STEVE KOLLAR – FORMER HEAD MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO – EPISODE 866

Email – steve.kollar11@gmail.com

Twitter – @CoachKollar

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Steve Kollar was the  head coach at Concordia University Chicago for four seasons from 2019 – 2023.  Prior to taking the job at Concordia, Kollar was the head coach at Blackburn University where he led the Beavers to four straight double digit win seasons.
 
Steve also served as the head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Benedictine University from 2013-15.   Additionally, Kollar was the head assistant basketball coach at St. Francis University.  While at St. Francis, he served as the staff’s recruiting coordinator and head of strength and conditioning.
 
Kollar also has coaching experience at the high school level. He was the head sophomore and varsity assistant basketball coach at South Elgin High School and coached the freshmen basketball teams at West Aurora High School and Wheaton North High School. 

Steve started his collegiate playing career at Greenville College before transferring to Elmhurst College where he played for three years and earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 2006.

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Be prepared to take some notes as you listen and learn from Steve Kollar, former head coach at Concordia University Chicago.

What We Discuss with Steve Kollar

• Looking for his next opportunity in coaching following the situation that took place last season at Concordia University Chicago
• “My heart is in coaching. It’s a huge part of who I am.”
• The situation that occurred on a California road trip where several players broke curfew
• The practice that followed the team’s return from the trip
• “The way that you get tougher is you do tough things.”
• “When you’re a part of something, you’re sacrificing for that dude next to you.”
• The medical testing of players that resulted in the team having to forfeit games and ultimately have their season canceled
• “I was let go for supposedly blaming the guys for what happened. And that just never happened. We would never do that.”
• “Winning is a by-product of your daily habits.”
• “We had best intentions in mind and we would never do anything to put our guys in harm’s way.”
• The importance of hearing from former players and getting their support
• “It’s not about flash and it’s about who you are on a daily basis, how you represent yourself and what type of teammate you are.”
• “We’re always representing the program, the university and our families and ourselves to the highest level at all times.”
• “We want to use basketball as a vehicle to teach life lessons while playing a sport that you love with dudes that you love.”
• “It’s acknowledging the mistake, understanding it, learning from it, and then growing from it.”
• “Anytime you make a decision, it always affects more than the person making the decision.”
• Using a Captain’s Council
•  “It’s not necessarily just the loudest voice in the room but it’s the guy who is willing to give his time, right? He’s willing to listen. He’s willing to be vulnerable.”
• The characteristics of a great leader
• “When things aren’t going well, who are you?”
• “If everyone’s happy, you’re not doing it right.”
• The need for honest conversations

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THANKS, STEVE KOLLAR

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TRANSCRIPT FOR STEVE KOLLAR – FORMER HEAD MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO – EPISODE 866

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here without my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight, but I am pleased to welcome back to the Hoop Heads Podcast, former Concordia University, Chicago, head men’s basketball coach, Steve Kollar. Steve, welcome back to the Hoop Heads Pod.

[00:00:20] Steve Kollar: Thanks for having me, Mike.  I appreciate it.

[00:00:24] Mike Klinzing: We are excited to have you on, looking forward to our conversation. For those of you who are out there listening, you may remember that when we talked to Steve last time, he and I had met at the Jay Bilas camp, I believe back in the summer of, I think 2018, if I’m not mistaken, but that sounds correct.

So just talk a little about where you are in terms of just your mindset and what you’re hoping to accomplish here over the next year or two in terms of your career. Just give people an idea of where you’re at.

[00:01:03] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the major things is I’m just trying to weed and feed in terms of my mindset, right?

Like there’s negativity that creeps in and different things like that. And I’ve got to make sure that I don’t allow that to kind of get in there and eliminate that stuff and then continue to feed it the right stuff. You know what, so I can continue to keep growing not only stay sharp in my craft and in coaching, but develop, continue to grow as a man, as a husband, so that when I do get this next opportunity, I can be an even better leader of men. And so where I’m at right now is I’m looking for that next opportunity where an administration will look into the situation and look into who I truly am and what’s in my heart and what I’ve shown my entire career and trust me with that.

I’m somebody that’s going to invest in those guys, everyone associated with the program love those guys to death and give everything I have into that and helping make a difference in a transformational way. And then currently I’m working a job it’s not coaching, which is kind of, it’s a little bit of an empty feeling coaching, it’s you have late nights, but I love it and I love the opportunity. I never felt like some portion of the world feels like when they get up and they’re like, man, I don’t want to go in today. Right? Like I just, they’re doing a job that they have to do because they’ve got to answer the bell.

And that’s kind of a situation that I’m in right now. I’m just doing that because the bills don’t pay itself. When you’re in a tough situation, you got to find a way. And so that’s what I’m doing, but I’m also working on some consulting working with different programs, whether that’s specifically offensively, whether it’s the five out spacing or our man to man or our zone, or just I’ve got 13 years of college experience and I’ve been through a tough experience as well in this situation. So if I can just be supportive and kind of act as a little bit of a consultant, a supportive consultant for guys that maybe are going through things or could just be simple decisions that maybe they’re struggling with.

Doing some of that consulting so I can continue to stay sharp and grow. I’m going to some practices. But yeah, I mean, my heart is in coaching. It’s a huge part of who I am and I’m just looking for that next opportunity, I’d love to be a head coach again. But if it’s an assistant position, I just want to make sure that it’s at a great place with someone that I trust and a great opportunity that I can continue to add value for that staff, that university, and ultimately for those student athletes.

[00:03:52] Mike Klinzing: This past season, Steve, who’s had a tremendous amount of success in his years as a head coach, had a situation occur during his time with his team back in late December of 2022 and on into 2023. The winter and spring of 2023. So Steve, I’m going to let you just sort of lay out the situation that occurred, and then we’re going to talk a little bit about it and kind of talk about where you are as a coach in your coaching career and what you hope to accomplish moving forward.

But let’s start out with the situation that occurred this past season.

[00:04:30] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate the opportunity to talk to you here. Yeah obviously it was a very public situation. One that was really difficult for everybody. Myself, my family our guys, for them to go through it and then just hearing and seeing and all these other things that were out there in the media.

It was tough for sure. The situation with our group and what we kind of developed from that last time that I was on was a pretty special group, a really strong culture really good dudes that are invested in one another and fully took ownership of what we did.

We took over and, and we just continue to build it one day at a time by establishing a standard, right? That the way that we do something is the way that whether it’s in the classroom or how we treat one another or whatever it is as a teammate, it was going to be to the highest level.

And we had some really good success. We won a league championship. And then this past year we started the year 8-0 was the best since 1969. We went on a California trip and we had a couple injuries out there. We didn’t play the greatest out there, but we battled. And our last night we stayed so we could do some things with the guys and allow them to enjoy their trip.

And then the next day we went and did all the things that the guys love to do when you take trips. But we had some guys violate our team standard and broke curfew as you know, that’s out there. And so we didn’t address it at all. We just had a great day the next day. We flew back.

We got in that evening on the 30th and then on the 31st we have practice anyways. But we basically met with the group. First we met as a staff and we talked about it. And we met with the group and we just talked about decision making and the standard and what has gotten us to this point and how that is going to help guys going forward.

And we honestly, we talked for about 20 to 25 minutes this afternoon, just about how important it is when you’re a part of something how important your decision making is. And we told them, we said, Hey, you know what, we’re going to do some work today. And it’s going to be tough it’s, it’s meant to be tough, but we’re going to fight through it.

And after we’re going to have a great time. We actually had food catered in, we watched college football playoff, and we went from there. I’m totally transparent on this, what this workout was. That was across the country as high intensity. It was stations, so it was probably about an hour and 20 minutes in total, not nonstop, but we had one minute stations.

It consisted of a pushup station, a core station. One sprint station running around the gym with a basketball above your head and a one minute wall sit. And so what we did is we basically had stations and if a guy stopped or quit early, then we would restart it and we would give them a break in between.

So that went forward and you know, what, The coaches really didn’t talk at all during that. When you do things that are tough and any other tough workouts or workouts that I’ve been a part of you kind of want your leaders to take over, right? And so some guys are kind of quitting pretty early and then guys push one another and they challenge each other.

And it really just became. Where guys were just, they were just kind of fighting, right? And they were not literally fighting, but they were pushing each other and kind of, it was in a way kind of rallying guys, right? Cause you’re going through some tough stuff. And your leaders took over and guys started pushing one another.

And as I said, that was probably about an hour and 20 minutes. We had a training staff member there the entire time. We had water there the entire time. But the way that you get tougher is you do tough things. And so we finished that. And after we talked about it, Hey what is our standard?

Your standard is only your standard if that’s what it is. If you continue to push it back, then you have a new standard. What do we need to do? How important is this going forward? Who do we want to be, right? When you’re a part of something, you’re sacrificing for that dude next to you.

And it was, it was good it was tough. And then honestly, I even heard a couple of guys after they were like we need to do this more often. Right. Because it wasn’t this crazy workout. I mean, if I’m being honest, I’ve done harder workouts. I’m not trying to minimize this, but in no way, shape or form, was there any intent or any thought of like, okay, this could harm these guys.

It wasn’t out of malice. We weren’t yelling and screaming. It was just the results. From decisions that were made and upholding our standard. And that’s the same way that we’ve built that standard from day one, when we took over, like I said, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. And so, as I mentioned, we wrapped up with that and we had food catered in and we watched college football playoff and we were moving past it.

And we had a couple of guys kind of go down in practice and like one went up for a layup and he kind of locked up. And so he ended up getting looked at. And then we honestly continue to practice through, we were going to play a game and then we got called off the floor about 35 minutes before we were going to play.

And so AD mentioned that from one or two of those guys who felt that way that we couldn’t have a negative situation And so we got we got pulled off the floor And so that kind of led to our training staff mentioned to the guys as soon as we get back Everybody needs to go to the emergency room Regardless of how they’re feeling and then everyone kind of got their it’s called the creatine kinase levels evaluated and then there was a lot more after that.

You know, obviously you can kind of read about it, but there was forfeits that were followed based on advice from the medical staff and everything. And then the tough part about that was… That when once we were forfeiting those games the president’s council voted that we broke the bylaws and unfortunately voted to cancel the rest of our season.

So that was devastating. That was devastating for the guys because even through all this we’re going to acknowledge the situation, but I’m huge. And our guys understand how to be resilient and it’s not what happens, but how do you deal with it? Right. And it’s like, Hey, this might suck, but we’re going to be okay.

All right. We have a few forfeits. We’re going to be okay. We’re going to battle through this. But then unfortunately like I said, that decision was made and that’s kind of where we were at. So through that, I don’t want to get into everything, but through that workout that’s where it basically went public.

It was that we were super high intensity. And there was a lot of false narratives that were out there which is completely untrue because we love our dudes to death. We invest in our guys and they’re the most important thing and we would never put those guys in harm’s way. Mike, in all honesty, I could not tell you how the results came from what we did.

It just didn’t add up and if I could change anything about that or go back, which obviously I can’t, I would in a second. But that’s kind of where it went. And then I’ll kind of leave it to you if you want to ask some follow up questions.

[00:12:23] Mike Klinzing: It makes me wonder when I hear you tell that story of kids getting tested after that particular workout.  And I think about some of the practices that I went through as a player and some of the practices that I’ve been involved in as a coach. And you wonder like, okay, if Mike at age 19 or 20 would have got tested after our practice for this particular condition. Would that have been something that would have shown up?

And again, I have no idea. I don’t know the answer. Obviously, I’m not a doctor. You’re not a doctor. So for us to speculate on medical issues is probably not very beneficial. But by the same token, it does feel like. Man. Okay. You, you obviously want to take care of your players and clearly that’s what your main intent was and what any coaches intent is to take care of your players.

But you just think about it and going through and you wonder like, okay, if, if guys were being tested for this all over the United States for different sports, after different practices, after different activities, it just kind of makes me wonder as I think about that, whether or not. Guys would have similar conditions.

And it sounds like from what you’ve described and from what I know about athletics, it doesn’t seem like this was an unusually high intensity workout where it would be something that would be completely unusual in terms of the results. And so I think the other thing that struck me, Steve, as you’re going through, and you were talking about how your leaders kind of helped guys to push through.

Right. And I think one of the things that I think about as both a coach and I think about it as a player is. That idea that adversity kind of binds us together. And when you go through something tough, it’s sort of like the Navy SEALs sort of ideal where we have to do this together. We have to rely on each other.

We have to count on each other. We have to push each other to get through that. And that adversity that we go through together ultimately makes us stronger. And I think when I hear you describe that, that’s kind of what I think of. That’s where my mind goes. When I think about a situation where you’re You’re pushing your guys, you’re putting them in a situation where they’ve got a bond together to be able to get through that particular situation and then make it a positive one that ultimately, as you said, now you’re sitting down after the practice and you’re eating some food together and you’re watching college football and it sounds like it worked the way that you envisioned it working in your mind other than just.

This sort of unfortunate thing that happened as a result of, again, the testing and just the fact that obviously you want your guys to be, to be safe, but at the same time you know, again, it just feels like, wow, you, you had, you had basically accomplished what you’d hoped to accomplish. And then the results ended up kind of flipping on their head, if that makes any sense.

[00:15:31] Steve Kollar: Yeah, exactly. And to hear, just like I said, when we finished this, a couple of guys like, man, we probably need to do this a little bit more often, right? I think they, you just, you felt closer like, like you said, when you go through some tough things together you know, like it just, it did, it felt like, okay.

There’s those turning points, you know what I mean? Like we had a ton of success and then we didn’t play as well out in California. Not making excuses. We had a couple injuries out there and that was all, that was over a long break. It was over eight days and we knew that when we did the scheduling, we had that built in after we played on the 17th, we said, Hey, You’re going to have eight days off fellas.

And so within our leadership units we had our captain’s council make sure that guys were logging. We just told them, Hey, you can’t go sit at home for eight days and not do anything and come back practice and then be ready to play a day and a half later. So it was, Hey, you got to get out and run three times.

You got to do the gym rat three times and you got to get two lifts, right? Like if we’re serious about, well, we come back hitting the ground running. Like you got to make sure that you’re doing that and so do going through that and then bringing the guys back and then going out there.

Just, it just wasn’t our best, but it’s like, okay, this is a tough group. We have great leaders.  We had to make sure though, that. We knew what our standard was and that wasn’t acceptable to go out and do your own things. And we’re responsible for those guys we’re out in California.

We can’t have guys out at two in the morning, you know what I mean? And so that we just had to talk about when you make decisions like that. There’s consequences, but there’s results to those decisions. And so this is what it is and boom, we’re going to get through it. And as you mentioned I thought that it was a pretty good situation.

I just don’t know how it ended up evolving into what it did for some of those kids.

[00:17:39] Mike Klinzing: I think when you talk about being on a road trip and obviously any coach who has taken a set of players on a road trip, whether you’re talking about college players, high school players, AAU players, I think one of the things that you always have in the back of your mind is that you hope your guys are going to make good decisions.

And clearly that’s not always the case, sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not, and I think players know that if they take a risk of doing something, breaking curfew, doing something they’re not supposed to do, that there’s always a risk that there’s going to be a consequence at some point. And I thought it was interesting when you talked about just that eight day layoff and trying to come back.

I remember when I was playing, we would always practice six days a week, and then we would always have Sunday’s off. And I always remember those Monday practices where, cause Sunday, I, I wouldn’t do a whole lot. Like, okay, I’m just going to lay around and try to recover from the week. There was not, as I always say, there was not load management when I was playing.

There was no thought process of, Hey, Mike played 36 minutes in this college game. Maybe we should maybe lay off a little bit and take a little break. Now that was not the case. So you kind of had to load manage yourself. And I did that on Sundays, but then I always remember coming back on Monday. I did not feel the same.

It definitely took a half hour of practice to kind of get. your legs back under you. And that’s taken off only a day. So I can completely kind of understand what you’re saying and where you’re going for it. And it’s interesting, Steve, because when I hear you talk, and we obviously talked before the podcast as well, I think the biggest thing that comes across for me is just the, I don’t want to say, I don’t know if confusion is the right word, but just the fact of here’s what you were trying to do.

You felt like You accomplished it and yet it’s still kind of spun a different way. Was there a moment when you started to come to the realization that like, man, this thing didn’t quite turn out? Do you, was there, was there an exact moment where you thought, Hmm, this isn’t going the direction that I’d Thought it was going to go.

Was there a moment that like that, that you remember?

[00:20:01] Steve Kollar: In the workout? No, because like I said, just the way that we finished it and, and then just spent time together. I mean, obviously the time where it didn’t go the way I thought is we’re getting pulled off the floor. I mean, that’s exactly, yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.

Yeah. We’re about to play a game and, and then the next day just being pulled in and then telling me that they were going to investigate it and we talk about this workout and, and the level of intensity or whatnot. Well, I think something that I’ve always wanted to kind of be able to talk about and distinguish the two, but for many reasons, I haven’t ever been able to talk about it.

I wasn’t let go, the university didn’t let me go from this workout because there was a full investigation. And I basically received a letter that I was cleared of wrongdoing. And the administration supports me, the guys and the parents are backing me. I’ve never had any issues going forward.

And we were kind of just moving forward with that it was a really tough situation and tough on everybody, but we were past that. And then it just, I was let go for supposedly blaming the guys for what happened. And that just never happened. We would never do that.

Now, do we use it as a teaching moment? Absolutely. You know, mentoring, right? I mean, I consider myself wholeheartedly a transformational leader. Like, like we don’t even necessarily, not that this means a ton, but we don’t ever really talk about winning games. Like winning is a byproduct of your daily habits.

If you take care of business day after day after day, you prepare the right way and you stack day after day, you’re going to like the results, right? But what we do talk about is that decision making and being your absolute best on a daily basis. And investing in the dude next to you and in this situation that wasn’t happening.

And so we had to talk about that but in no way shape or form did we ever blame the guys? I mean my heart broke for our guys it absolutely like for what was And then ultimately guys ending up in the hospital and then their seasons being canceled. Obviously I’m involved in that, but that was just a really, really tough situation.

But when you read the story. And the media has the same story and every major outlet and whatnot doesn’t really have those facts, but when administrators look at this, it’s like, well, he was fired because of this workout. And that’s not the case. They fully looked at that. And then we moved past that.

I was told that I had full support from administration and then I was told some things changed after the Zoom call where they told us the rest of the season was canceled. So I don’t want to hit on that too much, but yeah, absolutely. I mean, we had best intentions in mind and we would never do anything to put our guys in harm’s way.

[00:23:19] Mike Klinzing: How did you talk to your guys during the time when the games were being forfeited, but you still, yeah. Had the hope that the season was going to continue once those forfeits were behind you. What were those conversations like with the players? Because obviously that’s a moment where you’re calling in on your relationship with them and talking about the same things that we just discussed earlier, where look, this is some adversity that we’re going through and we’re going to have to bond together, make sure that when our season does resume, that we’re ready to play.

We’re ready to be together. We’re still strong as a unit. So what do you remember about the conversations during that sort of intervening time where it didn’t, obviously you didn’t want the games to be forfeited, but. You thought you still had a season going. What were those conversations like?

[00:24:11] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely.  Well, just even through that when I was kind of being investigated and I was suspended during that time just a ton, just hundreds of texts from my current guys, former players, coach, we’re thinking about you. We love you and, and I appreciated that. I mean, that got me through this whole thing, my support structure.

But just we’re really big on control what you can control, right? Like, Hey, this, we know what this is and we’re going to get through this. Like we’re going to get past this and at some point we’re going to have to be where we need to be mentally. Right. Like it’s tough and does it suck? It does.

And, but we’re going to get through it and to our leaders and stuff, like, keep the guys up, keep them upbeat and positive just kind of stay within one another and believe and invest in your buddies and your teammates and know that you have one another’s backs but just that, like, I try, I tried not, it was tough enough for them.

Because I mean, their program is on the news and their coach who loves them and they love, and you are invested in one another. Like, is it all over the news? And so when you’re a 18, 19, 20 year old kid, like everybody’s hitting you up, right? Everyone. And so I just tried to make sure that they knew like, Hey, I’m good.

I can’t wait to be back with you. Like, we just need to let this kind of go ahead and happen. And then we’re going to get through this and just control what you can control. Leaders, keep those dudes where they need to be. You know, if it was lifting or whatnot, just try to get that done. Cause this is going to pass and we just have to be ready be ready to go.

So yeah, that’s what I remember about those conversations. I mean, really tough. And honestly, Mike, at the time, like really important though, too like I believe in who I am and I have a strong, strong conviction in who I am as a man, but how we do things. And I believe we care about the right things.

And it’s not that doubt was creeping in, but you’re just hearing so much negativity and there’s this false perception out there of who you are. And to hear from your guys, just be like, coach, we love you. We’ve got your back. Like we were there for you, you know? And I mean, that was huge. That was really big to be able to hear from them.

So that’s how we were approaching it during that time.

[00:26:43] Mike Klinzing: I’m sure that that support from your players, again, you think about being able to go through some adversity as players that is going to bond the players together. But here’s a situation where you went through some adversity and it was the entire program, the entire staff, the entire players.

Everybody is kind of bonding together to try to figure out how do we. Make it through this situation and get to the other side so that we can resume our season. And obviously that ended up not happening and led one thing led to another and you ended up not being retained as the coach. Yeah. So let’s work backwards and let’s talk a little bit about, what are some of the things that you feel like represented or were responsible for your success at Concordia as you built that program? What are the things that you built the program on, whether you want to talk pillars, whether you want to talk culture, whatever it is that you think. When you are asked the question, what led to your success?

Just give me some ideas of things that you feel like you did at that program and that you will continue to do as a coach that led to your team’s success.

[00:28:02] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely. It’s establishing the foundation, right? So t’s the culture. And I know that’s a buzzword. I have no problems using that word.

I know people are kind of straying away from it. That is everything about who you are. Because culture is an action on a daily basis with every decision that’s made. You know, if a guy is late, does it matter or is that your standard, right? If a kid doesn’t go to class if, if someone is not treating somebody properly, so we had our pillars, we call it our Cougar code.

When I was at Blackburn, we kind of tweaked it a little bit. But it was passion. It was unity. It was humility, servanthood, and gratefulness. And that was not just, that’s on the floor. That is in everything that we do. That’s what we look for. Every recruit that we recruited, we would send that to, and we told them that we are, this is kind of an audition for you.

We’re recruiting you, but you’re also recruiting us because we want dudes that are bought into this, right? I always would say like, we’re the least cool program in the country because it’s not about flash and it’s about who you are on a daily basis, how you represent yourself and what type of teammate you are.

So just establishing that foundation. And having really good people and bringing those people in that believe in and can take ownership of those things. And then it’s just having that standard I mean, I really believe it was just, we need to do things the right way. Every single day. And when we do the right things in class and we are handling ourself off the floor to a high standard, we’re always representing the program, the university and our families and ourselves to the highest level at all times, that’s going to trickle down into the way that we practice and compete and how do we handle adversity.

But when you have a strong culture and you’re building that culture, it’s in action every single day. And I will fight for that. Like you fight for your culture every day. And through this, you asked me if these are things that I would continue to do going forward. I have a stronger conviction than ever in believing in what is right.

And in making sure that the guys understand that this isn’t just. You know, the basketball side of things. I mentioned earlier that I consider myself a transformational leader, a transformational coach. What we talk about all the time, and this is one of the other things that has led from program to program, what we say and we talk with our guys and to recruits is we want to use basketball as a vehicle to teach life lessons while playing a sport that you love with dudes that you love. And our guys know, and anyone that comes in, it’s hoops is important, right? It’s largely one of the main reasons why they’re there, but it’s way more than that. It’s what type of man are you? What do you develop? What type of father do you develop into? and on the basketball side, well, we love competing and we love the dynamic of sacrificing for one another. But it’s the big picture and that’s where we try to make an impact in the lives of our guys in way more than just on the floor. And that’s why we have that standard. That’s why we do a quote of the day every single day, not even related to basketball, but you know what, how does this hit you?

Like what are you experiencing in your life right now? All right. What does this look like? Can you put this into action today? You know, and how can we learn from other sports, other… Businesses that are really highly successful but it’s establishing that standard, getting a clarity on that, and then just getting an investment from the guys on that.

And when the guys are holding one another accountable and it’s not necessarily the coaches, that’s when you know that you’re really kind of starting to get to something special. And that’s what we had established at Concordia.

[00:32:20] Mike Klinzing: When you think about establishing those standards, and obviously it’s something that, as you said, you’re talking about that all the time with your guys.

And then eventually you want to get to the point where it’s not just you who talks about it, but it’s your guys that are talking with each other about, Hey, this is what we do. This is what we don’t do. This is how we act. This is how we don’t act. And that’s really when you get the program to where it’s sort of living up to that vision that you hope for it to be.

When you think about having a conversation with, whether it’s your team or an individual player, talking about those standards and obviously everybody who’s ever coached has had players who haven’t met that standard. So what’s a conversation like where you had a kid that maybe didn’t make a good decision?

Maybe went against the culture where you had to have a conversation with a kid. And again, obviously I’m not asking you to point out something super specific or anything like that, but just give us an idea of kind of how you approach that type of conversation with a kid who maybe hasn’t lived up to the standard that you’ve tried to set for your team.

[00:33:29] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I kind of will give you a specific one, just because it’ll be a little bit easier just not going to class. Right. That happens, right? College kids sometimes will miss class. But you know, that’s where our thing is. You are not here to sleep in and miss class and have your parents pay that money.

Like you’re here to take advantage of this whole experience and we’re going to go to class. And we’re going to sit in the first three rows with no hats, no headphones. And we’re going to make sure that we’re locked into what’s going on. And we’re not only there present, but we’re integrated with what’s happening.

And so if a guy, which we had a couple of different times, we do class checks, right? And so you meet with the kid, we had a freshman that was missing class a little bit. And so we would sit down, we meet and we go, all right, Hey, what’s going on here? Like, why weren’t you at class? Because we know, right?

We know everything. Why weren’t you at class? Like, ah, coach, I just, I slept in. It’s like, okay, well, I mean, the expectation is that you get to class, right? Yeah. Yep. For sure. Okay. Well, and when we talked about it, we said, we’re not going to miss class. Like how important is this to you to be here?

Right. Cause you understand what our standards. So I think like the important thing is having that kid kind of tell you what happened first, right. And give their story and everyone makes mistakes, right. But it’s about learning from those and not only learning from them, but understanding why it’s important, right?

Like, yeah, you know what? I didn’t think about that. Like my guy, that dude, that’s a senior. He is counting on me, right? And my parents are paying good money and, oh yeah, this is my life. And so for me to maximize my life and my experience this is what I signed up for, you know? So I’m going to turn that around.

Some guys you have that conversation initially, the goal is that after that first one, you’re able to make sure that they understand how important it is. They understand what the standard is and if we get to too many, it’s, Hey, and this is every time I love you.

I love you to death, my man, but you got to make sure you are getting to class, right? If it gets to a point where it’s too many of those, not everyone just gets this. I still love you. I care about you, but maybe you’d be better off doing something else because we’ve talked about what our standard is.

There’s clarity there. You understand it. And in order to be here, you got to meet that so it’s acknowledging the mistake, understanding it, learning from it, and then growing from it.

[00:36:16] Mike Klinzing: How do you get players to see the collective of the team as opposed to just their own sort of selfish ideas of what their mistake or what their contributions may be.

So I think that’s one of the things that good coaches do really well, right, is they get players to understand that it’s not just about me, it’s about us. And so the kid, from as simple as the example that you gave, right, a kid skipping class doesn’t see that. That impacts all of his other teammates because now that professor thinks, ah, those basketball guys they’re just, they’re not taking school seriously and sometimes kids don’t see that same thing.

And I think there’s also a component of that on the floor, right? That kids don’t always see, Hey, if you don’t move the ball, like that gets contagious. So now before you know it, if our best players that do that. Jacks it up every time. It doesn’t share the ball that starts to become infectious. And again, it’s sort of a, how does what I do affect the collective?

So how do you approach that conversation? And you can take that in whatever direction you want, Steve, in terms of on the floor, off the floor, but just how do you get kids to see the collective as opposed to the selfishness? Cause we all know human nature is we want to take care of ourselves first. And I think it’s our job as coaches to be able to get them to see the whole picture and how it impacts everybody.

So just talk a little bit about that.

[00:37:40] Steve Kollar: Yeah, definitely. I think it starts for one with the recruiting. We’re very upfront with who we are and exactly what we’re looking for and who our guys are that are there. Right. And we’re not like everybody else and that’s okay. Right. I mean, but.

If you are that, and you love that, and you want to be around similar minded people, and you want to be held to that standard to become the best version of yourself, this is who we are, right? And so we’re telling, we’re talking to them up front with recruiting. And we never want to compromise with recruiting.

Right with not only character sometimes you just, you kind of don’t know until someone maybe is in adverse situations. But that’s an opportunity to help them and grow, but you never want to compromise in recruiting and taking someone that doesn’t fit those values or doesn’t even necessarily want to be a part of that, right?

Like, ah, you know what? I kind of want to do me. Like, I just want to hoop and I want to do me. Well, that’s okay. We’re just not the right place, right? Here, you got a guy that’s going to sacrifice and this guy is going to sacrifice and this guy’s a fifth year senior and this guy’s a sophomore and they’re all going to make those sacrifices for the betterment of the group because that’s how we’re going to be special.

And then it’s just, Everything we do, I mean, whether it’s from our pillars to when a guy is recognized and accolade, right. We say everybody was responsible for that, but congratulations to that dude for getting it right. To our post game stuff, even our awards are there.

They’re the selflessness and sacrifice award. So we give a belt out to a guy and I’ve done this in every program I’ve been at. But we give a belt out to a guy that leads us in 50 50 balls, charges, one mores all the selfless and, and plays that take sacrifice, that’s what we speak up. And that’s why your picture is on all the social media outlets.

It’s because of that stuff. So, it’s first making sure that when you’re talking to those kids and those families, you’re very clear on who you are and what you’re looking for. And then you hopefully are gravitating towards the right kids and those kids want to be a part of something special. And then it’s just daily.

Everything you do in your messaging, and then I’ll be really what’s huge is what we mentioned earlier is your guys taking that over, right? Like your sophomores, your juniors, your senior, your leaders, that captain’s council, giving them the opportunity to take that and take ownership and have them lead, right?

Because I could tell a kid three, four times or whatnot, but if I go and I talk to my fifth year senior, I’m like, Hey. You got to talk to him. He’s not going to class, right? We dealt with that with you when you were a sophomore. So you understand what he’s doing. You need to talk to him in your own way about how important it is.

And this is what we do, right? And how that’s going to benefit him, but it doesn’t just affect him. Anytime you make a decision, it always affects more than the person making the decision, especially when you’re a part of something. It affects everybody that’s in that group. So it’s like the culture, like it’s daily.

It’s your messaging. It’s everything that you talk about. It’s we, not me, not to be cliche, but you know, it’s everyone kind of sacrificing for the opportunity to be a part of something pretty special.

[00:41:12] Mike Klinzing: Tell me about the captain’s council. How do you use that?

[00:41:13] Steve Kollar: Yep. So I meet with the captain’s council every week.

Typically like I’ll meet with them on a set day. And we’ll usually have a little bit of breakfast or whatnot. We may be reading a book. I’ve done it a little bit different over the past couple of years. Sometimes each guy gets a book. A lot of times I’ll buy it for them and then I’ll ask them to kind of pick a couple of things out there that really hit home with them, or we may have a theme.

But the very first thing that we talk about is like, how are you guys doing? Like, how are we doing? Tell me like, not what you think I want to hear, because for me. That’s an opportunity of like, I need to know what’s going on with you guys. Right. And so I want them to tell me how they’re feeling, like, coach, we’re a little bit tired.

We’re a little bit run down. Okay. How can I help you? Like where do you need me to help you in terms of that? Okay. And then what we had them report on is they have leadership units. So our captain’s council is selected. And then we have leadership units within that. So each captain has about three or four guys and they are served, supporting and connecting with them on a weekly basis.

And so we discuss how they’re doing that. Okay. How are you serving this guy? Okay. How are you connecting with them? Okay, we’re going to gather and this is, they’re all doing it their own way, but they’re going to kind of report back on that. Like coach, we met as a group and we all hung out in the dining hall for an hour and a half or whatnot.

And we just talked about like, what’s going on in our life. We may have done like a tutoring session. Okay. Like, hey, he’s struggling a little bit in that class. Why don’t you help him out there? Right. Or this guy’s going through some tough times right now don’t like necessarily dig too hard, but just tell him you’re there for him.

Right. And so what we’re trying to do with that is twofold. Word one, we’re trying to help teach those captains how to lead, right? And it’s not necessarily just the loudest voice in the room but it’s the guy who is willing to give his time, right? He’s willing to listen. He’s willing to be vulnerable.

And he’s got to be tough at times as well and, and speak up, but how are you connecting with the rest of your guys? And that just builds your group closer together, right? Like if someone sits down with me like that, it’s like, Man, this dude really cares about me like he doesn’t have to do that.

He’s got a million things going on and he’s asking me how my family is doing and how my relationships are going and everything like that. So like I said, we meet with the guys on a weekly basis. We have a theme. We typically go through all of that. To report back on their leadership units.

I give them the schedule for the week. And then I ask them if there’s any concerns that they have, like, what do I need to know? Like, is there anything that I need to know? And it’s really just open. Like I tell them, this is between us. All right. But I need you guys to tell me what the vibe is, what the pulse is.

And then I’ll give them some things to take back to the team of like, this has got to be our message, right? We’re in lockstep on this. Like you guys are the voice. You are the face of our program here. Right. And we’ve just got to make sure that we’re all on the same page. So we’re really ultimately trying to empower those guys to lead and take ownership of that.

[00:44:36] Mike Klinzing: What’s the funniest thing anybody ever brought to you during the Captain’s Council?

[00:44:40] Steve Kollar: During the captain’s council? Funniest thing. I don’t know. I mean, not, or maybe most, most off, off the wall thing. So funny. guys will just be like, I’m just really sore coach. Like, I’m really sore.

Or one of my main dudes was like, coach, this, this class is, it’s kicking my butt. Like it’s killing me. You know? It’s like, okay, well let’s talk about that. Hey. You’re in that class, right? Or you just had it last semester. Why don’t you help him out, right? You got an A in there. So but it’s lighthearted as well, but it’s open.

I just want to make sure that those guys know that I’m there for them. Right. And then ultimately they’re leading our group. They really are, they’re the ones that are taking that responsibility and then connecting within those leadership units. And then ultimately, obviously you have your individual leadership units and then you kind of combine those, right?

And then that hopefully that’s kind of galvanizing and connecting the entire group, not just within their small leadership unit. And then the other part that we’ll do with that to be competitive though, is in certain drills, we’ll be like, Hey, You too, take your leadership units, you guys there.

So now they’re even tighter, right? Because now through competition, they’re becoming even closer. And they’re just really building that bond within small units and then kind of taking that back to the entire group.

[00:46:07] Mike Klinzing: Love that idea of having guys lead those smaller groups. I think so often that you end up when you have a captain and that captain’s trying to lead.

And I think a lot of times we as coaches sometimes just give kids and say, Hey, you’re You’re the captain or you’re our leader, but then we don’t really provide any structure for that kid to lead under. And I think a lot of times it leaves kids sort of floundering of, okay, I’m trying to be a leader, but I’m not sure what that means.

And there may be some kids that I’m closer to that I feel comfortable leading. And then maybe there’s some other guys that. Maybe I’m just not as close with on a personal level, so I don’t feel like I can lead them in the same way. So I think breaking it down into those smaller groups, I’m sure that by providing that structure and limiting the size of the people that each one of those leaders in the captain’s council is trying to lead.

I’m sure you found that to work really well because I think, again, when you have just a captain or two for a 15 man roster without much structure, I’m not sure that The captain ends up being much more than a ceremonial position.

[00:47:23] Steve Kollar: Absolutely. And I’ll take it a step farther. What I’ve learned is oftentimes we’re trying to put those guys in situations, which we have a voting system.

So they get elected by like by their peers and we have like a full contract and everything. But it’s, Hey, can you, are you willing to accept these responsibilities? Is this something you want? But digging even in more to that where I know that I’ve been in situations where it’s like, you know what?

This guy needs to be a captain. This will help him. This will, and that’s not what they want. Like that, that is not what they want. And it’s like, selfishly, you are like, I’m trying to push this kid over, like try to help him grow. And some of those guys that they just don’t want that. And I think we’re guilty.

I know I am, but guilty as coaches sometimes of like, just putting those guys in that position, maybe they’re not ready for it, right? Maybe they can lead in their own way, but they’re not taking on that sort of role. And it’s just something that I’ll address even more going forward of like, hey, your teammates selected you here and they selected out of these five categories, you were ranked the highest in all of them.

Is this something you want to do? Because those dudes are going to look up to you, but you have to truly want to do that. And that’s something that I’ll look into a lot more going forward.

[00:48:46] Mike Klinzing: Bearing that in mind, what are the characteristics of a kid that makes a good leader on the teams you’ve coached?

[00:48:51] Steve Kollar: A guy that’s selfless a guy that does it by example, that every single day he’s doing the right things on and off the floor to the best of his ability. I mean, again, people make mistakes, but somebody that serves, I mean, that you have to serve, like, if you can’t serve, it’s just captain in name because what a captain and a leader is, is not thinking less of yourself, but just thinking of yourself a little bit less, putting those other dudes ahead of you, right.

And understanding that you’re empowering those guys, but it’s not about you. It’s about you lifting them up and you take a ton of that responsibility when you’re a captain and when you’re a leader. But I just think some of those are some of the most important. You have to be willing to serve.

You have to love the guy next to you. It’s got to match up with your work ethic and it’s got to match on and off the floor. I believe, not that you have to be a 4.0 student, but if you’re going to be a leader and you’re going to tell guys, like, you’ve got to be going to class and taking care of business and you’re failing two classes, that’s not super legitimate.

And guys kind of see through that. So I think walking the walk as well as talking the talk. But just being able to lead in your own way it’s a lot. And again, I’m through reflection and growing, it’s not just cause you’re the loudest guy out there. That doesn’t mean you’re a leader.

And I’ve been guilty of like this, that guy, he’s not a leader, man. He’s not speaking up enough. He’s not, and you had end of the year meetings or even meetings during mid season and you ask guys, who do you think our best leaders are? And they’re listing that guy. And it’s like, Wow, I’m missing something here.

It’s because before practice, after practice, in the dorms, they’re really connecting with those guys, but they just haven’t quite found their voice on the floor. And as coaches you sometimes think like, ah, he’s not leading. No, he is leading. He’s just kind of doing it in his own way.

[00:50:59] Mike Klinzing: I think it always starts with…You have to lead by example. And for some guys, that’s where it stops. You know what I mean? You don’t have, they’re not necessarily ever going to be that vocal rah, rah guy. Like you were just describing, like, I think those are the people that when we have a perception of what a leader is, we think of that guy who’s sort of fiery and is going to challenge his teammates and is going to be the guy with the.

Huge amount of enthusiasm and always talking and getting guys pumped up and, and that kind of thing. And clearly those types of leaders are ones that are easy to recognize. Coaches love those guys. We recognize them. We see them. They’re, they’re easy to find. And the guys who do it more subtly are not necessarily, as you said, as easy to recognize.

They might be doing it in the dorm. They might be doing the cafeteria. They might be doing it in the locker room. They might be doing it, walking to and from practice. All times where the coaching staff may not. Even be around to see those things. But I still think that no matter whether you’re a vocal leader or you’re not a vocal leader, it all still, as you said, has to start with you’ve got to do it by example, because the guy who is rah rah, but then isn’t the guy working hard.

Eventually people are going to tune that guy out and be like, Hey man shut up because I see you out there and I see you out there in the drills and you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do. So I think you’re a hundred percent right in that the first step that has to happen is guys have to take ownership.

They have to make sure that they’re doing the right thing, take care of what they need to do, and then they can start to step out and be able to lead. And I think that’s where I love the idea of the captain’s council where. I have to have that and make that impression on three or four guys instead of on 15 to 20 guys.

I can just do it in my small group. And then that influence can then spread throughout the entire team. It doesn’t have to be me having that daunting task of, man, I got to lead 20 guys. I got to lead and be responsible for these three or four guys. This is my group. And I love that because I just think that provides, I don’t know if it’s a safe environment is the right way to say it, but it provides an environment where.

That leader is more likely to experience success than trying to lead 20 guys at a time, which let’s face it, sometimes as coaches, it’s hard to lead 20 guys in the right direction. Because again, as we said earlier, guys have the you got to work for the collective and not everybody, as you and I well know, not everybody always has the, the collective interest of everyone in mind.

And so that’s something that you’re working to develop. All the time when you start talking about your leaders.

[00:53:36] Steve Kollar: For sure. And I think two other things with that, it’s not going to be enough just by doing an example, right? By example, like if you’re going to lead you, you are going to have to find your voice, you’re just going to have to, right?

It doesn’t have to be all the time. It can be in your own way. But if you’re a leader, you’re going to have to be able to talk, right. And to communicate. And then the other thing that I think is really big, a huge quality for a leader is just calm in the storm, right? So when things aren’t going well, who are you?

Right. Like, are you, how do you handle adversity? How do you handle when it’s not going your way? How do you handle those things? When things are at its toughest, that’s when leaders really step forward. Right. And then that’s where they bring kind of a calmness to the rest of the group. Like, okay, like we got this, we’re all right.

And I think it’s super important to realize and what am I looking for? I mean, not be fake about it. Like, oh, we’re okay. This is all good. No, no, no. This is tough right now, but this is what we need to do going forward, this is going to help us. It’s either going to hurt us or help us one way or the way we respond.

And this is the way we need to respond. And they kind of demonstrate that. I think that’s a really big one as well.

[00:54:56] Mike Klinzing: That’s the ability to be okay with confrontation and to be okay with difficult conversations. I think that when I think about myself as a player and when I think about myself as a young coach, I think if I could go back and change anything about who I was from an intangible standpoint, I think that’s probably the one thing that I’d want to change is being more willing to have difficult conversations with my teammates or my coaches when I was a player, or as a young coach, being willing to have a more difficult conversation with a player and tell that player the absolute truth, as opposed to sort of trying to softball it and let the player down easy.

Instead, just look, I’ve learned that you got to tell people the truth. And the sooner you get to the truth, the sooner you can move on and everybody ends up being better off for it. But I think sometimes. That’s, that’s hard for players to do. And I think as coaches, we get better at that as we go along.

Cause we just realized that some of us ended up getting burned that, Hey, I didn’t, I didn’t, I wasn’t completely honest with this kid because I wanted to kind of softball it. And that ends up a lot of times I think coming back to bite you. So I think it’s a really important idea. And I think that’s what you’re getting at is that you got to have the ability to, to confront people and have those tough conversations in order to get to where anybody wants to go.

[00:56:21] Steve Kollar: Absolutely. And sometimes you’re not going to always be liked. Right. I mean, you don’t want to have negativity or anything, but you can’t make everybody happy all the time. If you are, I heard this a long time ago. If everyone’s happy, you’re not doing it right.  You have to be willing to have those tough conversations.

And honestly, if we’re trying to make a difference for that kid, that student athlete, we can’t enable them. We’re doing a disservice to them. If we’re just, ah, don’t worry about it. No, we have an opportunity to teach right now. And that’s something that that kid needs to hear.

And then to take it one step further with the leaders when you talk about guys that are invested in one another and they love you and we tell them all the time that when you have someone in your life that loves you, they’re going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, because they care about you.

They’re not there to coddle you. They’re not there to just kind of misery loves company, but like, Hey you need to do this. And when you can have someone like that in your life and you listen to them you’re going to be a lot better off.

[00:57:31] Mike Klinzing: There’s no doubt about that.  And I think sometimes that’s hard for players to understand in the moment. I think they eventually come to that realization. Some come to it sooner than others. But ultimately, I think as a coach that cares about their players, you owe that to the players on your team to be completely honest with them.

Because I think one of the things that confuses players more than anything is when somebody doesn’t tell them the truth. Because then it leaves this… player kind of hanging of, well, coach said this, but then when it comes time for the game. Why don’t I get a chance to play or why is this not happening based on what the coach said, it feels like that should happen.

And I think that that, that honesty and that ability to tell the truth and to tell players what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. That’s ultimately. What you have to get to if you want to have success. And I love what you said. I say it all the time that people ask me about this coaching job or that coaching job or this coach or that coach.

And I use that line that you said, Steve, all the time where, look, if you’re doing the job correctly. There are some people that are not going to like the decisions that you make. If you have a basketball team, you have 12 kids or 15 kids on your team. There’s no possible way that you can play 12 kids or 15 kids and have everybody be happy.

Now, maybe the 15th player is pretty happy if everybody’s playing the same amount of time, but I guarantee you the best player on that team isn’t happy. Everybody’s playing the amount of time. And so you can go through a million different scenarios. And ultimately what it comes down to is I had somebody say this to me, Early, I think it was maybe my second or third podcast episode, Sean O’Toole, who is a high school coach here in the Cleveland area.

He’s currently an athletic director at Gilmour Academy, but he said to me, ultimately what I do when I make a decision is I have to be able to lay my head down on the pillow at night and go to sleep. So I try not to listen to what anybody else says. I try to do what I think is right. By my team, by my players, by what I believe in, and if I do that, I know that when I go to bed at night, even though I may have angered somebody somewhere, I know that I can go to sleep understanding that I did what I believed was in the best interest of my program, my players, myself.

And I think that’s a really good way to think about, a really good way to judge. What you’re doing. And I think that anybody who’s in the coaching profession, right? I think we spend a lot of time self reflecting to kind of be able to grow and think about what we do and analyze. And that self analysis I think is a really important skill as a coach.  Would you agree with that?

[01:00:14] Steve Kollar: Yeah, absolutely. Well, when you take that role. As a leader, as the, as the coach, like you’re accepting that responsibility. Like that, that’s your job, right? It’s to develop those people, but you have to make the decisions that need to be made that are maybe unpopular.

And then when you have captain’s counsel and leaders, it’s that same thing, it may not be the popular thing here, but that that’s what you need to do. And because that’s the best decision for the group. And then ultimately when you’re the head coach, it’s the best decision for the team, not just like one person, right?

You’re telling, because other guys see that too it’s like, well, hold on. Like you said, we were about this, but. That doesn’t speak to that. That’s not matching up there and ultimately if guys know and you’re honest with them, most of the time, even if it’s later and they disagree at the time, they want to know that and a lot of times they’ll come back and be like, you know what, you’re right.

I do need to do that so it’s better for everybody in the long run. You don’t have to make some story up or if you’re telling a guy something and then try and keep track of what you’re telling people. You guys got to be who you are, be genuine and believe in what you’re saying and just be upfront and honest.

[01:01:34] Mike Klinzing: I think that’s a hundred percent right. And it’s funny, that’s a really good way to say it. And if coaches could learn that lesson early, I think we’d all be a lot better off. Certainly players would be a lot better off and we’d end up creating a lot less Headaches for ourselves. I always say to me, proactive communication is the best kind of communication when you’re trying to go backwards and solve problems retrospectively.

That’s a lot harder than trying to head things off of the past and having those tough conversations up front and right away. So let people know, Steve, how they can reach out to you, get in touch, email. Social media, whatever you feel comfortable with. And then after you do that, I will jump back in and wrap things up.

[01:02:20] Steve Kollar: Sounds good. Yep. Can touch base via email at steve.kollar11@gmail.com @coachkollar on Twitter. And then I’m going to probably be opening up a different Twitter with the consulting thing as I get rolling with that and we get into the season a little bit more.

[01:02:38] Mike Klinzing: Perfect. Steve, cannot thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule, staying up late night tonight to join us.

Really appreciate it. Number two, so you’re in an exclusive club of guys that have been on with us twice. And it’s always a pleasure to talk to guys that we had the opportunity to meet in person, which is always fun. And so again, I can’t thank you enough for joining us tonight. Truly appreciative of your time and to everyone out there, thanks for listening. And we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.