Contacts Coaching Podcast

On the Contacts Coaching Podcast, host interviews Jeffrey Dixon, athletic director at River Valley High School outside Pittsburgh, about his path from an average high school athlete to teacher, multi-sport coach, and AD since 2021 amid a district merger and rebrand. Dixon explains how River Valley built an indoor track program without its own facility, traveling to college sites while indoor remains PTFCA-sponsored rather than PIAA-sanctioned due to limited venues. They discuss the shift away from volunteering in coaching, strategies for staffing shortages through alumni and cross-sport hires, and communication systems that build accountability. Dixon shares culture lessons he’s borrowed from other coaches, ways to reduce subjectivity with data and video, concerns about specialization and burnout, the value of multi-sport participation, and how his mindset has evolved from chasing wins to prioritizing relationships and learning from failure.

Substack: https://gdthead.substack.com/

00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:50 Coach Dixon’s Coaching Journey
04:34 Building an Indoor Track Program
08:29 District Merger and School Landscape
11:35 Football Culture and Small-School Numbers
14:19 Volunteering vs Paid Coaching Today
20:01 Creative Staffing and Recruiting Helpers
22:13 Stealing Great Ideas From Other Coaches
26:00 Inbox Rules and Boundaries
27:39 Email Text Call Hierarchy
29:33 Overcommunicating With Parents
31:10 One Platform for Everything
32:09 Culture Builders in Programs
35:19 Making Subjective Sports Fair
39:38 Specialization and Travel Ball
48:48 Multi Sport and Real Development
50:49 Handling Insults as a Leader
53:16 Changing Minds on Winning
57:28 Wrap Up and Next Projects

Twitter: @RVTFXCCoach
Substack: @geoffdixon185810
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-dixon-caa-b69655245
Podcast Instagram: @exchangezonepodcast

On the Contacts Coaching Podcast, Butte College head women’s basketball coach Phillip Thomas Jr. shares his journey from Fairfield High (class of 2007) through multiple college stops (Delta/CRC, Florida International, Humboldt State, Whittier) and into coaching via AAU and high school before roles with Team Kidd, Academy of Art, and ultimately becoming Butte’s head coach (year three). He explains early head-coaching surprises at the JUCO level—administration, travel, eligibility, housing, and constant roster volatility—and how he now recruits by selling Chico as a college town while pulling talent from states and Canada. Thomas discusses learning from mentors like Chico State’s Coach Fogel and Rob Bishop, building a coaching network, and defining culture through accountability, punctuality, study hall, energy, and life lessons. He critiques youth/AAU development gaps, emphasizes fundamentals and “reps,” and describes coaching with authenticity over ego while prioritizing relationships and growth beyond basketball.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:23 Coach Journey Begins
01:29 Switch to Coaching Women
02:26 Landing at Butte College
03:08 Career Timeline Breakdown
04:39 Team Kidd Origins
05:25 Head Coach Reality Check
07:41 Planning for Chaos
09:32 Recruiting to Chico
11:17 Mentors at Butte
13:20 Building Coaching Network
15:52 Defining Program Culture
22:17 Life Lessons and Buzzwords
23:06 Family Concept in Sports
24:24 Accountability With Care
25:57 Players Leave And Return
26:42 Using Your Own Journey
30:08 I Had My Turn
32:33 Learning Beyond Basketball
37:30 Clubs Versus Schools
40:08 Fixing Youth Development
44:09 Teaching From Scratch
48:50 Coaching Authentically
51:02 Power Of Hello
52:06 Final Reflections

Evan Campbell from The Rectory School in Connecticut discusses his 17-year journey from college tennis player to Dean of Students and interim Director of Secondary School Advising, while also coaching varsity tennis and assisting with varsity hockey. He explains what a junior boarding school is (boarding grades 5–9, with only 11 in the U.S.), how Rectory supports varied student outcomes, and how proximity to neighboring high schools like Pomfret enables shared facilities without being a guaranteed feeder path. Campbell compares coaching in hockey versus tennis, emphasizing the mental demands of individual sports, the value of students playing multiple sports, and how his dean role shaped his coaching through consistency, accountability, and care. He breaks down head vs. assistant coaching responsibilities, humility, role clarity, and concludes with a mindset shift toward intentionally building personal connections with each student-athlete.

00:00 Meet Evan Campbell
00:37 Many Hats at Rectory
01:32 How He Got Here
02:19 What Is Junior Boarding
06:17 Rectory and Pomfret Neighbors
08:47 Coaching Tennis in Winter
09:38 Multi Sport Upbringing
12:09 Pond Hockey Culture
13:35 Dean of Students Reality
14:28 Discipline Through Relationships
18:21 Dean Role Shapes Coaching
21:28 Head vs Assistant Coach
26:36 Assistant Coach Humility
27:22 Multi Sport Coaching Benefits
29:19 Hockey vs Tennis Intensity
32:11 Tennis as Mental Therapy
35:08 Team vs Individual Lessons
35:54 Head vs Assistant Reps
46:20 Building Coaching Staff Roles
48:41 Delegation and Practice Splits
51:48 Changing Minds on Connection
54:47 Final Wrap and Golf Banter

The host interviews Coach Egypt Glover, a 26-year-old new varsity head coach at Creative Connections Arts Academy in North Highlands, California, who shares his path from growing up in South Central LA in a sports-focused family to playing travel basketball, attending Merced College, and gaining early unpaid experience as a student assistant under coach Bill Russell. After high school he built a box-truck logistics business (now a four-vehicle fleet pursuing a fifth), started a security company serving about 11 sites, and purchased a fourplex with plans for transitional housing. Glover explains how research, commitment, passion, and team-building—crediting his wife Lauryn—drove his entrepreneurship, and how networking led to coaching roles from middle school head coach to varsity assistant to JV head coach. He outlines his coaching philosophy emphasizing fundamentals, defense, buy-in, grades/behavior/practice, calm leadership, and winning on and off the court.

00:00 Meet Coach Glover
01:15 South Central Roots
03:12 High School Turning Point
03:57 Entrepreneur Detour
06:04 First Coaching Breaks
08:03 Middle School Culture Build
10:22 Climbing to Varsity
13:43 New Head Coach Mission
14:47 Business Deep Dive
18:01 Trucking to Fleet Growth
20:41 Security Company Scaling
22:21 Real Estate Wealth Play
25:40 Business Mindset Blueprint
29:20 Coaching Pay and Purpose
31:22 Networking Over Job Boards
33:40 High School Sports Boom
34:24 Breaking Into Coaching
35:38 Defining Coaching Greatness
39:53 Head Coach Reality Check
41:23 Building Staff and Culture
45:40 Receiving Feedback Well
49:08 Fall Priorities Fundamentals
52:03 Managing Emotions and Refs
56:39 Identity and Burn Boats
59:47 Changing Minds and Pruning
01:02:38 Closing Thanks and Next Steps

After three weeks on the road, the Contacts Coaching Podcast returns with Desiree Nunez, a mental health therapist and basketball coach at Eagle Crest High School in the Cherry Creek area near Denver. Nunez shares how coaching was “in her blood” through her Air Force veteran father, how she became a therapist to meet mental health needs in athletics, and how she returned to coaching after COVID—eventually earning head coaching opportunities and winning extensively with freshman teams. She explains practical sports-psychology tools for coaches: normalizing emotions (especially for boys), teaching players to notice and name feelings, locate them in the body, regulate, and then “next play.” She details a three-clap reset, body-language standards, and asking for a sub to reset. The conversation also covers time-management lessons from middle school constraints, combining drills with game-like constraints, and how “challenging” authority through curious questions improves leadership.

00:00 Meet Desiree Nunez
00:39 Coaching Roots
02:33 Therapy Path
03:52 Back to the Bench
05:38 Military Culture Shift
09:25 Sports Psychology Breakthrough
11:46 Feelings and Regulation
17:21 Notice the Emotion
25:09 Halftime and Practice Talks
26:38 Three Clap Reset
31:27 Coaching Boys as Woman
33:05 Coaching Boys as a Woman
34:05 Freshman Program Trust Issues
36:15 Head Coach Reality Check
37:35 45-Minute Practice Crunch
39:49 Zoom Out and Prioritize
43:12 Game-Like Drills and Constraints
48:44 Hack Drills for Weaknesses
54:18 Bring It Back to High School
57:50 Changing Minds on Challenge
01:05:41 Be Willing to Be Cringe
01:09:22 Assistant Coach Courage Wrap-Up