Understanding Your WHY and The People Around You

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Welcome to beyond you'd why Podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually helping you discover and then live your why. And so, if you're a regular listener, you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys, and then we bring on somebody with that why so we can see how their why has played out in their life. And so today we are going to be talking about the why of trust. So if you have this why, then trust means everything to you. You believe that trust is the driving characteristic behind all you stand for, and you will work hard to create it. When the relationship is based upon trust, the sky is the limit. You will go to great lengths to demonstrate that you are trustworthy and do such thing as becoming an expert in a given field or with respect to a particular subject so that you can demonstrate your expertise and thereby establish that you can be trusted. You will look to do things properly and correctly, because that is what a trusted person would do. You want others to know that you can be counted on and you will go the extra mile to demonstrate that with your actions, your words and your deeds. Many people with your why enjoy numbers, because numbers don't lie. And endeavors such as gardening or sculpting that are predictable. People with other whys may get annoyed by a violation of their trust to you. It is like a knife in the gut. Like those individuals with the why of contribute. You have a very noble why and work hard to be known as an individual who can be counted on. You build loyal and lasting friendships and relationships. So today I've got something totally different that we've never done before. I'm going to have a co host with me who I'll introduce here in just a minute and then we will bring on today's guest. So my co host is my partner, Jerry Lujan. Now, you've met Jerry in the past because we did a podcast together and so we interviewed him about his life and he is somebody who had a very successful business, sold his interest in the partnership about 10 years ago, and for the last 10 years he has been coaching and working with high performers, whether that's in business or whether that's in sports. So Jerry, welcome to the podcast.

Thanks Gary. Great to be here, man.

So today We've got a great guest. Somebody that you have worked with for the last, what, six, seven years? Five years. How long?

Six years now? Six years.

And so you've mentored him. You were the person. Let me tell everybody his bio real quick so we can. We can talk about. His name is Coach Brian Greene now. He was named the 17th head coach in Washington State University in June of 2019. After coaching five years as the head coach at New Mexico State University, Green was hired at New Mexico State in August 2014 to resurrect a program with limited history and resources. After winning just 11 games in year one, Green brought new Mexico State to immediate championship expectations. In 2016, New Mexico State had the biggest turnaround in College Baseball, winning 34 games. In 2017, the Aggies won 35 games and were the conference tournament number one seed. In 2018, the Aggies won 40 games, won the conference championship and were participant in the Lubbock Regional. The aggies won the WAC regular season in 2019 and entered the tournament as the number one seed. From 2016 to 2019, New Mexico State was 147 and 83 overall and never won fewer than 34 games in each season. Now, I know, Jerry, that you were on the committee that brought him to New Mexico State, is that right?

Yeah, I was on the selection committee in that year to bring. To bring a new coach in and revive the program. And we ended up pretty much unanimously choosing Brian to be the head coach. And the main reason was, you know, he had a big vision and this great story about what he was going to do to transform the program. He also graduated from New Mexico State, so that made it a little bit easier. But we were focused on somebody that we felt could come in and transform the program. And you know what? I have to be honest, he was so good at telling the story about what he was going to do with the program. It was almost unbelievable about how he was going to transform it. Bring the community in, start an RV program, start bringing in recruits that could not only play well, but lead in the community. And sure enough, not only did he do what he said he's going to do, he exceeded it.

And then you and I went down and worked with him and his team on helping them discover their why, how and what.

Yeah, we met. We were playing golf one day, just so happened, the three of us, probably, I don't know, five years ago or so. It's when we were doing the why the old way, where we were just asking a lot of questions and we discovered his why, after a round of golf, having a cold beverage and, you know, became pretty obvious that his why was trust. And that led to him wanting to know more about himself and then wanted to know more about what he could know about his players. And so that's where this whole thing started and part of our relationship together.

Well, I know you have been working with him and mentoring him and staying in, you know, real close contact with him for the last five years. And so this is going to be great for me to kind of hear how he has taken this and applied it to his coaching, applied it to his teaching, apply it to his recruiting. I'm excited to hear this, and I know he's right here to join us, so why don't we bring him on with us? Brian. Hey, welcome to the podcast.

Good morning, guys. Thank you for having me, Jerry. Gary, this is awesome. I'm gonna have so much energy talking about this this morning. This is something that's impacted my life. We're different. You know, I go up, I'm talking in a coaching convention, and I'm talking about our whys and I'm talking about our personalities, and I'm talking about breaking players down in terms of who they are and who our coaching staffs are as people. I've got so much juice for it because I just feel like it's been the biggest change agent in my life. Jerry talks about the unfair advantage of knowing your why and knowing our staff's why. We have completely dove into it. We've blown it up into a bigger thing. Now it's not just our coaching staff. It's now our current players, and now it's moving into our. Even our recruits. So huge advantage. I love it. It's something that's powerful for me, and it's been a major change. When I really got into discovering it, I think it's when our program kind of took off. So excited to bring it here to Washington State and excited to be on this podcast. It's going to be a great learning opportunity for me this morning.

So what was it like for you? I remember sitting there at the country club like Jerry was talking about, and we went through a lot of questions the way we used to do it before. What was that like for you to discover your why?

Well, it was a lot of fun. The more that, like Covid, has been an awesome opportunity for me, and I think for all of us, if you look at it the right way, it's an opportunity to bond with your family, be at home. But for me, it's been about development and professional individual development, team development. And I find that the peak performers and all of those championship models, any sport, any of that. Everybody's talking about self discovery right now, and everybody's talking about. And Jerry talks about this. Think about your thinking. But going back to that day after I had just shanked it on the golf course.

Going through something that was totally new for me. And then when you guys spit it out and you knew right away, I mean, it's. I think there were eight or nine things that we were breaking down. But after about question four, you started peeking at each other, hey, look at this guy. He's a trust guy. But when you spit it out, like somebody shaking me, just in the sense of, man, that really is who I am. When you start evaluating that. And I started thinking about 20 years of my life going in reverse and saying, wow, that is really hitting home. And this makes a lot of sense moving forward. I had no clue, Gary, what I was gonna do with it. I just knew that there was, you know, individually, boy, that's. That's a real thing. And as it grew then getting into knowing each other, staffs, players, and how important that is, big day for me. But it was a real eye opener. There's no question about that. It's something so simple, too. Just thinking about who I am.

Yeah.

I don't. Enough of us do enough of that just to literally think about self discovery.

So then you first took it and went to your coaches. I remember. And I think, Jerry, you went down and worked with all the coaches first, Is that right?

Yeah, we. That's the path that we go down. Once somebody really understands themselves, then it's critically important to understand everybody around you. Because what I found is it's. It's virtually impossible for any of us to understand why, how, and what somebody does the things the way they do if it's not the same way we do it. So when we did that, we started doing it with the coaches and kind of some same thing kind of thing. Eyes lit up. And the whole intent of that meeting was, how do we get people in the right position to play at the highest level? And it was pretty eye opening how that went, huh, Coach?

It was incredible. It was just. It was something that I had never considered. I think the biggest thing is what Jerry just said is about how each of us. And I think even in our conversation, when I first learned my why and we started getting into it a little bit more was when we were discovering, do you ever get to a spot where Somebody does something and you just can't even comprehend how that person operates. And, well, of course, something that is so simple and something so dear to myself, how could you possibly do that? And then when you understand that that is who that person is as an individual. Boy, you talk about navigating and respecting each other and now getting into group communication, group performance.

Something Jerry says, the unfair advantage. But I don't know if it's an unfair advantage, but the culture of our group, from a coaching staff perspective, I've never had it like this, ever. You know, there's now eight of us. We all know our whys, down to the student assistance. And there is so much higher a level of respect because we know each other, and a lot of times we just don't understand each other. So we do things that disrespect each other and it's not intentional. And, boy, it's been a awesome thing for us. And in my industry, in my area, which I don't think I'm any different than anybody else, but we're talking essentially about the managers of an organization. What we're really talking about is we've got to be on the same page so we can send that message downward and then bring it back upward and be on the same page and create a culture as an organization for us. I got the job at Washington state in the Pac 12 from New Mexico State, and our whole organization picked up in Las Cruces, and we moved right to Pullman, Washington, and we didn't skip a beat. We were actually this year just named the Washington State University Comeback Team of the Year in our first year, program won 11 games last year. This year we won nine in 16 opportunities. So exciting stuff. A GPA record for the team. Highest GPA we had ever had in the fall. And we did all this stuff. We took the Y's and brought it in, and we placed premium on culture. But it really starts with, we've got to know each other and the team. We, the players, have to know that this guy is different than this guy. It's an awesome thing. I'm getting long winded, but you guys have really impacted me. It's a cool, cool thing, and it's a real advantage.

So I remember after you guys worked with the coaches, and then Jerry says, hey, do you mind? Would you mind? Would you want to come down to New Mexico State in Las Cruces and work with all the players? Remember, we came down there and Jerry and I took your entire team through the. Through the process of discovering their why, how and what? We put them up on the boards, on the whiteboards, or I mean, on the big sheets of paper. And then how did your team receive that? What was that like for your team? What was that like for your coaches to now understand your team and you to understand the different personalities and players on your team? What was that like for you?

Yeah, you know, I think when we first hit it, the kids, you know, we had a bunch of junior college guys in our first class. What is going on here? Why are we doing this?

But.

But I think for anybody at the top of the organization, if you're going to do it, you've got to communicate and sell why you're doing it. And we did. Initially, it was just with our players. Oh, this is kind of cool. I've never really thought about myself, who I am. What I took that with our kids was I started pointing out different players, just like you guys did with me in terms of being a trust person and what that person really is, and then talking about our players and guys. This is this guy's personality and this is this guy's personality. And. And once we understood that, I think you got a chance to do this a lot quicker because you get it. And if you have good people in your organization and we hammer out, just try to get good people in our group. But if you have good people and you know each other's. Why? Well, instant respect, instant culture. In my opinion. If you got bad people, you got a problem anyway. But that's where I started. But the kids really took to it. And then for us, Gary, I mean, it's. The Y Institute is a part of our recruiting presentation. There are still pictures from our first meeting in New Mexico State with our players. It's a massive part of what we do. And then the really exciting part is on the recruiting end is we promote that because that's what we do. But then we start attracting people who are interested in that. So then we get into more people who are interested in self discovery and our culture just grows and it improves. So all things I've learned just going through it. Really cool.

Awesome. So when you said I've got to sell and communicate it to my coaches and then sell and communicate it to my team, how did you do that, take us through that?

Well, if for any of us, when we think from an athletic perspective, I think when you know, everything is based on emotion and story and feel, and you go back to thinking about our greatest years, whether it was little league, high school, whatever we were a part of but those groups that were special to us, they invoke emotion. When you think back for all of us in the athletic industry, we think about the championship years, the years that we were great. And from a coaching perspective, which the players perspective is the same thing we all go back to, you think about that locker room and you think about that coaching staff culture. I do. And I think about the years that I've been to the postseason. There's been a lot of opportunities to go there. But those great years, you know, the super regionals are a college World Series at the Division 3 level or the Final Fours at the junior college level, coaching staffs are always intact.

For me, that is where I wanted to start being a trust guy. As the head coach, you know, if you are not unclear about your assistant coach and you are a trust person, that can really create some conflict. So we started there and we started at the fiber of we are going to invest in each other so we can maximize the opportunity for our staff culture to be great. Because with all of us, think back all of our championship years, the coaching staffs are tight. They hang out together, they communicate at a high level, they're honest, they're open. Conflict is fine. They respect each other. So that's where we started, Gary, and our coaching. I mean, our coaches really took to it. It was really cool. And again now, I mean, we talk about it all the time, we laugh about it. Hey, here he comes. Here you contribute, guy. Hey, man, let's go. Or here comes back. Find your guy. Or. Yeah, okay, the trust guy. Don't screw with him. But it's really cool. And you just feel like you're communicating at a much higher level.

So when you think about.

I love what you're doing, though.

I mean, I just love every. You're speaking my language. You're right. You are the ideal of what we believe and what we think is and we know is possible. So in particular, with your why of trust, how do you articulate that to your team? What do you say so that they know how important trust is to you?

That's a great question. And again, it's one of those things where I think about our team rules. We have three in the program. But before I let those out, those team rules are based on my why, which I had no clue of, but that didn't make so total sense. But you know, rule number one in the program, tell the truth, and it is the rule. So being a trust guy, obviously I can't break that number one. So I've got to Be extremely open with our players because if I break their trust, I understand how just what a dagger that is to me individually. So we're very open on the front end as a program. I'm very open in how I communicate with our players. And life is so much easier these days in our program for me because there's, you know, we're in a professional world of sales and especially in the college athletics industry, There's a lot of coaches who potentially don't operate like that. You know, they try to maneuver people, and I just don't do that. But how I've used it in my line for us is I know who I am. I communicate it openly to our players, and then in doing that, that's when we do their whys so they understand. And I tell them on our first meeting, guys, I tell them in the recruiting process. My why is in our recruiting presentation, guys, I am a trust person. I am going to establish everything with my relationships that are built on and based around my trust with you and my coaching staff. That is who I am as a person. It is at my fiber. And when you guys highlighted that, it really made a lot of sense. So it starts in the recruiting process where I communicate that to the families and I say, and they know if you break my trust and I break your trust, it's not going to work. So I'm going to tell you everything about this program right now on the front end. So when you come here and you've been here four and five months, we're going to look at each other, we're going to have a moment, and it's going to be, you told me the truth.

Awesome.

And then that moves into the fiber of the program with our three rules. But rule number one is tell the truth. It's fascinating to me, but, yeah, I really. I communicate it, Gary, very openly and honestly to our players on the front end. And I feel like it's a real strength of mine. I just. I tell them who I am. I also. We're going to discover who you are, and then in knowing that, we're going to. We're going to be able to communicate much more effectively.

You hit the critical thing right there with the why of trust. You hit it right on the head, which is if you don't articulate it, odds are they're going to let you down. Odds are they're going to break your trust. If you don't tell them how important that is to you, they're going to do something for sure that that's Going to mess that up. Not really thinking about it. But now that you've hit it head on from day one, the odds are they're not going to do that, right?

Absolutely. And that's just. That's something, again, that I didn't consider 10 years ago. People were doing things, not to me, but as particularly to me as a trust person. How could you even possibly do something like that and just rip a knife right into my gut? How could you do that to me? And that person's like, what are you talking about? I didn't even consider that had anything to do with you. And just little things like that from that very basic opening of communication. But with our players, it's a different advantage. But I just think it enables us, the kids, to know who I am as a person. And then they do know. I have a story. It's a short story, but I think back to after you guys broke down my why. And then I remember back at the University of Kentucky as an assistant coach, we had a player, really great kid. And I remember him saying, this is in like 2009. And when after I discovered my why, I remembered the kid saying this, but he said, hey, man, don't ever cross Coach Green. Boy, does he hold grudges.

And I said, coach, this great kid. And he meant nothing by it, but he's like, oh, Coach Green, he'll hold grudges on you. And I realized, I'm a trust guy. Well, of course I do. Yeah.

Hey, Jerry, you remember when we were there and we had Coach Green, There was one kid in particular that had the why of challenge. Remember that?

Oh, yeah. And you stood up, Coach. I mean, when you figured that out, you stood up and you were like, oh, my God, no wonder. And that guy went from everybody thinking he was a pain in the butt to, in essence, becoming a leader. Because it was clear you understood him better, and then everybody else understood him better. You want to go into that a little bit?

Do, yeah. And that is a very, very accurate assessment of that player. You know, we had a player on our team who was a challenge guy. And when we. As soon as it went up and I had a better understanding of the whys and who those whys were. And then when we transferred it onto the players, when we evaluated or identified our players in New Mexico State and we. We went up and this player became challenged, we all went up, of course. My goodness. Then how we utilized that was I brought that up to the players. I was like, guys, you might think that this player is disrespectful to you or this is who he's not thinking about you. Well, this is who he is. So what we do is we highlight it. That's who this person is. That's who this person is. That's who this person is. And then the individual, as I've evaluated it, we get to embrace it. We get to embrace who we are. And then if you're a challenge guy, you probably become more of a challenge guy because. But when you understand that with each other, great. It's not. This person is not challenging to disrespect me. The individual. He's challenging because that's who he is at the fiber of who he is. And once you know that from a cultural team perspective, man, it's been pretty powerful, and it just enables us to all respect each other more.

What I've been so impressed with is you took hold of this as it applied to you, then you took hold of it as it applied to your coaches. Now you're taking hold of it as applied to your team and now to your recruits. And as Gary said, what I've enjoyed watching the journey. I mean, we spend so much time together on how you've really embraced this and used it is. It's totally authentic to you to talk about trust, then your how is make sense of things and your what is to clarify and then simplify. And so it's everything that you do, like you were saying, the fiber of the organization has transcended into, I think, the last, I don't know how many years in a row you have a top 40 recruiting class never happened before at New Mexico State, as far as I know, happened pretty much every year you were there. You know, you got the community service award at New Mexico State. Every year, one of your kids that went into pro ball got the community service award for the Mets in all of their whole organization. So the things that you're not only learning yourself, but transcending your coaches, transcending your players is what I love so much, and it's why we connected, is you're helping them become better leaders, not only on the field, but off the field. And I think that's one of the things that why you're getting the recruits you're getting because the families trust you, that you care about them at a level way deeper than just becoming better baseball players, which you're obviously doing that too well.

And it is, Jerry. It's authentic to me. And you guys really highlighted it. And it became like this, oh, my God, this is awesome. Because that's just. That's what drives me. I mean, what drives me is emotion. I cry, I'm vulnerable. I want to be a part of a group that's going to cry together. We're going to laugh together, we're going to have a great time together. I mean, shoot, you know, in 40 years or 50 years or however long I go, I'm not going to be here anymore. I want to enjoy this time with family, and family is such a big thing for us. But when I think about this thing, this why thing, when I learned it and then had an opportunity to go out and share it and then be able to present it as in, this is who we are, this is what you're going to get. But the funny thing is, again, it goes back. It's a big circle. I'm a trust guy, so of course I want to share that because I'm going to protect myself. That that doesn't get broken when those kids come into the program. But it has just changed everything, how we operate and it's been really fun. So it's really. It's impacted me. And you're right, you know, I'm that big piece of me, of that makes sense. Component after trust at the fiber for me. Let's take this and how can we now make this thing into a beast? How can this give us an unfair advantage? And for us, yeah, recruiting. You know, I can't comment publicly on what's going on here with future recruits, but, you know, our 2020 class was that one I can comment on. But we had four of the top 10 players in the state of Washington for a program that won 11 games. Last year. We had the number five ranked junior college class in America the fall. All those kids will now show up to campus here in the spring. And, you know, we're looking to do what we did in Las Cruces, and that's rebuild the program in a much different environment in the PAC 12. But it's just cool because it's so different. You know, this isn't. We don't recruit. We recruit talent. Clearly, you know, we're in the coaching industry and we're in the talent industry, but we're into the person first, player second industry. That's our culture at Washington State. That's my culture. That's our culture as a coaching staff. And we just believe in people first. And if we can hammer the person first, we're going to get the results on the field, we're going to get the results in the classroom. We're Going to get the results in the community. And this has been such a big piece, really. Just thinking about. Think about yourself. So when we talk about the mental game in baseball where you know what you're doing in the box and you know what you're doing on the mound and there's their awareness piece, it really starts when we do our culture training and we do our why training with our kids in the first 12 days of school and they evaluate themselves and it's the first time probably in their lives that they've ever put any thought into who am I as a person. And it's very cool for me as the head coach because I know how it's impacted my life. So when I get to share it with them, I know I'm impacting their life. And it's a very cool thing. It's kind of a drug. I mean, it's just, it's neat and Because I know I'm making them better in the long run for their life and it's cool.

Yeah. I remember when we were going through all the kids. Why, how, what? Not long after you arrived on campus in that auditorium, we went through it all. And when we discovered them one by one, I'd look up at you and could see the smile on your face because you knew that you knew, right? You knew what you had and you knew how you were going to communicate with them and how they were going to communicate with you. And then when you see how it went from where they were, I mean, when we showed up, it was a different thing to where 16 games into the season they were. Man, it's so exciting to just see the growth.

Yeah, it was really cool. And just, you know, relationships take time. But, you know, we were. Division 1 baseball put us as the comeback team, you know, the surprise story of college baseball in our Pac 12 write up. And we were just getting started. You know, we're 16 games in, but we went from this culture to this culture in seven months and it was really cool. We were talking last night with some coaches, we had a zoom and we were going over that going, man, it was getting kind of fun. You know, we were building. We were really improving at a clip faster than I think any of us had anticipated. So really cool. But yeah, I just, I've taken this thing and we've developed it and made it so much bigger than I ever thought we could. And now it's basically organization and culture system wide at the fiber of who we are. The first thing we're going to do is we're going to talk about you. And the first thing that we're going to do is we're talking about me and we're going to talk about each other before we even get moving. And you know, Gary, Jerry, we're having a beer in Albuquerque at a golf course. And now I'm talking about it when I'm. Before I go into my hitting presentation at the national coaching Convention in front of 7,000 coaches, before I talk about the swing, I'm talking about my why Because I believe in it, you know, Because I believe that before we can talk about the swing with our hitters, if we know each other's why, we can communicate better and then we can really get to the core of whatever we want to do. And it's just. Anyways, it's really cool. I'm obviously, I've got some energy this morning. I've only had one cup of coffee, but it's a cool thing. It's where my passion now lies. You know, it's just at the fiber of our program. I'm a hitting coach, I'm the culture coach, but I am the Y coach. And it is very cool.

Yeah.

Here is what is fun to watch also is, you know, one of the things we talk about is when you know yourself that well and then you get in the right lane or the right position, you can run faster and further. And we were talking earlier, before we got on this podcast, about how much energy you have because you know yourself so well when you're in the right lane, you don't run out of energy, actually. It just gives it to you. And so you're a perfect example of that.

I've identified that during this Covid time, my energy is through the roof right now, and I'm cooped up in this office and I've got a great office. I'm really fortunate. But I mean, my energy has blown up, you know, in these two months where, you know, there's a lot of people that are depressed. And I'm like, man, this is. We are developing as people, we're developing our culture right now and get an opportunity to professionally develop. I'm talking to so many big league and major league coaches. And then this is. It's so exciting because, you know, I know when I come back and when we come back, I'm going to be better educated, I'm better able to communicate these things. I'm going to take it to my team. But I'm already starting. I mean, you know, we're talking why with our recruits right now. So for me, future thinking, where we're going to be in September. I already have the whys of our players coming into the program right now. So again, huge advantage on that first meeting. Who's the challenge guy? Well, he'll be up in the corner with the hat on and he'll have the bad body language. So I'll attack him first and he'll come back at me. But I know that so we'll be okay and then I'll get him afterwards and we'll break it down. But that's the exciting stuff. And I just know I'm speeding up the process of our program.

What do the parents of the recruits think when you talk about the why?

We're open about that. You know, being a trust guy, I just. The parents are so critical for us. I have to communicate with the player or with the parents in the recruiting process. As a head coach, I probably spend. There aren't a lot of head coaches, I think, who spend as much time as we do as a pro program, as an entire coaching staff in the recruiting process of getting to know one another because we know we're about ready to engage in a relationship. But the feedback that I get, Gary, is just in the recruiting process is, you know, I get this one a lot. Coach going to talk baseball and then they don't mean that disrespectfully. But you know, we've got an hour and a half presentation of who we are and the first 50 minutes is entirely based on culture. And you know, the first seven, eight slides is self discovery, team culture, your why, who you are, how you operate, my why. I have three slides dedicated in a presentation to who I am because they have to know. And that's going back to being a trust guy and who I am. I get why that's so important now because I'm securing and defending myself that when they come in the organization, they're already going to know that. So I'm giving myself an opportunity that they won't break it because if they do, they're done. And I know it and I communicate it with those families on the front end in the recruiting process.

So take us through. You don't have to give us names or anything, but take us through who you've got, why wise coming in next year and how you decided on what would be a good mix or what feels right to you or how are you constructing a team based on their whys?

Well, it's just now for us, we're not afraid of any, you know, the whole thing becomes body language and it becomes respect and it becomes being a good person. And those are the things that we heavily evaluate in the recruiting process when we're with them. But the cool thing for me now is I know I used to shy away, just not intentionally, but I would, I would shy away from a challenge guy, you know, and, or I would even shy away from a guy who is, who wants to contribute, you know, because he's got maybe some of that pleaser thing for us now if there is a high level of respect, eye contact, body language, good parents, good communication, it's open, it's honest for us. Now how we've constructed is we're not afraid. I'm not afraid. From a player perspective now, the coaching aspect is different. Gary, I think I've got to be really careful with that, with who we bring into our staff. And Jerry and I talk about that just in terms of, hey, this guy's a challenge guy. You're going to have to. That could be a potential roadblock for you. You need to know that on the front end. But from the player perspective, I'm wide open and it's opened us up to bringing in more personality and more varying personality within our group. In the past I would have maybe said that some challenge type players were players that were disrespectful and wouldn't fit into our system. And now it's no, that's not the case at all. He's a good person, he's just a challenge guy and that's just who he is. And when we know that on the front end, no problem. And so it's, it's really opened me up to having more vast personality with the players perspective. That's why we're kind of in a race to do it before they get here. And that's why we cover it in the recruiting process. It just eliminates conflict.

I wonder if you're going to find over time that a particular why makes a better pitcher, a particular why makes a better first base player. If it has anything to do with that. One of the things that I want to study, and so does Jerry we were talking about this is I want to know the whys of the best of the best, Michael Jordan, Tiger woods, those players, and see if there's any similarities in how they think or if it doesn't have anything to do with that. I'd be curious on your perspective if you have any thoughts on that at all. Think about your best players. Were they the same wise or were they just all over the board?

I think when I think about. I think they're all over the board. But I tend to see the contributor and the trust guy. Those guys tend to. And of course I think that. Because that's who I am. Right. But I haven't found a lot of challenge. A lot of them, however, had. One of the best players I've ever coached was a challenge guy. And once I was able to break down his wall, not knowing it back then in 2009 and 10. But once I was able to get through that barrier. You want to talk about a close relationship? This was a player who was like a 150 hitter in Kentucky and in his junior year became a fourth round pick, hit.372 with two strikes. I mean, tough as absolute you could ever have. And he was an absolute challenge guy. And you had to really. Again, I know that now we didn't do his why back in Kentucky, but I know that now. Well, of course he was. That's totally who he was. And I really had to work for it with him. Boy, we had great relationships. So I do think it's all over the map. That's been my experience so far. But I do know that the contributor guy is someone you really want in your team and you'd like a few of them.

Yeah. It's gonna be fun over time to be able to track all of this now.

Yeah.

And have the data to go with the feeling.

Yeah. Well, we're doing it here. And I know we are the only program in the country who's doing this in baseball. I know, I mean, I say that arrogantly, but I just. I've never heard of it. It's exciting, it's fresh. Our director rops just the other day said, boy, you should see the difference right now of our whys of our current team, and then the whys of the guys that we just recruited in our first recruiting class. And we weren't selling, we were presenting who we are and we were gathering a different group of people individually just in terms of what they were attracted to. There's a lot of trust.

And it's just fascinating, you know, it's very, very interesting to look at it and then it makes sense.

And Jerry, you were saying maybe we. Maybe coach could share his screen or something and did you might have something that you could show us or maybe not?

Yeah, no, I. Let's see it.

Let's see it.

Yeah, no, I.

Something you guys have been working on.

Yeah, absolutely. I've. This won't.

You're going to have to Describe it because a lot of people will obviously be on audio and only be listening to this. I know some of. We have this in video as well so that you can come back later and see this.

But love to see it. Well, yeah, so we're just. I'm huge on culture, you know, the Y Institute, Jerry, you know where it started there, it just has been such a big thing for us. As you can see there. You know, we're very intentional with our culture. And so this is actually a presentation that I have just in terms of how do you build culture, you know, what is culture? Well, I mean, it's a fancy word for how does it feel, how does it sound, how does it act, how does it look? I mean, all of those things. But going into, if you, if you look at that, the staff formation is where we start and then being intentional and then our core values, all those things are into our core values of our culture. And let me show you what I mean here, I'll scroll through here. But there's Simon Sinek and here's our three year vision and our obstacles and all those things. But I want to show you what we do. There it is. There's our what, how, why. This is how important it is for us. And this is who our guys are. You know, what's your why? Well, there's Coach Green. I'm a trust guy, Clagett's a contribute guy, Terry Davis is a trust guy. And you look at all those trust guys and that's the coaching staff. So we've kind of found each other. But you know, Coach Bergeron, a challenge guy and that that's his why and how. I mean, he could that his why could potentially be a challenge that was really huge for us to understand, not only in the hiring process on the front end, but knowing that this could be an obstacle for you. I was up until one in the morning last night talking with Greg and he's just a great friend. But knowing that on the front end has been really big. We invest, starting with staff and then we have these same things for our players. But you can see there, this is a presentation of. It's critical to our understanding and communication and our statements of team.

So what we're looking at just for the people that are listening is Coach Green has a matrix that has his. All of his coaches on the left and then what is their why, how and what? So that he has it up front and center along with their Colby. Because I know you use Colby as well to complete the package of who Do I have on my team as my leadership team?

Yeah. And it's. We do it with everybody again. Another thing that I've learned, you know, you start off with your. With your senior staff, which is how it started for me, was a couple of coaches, and now we've got everybody on there from a baseball perspective of who's on the field. But then, Gary, this is even old, and now we've done our trainer, and we've done my wife, Becky, and Jerry and I were talking now that we're going to probably expand that into all of the wives, and it'll just keep going into our family because it makes sense. You know, the more we understand each other, the better. But, yeah, we've got each coach's why, how, what? And we've got each coach's Colby index as well. And we have the coolest stories to share from a communication standpoint and from an efficiency standpoint and from an operational standpoint. When you know each other, you know how to communicate. My guys know, first off, don't ever, ever beat around the bush. Don't ever do anything other than just tell the truth. But then I'm a trust, make sense, clarify, simplify, and that's who I am. So if you come into my office, we need it like this. It needs to be upfront, honest, quick, clear, concise, short. Because that's my personality, and that's how I communicate with Coach Davis. Now, he is a. It's got to be very clear, and there's a right way to do it, and there's a make sense component for Terry. So we come at it from a different angle, but because we know that we can communicate effectively, and he's my recruiting coordinator. I mean, he's a huge piece of our program. But Terry knows that there's a way to communicate with me, and I know that there's a way to communicate with him. And we also know, because we do this when it's really, really important, we come in and put the brakes on and say, hey, I need you locked in right now, and I need you locked in on me in terms of who I am. I'm going to talk a little bit longer right now. I'm going to do a little bit more of right way. Makes sense, not necessarily who you are, but you need to lock in, because I'm going to hear. You need to hear this, because my personality is. I'm in and out, but that's not Terry's personality. So it's been huge in terms of avoiding conflict on the front End and it's been huge with communication. So yeah, this getting into knowing each other and there's our Y institute. But I mean we go over this and again Gary, I know you clarified but we've got the nine whys. Our coaching staff has this. They know and we communicate with each other. Man. Hey, this is kind of where you line up. But we've taken all this stuff and we break down what Anthony Clagett here showing his on the screen. But his wise to contribute. That's absolutely true. That's who he is. But I understand going through this, what does that really mean? So because of that I can communicate more effectively. But yeah, so we really get into this and it's a lot of fun. So I love this.

You are just speaking our language. Isn't he, Jerry?

Oh man. What's so fun is like one of the coaches he was talking about before he brought him on, he hired him. The rhythm that we've gotten into is let's run these assessments. Yeah, because it's predictable what you're going to get and when you know it then. And if it fits right. If they believe what you believe in each other and you know how to, how to communicate, you can just move through things so much faster instead of just trying to out guess it. And there are some times where okay, coach, these are some potential obstacles that you, that you need to just be aware of. Doesn't mean they are obstacles. They're just things to be aware of. And so we dialogue about that. And I mean the last time before one of the coaches you were interviewing three different coaches. We broke it down and said, okay, here's what's predictable, what you're gonna get. And then you decided which one you felt was the best fit for you. So it's not. It's an unbelievable filter. So you can be proactive about it as well as use it when you're, when you're in together. And Brian's a pro. He, you know, he works at his craft so hard. He takes all these different things into consideration that are different than most people would. And it's just so gratifying to see it paying off for you, Skip.

Thank you, Jerry. I mean it's been this, this thing has been massive and But I think a really cool thing now. And we talk about the unfair advantage and you know, obviously I'm really confident in our beliefs of this. This at the core of it, this is the absolute where it starts. You know, this is, it's. And it starts in the hiring process. But now Knowing wise and who people are for us. For me, I'm pretty energized with the fact that five years ago, I just don't think a challenge guy is going to be on my staff. I don't think he's going to fit. And I didn't know why. I just knew that personality doesn't mesh with me.

Now.

You can bring one in, I can bring one in, and it will work as long as or because I know on the front end that's who he is. If he's a good person, then we're fine. And I'm not afraid of it anymore. So it just enables us to just. We're all different and we respect that. But in knowing that now, it's really exciting because I know that we're going to come at it differently. We're going to communicate differently, no problem. But if you know that on the front end now, you can make decisions.

Based on talent because you're not. I'm not afraid of it anymore. I think I would have been afraid of it five years ago. That's probably the easiest way to say it. So, yeah, I'm all in on using it, utilizing it big time. And like I said, we've turned it into our players. Pretty exciting stuff.

So you have demystified a lot of the mystery around communicating, recruiting, who do I want on my team? All these things that can be probably kind of scary at a certain level. You've systematized it to a way where you're comfortable almost with anything that comes your way.

Yeah, we are. And for me, Gary, I just. Look, we're gonna communicate the trust component to our players. This is who I am. You got to know this on the front end. So don't screw with that, because if you do, you know. But just. Yeah, it's made it so much. I'm not afraid of specific personalities anymore because I know who they are. And it's just kind of opened up to such a bigger thing that I never really considered where we were gonna go. And for me, you know, having variety and having different personalities, well, you need that. And knowing this stuff now and looking back, I was. I probably would have wanted a whole bunch of just contribute guys being a trust guy and leave it right there. And we would have a nice program, but we probably would never get over the hump because you're going to need some challenge on that field. And in fact, we're going to probably have a little bit more of them now and not be afraid of it. You know, want to go stick it throw really hard staring at that dugout, you know, that's nice to have, too. So, yeah, we have. We just. We've put it into our program. We have systematized it, and it's pretty exciting. It's kind of at the fiber of who we are now. And I'll tell you, people are really taking notice of it is what I'm gathering. You know, we talk a lot more about people and staff. I do anyways, on these versus the swing and approach. I find myself talking a lot about that then. The really exciting part in this Covid time is that I've had an opportunity to be around some unbelievable. At the absolute top of their industry, coaches who have given their time to either me or our university. They're all saying the same thing, and they're really all talking about self discovery in their area, however they're doing it. We're talking about the top football coaches in the NFL, at the collegiate level. We're talking about major league hitting coaches, we're talking about major league managers. They're all talk. We're all saying the same thing, that it starts with the staff and the culture of the group, but it starts with understanding each other, and it really starts with discovering self. So that's a pretty cool thing for me to hear it again because I believe in it so much right now.

Yeah, it's kind of like life, right?

It's who we are, it's how we're gonna operate, and it's. It's where we start, and then we'll move from there. From a baseball perspective, baseball is completely secondary.

And, Jerry, this is kind of what you do with businesses as well.

Yeah, it's the same exact process. And Coach Green was the first one that jumped in and said, hey, I want to do this. He went to a couple of workshops that I had that I'm coaching business people. He's like, I need to do that with my coaching staff and our players. So it doesn't really matter who you're working with. The principles are the same. Know yourself, know each other, know your clients, have a vision for where you're going. Live into it. It's really paid off. You know, one of the things Coach hasn't really talked about because he's so focused on the culture first. But what. What's predictable is then what happens on the field or what happens with the businesses in their. In their results, in their success. The wins are coming. I mean, he's had more people drafted now out in Mexico state than had ever been drafted in Higher rounds. I mean, a kid that they got, he got to New Mexico State. Nick Gonzalez, I hope I can say that. Coach. Yeah, he was a walk on at New Mexico State and now he's going to be a top five, probably top five draft pick in the first round. So all these things start coming together to develop not only again as people, but as community leaders, as great players. I mean, and so what gets me so excited is the sky's the limit for everybody that you associate yourself with, with and connect with because you're such a person that shares all that at a whole nother level than what I see most coaches. And so I'm hoping that a lot of coaches kind of take to say, man, what's this? What are they? What are these guys doing? Because it is different, but it's predictable what's paying off and it's just a joy to see.

Yeah, thanks for saying that, Jerry. It's been really cool you've said that. But yeah, New Mexico State, I think it was with Nick. Now that'll be five years in a row that we will have the highest draft pick in the history of the school. Starting back in 16, 17, 18, 19, and then 20 it'll be each year was a new record. Obviously this year is never going to be broken again because it's going to be a top five pick, most likely, you know, and he's going to be a multimillionaire, most likely. Yeah, it's a great story, but, you know, and it goes back to just being good people, you know, and you go back to all five of those high draft picks, great people, great families, bought into team, bought into their selves. And of course we have relationships with all of them now. But yeah, it's about people first and player second. And again, it starts with what we're doing here, what we're talking about here.

In order to perform at the highest level, right.

In order to perform at the highest level, there has to be a high level of self discovery. And that's where it starts from our end. If we're the leaders of the organization, I think it's critical. I believe it wholeheartedly. But you have to. We have to. For us, that's where it starts. And then you think about it on the athletic side of things, of how we operate. You know, if you're not aware of yourself within the moment when you're competing, you've got a chance to be emotional. It's not going to work for you. The kicker with the routine, all of it in all sports, the Tennis player with the return of serve, checking his breathing and then his awareness goes into his nutrition, his sleep habits and all that. So it's just such a bigger thing and at the fiber, like you said, Gary, with life, literally. But it just starts with you have to know yourself. And for us, I've got an opportunity to get with 18 to 22 year olds every year I get probably the first opportunity to do that with a lot of them. None of them have ever done anything like this. So makes me feel good and proud to be able to do it. It's cool.

So if I were to summarize kind of what I hear you saying, I would say that in order to perform at the highest level, you have to be able to trust yourself. And in order to be able to trust yourself, you have to first be able to know yourself. And you have to know why it.

Is you do what you do 100%. And for me, it has opened up so much more. I share alarming rate, I share offensive approach, I share the swing, I share the why. I share it all because it's not about the information, it's about self. And I've learned that in going through this there aren't any secrets. And if there are secrets, great. But it's about us, the individual. We have all of the tools all of us do to be successful in life. We can all go out and be great if we want to be great. And it's just a choice that you make. But if you don't know yourself, you can't do it. So yeah, for me, the self discovery is great, but the impact that knowing my personality and our staff's, knowing the staff personality and then moving on into the players, man, it's been a game changer and it's been really cool. So I think there's so much more to do with this. And now we're going into the wives, we'll probably go probably going to the recruit's parents. But just, you know, because it just expands the conversation and it expands the awareness, you know, and I probably really need to get to the parents. So if they're aware of themselves when they're yelling at me in the stands, maybe they'll put the brakes on and not do it.

Well, I'm going to start to worry about you when you get to the.

Pets, that'll be a problem.

You start doing the dogs of the parents. We got a problem.

Yeah, I certainly have a couple of challenge dogs, that's for sure.

Hey, well, listen, coach, it's been so great to Talk to you. So great to catch up on what you're doing.

I love it.

For sure. We're going to be following you closely, Jerry. I know it's working with you closely.

But we're going to be following you.

Closely and we'll be telling everybody about what's happening as well.

If that's okay with you. Please do. We are out in a promotional campaign to just spread the word of what's happening at Washington State University and great college town, great program. We're in the PAC 12 now. And you know, just. I'd like to thank you guys, Jerry and Gary. And it's really kind of at the ground level for me as a first year head coach at New Mexico State, not knowing what I was doing. I was still in assistant coach mode. And all of a sudden, five years later, a couple of championships, a wack coach now in the PAC 12. That doesn't happen a lot from that movement, that much higher of an ascension. So it's been really exciting and I'm proud to be part of the team.

Hey, before we go, I want to talk about one last thing. And the reason I want to talk about this is because there will be people listening to this that have been doing what they've been doing for many years and maybe not gotten quite the recognition or move that they wanted. And you, I know, were. How long were you an assistant coach before you got your break?

20 years, in fact. Yeah, it was 1995. I was a student assistant at New Mexico State. And then in 2015, that was my first year as a head coach at New Mexico State. So 20 years, you know, the college baseball industry or college athletics in general, you're gonna have to work for free a lot. You're gonna have to have an unbelievable partner, teammate, you know, my wife Becky, who is my best friend and thank goodness through Covid, we still like each other, but it's been great. But Becky, you know, I got my first. Gary, I got my first big break at 30 years of age, seven years into my coaching profession. And that break was to go be a volunteer, non paid assistant at Oregon State University at 30 years of age. You know, I was making $30,000 at the age of 29. And then I decided at 29, after I had benefits for the first time in my life, to go get nothing because it was the right move for my career and my life. So I thought, but like anything, right, if we have vision, we have belief, we're determined, we were intelligent and we're intentional, we can all achieve whatever we want to achieve in life. But yeah, 20 years. And so for me, what I've learned, looking back, I was very fortunate with my parents that relationships were important. Respect was important, loyalty was important. I was able to create relationships with the coaches that I worked for that kept me in the game. But there was an undeniable belief I was going to make it. Just period. There wasn't going to be a no and there wasn't going to not be an opportunity. And I applied for three different head jobs before I got into Mexico State. There was a lot of no's. I mean a ton of them. But yeah, keep your head down, grind, work, be smart and then get outside of yourself. I got outside of myself and I think that's kind of where I've really taken off. You know, these last five, six years have been an incredible change agent for my life. So. But yeah, sorry I got long winded. But 20 years being an assistant coach and never did I ever think that I wouldn't not be a head coach. It was going to happen. Just a matter of time. That's how I viewed it.

So advice for people that are in a similar situation. I'm listening and I'm like, man, I don't know if it's coming. I've been working at this, I've been trying to do this and it hasn't happened yet. What advice do you give them?

The advice would be that we, the individual, we are in control. You know, it hasn't happened yet, it's not going to happen. When am I going to get my break? No, it's just a matter of time. I don't know when that door is going to open, but it will open. And as soon as it does, I'm going to be ready. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to be waiting in the weeds, being ready every day. This Covid opportunity is really how I view it as an opportunity to improve. We got a chance to come out of the weeds here, way better communicators, way better with technology, way better at self discovery. So that's the exciting part. But the advice is simple. For me, your opportunity, our opportunity, it is coming. Because if we choose that it's coming, it's coming. It's just a matter of time. So put the work in, put your head down, be loyal, be trustworthy, but put it down and when the door opens, you will be ready. The most important thing is that nobody's in charge, nobody's in control. We, the individual, we hold the cards and we hold the cards, and we're going to determine our opportunities. We just don't know when they're coming.

Awesome. Coach Green, thank you so much for spending the last hour and a half with us. And it's been great.

I know.

Went quick, really fast.

So, like I said, we will be following you. We will be talking about you and seeing what you're doing and all the changes and all the wins that are going to be piling up for you in the next couple of years. Next year.

Yeah. Well, we're excited. Well, thank you again. Thanks for having me as part of the team. Why is a really big deal to me, and it's part of what we sell, it's part of what we promote. It's who we are. But thanks for having me on. Every opportunity I get to speak how I view it is an opportunity to improve as a speaker and as a coach. Boy, I better be able to talk. So thanks for having me on, but I got better today, so thank you.

Jerry, thanks for being here as well.

Yeah. Thanks, coach. Appreciate it. I'm so proud of you. You do the work. Results are always predictable. Always, eventually predictable. And it's coming at a much higher level for you.

Well, thanks, Jerry. And I, you know, if anybody doesn't know, I mean, this is my number one mentor right here. This is the guy. So. You've had a huge impact on my life. The Y Institute has. And you're a friend. And I'm really, really lucky that you were on that list of people I needed to call in New Mexico when I first got the job, because my life's been different ever since. So thanks for everything you do for me, brother.

My pleasure. Thanks, guys.

Have a great week.

Thanks, guys. You guys.