The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life cover art

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

By: Paul Barnett & Jim Woolfrey
Listen for free

About this listen

We explore leadership through the lens of high performance sport, by interviewing great coaches from around the world, to try and find ideas to help all of us be better leaders.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Barnett & Jim Woolfrey
Economics Management Management & Leadership Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • Ron Adams
    Oct 9 2025

    Our Great Coach on this episode is Ron Adams.

    Ron is a basketball coach who started his career as an Assistant with Fresno Pacific College back in 1969. He then honed his craft across multiple Universities and in Belgium before moving in to the NBA in 1992. In the 32 years since then he has worked at San Antonio, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Boston and now Golden State. His teams have reached the the postseason 17 times, including four Finals and three championships in his time with Golden State.

    Q: What role does Joy play in your organisation?

    Q: What support do you have to help you discern well?

    Q: To what extent does fealty exist in your team?


    If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • Shane Jurgensen
    Sep 25 2025

    Our great coach on this episode is Shane Jurgensen.


    Shane is a former cricketer who played for Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and Horsham, Sussex in the UK. He started coaching while still an athlete in his early 20s, eventually becoming the bowling coach for New Zealand in 2008. From there, he had successful roles in high-performance coaching with New Zealand cricket and led the national teams of Bangladesh, Scotland, and Fiji. He then had a second stint with New Zealand as the Bowling coach and Head Coach and was part of the team that won the inaugural World Test Championship in 2019. Then in 2023, he led the Wellington Firebirds to the Plunket shield in New Zealand.


    Key Questions:

    · What routines do you use to open team meetings? How they can be used to deepen seflessness within the group?

    · What is the level of dispersed leadership across your team?

    · How are your development plans spread across improving base capabilities versus growing new ones?

    If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    49 mins
  • Scott Roth
    Sep 11 2025

    Our great coach on this episode is Scott Roth.


    Scott is a former basketball player who played 160 NBA games with the Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves. His playing career also took him to Spain, Turkey and Greece. As a coach, he has led teams in Spain, the he Dominican Republic and the the NBA G-League as well as being an assistant coach of the Chinese and Turkish national teams. He was also an Assistant with the the Mavericks, Golden State, Piustons and Raptors, and with the Perth Wildcats in Australia.

    In 2021, he was appointed Head Coach of the NBA’s expansion Team, the Tasmanian Jack Jumpers. He led them to a Grand Final in his first year and the Championship in his third.


    Some of the ther highlights for me included:

    Scott’s view that allowing the outside influence of social media into your mind can stop you from being vulnerable enough to dare greatly.

    Question: How do you manage the outside influences that can, in Scotts words “drag dirty feet through your mind?”

    How he uses vulnerability to illustrate the role that care plays in his leadership style, and how he uses this to coach hard and challenge people.

    Question: How do you find the balance between telling people the truth, but also exhibiting care?


    The fascinating story of how he taught his new players and club what it meant to be Tasmanian by sending them to work on an Apple Orchard. And the bloodlines group he set up of people that have shaped Tasmanian Basketball, to help the team stay connected to its heritage.

    Question: What routines do you use to connect your team to the identity that shaped it?


    If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com



    The way Scott talks about his evolution as a leder, from

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.