In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Larry "Coach" McKenzie, a celebrated Minnesota high‑school basketball coach. McKenzie shares a formative teenage story about a mentor warning him that decisions made at 14 would affect his future, illustrating how he chose a path that led to a successful family and career while his friend took a different route. He recounts his historic coaching achievements—being the first in a century of Minnesota state basketball to win four consecutive state titles and the first to lead two different schools to multiple championships. McKenzie offers business advice centered on leading by example, emphasizing that you cannot teach what you don’t know nor lead where you won’t go. He advises his younger self to stay focused, defines happiness as learning to love yourself, and highlights the book Relentless for its lessons on focus and sacrifice. His favorite quotes are “Being different is the difference” and the notion that a single coach can impact more lives in a year than most people do in a lifetime. Finally, he provides his online contact points: coachmckenzie.com and his social media handles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
I'm here.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Larry McKenzie with us, better known as Coach McKenzie. So welcome to the show, Larry.
Thank you, Tyler. Glad to be here.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We'll dive right in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
You know what? So, so the best story that I could tell you is when I was about 14, 15 years old, me and my best friend were, you know, kind of having some challenges, probably, you know, somebody probably would say regular teenage kids stuff. But long story short, we had a mentor and he sat us down, my best friend at the time, Jimmy Gardner, and he said to both of us, he said, you know, the decisions that you make right now at 14 years old will impact your life, some girl you don't know, your kids and your grandkids. Now, obviously, at the time, you know, I'm like thinking, you know, that's a whole bunch of crap, right? You know, you know, this old dude telling me this stuff. And but long story short, I would go on and, you know, pull myself together, play basketball, and, you know, make a decision to leave Miami, go on to college and what have you. And my best friend at the time, Jimmy Gardner, well, he actually had a kid at 16, dropped out of school, had a few kids. And the first vacation that he ever had, my wife and I paid for it because I had met a girl, grew up in Miami, met a girl from D.C., had 2 kids and now 4 grandkids. And so he actually predicted my future and I went one way. Jimmy Gardner went another way. But it was true. The decision that I made at 14 years old impacted me, some girl that I didn't know, and it has impacted my kids and my grandkids.
Wow. That is a story, man. Thank you for sharing that. Um, the next question I have for you is what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, you know, one of the things is I say for me is, uh, I'm a winner and I'd like to win. And I've had a lot of success, uh, mentoring young men, particularly here in Minnesota. You know, I became the first coach in the 100-year history of Minnesota State basketball to win 4 consecutive state titles. Last year, I became the first coach in Minnesota history basketball to take 2 schools to win multiple titles. So I think, you know, I know what it's like to win, and I like to share that with people.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Well, you know what I'm saying? I think my overall business advice would be to lead by example. Don't ask people to do things that, you know, so I'll put it this way, and I got a lot of quotes, but again, from one of my mentors, you can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you won't go.
Yes. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Stay focused.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
The key to happiness is understanding, learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.
And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
You know, the best book that I've read, and that's a tough one because I like to read And I'll have to say I just most recently finished a book called Relentless, and that is about just staying focused and be willing to make sacrifices that are necessary to achieve your goal. Be responsible for you.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is this, and as I said before, I'm a high school basketball coach and my favorite quote right now, I have two of them. One is Being different is the difference. Being different is the difference. And the other is that one coach will impact more lives in one year than most people will in a lifetime.
I love that, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
You can find me at www.coachmckenzie, and McKenzie is spelled MCKENZIE, Coach McKenzie dot com. Again, that's www.coachmckenzie.com. But I'm also on Facebook as Larry McKenzie. I'm on LinkedIn as Larry McKenzie. I'm on Twitter as Coach McKenzie.
Amazing, man. Thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
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