Shows
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 16: Jim Malone—"True Leaders Lead Everyone”What is the difference between holding a position of power and serving as a leader? Jim Malone—owner of Baseball Strength Academy and longtime Strength and Conditioning Coach with the San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Guardians, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals—joins the latest episode to discuss leadership lessons he’s learned from decades in the Bigs working with multiple Hall of Famers and Cy Young Winners as well as countless All-Stars.“True leaders across all domains have to lead everyone in their stead,” Malone says, making the point that great leaders in...
2025-10-2358 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 15: Scott Charland/Nate Huffstutter—"Turnabout Is Fair Play”“One of the things we always talk about with coaches is that you should be willing to do the things you ask your athletes to do. So, I should also be just as willing to answer the questions that I ask my guests.”Marking the 6-month milestone for the podcast, Coach Scott Charland leads a role-reversal episode and takes the interviewer’s chair for the day, putting host Nate Huffstutter on the hot seat to answer the types of questions he often asks of his guests.The coaches discuss Coach Nate’s career pathway from journali...
2025-10-1753 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 14: Todd Hamer—"Change the Community, Change the City, Change the Country”Fire it up! Coach Todd Hamer re-tells a story from Barack Obama about how a spark of inspiration can be enough to change the energy in another person, which can change a room, which can change a community, which can change a city, which can change a country.In addition to over two decades of experience as a D1 strength and conditioning coach—with leadership roles at The Citadel, Marist, George Mason, Robert Morris University, and George Washington University—Coach Hamer walks it like he talks it. Not just because of his 595lb squat PR or 475lb benc...
2025-10-0953 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 13: Bob Remensperger—"Keeping the Joy in Competitive Youth Sports”How can club and travel coaches make youth sports a fun, rewarding, and positive experience while still supporting highly competitive players through every level of their athletic journeys?Team sports are what you make them—YOU meaning coaches, players, families, communities, and organizations. While those critical of the youth sports system can point to issues with player burnout, high costs, extensive commitments, overuse injuries, and other problems, Legends FC SD-Del Mar ECRL Coach and College Liaison Bob Remensperger joins the podcast to discuss his player-driven approach and the ways that he teaches young players (and their parents!) to...
2025-09-1836 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 12: Devan McConnell— “Creating Trust & Building Inclusive Environments for Your Athletes”Equality. Fairness. Respect. Coach Devan McConnell, High Performance Director for the NHL’s Utah Mammoth, joins the latest episode of the Truth In The Arena Podcast to discuss how those core tenets are essential for teamwork and developing a positive team culture. In addition to being vital in the world of sports, Coach McConnell also explains how inclusiveness and fairness are core principles he looks for at the community level and with national political leadership.Through the conversation, McConnell shares the roots of his coaching philosophy and how his outlook has been impacted by professional stops across th...
2025-09-0426 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 11: Molly Binetti—“The Fight’s Not Over”Overcoming adversity. Resilience. Taking a loss in stride and continuing to work towards a common goal. We understand how these qualities shape durable and successful teams, and in this episode Molly Binetti, the Director of Women’s Basketball Performance for the powerhouse University of South Carolina program, discusses how those same qualities have also been elemental in pushing forward against the political headwinds facing progressive policies and achievements.The conversation begins with a discussion of how USC head coach Dawn Staley empowers her players and staff to take leadership positions and speak out for what they believe in...
2025-08-2847 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 10: Al Powell & Jim Place— “Win Little Battles—Tackling Racism and Social Justice Through Football”It started with a phone call—one man in a time of need. Summer, 2020. Following George Floyd’s murder and the aftermath of the global Black Lives Matter protests and ensuing backlash, Ohio High School Hall of Fame football coach Al Powell called his friend (and fellow Hall of Fame coach) Jim Place to express his despair at how the country was being torn apart. From that rare, authentic, and open conversation between a black coach and his white peer, the Miami Valley Football Coaches Association Social Justice 7v7 tournament was born.On the heels of a rece...
2025-08-1951 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 9: Tyler Germain—“Meritocracy and Pursuing Excellence in Sport and Life”Having passed the 20-year mark in his coaching career, Kalamazoo Central High School track coach Tyler Germain shares his perspective on his evolution as a coach & teacher and the values and principles he seeks to instill in both his athletes and students in an ever-changing information environment.In addition to highlighting teamwork, commitment, and overcoming adversity as core values, Coach Germain also focuses on the importance of equity and access in creating a program that serves as a “thriving community,” providing value for athletes at every competitive level within the sport.Coach Germain expands on how...
2025-07-311h 12
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 8: Julio Salado—“Caring Enough to Make a Difference”Serving on his city’s emergency response team. Flying to Poland and Ukraine on his own dime to prepare food and support humanitarian efforts for citizens displaced by the Russian invasion. Volunteering to provide health and fitness tools for underserved populations in his local community. Many coaches talk about servant leadership and human values; meanwhile, Coach Julio Salado demonstrates how to put those principles into local and global action.In this episode of the Truth In The Arena podcast, Coach Julio shares the simple principles that guide him each day: practice self-care & be kind. Those foundations—nurturing your...
2025-07-1645 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 7: Missy Mitchell-McBeth—“Modeling and Executing Your Core Values”Credibility is crucial for coaches—so, how can coaches make sure they are walking it like they talk it? Longtime S&C Coach, speaker, and author Missy Mitchell-McBeth joins Episode #7 of the podcast to talk about ways to narrow down core values…and more importantly, promote values that you can model and execute.Coach Mitchell-McBeth discusses how consistency and transparency are her foundational principles, which then support countless other important qualities: hard work, integrity, honesty, and more. With an extensive professional background to pull from, she explains how she learned from her mistakes as a young high scho...
2025-06-1935 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 6: Erik Becker—"We Must Never Lose Touch With Our Better Angels"Erik Becker, Head Football Coach and Sports Nutrition teacher at his alma mater, Daniel Hand High School in Madison Connecticut, joins Episode 6 to reflect on 25 years in the coaching field and how he views his “why” as a mission to develop capable, positive, healthy, and well-rounded young men.Coach Becker quotes John Dewey in believing that the role of schools are to equip and prepare students to participate in a democracy, and he sees athletics and sports as a crucial vehicle in that effort. Speaking from the heart, Becker discusses how his job involves teaching athletes to brav...
2025-06-1320 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 5: Ken Vick—"What If We Don't Speak Up?"In team environments, we consistently teach our athletes they need to be willing to be THE ONE: whether it’s winning a 50-50 challenge, coming through with a clutch hit, or stepping up to take a charge, effective players bypass the “maybe someone else will do it” instinct.In Episode 5 of the Truth In The Arena podcast, Coach Ken Vick discusses the need for coaches to be willing to step up and be the ones to offer leadership beyond the team setting and to enforce norms of acceptable behavior at the community-state-national levels. We bring up the widely...
2025-06-1342 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 4: Scott Charland—“Get Out There. Fight. Speak Up.”Coach Scott Charland, Manager of Human Performance for Parkview Sports Medicine in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins Nate Huffstutter on the Truth in the Arena podcast to discuss leadership, activism, and being invested enough in America to stand up and criticize our country when it fails to live up to its standards and founding principles.Based on over 20 years in the trenches of collegiate strength and conditioning at Saint Louis University, Temple, and Butler, Charland shares insights into how the current policies of the Trump administration negatively impact the lives and career stability of coaches who, in many...
2025-06-131h 00
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 3: Zach Even-Esh—"A Community-Driven Passion to Make America Healthy Again"In Episode 3 of the Truth in the Arena podcast, Nate Huffstutter speaks with Coach Zach Evan-Esh, founder of the Underground Strength Gym in Manasquan, New Jersey. Coach Even-Esh draws on his deep experience coaching across a range of levels in the community, from teaching in school PE programs to training competitive high school athletes to working with the general adult population.For Even-Esh, it all starts with family, health, and a base of fitness and strength. Reflecting on the twenty-plus years that he has been working with kids, he’s marked a notable downturn in general levels of...
2025-06-131h 08
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 2: Kendall Green—""The Battlegrounds of DEI, Woke, and Erasure-Based Meritocracy"In Episode 2 of the Truth In The Arena Podcast, Coach Kendall Green—Asst. S&C Coach at Alabama A&M University—speaks with host Nate Huffstutter about how his coaching principles inform his political perspective, focusing largely on the culture war battlegrounds of DEI, “Woke,” and the attempted erasure of black excellence from the historical record.Green outlines his core values of Discipline, Effort, and Accountability: through his extended career in the performance field, he has worked to instill those principles in his athletes as keys to success both on and off the field. Importantly, Green always believes...
2025-06-1358 min
Truth In The ArenaEpisode 1: Tony Holler—"Progressivism Is PatrioticKicking off Episode 1 of the Truth In The Arena Podcast, longtime track coach and retired chemistry teacher Tony Holler speaks with host Nate Huffstutter about the intersection of coaching, personal values, and political beliefs. Holler’s Feed the Cats model is based on “inarguable” valuable props, such as “Make practice the best part of a kid’s day” and “kids are good at what they like and obsessed with what they love.” In the conversation, Holler discusses how coaching transcends sports and serves as a platform for teaching life lessons and fostering community. Holler shares insights on the...
2025-06-1351 min