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My guest today is Jim Schlossnagle, the head baseball coach at TCU. Since joining TCU in 2003, he has taken the program to new heights by making the College World Series five times in the last 10 years, and was named National Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2016.

In this episode, he explains why he focuses so much on the mental aspect of the game with his players (he even brings in a sports psychologist to meet with his team every week), why he chose to develop a mission statement and explicitly state three core values for his program, why he chose to not have team meetings after games, and what it was like to be chosen as the coach of Team USA. 

Show Notes:

(1:22) — How he describes his coaching philosophy

(5:42) — The program’s mission statement and three core values 

(13:00) — Why he hired a sports psychologist to work with his players

(25:55) — Making the College World Series four times since 2010

(31:20) — Why he doesn’t allow players to bring their phones into the baseball facilities

(37:55) — How he’s evolved as a coach over his career 

(47:38) — His experience with Team USA

(53:38) — How his faith influences his coaching

(56:28) — Handling work/life balance and the stress of the job

(1:01:15) — End of episode questions

End of Episode Questions:

1.  What’s 1 book every coach should read?

• The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy

2. Who is one person you’d want to hear as a guest on this podcast? Nick Saban

3. What’s one area you’re looking to improve in over the next year? Be more consistent with his sleep

4. What’s popular advice you hear people say that you think is wrong? Not that it’s advice that’s wrong, but the most successful coaches always say they wish they had enjoyed the journey more but there’s a reason they were successful and maybe it’s because they were so driven. 

5. What advice do you have for young coaches who are listening to this? Be a life-long learner

6. What’s the darkest moment you experienced professionally and how did you overcome it? His entire 2013 season, he did a poor job of managing the program that season and he wished he addressed the staff issues more on the front end. 

Favorite Quotes:

“How do you anything is how you do everything.”

“There’s only ever been one perfect guy in the history of the planet and they nailed him to the cross.”

“As the head coach I’m very aware of what’s going on from an X&O’s standpoint, and certainly have input in all those and ultimately it’s on my shoulders, but I get to spend a lot of my time on relationships, culture, and finding unique ways to teach the new players that.”

“You want to be a program that’s real consistent with everything that you can control that gives you the best chance every single year. And once you get into those settings, then it comes down to how you can control your emotions and how you play. We’re a firm believer that it’s never about the best team; it’s only about the team that plays the best.”

“My job is really character and leadership development of young people through the sport of baseball.”