Clif Carroll is in his first season as the Head Coach for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Men's basketball team, after having previously served as the head coach at McMurry University and Sul Ross University, and had the privilege to spend his early career working under two Hall of Fame coaches, Steve Green at South Plains College and Bobby Knight at Texas Tech.
In this interview, Evan Burk speaks with Clif on how Bobby Knight's 3x5 index card influenced his approach to coaching, the way his recruiting philosophy changed after having kids, and the lessons of Texas BBQ restaurants he uses to lead his team.
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Topics Discussed:
2:00 | Learning from working under Coach Bobby Knight at Texas Tech
4:30 | What stood out about Coach Knight's leadership?
5:45 | What Clif learned from Bobby Knight - The simplicity of a 3x5 Index Card
8:30 | Coach Leach at Texas Tech and Learning the Air Raid Offense
9:45 | Other sources of inspiration like country music + BBQ restaurants
11:30 | "Great coaches can coach anything"
13:20 | Chris Beard as a young assistant at Texas
16:30 | Using Authenticity in his coaching
20:15 | "Part of being authentic is knowing your weaknesses"
24:10 | Social Media + The "Generation of Celebrity" changing how coaches deal with players
27:00 | Coaches now have to really coach up Loyalty, Community, interaction between the kids
29:30 | Finding intangible traits in the players in recruiting
32:15 | "Circling up the Player" + gathering information
34:30 | How having kids changed his coaching and view of recruiting
35:45 | "I have been really looking for players that are high achievers"
36:45 | Sul Ross and his mentality taking that job.
44:15 | Mentality taking over the UMHB Program
49:30 | The Early Success putting his culture in place at UMHB
52:30 | Expanding his player's horizons with Country Music
