, we're gonna be in alot of trouble.
And so what I'm gonna do is goout and recruit the best arms
(36:04):
that I can.
And I think I'm very talented inidentifying that in recruiting
and getting those women here.
And we've consistently done it.
Then I'm gonna turn that over tounbelievable pitching
instructors, and then I'm goingto trust them and I'm gonna give
them the tools and the trust andthe time to go out.
And we joke about it, I'm like awater boy to the pitchers.
I'm not even an assistantpitching coach.
(36:25):
I'm the guy that just bringsthem water, I'll condition them.
And that's been the key.
The key is recruiting fantasticwomen and fantastic ability.
And then putting them in aposition where they're going to
get the right instruction fromour pitching coaches.
I love it, coach.
Yeah.
Again, the staff is so valuable,and I don't believe you for one
(36:47):
second that you can't teachpitching, but I love your
humility with it, with let'stalk about speed.
Because it doesn't matter if I'mtalking to the guy that just won
the D two national championshipfor baseball or the gall or guy
that just won the D 2D threenational championship for
softball.
It's amazing how often speedcubs up when we're talking about
(37:10):
this diamond sports we all love.
Yep.
What does speed mean to you andhow do you make it a big part of
your philosophy as a coach?
It's a game changer.
And you can see, we've been inthe top, top two or three in
stolen bases, I think probablyevery year since 2013, and that
was the first year we stole ahundred bases.
(37:32):
That is a goal for us every yearis to steal a hundred bases.
The last two years, we've stolenover 200.
My buddy Wade at TLU is isknocked in that 2, 2 30 range.
So we're battling back and forthon that.
Yeah, he and I talked aboutthat.
Yeah.
But but it's a, and he agreed.
It's a game changer for us.
And and it's just all about who,how you use it, the personnel
that you have.
And yes, we've recruited a tonof speed and that's something
(37:54):
that we look at but we alsodevelop it.
But it's also, you combine speedwith aggression.
And then that's where it's at.
And so it's the wild West for usoffensively, is we want every
one of our women to be a threaton the bases.
And not only just a steel bases,but to go first to third, to go
second to home to add thosethings in because we just
believe that movement createspressure and then pressure
(38:17):
creates opportunities.
And any team that we play,they're gonna scout us.
Virginia, Wesley's gonna runVirginia.
Wesley's gonna run Virginia.
Wesley's gonna run.
And they're gonna tell theirkids that they're gonna tell
their catcher that they're gonnatell their middles that.
Even if we don't steal a base,now you're shifting your
shortstop into the five, sixhole.
'cause you're afraid we're gonnasteal third, which opens up the
middle.
We're gonna back off the plate,try to hit ball up the middle.
Now you move the shortstop upthe middle to keep that from
(38:38):
happening.
We, and then we still, stealsecond and third and, or you're
so worried about the run gamethat you miss a pitch call.
You don't want to call a changeup because you're afraid we're
gonna run.
So you call screwball orbreaking ball and then, and then
it's a double in the gap.
And that's just parlayed into alot of things that we're gonna
do, but.
I think for our women, it's notonly just having speed, but it's
the freedom to know that we'regonna go and that we're gonna
(39:02):
get thrown out and we're gonnabe aggressive and we're gonna
run when everybody thinks we'regonna run and we're gonna run.
When everybody says that youshouldn't run all the unwritten
rules, we're gonna do thosetypes of things.
And I think it just puts peopleon their heels a little bit and
just gives you an advantage.
For us.
We don't hit a ton of home runs.
We played a big ballpark.
It's two 30 to center field,which is one of the largest we
(39:23):
play in.
But if you go statistically andlook at it, we have a lot of
doubles.
We have a lot of triples, wehave a lot of stolen bases, and
because of that, we've also ledthe country and sacrifice flies
the last three years.
Everybody's that's a weird stat.
You guys don't have a ton ofpower.
I'm like, no, we're getting thethird with less than two outs
because we're running and thenwe're able to tag and score on
(39:44):
balls that people don't.
If we pop up to shortstop, I'mtagging like we're probably
gonna go.
Yeah.
Which is wild, right?
Yeah.
And so that's just, everybodythinks it's the stolen base.
It's not the stolen base thatdoes it for us.
It's the stolen base.
It's the threat, it's the extrabase.
It's the sack fly.
Yeah.
It's all of that.
And then that just turns youroffense in.
(40:05):
Really just high octane.
And man, I, people don't like totalk about base running.
I get fired up.
If you put me on stage and youwanna talk about base running, I
get fired up and I'm gonna goagainst all the, don't get
thrown out at third with oneout.
Don't get thrown out here.
Don't try to stretch this andthis.
And I'm like, heck with that.
We're rolling.
But how many games are lost in aseason when kids aren't
(40:26):
confident or they don't feelthat coach's confidence where
they hesitate for a second goingfrom first to third, or they
hesitate on that sack fly.
Yeah.
When your kids aren't thinkingabout and they're not worried
about it.
Yeah.
They're a step faster.
They're two steps faster andeverybody's waiting for their
coach.
He's The coach is gonna tell mewhen coach is gonna tell me when
I tell her women all the time,I'm not a ghost sign.
I'm a stop sign.
(40:47):
You go.
I stop.
Yeah.
'cause if you're waiting for meto send you, we're hesitating.
We work on a plus one mentality.
Everything's plus one.
I hit a, I hit a ground ball toleft field.
It's a single.
All right, what's my plus one?
Can I turn a single into adouble?
It's a ball in a gap.
I know I'm gonna get the third.
How can I score?
If we can have a plus onementality and everything we're
doing and we can just add thosethings.
But I think it's not onlyteaching it and recruiting it,
(41:10):
but it's talking about it orlike seeing how passionate we
are about it and saying let's goand showing'em videos of that
was great.
That was excellent.
And I look at a Lacey Campbelland the things that she does on
the bases, and shoot, she scoredfrom we scored two runs in the
World series.
I'm not supposed to call it theWorld Series, but I just did.
But we scored two runs in theWorld Series on stealing.
Second, we stole secondoverthrow, it gets muddled
around by the center fielder.
(41:31):
And we're gonna, we're gonna tryto score.
And we did, and maybe we getthrown out on those and
everybody says that I'm anidiot.
That's fine.
But like I told somebody theother year, you ran us out of
the inning, I said, you'reallowed to tell me I ran us out
of the inning.
If you gimme a high five for the207 stole bases we had.
But until then, you can't be,Hey, we're pumped.
Look at all the double stealswe're doing.
And oh, we, he got us thrownout.
(41:52):
I did, but we also score, wealso stole 207 bases fella.
So yeah, I can get fired up busspeed, but it, it's just a game
changer.
And even coaching against it.
When you coach against it, itjust it's a difficult task
because you've gotta givesomething up to stop it.
Will you text me the names ofthe people that are calling you
an idiot that have a nationalchampionship, please?
(42:14):
Would you just text them to me?
No, I don't wanna do that.
I'd like to have a conversationwith them.
I want to talk about thehumanity of being a coach a
little bit.
'cause I have a lot of youngcoaches that listen to this.
A lot of high school and collegecoaches that listen to this.
And I know you, we, before werecorded, you talked about your
kids and your wife and howimportant this world, this
(42:35):
culture that you live in, thatthey're a part of that.
How do you balance programbuilding with being a husband
and a dad?
I just, I haven't been reallygood at it.
I wasn't either, that's why I'mon this side.
And you're still coaching?
Yeah, and I'm trying to dobetter and I think my son, he's
13 now.
I think my wife said this to meon our anniversary last year
when we were just talking aboutthe relationship from my
(42:56):
daughter when she was three, nowfour, versus my relationship
with my son when he was in thatsame age.
And, I was just talking abouthow closer she is with her dad
and.
My wife's just very honest withme, and she's I don't wanna say
this the wrong way and hurt yourfeelings.
She's but you're more presentwith her than you were with him
at that age.
And she's I'm not saying you'renot present with him now, but
you're more present now.
(43:16):
And she said, you are also at adifferent point in your career.
Yeah.
Which is I hear what she'ssaying.
And part of you is really proudof what you do in your career,
but the other part of you isman, I missed I, I missed, I
swung and missed on that.
And, but I'm learning from that.
I get another shot.
I had a.
Daughter at 40 years old.
And that certainly changed.
And what I would say to some ofthe younger coaches is,
everybody, and I don't know whateverybody's office hours are, we
(43:38):
have office hours that we'regonna work, you're gonna turn
around, you're gonna be atpractice till seven o'clock
then.
And I think early in my career,and it was different.
It was building a program, itwas doing those things.
I was the first person to comein and brag that I was here at
seven 30 in the morning.
How much of that time from seven30 in the morning to practice at
seven, did I really work, work?
Or how much of it was me sayingI was in the office at seven 30,
what were you doing?
And so it was about trying tofind a way to be more efficient
(44:01):
within that time.
And this morning, to be quitefrank with you, I mean I was up
at seven 30, my wife's first dayback to school.
I was in charge of my daughterthis morning and we sat, had
breakfast together, we had a cupof coffee together.
I rode with her to the sitterand I got into the office at
nine 30.
The 26-year-old me would've beenlike, Hey man, it's nice for you
doing a half a day today, comingin at nine 30.
(44:22):
For the 44-year-old me is youknow what, I'm not gonna get
that time back.
And it is a hard balance.
I think Google Calendar has madethat huge for me.
My wife giggles when she's Hey,can you do this for the kids?
Can you pick them up here?
Can you add this?
And I pull my phone out.
I'm like adding to my calendar.
She's like, why do you alwaysadd it to your calendar?
I'm like, because if I put it inthere, I know I have to pick my
son up at two 30.
And I have that kid that comesin the office and is do you have
(44:44):
a minute?
I'm gonna say, Hey, I have toleave at two 30.
I have to pick up my son.
Is this gonna be a minute or 10minutes?
Because in the past I'd be like,no problem.
And then I get home at six 30.
One of the coolest thing that'son my heart to share I got
Jeremy Sheeter.
That is Coach is a phenomenalNAI program and has been with
the A BCA and he did somepodcasts as well.
(45:05):
He invited me to speak at hisbarnstormers clinic down there
last year at Georgia Gwinnettand I went down there and it
was, it's all baseball.
It's all baseball.
It was the softball guy.
It was all baseball guys, whichkind of brought me back in a
moment in time.
The the Auburn head baseballcoach spoke and everybody
stopped and listened.
And I like going to those thingsI speak at.
I like being the first one thereand the last one to leave
(45:27):
because it's like a free clinicfor me.
Absolutely.
And I was the last one to speak.
I was speaking on culture, buthere nor there, one of the
things he said that reallysuper, super resonated with me.
He said, gentlemen, I need youguys to listen.
Young, older or whatever.
And he's and I miss this.
He's I came home from a bigseries.
He's I walked through the door,I was fired up about it, do
whatever.
And he is my wife grabbed me andshe said, I, she, I had two
daughters.
He said, looked at my, he's youare gonna lose.
(45:49):
He is my little girl ran up tome and he is my wife said,
you're gonna lose her just likeyou lost your oldest if you
don't figure something out.
And he was like, I don't knowwhat you mean.
She's you bring, every day whenyou come in, you bring all of
that back into the house and allshe cares about is dad's home.
He said, it made him startthinking, and this is where he
got me, is he said, so I reallystarted doing, he's like my,
he's you have three fives inyour life, your first fives in
(46:12):
your life every day.
He said, your first fives inyour life that you've gotta be
intentional.
And he's as a coach, he's thefirst five minutes of practice
every day.
He said is the most importantpart of your practice?
He said, if you walk in therewith your head down, if you jog
up to the field, if you're late,if you got all your gear, if
you're frazzled, if you'refrazzled, he's your players are
gonna pick up on that five.
He's so I try to intentionallyin that first five minutes of
(46:34):
practice, Hey buddy, how youdoing?
Hey, how's your day?
Hey.
He's I come in with energy.
If it's gonna be a day that I'mfired up in Florida, I'm like,
we're gonna get after it.
I come in with that kind ofmentality.
If it's gonna be a looser day, Icome in looser.
He's I set the tone with myfirst five minutes.
He said the other, my firstfive.
He is I give my first fiveminutes to the Lord when I wake
up.
And he's whether that's mydevotional, whether that's
(46:54):
meditation, he is like, whateverthat is for you is to be able to
spend that first five.
Is it on your cell phone?
Is it this?
Is it that?
To spend that first five.
And he said, which got me themost when you talk about
balance, he said, the first fivewhen I walk in my house.
And I've started and actuallyforgot my watch today, but I've
started intentionally setting mywatch when I walk in after work
and hitting that five minutewatch and like just forgetting
(47:16):
about everything and whetherthat's my daughter running to me
or hollering at my son who's inhis, in his room as a
13-year-old coming down.
Ask him how his day was.
At jumping in to help withdishes or giving my wife, like I
say, a good game as you, asgiving my wife a good game or
kiss or doing that is trying tobe intentional in that first
five.
And that just sets the tone,right?
Yeah.
It's like dad's home.
(47:38):
And that's challenging, but tocarve that stuff out and then
I'm very blessed to coach womenand.
Women are as my mom told me whenI took this job, she said, men
are more, you take a airplaneride with a guy, hand you a
business card, says if you everneed anything, gimme a call.
'cause we're about our jobs andour position and our power.
Same airplane ride with a woman.
(47:58):
And she gives you pictures ofher grandkids and her babies and
her and her dogs and'causethey're more relational driven.
Very blessed to coach women andthere are many a times where I
shouldn't say many a times isthey know coach is gonna be at
practice.
They know coach is gonna grind,they know coach is gonna get
after it.
If there's something that I feelneeds to be more valued than our
(48:18):
team that day, if I need to goto orientation for my son, or I
need to go pick my daughter up,or I need to be at home or be at
something for my family, I tellthem, Hey, as soon as stretch is
over, like I got a bolt.
This is why.
I'm gonna be 10 minutes late.
This is why.
And I think in a culture of men,it's like, ah, this guy where
they're like, coach, you gottago.
(48:39):
Like you go, you're late.
Like we got it.
And I think, again, going backto the transparency pieces,
spend more time with otherpeople's kids than I do in my
own.
And so if I can just make surethat they know what's most
important, that they appreciatethat I wish I could go on a time
machine and go back to my25-year-old self.
(49:00):
Take those lessons that you justtalked about.
'cause I'm 50 and I'm just, Ifeel like I'm just learning some
of this, or I've always knownit, but I'm finally absorbing
it.
Yeah.
And I have to remind myself ofit, how important those things
are.
So they're great.
Coach, this has been awesome.
I wanna do some quick, rapidfire with you just so the
audience gets to know you alittle bit and have some fun
(49:21):
ones with you.
You ready for a little rapidfire?
Alright, let's go.
First thing that comes to yourbrain.
Favorite stadium you've evercoached in East Texas Baptist.
That facility was fantastic.
And Jane Janae and her staff andwe've been in Oklahoma City, but
I'd rather go over there andplay as a phenomenal experience.
It's not the first time I'veheard that answer.
(49:43):
Best hitter or pitcher you'veever coached against?
Shoot.
Best hitter or pitcher I've evercoached against.
Oh man, there's been so manythat have beat my brains in.
The first one that comes as, asfar as offensively I think of
two hitters.
I'm gonna cheat.
Patty Mayo Hanian fromChristopher Newport who just hit
Elite pitching unbelievablywell.
And then Abby Mace that justgraduated from Salisbury
(50:05):
University a couple years ago.
Pretty good choices.
One word your players would useto describe you.
Passionate, pre-game routine.
You never skip.
I can't say eating'cause Iskipped that all the time.
Pre-game prayer.
Biggest pet peeve at practice,rolling their sleeves up on
(50:28):
their short sleeve shirts justtells me you're lazy.
It just tells me you're lazy.
Go to the beach and get a tan.
Favorite championship memory.
Theresa Cardamone hitting athree run Homer against UT
Tyler.
Pretty good one too.
All right, last one, one drill.
(50:49):
Every coach should steal fromyou.
One drill every coach shouldsteal from me.
Is there a drill that you doevery day that you love, that
you just know that makes yourteam better or you get something
out of it?
I probably stole that drill, sothat's the problem.
That's alright.
I probably did too.
I guarantee I stole it fromsomebody or at least part of it.
(51:11):
I think for our infielder, oursmitty's which is named after a
good friend of mine Matt Smithwho owns Hampton Road Sports
Academy here in Virginia Beach.
That's awesome, coach.
Thanks for doing this.
It was a great conversation.
I'm excited to talk recruitingwith you, but thanks for doing
this and, and thanks for sharingyour passion with our audience.
I appreciate you and thank you,uh, for the opportunity to.
(51:36):
What a fun conversation withCoach Brandon Elliott from
Virginia Wesleyan University.
And what a masterclass inleadership and Longevity, three
national championships, anational runner up finish, and
nearly 700 wins in less than 20years.
When a program's built this way,it comes from a coach who truly
loves what he does, loves theculture around him, and loves
(51:59):
the people he gets to go to workwith every day.
There's a lot to learn from howhe's shaped Virginia Wesleyan
into one of the top divisionthree programs in the nation.
As always, thank you forlistening to the Significant
Coaching Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to share it with another
coach, athletic director, or aparent who could benefit from
the lessons here.
(52:19):
And don't forget to check out mybooks on Amazon, including the
Softball Recruits Journal andthe brand new release in the
series, the Volleyball RecruitsJournal that's out this week.
Both are designed to giverecruits and families practical
tools to stay organized,focused, and confident through
the college journey.
You can find more resources,past episodes, and ways to
(52:41):
connect withme@coachmattrogers.com.
Until next time.
Stay focused, stay humble, andkeep leading with significance.
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