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I am a College Wrestling Coach, you
are engineers/employees with
MODOT. I build winning teams, you
design and build roadways and make
them safe to travel.

In the next 30 to 40 minutes I hope to
Teach, Motivate, Inspire, make you
feel emotion and even want to LIVE
TIGER STYLE!
• At Church- Charles Nemmers- Speak to our
group?
• My meeting with new AD Mack RhoadesWhat do you do in your free time?
• My 19 hour journey- KC, SD, STL, COMO
- All of you were a part of my journey
- rain, signs, barricades, rest areas, upkeep of
roads.
Why Tiger
Style?
"We choose
to go to the
Moon in this
decade and
do the other
things, not
because they
are easy, but
because they
are hard."
…..this is Why we succeed
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https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=Ateh7hnEnik
BRAND IT! “Tiger Style”
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My interview document at Mizzou- 7 years later
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People don’t care how much you know until they know
how much you care. Relationships over X’s and O’s
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Getting people to believe in your purpose and then
they will follow you- “What do you do here?”
“I think having the ability to communicate and,
once again, having the ability to sell your beliefs is the
key to being a successful coach. You have to give
your players something to believe in, then they will
have something to belong to. Once they have
something to belong to, then they have something to
follow. ...when you are a coach you are just selling.
You are selling team building, you are selling your
system of play, you are selling everything associated
with making an individual better, and collectively your
team better”. Herb Brooks
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Weight testing/ Runs
Individual practice results
End of the year Film results
End of the year wrestler reviews
Spirit week
Tiger Cup
Grade Point- Being on the “Academic Board”
I want to be on “Both sides of the Wall”
Level 3
• Story behind “One More”
• Everyone gives one more
….Collectively we all become better
as individuals and as a team.
• One More teaches Leadership
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My best teams have all had great leadership so I focus on developing strong
leaders.
Peer leadership is so important to team success.
- frequent meetings with individual leaders
- Have experienced wrestlers teach the younger
“A great coach will train you to do what you couldn’t do before, motivate you
to do what you thought you couldn’t; and bring out the absolute best
performance you are capable of and then some.”
The confidence we can give our athletes on the mat transfers to
leadership off the mat…(Question to my administrator on SAAC
Leaders)
List of Lincoln's failures
A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln (along with a few successes) is:
1831 - Lost his job
1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
1833 - Failed in business
1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
1835 - Sweetheart died
1836 - Had nervous breakdown
1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
1846 - Elected to Congress (success)
1848 - Lost re-nomination
1849 - Rejected for land officer position
1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
1860 - Elected President (success)
Stay the course...Are you
sure your doing the right
thing? (my wife)
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Attitude is the little thing that makes a BIG
difference. If you don’t like something change it; if you
can’t change it, change the way you think about it. “We
must become the change we want to see.”
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Shoe Salesman – “they don’t wear shoes”
6 mile run
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We don’t after the top talent but talent with a great attitude. I
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WANT YOUNG MEN WHO WANT TO BE A MIZZOU TIGER
• Why do I coach? Garbage can story
• Teachers make the best coaches- My Dad always told
me to be a great coach you must become a great
teacher. Think back to your favorite teacher in
school... You couldn't wait for to go that class and
wonder what you would do that day in class, you
didn't even realize but you were learning. Each day I
have a chance to teach and learn from my young
men.
• In your leadership role; be that special teacher and
make people look forward to coming to work and
sharing new ideas because of the culture you create.
The Prayer- my Dad would always ask me when I came to him when I was
struggling- did you pray? My junior year right before I went out to wrestle in
the state title match he came down to talk to me...I expected Lombardi,
instead he said a prayer with me... to have the strength and courage to do my
best no matter the outcome. To this day I remember that moment more
clearly then my state championship victory. The impact a Coach/Leader has
on the student/employee. I think of him when I have a teachable moment
with a young man and before I talk to that young man I to have the courage to
instill/teach/guide this young man to learn and grow from his mistakes.
• As a leader your actions and words will influence so many, so when you are
planning and talking to people, make a positive impact on them.
• I want you to realize each of these topics I talked to you about today had
nothing to do with winning an NCAA title or becoming an All American, shoot
that sometimes feels like the easy part of coaching
No sometimes my day consist of:
- I have a young man whose mother is dying of cancer
- I have another whose Dad only cares about him as a wrestler
- Parents are going through a divorce
- injuries have taken away the sport they love
- A young man who has family issues with drinking, drugs
-issues with confidence because someone in their life constantly put them down
- issues with abuses from their early life that haunt them everyday
So think about that question MACK RHOADES asked me in our first meeting.
Believe
Compete
One More
MIZZOU Defeats #1 IOWA to
win the 2015 National Duals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Two NCAA Trophy’s- The only two team trophy’s for any
sport since 1960 at Mizzou.
Six NCAA Champions in the past eleven years
Four Conference championships in a row 2012, 13, 14, 15
only one other team in Mizzou Athletics has accomplished
that- Men’s Basketball in the 80’s
Mizzou Wrestling has produced 32 All Americans in the past
decade.
Mizzou Wrestling was ranked number 1 in the polls in 200607 and in 2014-15 season.
Five top Ten NCAA finishes in the past eight years.
Only Mizzou sport to win their significant “Heisman”
Award, the Hodge, won by Ben Askren in 2006 and 2007.
Close with a….
"Banquet story"
MY ALL AMERICAN
- average walk on wrestler, he was 3rd or 4th string his first 4 years at Mizzou
- He had no money- and I mean no money- I heard that he would eat by going into hotels where there was
free breakfast
- He came to me one day to ask for a day off to help his family move out of the house they just lost.
- He wasn't living right and making bad life decisions- so after his 4th year I told him he was done not
because of his wrestling but because of his way of life
- He begged me to let him back but I said no, than he kept on and said he would buy in and live "Tiger style"
- He started to have the courage to live right
- He started to go to Bible study and even worked a Christian wrestling camp for 2 weeks in the summer
- He completely changed his lifestyle
-He became a starter on the team
- He made the National rankings
- He upset the #1 wrestler in the country
- He qualified for NCAA's
-This story isn’t going to be a Rocky ending and I tell you he becomes an All American- Actually he lost in
the All American round- heartbreaking
As we walked back to our Hotel room he pulled me aside in tears to say he failed me, I was crushed when
he said that because it was the furthest thing from the truth- I hugged him and told him how proud I was of
what he did to change his life and that YOU WILL ALWAYS be MY All American.
Thank You for allowing me to share Tiger Style
with you. Enjoy the rest of your conference.