Coaches are important educational leaders in our schools, communities, and universities. The Sport and the Growing Good (SGG) podcast provides embedded, front-line insights on winning and positive development. The SGG podcast can be heard here and on all major podcast platforms.

Jeff Duncan Andrade is widely revered as a leading professor and dynamic speaker. He’s also a public school teacher, author of books and articles, and the founder of a school. But did you know that he was also a championship-winning high school basketball coach and, before that, an elite athlete? In this episode of the SGG podcast, we discussed:

1.  How travel basketball opened the world (and universities) to him beginning in middle school.

2.  How sports revealed his “inner math and science nerd.”

3.  Developing an identity, becoming a better person, and having fun in sports.

4.  What he wished coaches would have helped him understand.

5.  The end of his college athletics dream…and Dr. Harry Edwards’ life-changing hour with him.

6.  Why he (literally) burned his college sports gear.

7.  The good and bad aspects of the trend toward more coaches being “institutionally detached.”

8.  Why schools should recruit teachers of color with coaching backgrounds.

9.  Why he asks leading university schools of education if they have consulted with their football and basketball coaches.

10.  “Presence is profound.”

11.  The multigenerational “community participation” lessons that schools should learn from sports and churches.