Picture this: you’re a leader navigating the ever-changing world of college athletics.
How do you set down roots in a community and build a successful program?
Coach Sean O’Regan, head women’s basketball coach at James Madison University, has the answer.
In this episode, Coach Regan shares his unique journey and the importance of having the right support system.
From the impact of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) on student-athletes to the challenges of communication in the modern era, Coach Regan’s insights will leave you inspired and ready to take on any leadership role.
Show Outline
- 02:08 – Coach Regan’s Journey at JMU: the key people who impacted his career and led him to stay rooted at JMU.
- 05:44 – Adapting to Changes in Collegiate Athletics: Coach Regan talks about how the landscape of collegiate athletics, including NIL and the transfer portal, has shifted his mindset in leading his team.
- 08:15 – The Importance of NIL for Student Athletes
- 09:07 – The Abuse and Challenges of NIL
- 11:47 – Communication Challenges in the Age of Social Media
- 15:27 – Impact of the transfer portal on program building and recruiting perspective
- 16:55 – Recruiting based on a player’s desire to win rather than personal gain
- 20:01 – The challenges of leadership in the midst of changes in college athletics
- 23:20 – Building Trust and Communication with Players
- 25:02 – Maintaining Personal Well-being as a Coach
- 27:55 – Developing Support and Resources for Women’s Basketball
- 30:20 – Vital Role of Community Support in Women’s Basketball
- 33:23 – Importance of Communication and Explanation vs. Frustration in Coaching
Quotes from the Show
- On NIL: “the rule, the idea, and the essence of what was supposed to happen, I’m absolutely in for that.”
- On the JMU coaching job: “”I think it’s one of the best women’s college basketball jobs in the country.”
- “That’s the fun part for me – if you feel valued, you feel you’re relevant, and if you’re relevant, you feel appreciated.”
Follow Coach O’Regan
Episode 43 – Full Transcription
Aaron Lee, Host (00:00:01) – Welcome to a brand new channel on the New Generation Leader podcast. We are exploring athletics, leadership, what it means to lead in high school, college at the pro ranks. With all of the changes around athletics, what does it mean to lead Today? In episode 43, we kick off with coach Sean Regan, the head women’s basketball coach at James Madison University. Coach Regan got his start with the men’s program while he was a student as a student manager, then moved up the ranks as a graduate assistant assistant coach and has now been at the helm of the Dukes going on eight seasons. I’m also joined by our co-host for the athletics channel, Brian Barry. Brian and I sat down with Coach Regan, and our conversation covers a variety of topics about the team investing in a new generation of student athletes and how their athletic department functions in providing a liberating experience for every leader at every level. So no matter what you do, no matter where you lead, even if you’re not in sports, Coach Regan is going to have some incredible stories and insights for you to take away and apply.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:01:18) – Welcome to the show.
Jay Smack, Voice of the Show (00:01:21) – Welcome to the New Generation Leader podcast. We’re giving you the tools you need to lead in the digital world, ready to reach your true potential. This is the New Generation Leader podcast.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:01:38) – So, Coach, question for you. You have followed a path that’s probably somewhat unique, especially in this ever changing, turbulent world of college athletics. You are home grown and you’ve built your career one step at a time. I’m going to go one layer deeper, though, into that journey. Who were the key people that changed or impacted led you on that path to really stay rooted at JMU throughout your career?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:02:08) – I think the first one for me would be Kenny Brooks. And so Kenny was a men’s basketball assistant coach at JMU. When I was a manager for my first three years. When he flipped over to the women’s side my senior year, I very honestly thought he was crazy. I didn’t quite understand why he was doing it. And then I went and coached men’s basketball for a little while and he called me and really recruited me back to the women’s side at JMU, my alma mater.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:02:37) – And perfect fit for me. But I had a lot of opportunities as an assistant. Once I got my feet kind of on the floor, I came in as a third assistant with him, worked my way up. But when I got to top assistant, I mean, we had plenty of discussions as to what the right moves were or what the best moves were for me. And you’re talking about a pretty homegrown guy himself, and he’d be the first to say that. I bet you he never thought he’d leave JMU. And, you know, I think he’s doing exceptionally well where he is. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better success for what he turned around. But I can distinctly remember I had an opportunity to go up to Saint John’s to work for Joe Tarter, who’s also a JMU graduate, by the way. And I was really close. I was basically decided that I was leaving and go to Saint John’s. And we just sat in his office for almost two hours talking about what the plan really is.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:03:28) – What do you want out of this? And at the time, it was like my dream job grew up in Vermont, so my dream job was the head coach at the University of Vermont. And he said, Why do you think Saint John’s? Why is that a better path than this? He said, There’s no telling what your path is. Maybe the best way to do that is to be an assistant at Vermont. And so again, two our millions of different ways of conversation. But he would be somebody that I would give a lot of credit to that loyalty and creating that loyalty. But you could go down the line, right? Jeff Born in one, Jeff Bourne’s been here for how long? I don’t even want to tell him how long. You’ll probably get mad at me for dating him. But somebody like that that is really found how great this place is, either community wise, how the school operates, the support we get, all those things. So I can go in a lot of different directions with it.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:04:12) – But as far as that continuity, that loyalty and that appreciation of where we are, the third would be my wife, probably because you have many discussions at night about what if such and such offered you this amount of money. And it’s like, what are you missing here other than just money? And it’s nothing. And so why move all the way across the country or something like that? So I could probably come up with a list of 20 people, but those three come to mind right off the bat and it just if you can see this place for what it is and this program for what it is, I think it’s one of the best women’s college basketball jobs in the country.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:04:47) – Sitting down roots like that is definitely a testament not only to it being the right place, but you having the right mindset. And as you mentioned, listing off just in those three key influencers, the right support around you. I know Brian can probably echo this as well, but I know for me I wouldn’t still be setting down roots with our family in this community if it wasn’t for my wife.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:05:11) – I would have jumped at all sorts of different opportunities. And so any of those influences can certainly help you set down roots. So thinking about setting down Roots, as you look at the landscape of collegiate athletics Nil and the transfer portal, it’s making headlines seemingly every week. How has that started to shift your mindset of how you translate all of those lessons you’ve learned throughout your career into the team and the players you’re leading?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:05:44) – Sure. Well, just it’s so rapid right now, and we’ve had changes throughout college basketball all throughout my coaching career and adapting. When I first was a manager, there was no director of Ops. Right now there is. So you can go down the line. I mean, for us right now with the landscape, it’s, you know, I always felt probably subject to some criticism. I think Jeff Bourne has always played those changes and those adjustments pretty smart. I think the first initial move in where Old Dominion went to Conference USA, I think there were like, Hey, what are we doing? And I thought he was pretty smart about just hitting the brakes just a little bit.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:06:21) – And so that’s kind of what we’ve done with Nil. We weren’t the first out. We weren’t the first out of the box in doing X, Y, and Z. For us, I think we’ve just hit the brakes a little bit. Okay. What are you hearing? What are people getting? Where do you want to be? What conversation do you want to be in? And. For me. And I know it’s important and we’re going to need it. So anybody out there wants to donate, go ahead and pull your collective. Com But it’s just what I’ve appreciated about that collective as well. It’s like the majority the intention of the collective is to retain as opposed to recruit. And I know that seems backwards right now. You’ve got to be able to recruit, but I have a tough time recruiting someone that you think is going to be this. And let’s say we come up with some sort of nil deal car dealership. She gets a car, she gets an X amount of dollars. Okay.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:07:14) – So what is what’s Jamia Hazel getting That’s averaged nine points a game for me for three years. It better be more than that because now a freshman that comes in, I’ve seen so many freshmen come in and not have maybe the mental toughness to play right away. I’ve seen a freshmen come in and not be able to grab hold of the system because of however they were trained. I’ve also seen freshmen pleasantly surprised, too. Right? Toyota. It’s who you guys. I don’t expect you to remember that name, but she was like, I don’t know. Husky positioned this kid from Lake Taylor High School and it was like, I guess we’ll take her. And man, she was a killer from day one, but we didn’t know that and we wouldn’t have recruited her with any nil. So being along with the answer, there’s so much to it. And so to retain a kid that needs the money or their car breaks down and they don’t have the money to fix that, and they’re on a scholarship, which the scholarship has again grown beyond just room and board and tuition, right? The cost of attendance was I don’t know what that was seven years ago.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:08:15) – That was the big thing. And so now we’re getting that for the kids. So it’s more than that. But for me, it’s like, let’s say use Kiki Jefferson, right? If Kiki Jefferson’s car broke down, they couldn’t pay for it. That’s the $2,000 I’d like somebody to come up with for her and have her earn it. Ever go out and do a commercial? But what saddens me really is that the NLP is it was as such the right intentions for student athletes, right? For so many years, student athletes were basically being used. And so I come here, you get your education, that’s all you get. Hey, we’ll give you meals and education. That’s great. But you’re going to make Alabama football billions of dollars. We’re going to sports is going to make a video game off of you. You get nothing. And they get however many million dollars. So like the rule, the idea and the essence of what was supposed to happen, I’m in like I’m absolutely in for that.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:09:07) – I think student athletes, if they have built a brand and they can do a commercial where the Toyota place downtown, if Kiki or Peyton McDaniel can really, really help them sell cars, they should be allowed to do that. But that’s why it was released. So we took the handcuffs off, but now it’s being abused by competitive donors basically, that want to win. And that’s great. And I do think it can help you. But I’m more of if like we had a player a couple years ago that was interested in making clothing and the clothing was she never really enjoyed like girls clothes, didn’t want to buy boys clothes, so she wanted something in the middle. So she created her own clothing line. Well, compliance got a hold of it and said, Well, she can’t do that because she’s using her name to sell the clothes. So that’s the idea. That’s why nil should be allowed. But until you get a lasso on, it’s I don’t know where it’s going to end up. And so what I’ve liked about Jeffs, like I know it’s getting competitive, but he hasn’t been out of the blocks like we’re going to do this, this, this and this.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:10:08) – It’s like, hey, let’s see what the climate is. Let’s see what people are doing. I think that’s a smart way to approach things, even though, yeah, you might fall behind for a quick second, but you’re not going to take ten steps down the wrong path. You’re at least going to pick the path you want and then start taking steps down the right path. And so to me, it’s like really interesting stuff. And I think somebody like Angel Reese with LSU who’s totally capitalized on this whole freedom of it and that to me is almost the right way to do it. But handing out giving handouts right away, it’s tough. I think more of the written is a great way to think about it.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:10:42) – Well, wanted to kind of go down that path because what you just gave us is so rich and so deep and there’s so much more to sort of talk about. But, you know, sort of in a limited amount of time, the leadership challenge, part of everything that you’ve seen changed since not just since you started coaching, but even when you were paying attention back when you were just one of the student assistants or student trainers and all the things that you’ve seen come up, the interaction you saw coaches have with players then to when you begin to have your own interaction with players to now having being the the voice, how do you see communication? Are there different communication challenges now or do you foresee them? So first off, you have the transfer portal and now you have an aisle, Now you have this.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:11:25) – I think you sort of mentioned it. It’s got to have impact on how you recruit to some extent because you are thinking more retention. So with the ability for new recruits to come in and spend their first year. Maybe even on the benches, a red shirt and turn around at the end of the year and leave. What are the leadership challenges there that you see that are now different than the ones you had before? Does that make sense?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:11:47) – Drastic to me, especially the last, I’d say five years. And I think a lot of that has to do with social media. Right. But nil is all linked to social media. Everything is because now let’s just say I had a team rule of some kind and I don’t do this, by the way, but I know coaches that take players phones when they get to the hotel on a road trip until the game is over. Okay. So if Payton McDaniel is conducting business through her social media now, I’m restricting her ability. But to your point, the communication level, I think you have to stay cutting edge with that all the time.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:12:19) – I think players communicated drastically different in 2003 when I was here versus now, and I’ve tried to make some changes. My philosophy in general is like, I don’t like rules. I don’t like you got a 10:00 curfew because if you’re 28 years old calling me and asking me when you should go to bed, I’ve done a bad job preparing you for the real world. So I don’t want to make a rule. But one thing I’ve thought about this year is like when we go out to dinner on the road, do we leave our phones on the bus and it’s just take an hour, maybe less than an hour sometimes. And I think learn to carry on a conversation I’ve experienced of late very diminished level of comfortable eye contact. They’ll look at you, but it’s real quick to look away or look down instead of man. I remember a couple years, I mean, you could have eye to eye for a good 3 to 10 minutes even. But I think the challenges of that and this time I really believe in as a coach is that you have to connect with them individually.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:13:18) – So whatever stage they are at, whether it’s now, it could be phone like when I’m watching Nikola Jokic tonight, I’ll be sending stuff to the players throughout the game and maybe it’s a move right? I used to use Jayson Tatum all the time with his moves. I love big Celtics fandom said they lost, but maybe that’s how I connect with Jamia or Payton versus the next day coming in and they’re sitting in my office where they don’t really want to sit down with me for 20 minutes and have a face to face conversation. But we can connect through Instagram or whatever text. It’s drastically different than 2003 and one of my favorite players all the time, Ashley Perez, who was here, she graduated in 16. I mean, there was days she’d spent four hours in my office just talking and really about nothing. And it’s like, that really doesn’t exist much anymore. And I think so much of it is the phone and the level of stimulation on the phone. I think it’s just incredible. But I’m not going to be I’m never going to be one of those old guys that can’t figure out the next way to communicate.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:14:15) – Like, okay, fine, this is what it is. Let’s do this because you have to. One of the things I write down all the time and it’s plastered all over my office is you got to fill cups. So how am I filling their cup? Payton’s cup is different than Sushi’s cup and America’s Cup and Jimmy Cup. So even my staff, their cups too. So like, how are we filling their cups? That’s not in a team meeting. Get that You’re you’re at zero. You’re filling anybody’s cup in a group setting. So is it a lunch? Maybe not. Maybe they don’t want to go to lunch with me. And that’s okay. Maybe it’s just what I’m talking about a text or a like or reposting their stuff on social media so drastically different. But the challenge of communication is it’s the most important thing. Connection is my most important requirement with our players. And even in recruiting, it becomes less phone call. Man, I built on the phone. I could do a phone call, man.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:15:03) – I joke with my staff. I’m like, If there was a rating on who leaves the best voicemails in the country, I’m right up there, I promise you. But no one’s listening to my voicemail anymore. Just doesn’t. Half the time that the voicemail is full, you can’t even leave one. I get led down. I’m like, Man, I had a good one. I had a good one ready. But it’s just you got to adapt. And so I have to.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:15:22) – Get you to leave one of those voicemails for.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:15:25) – That voicemail out. I’ll get you one.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:15:27) – A couple of things. I know Aaron has a few other questions, but so as it impacts leadership and your ability to build a program, which I know you and I have had a conversation before about what the transfer portal potentially does to being a program builder versus having to rebuild every year, just from my standpoint, maybe a little bit of a challenging year because you have so many transfers coming in. And by the way, just in looking at the portal and seeing what people say, congratulations on a what looks to be a pretty successful group coming in.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:15:59) – But do you encounter with the transfer portal and also with potential money, any change in perspective from potential recruits or transferring players in away from being team first to maybe me first type? Do you encounter that? How do you does that impact the way you consider a recruit or consider a transfer based on your existing base that’s also remains? Sure. You don’t have a lot of time to deal with drama, so when it goes to that, so and.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:16:27) – You know what? There inevitably is drama and that’s okay. But we’ve always tried to find the right kids. I think there’s kids out there and families out there that will always be all about them. Always. And you try to see that as soon as you can. And it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t take a kid, but it’s going to be more of a challenge to get them to buy into the team. And so we were lucky enough last year, I thought we had huge levels of sacrifice on our team and a lot of different ways, but the transfer portal is a lot of that.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:16:55) – And so I’m a firm believer in I’m not selling you a bill of goods that I’m not going to come through with. So I don’t just sit here and promise. But there’s different ones you can use. Carol Miller as an example, and this is really what sold me because she’s coming from University of Virginia for years there started a lot of games and I’m like, What do you want? Like, right? I consider transfer for like speed dating. So you sit down. You don’t have much time to recruit the kid. Hey, what do you want? What are you looking for? Here’s what I’m looking for. That good Or should I keep moving? And she said, Coach, I’m tired of losing. I want to win. And sure, that’s a little shot at Virginia there. It’s a little rough, but like, yeah, she hasn’t won a lot in her career. And so for me, what did that just tell me? It didn’t tell me that she has to average 20 points a game or she needs $10,000 in nil money.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:17:44) – It was like, I want to go someplace where I’m going to win. And we’ve played her every year, whether it be a game on the schedule or a scrimmage. We played them every year. And so she knows what she’s getting into. So for me, identifying that man, I want her right now. We also had another situation and again, two transfers comparably similar in position. And the first one, I’m not going to say her name, but towards the end of the visit, we sat down, we’re doing the closing and it was like very clear like, what’s the nil package? And it’s like, I don’t I’m not I don’t have one. I’m not interested. And so she ended up going to Big Ten school and we had Olivia Mullins down, who’s from Saint Joe’s. So we sat down in the closing and I led with that because I thought maybe this is the conversation we have to have now. And very, very I said, Hey, Nil. And her dad was like, Coach, I’m going to stop you.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:18:34) – They’re not a factor in our decision making. And again, I want you like I want that one because that shows me you’re not here for that simple reason of status or money or blah, blah, blah. It’s like, tell me how you’re going to make me a better player and a better person. Let me keep identifying those prospects that we want here. Right. And it’s always been that, but it’s been a different conversation of what the things that distractors are, which nil now or in the transfer portal. And this is a dangerous one, but it’s the last two years here at JMU. So last year it was Caroline Germain, our point guard, and the year before that it was a kid named John Diouf, and they both had graduated from high major schools. And they said, Look, coach, I got I want to play pro and if I give you a year, can you make me a pro? Can you get my numbers up? Well, that can seem like a selfish ask because it’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can get your numbers up.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:19:27) – And I don’t I think it was Calipari that that first started saying this when he was doing the one and done guys But like no one wants a kid that’s averaging ten points a game that’s on a ten and 22 team. So understand winning is part of that and everybody eats. And that’s what Calipari used to say is like everybody, if we’re winning, everybody eats. Because now your ten points a game is valued much higher because whatever we were last year, 28, whatever, 26 and you.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:19:51) – Know what you were.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:19:52) – Yeah, yeah. You know, it fades away real fast, man. It’s like you’re on that hint. We got to go. We got to get another one.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:19:59) – On to the next one.
Jay Smack, Voice of the Show (00:20:01) – College athletics is in the midst of colossal changes from nil to the transfer portal and conference realignment. Athletics programs are facing mounting pressure. How are these pressure points affecting your leadership? The waves of change require a different approach to building programs, leading teams and departments, developing players, directing coaches, and in how you think about athletics.
Jay Smack, Voice of the Show (00:20:22) – It’s becoming too easy to leave and too hard to create trust. This require. Wires you to think better, communicate better, lead better, perform better, be better every single day. Better can help better has built the very best of 21st century leadership thinking and tied world class content to simple technology to help aides, administrators, coaches and athletes thrive in the midst of the chaos the athletic world is facing. As a listener of the show, Better is offering a unique opportunity for your college program or high school team. Better starts with you. Learn more at New Generation Leader Fmt better.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:21:01) – So you’ve described there’s so many factors wins and losses, X’s and O’s being obviously one part of it that you’re measured by externally, but internally you have a drive as an athletic department, you have a calling. Even the NCAA, you watch the the ad packages they put together about lifelong learners being part of all of these teams and how few are going to go pro in this sport. But it’s really a development environment for them as individuals.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:21:33) – So how do you balance the work that has to get done with the development in your every day and every week rhythm with not only players but the coaches you lead as well?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:21:46) – Yeah, that’s honestly the fun part is that that’s the challenge is getting all these individuals that have their own individual goals, dreams, emotions, getting them to buy into a common goal. That’s what this whole is. That’s the challenge. And that’s I love it. I love that part of it because, yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Filling cups is like, how am I communicating with Jimmy Hazel to get her to understand, Hey, look, I need you to do this, this and this because it’s better for us. That doesn’t take away from your personal goals. Hey, could be a staff member. Hey, I need you to do this, this and this, because that’s what we need. Even though I know where you want to be in three years or whatever. But that’s where I think those personal touches.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:22:25) – It’s just crucial. And we’re lucky enough to have a culture that is is extremely supportive of one another. And so use Kiki Jefferson, for example. Right? So Kiki Jefferson was I want to be some player of the year. And so she never acted or never chased shots or never chased points. She let it come to her and everybody still knew what the goal was, but they never took it as like a selfish goal, like she wasn’t trying to win or wasn’t trying to be a good teammate. And so is that. That’s your leader. That’s your figurehead. It’s easier for me to sell the rest or communicate the rest with the rest of the team. And so that’s the greatest challenge. I think. You can’t do it without communication and you can’t do it without the personal touch of knowing that I actually care about what you want to do. And some of those discussions aren’t easy, right? Some of those discussions are a you’re saying you want to do this, your actions don’t match where you’re trying to go.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:23:20) – So don’t give me that. We have to have a real conversation about how that doesn’t match up here. But in the end, I think if you deal with people straightforward and you’re honest and they do know you care and you’re not a jerk to them or you’re not, I don’t know, sarcastic with them, then I think they’ll listen. One thing I really believe in to is I’ll listen to you. And so I’ve had plenty of situations where I remember losing to I think it was coastal Carolina, coastal Carolina. And I told Carolina, I’m like, Meet me in the lobby. And I don’t know, we were like 1230, 1:00 trying to figure out like, okay, what is it? What’s in the water? And so, like, tell me, don’t have all the answers. I don’t know all the time. But I think that raises her perceived like her value if she feels more valued that I’m actually asking her opinion, she feels more valued, that some of the stuff she said I’m actually trying to put into work.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:24:10) – And sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. But I think now her investment level in our outcomes become much higher. But it takes a lot of work and the personal touch is, I think, non-negotiable, where if I set the team in the room after that game and nothing’s getting done, nothing’s getting done, that’s what I think the challenge is. I think it’s really hard to do and I think the amount of work it takes, I think slow some people down from accomplishing it because it takes a lot. It doesn’t matter how I communicate. How does Carolina communicate or Kiki or Peyton, etcetera.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:24:41) – Yeah. Aaron, I know you have probably a couple more questions. I want to respect the time here, but one of the thing I kind of wanted to bring up with Coach was you’ve brought up the Cup analogy several times in into each cup. We have sort of a common theme around here when we talk about self care for a coach is that you can’t pour from an empty cup. So you’re doing all that cup dividing.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:25:02) – So how do you maintain your own cup level high? What steps do you take to, we call it 100 healthy. You have to be 100% healthy to then multiply among your team. So what things do you do? And have those changed over the years, given some of the other things we’ve talked about?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:25:18) – Yeah. One thing that’s definitely changed is children, right? So that to me it’s like a very binary life. It’s as much as I can pour in. At work. And it’s as much as I can pour in with my family. And that’s really I don’t want to say it like that, but yeah, my friends, I don’t have a why I’m not playing golf and doing. I just it doesn’t get me. But that’s a tough question because I think the only two answers to that question are my family and exercise. I can’t do this without exercise. I’ll go absolutely crazy. I’ll be stressed, I’ll be tight. I’ll probably be upright, tear your head off, say the wrong thing to me.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:25:51) – So like, that’s an important part of my routine. But it’s nice to have my family. My wife does an amazing job with our children. She also works a full time job, but going home to an environment that’s positive and supportive, it makes my life easier if I come home and it’s dysfunctional or if it’s toxic. All right. That’s just going to drain me. And same with this. If work was toxic or dysfunctional, too, it would drain me at home. So I give a lot of credit to her for sure. But the only thing I can think of is exercise. You know, every once in a while, maybe having a bourbon or something like that. Every once in a while. Okay. But yeah, but I do think that exercise, I didn’t always exercise as religiously as I did, but as a head coach, I found that extremely helpful to just release some of the daily stressors, which is what you have. Anybody in leadership position, you got to make all these decisions.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:26:44) – And I tell you what, I don’t go in the weight room without a piece of paper telling me what to do because I don’t want to make any decisions in the weight room. I want it to already be decided. If I got to waste 25 decisions in there, I’m going to be more fatigued by the end of the day.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:26:56) – And finally, for me, one of the things we always talk about is the level of support or challenge that you either you feel from athletic leadership for yourself and from the same token, how much you provide for the players and how that’s received. So this is going to be more like we promise not to use this as a negotiating ploy for you for more extensions, which I think you just got a new one, I think, Right, Yeah. Cool. You’re actually something to thank you from with Jamie moving up and stepping up everything. Number one for exercise. I look at the window behind you and I know what that facility looks like. So they offer you some support as far as getting exercise right there in that building right below.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:27:34) – Me, it’s right below.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:27:36) – No excuses in your position with everything changing. And I know that athletic Director Boren has done a really, really good job bringing the school along athletically, but from a support challenge or whatever challenge is presented to you, is there a requisite amount of support in your mind also offered to help hit those challenges?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:27:55) – To me, I couldn’t feel more supported in a couple of different ways. So the first being a women’s sport and understanding the spotlight that’s been on that over the last couple of years, we’ve always been properly supported. And what I mean by that detail wise is I know a school in the Big East that their men have the court every day, 2 to 8, and you know, they’re not practicing 2 to 8, but it’s like, no, there’s no room for the women’s team to practice. You got to practice in the mornings. That totally puts you backwards. That puts you as a second class citizen type of situation. We’ve never had that. We’ve never had that.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:28:32) – And I say it in recruiting all the time is that if there’s two men’s players in the gym and you come in to shoot at 11:00 at night, one of those guys will move and you’ll have half the court no matter what. Now you have to do the same. You have to reciprocate. If there’s two women’s players in there and one of them. But that’s unique. That’s not everywhere in the country. So that’s the detail of it. That’s the culture we have here. But Jeff, our Jeff Boren is always like, Hey, do you have everything you need? You have everything you need. And yes, sometimes I say no, right? Sometimes I’m like, Hey, we need something like this or we need something like this. And so it’s like, all right, if you need that, let’s figure out a way to get it. And so use this year as an example, we’re going into the Sun Belt and the travel is drastically different. And you’re going from one road trip.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:29:15) – We had to go from Texas State to Old Dominion. That is the longest you could possibly draw up. And when I asked him for a charter, which was very expensive, he didn’t bat an eye. He said, Yep, and we won both of those games and I think we definitely won the second game at Old Dominion because of that charter, or it gives you a huge advantage. And so the support we’ve had in that sense is, is everything. And again, I understand what sport I’m coaching to as far as being women’s basketball. And I know the fight that everybody’s fighting for that too. So to me, we’ve always treated all sports, I think, but specifically I only know how women’s basketball is treated. But we have the resources. You talk about the building. We had a recruit in here just the other day and it was like I was just at another high major school. You have better stuff than them and like, okay, all right. That’s great to hear. And so for me, that factors into the loyalty, right? That factors into how much longer I want to be here, because it’s like more, do I need a new gym now? I got a beautiful gym training room, sufficient training room, strength and conditioning, nutrition station, all that stuff.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:30:20) – I think it gives us a leg up on a lot of other schools that we’re competing against. And so there is the physical. But there’s also the community support. We’re top 15 attendance in women’s basketball in the country, and that has a lot to do with our community, right? That has a lot to do with the fan base that shows up whether we’re playing North Carolina or don’t want to say a bad school. So any smaller, less name school, they show up every time. And so to me, that’s the fun part for me because you feel valued, you feel you’re relevant, and if you’re relevant, you feel appreciated. I’ll give you one more thing and I’ll stop talking. But one of my favorite stories is we had Kirby Burkholder and Nikki Newman, who are locals, and it was their senior night and we played William and Mary at home and it was at the carnival we had 7000 and I’m like, Man, this is goosebumps. I got goosebumps right now telling you, but like 7000 for these two kids that have given everything to the program, awesome experience.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:31:10) – Well, the next game we had to go up to Northeastern. Northeastern is in Boston City School. There’s a kid named Jewel Tunstall who was graduating, and it was her senior night, too. Man, I bet you maybe 30 people there. It was just one of those moments like, man, we are so blessed to be where we are because this jewel is probably worth just as hard as Kirby Burkholder. Maybe harder, I don’t know. But like, man, and that’s what you get on a senior night. It’s like, Yeah, mom, dad and whoever. She had family, but like there’s no community support in so many places in women’s basketball. And that’s why to me, this is a jewel, man. This is an absolute diamond. Great.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:31:47) – Well, Coach, you’ve described an environment, a culture, a workplace, an educational setting, a team, all of that that I think there’s so many factors in there that leaders in any sector can learn from, not just you and your team, but the athletic department as a whole and as you described.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:32:08) – What are the resources that we need? How can we be successful, the tangible things as well as the environment. And I think there’s a lesson in there for all of us to take away that we say people say all the time the grass is greener. Well, the grass isn’t always greener. And you’ve described that in so many different instances just in in your snapshot of experience. And so that’s a good thing to keep in mind that as we’re all working to lead and build a culture, we want to build the best, the strongest, put the resources in, fill the cups. One of the things I love about that phrase is my kids learned it at school, and as my oldest heads to middle school next year, she comes home all the time and quotes that. And so the simplicity of these principles that we can all bring to mind, whether we’re mid-career or developing players or middle schoolers, we can all speak the same common language and build something worth following. So I’m going to wrap up with this coach.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:33:10) – One last question. It’s the question I ask everybody, and it’s the question I asked Norm before writing the book. What’s something that you’ve learned lately in your career that you wish you had learned earlier?
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:33:23) – Well.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:33:23) – Lately earlier I told you no curveballs and it’s.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:33:27) – A good question, though, and I will give credit to my one year old assistant. He just got here, Neil Harrell. And it’s the way I’ve coached before, But we were at a practice and I was hot. I was bothered. I was like really frustrated. And it wasn’t communication. It wasn’t the effort, right? And I was bothered. And we’re in a little coach’s huddle while that team shoot free throws, you know, just a break. And he said, Man, I think you got to tell them why you’re mad. And it was like, Yeah, you know what? Like, I’m mad. They can see I’m mad, I’m clenching my teeth, they can see all that they’re perceiving all that. But like, what are the things? Let’s just take care of the issues instead of being all grumpy and mad about it.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:34:08) – Hey, we’re not communicating. Hey, our effort isn’t there. Hey. So that to me, four years ago, I would have just been mad. I would have gone home mad. And I think that kind of adjustment, especially in this day and age, where that level of communication explanation I just think is so much more valued than the Bobby Knight style, which we’ve all learned as a coach. Right. I think even your coaching sixth grade, that’s how like I grew up, I watched Bobby Knight yell and throw chairs. Great. But like that doesn’t work now. Doesn’t kicking a ball is less of an effective way to lead and communicate then, Hey, look, let’s talk about where we are, why we’re here, why I’m upset. And so that was growth for me. I give him a lot of credit for it, but that was growth for me. And so it’s not like I never explained anything. But I think in those times where you’re really frustrated, why not at least explain it? You can still be frustrated after that, but at least now they know why and it’s a little bit more clear.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:35:05) – Yeah, I think that’s so important and it’s such a huge thing that we talk about even with our corporate lines. It’s the way we were led 30 years ago just doesn’t work anymore. And it’s because there are so many other opportunities and options for the employers. And now with you, just to bring it back full circle with the portal and with other ways for I mean, if they don’t feel openly communicated. With that is a strike for, you know. Right. So.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:35:28) – No, no.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:35:29) – But exactly right. Thanks for taking so much time with us. I know Aaron will close this out here, but congratulations on your contract renewal. Congratulations on last year and winning the conference tournament and getting to the tournament. Yeah, hopefully we’ll get a little better draw in the future.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:35:44) – We’re going gonna.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:35:44) – But as a JMU alumni and Duke Club member, it’s been a great honor for me to have you on here, so thanks for taking time. Of course. And yeah, so Aaron will close this out and look forward to hopefully having you back.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:35:55) – There’s so many other questions and so much more. You opened up so many different Pandora’s boxes of thoughts on on leadership things. So again, thanks so much.
Coach Sean O’Regan (00:36:03) – Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Aaron Lee, Host (00:36:05) – Yeah. Coach Regan, thanks for joining us as you welcome recruits welcome transfers over these next few weeks go through summer. I don’t know, is there a slow season at this point in the college year? Um, well, wish you all the best as you welcome these players and build the team that you’ll have throughout the next year. Keep filling cups and we’ll include links to for you to follow along with the Dukes and Coach Regan season at New Generation Leader Slash four three. This is episode 43. Thanks to Brian for co-hosting and we’ll see you next time.
Bryan Berry, Co-Host (00:36:44) – Thank you guys.
Jay Smack, Voice of the Show (00:36:46) – Thanks for listening to the New Generation Leader podcast. Subscribe today on your podcasting platform. Download the show notes and unlock your true leadership potential at New Generation leader.fm. Thanks for listening today and we look forward to seeing you next time on the New Generation Leader podcast.