Win More, Live Better

Dr. Barry Davis is a Hall of Fame baseball coach whose career spans nearly four decades and more than 1,000 victories across three levels of college baseball.

Barry began his head coaching career at Gloucester County College, where he won four NJCAA Division III national championships and earned four National Coach of the Year awards. He later led Georgia Southwestern to a conference championship and a school-record 49-win season before taking over at Rider University in 2005.

Across 21 seasons at Rider, Barry transformed the Broncs into a consistent MAAC contender, winning five conference tournament championships, making five...

What if you hired someone whose only job was to keep you from reaching your goals? What would they tell you to do? In this episode, Zach explores the concept of red teaming and how thinking like a saboteur can expose the vulnerabilities that might derail you or your team. With references to a famous speech by NFL Head coach, John Harbaugh, and a simple strategic planning team exercise, you'll learn how proactively identifying what could go wrong can help you build the systems, habits, and responses to prevent it.

Learn More About Zach:

If you repeated today’s habits and decisions for the next 100 days, would you be closer to what matters most or further away? That question and a lesson from NASA's Apollo missions is at the heart of today's episode. We explore how drift develops, why adjusting your route can help you stay committed to your goals, and how to recover when you veer off course. Whether you’re evaluating your leadership, relationships, or personal routines, this conversation offers a simple way to check your direction and make a purposeful adjustment.

Learn More About Zach:

You can’t force someone to change, but you can create the conditions that make change more likely. In this From the Other Side of the Mic episode, Zach joins Billy Allen on the "Coach Your Brains Out" podcast with additional guests Bernie Holliday and Ceci Clark for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the most important (and complicated) parts of coaching and leadership: Helping people change their behavior.

They explore why advice alone rarely creates lasting change, how to build greater ownership and buy-in, the role of honest feedback and difficult conversations, why environment can sometimes te...

To celebrate the production of 300 episodes for Win More, Live Better and more than 40+ conversations with championship coaches across sports, Zach steps back to examine a larger question: What are the common themes great coaches consistently reference for sustaining excellence?

In this masterclass episode, Zach references past guest conversations and explores the six core roles and responsibilities that head coaches must master in order to sustain excellence, for themselves and others. 

Learn More About Zach:

When it comes to athletes, coaches see their qualities such as competitiveness, perfectionism, insecurity, confidence, work ethic and need to prove people wrong, to name a few. What they don’t always see is where those behaviors and qualities come from. Using Landon Donovan's journey to become a US soccer icon, this episode highlights what he can teach coaches about empathy, the motivation beneath the behaviors we see, and why learning more about where someone has been can help us better support where they’re going.

Learn More About Zach:

Leadership requires knowing when to use the mirror and when to use the spotlight. When your team falls short, can you examine your own contribution before pointing elsewhere? When your team succeeds, can you step aside and give others the credit they deserve? Using a story from Tim Cook’s leadership at Apple and a recent leadership workshop, Zach explores why ownership and recognition both require courage and why leaders have to recommit to both again and again.

Learn More About Zach:

You can hold the retreat, organize the team-building exercise, bring in the guest speaker, and put your values on the wall, but some of your most important culture-building opportunities happen in the ordinary moments in between. In this episode, we use Zach Mercurio’s research on mattering to explore what happens when people feel seen, heard, valued, and needed (and what happens when they don’t).

Learn More About Zach:

Jay Johnson is the head baseball coach at LSU and one of the most accomplished coaches in college baseball.

In five seasons at LSU, Johnson has led the Tigers to two national championships, winning the College World Series in 2023 and 2025. He became the fastest coach to win multiple national titles during his tenure at a single school and has twice earned National Coach of the Year honors.

His head-coaching journey began at his alma mater, Point Loma Nazarene, before he spent eight seasons as an assistant under Rich Hill at the University of San Diego...

Human nature is to expect progress to be steady, visible and linear, but most meaningful goals are accompanied by setbacks, course corrections and periods when you have to take a step backward in order to go forward. Through the metaphor of tacking in sailing, this episode offers a better way to understand the inevitable zig-zags of growth and how to adjust your process in pursuit of goals, without having to change the destination.

Learn More About Zach:

We conduct background checks before giving people important responsibilities. So why not do the same with the beliefs we give influence over our lives? In this episode, Zach shares a simple way to examine the evidence behind your assumptions and limiting beliefs, challenge outdated conclusions, and make sure your past isn't unnecessarily dictating your future.

Learn More About Zach:

Paul Goldstein is the Director of Men’s Tennis and Head Coach at Stanford University. Across 12 seasons leading the Cardinal, Goldstein has compiled more than 200 wins, guided Stanford to the NCAA Championships every season, won conference championships in both the Pac-12 and ACC, and earned ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year honors five times. 

In 2024-25, he led Stanford to 26 wins, an ACC Championship in its first season in the conference, and appearances in the semifinals of both the NCAA Championships and ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Before becoming Stanford’s head coach, Goldstein built...

Culture matters, but not simply for the sake of having a great culture. It matters because of what it enables people and organizations to accomplish. This episode explores how leaders can connect culture to behavior and performance, why there isn't one universally “great” culture, and how working backward from desired outcomes can help create an environment where people can consistently do their best work.

Learn More About Zach:

Growth often comes with an uncomfortable period where the demands of what we’re doing exceed our current capacity to handle them. Using the remarkable story of James Lawrence’s 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 states in 50 days, this episode explores the gap between new demands and our current capacity and why we should be careful about deciding too quickly that something isn’t working.

Learn More About Zach:

The moments when you most want to quit may also be the moments where you have the greatest opportunity to create separation. Inspired by a question Chris Bosh learned from Kobe Bryant, this episode explores how performers can create separation when things aren't easy. Drawing on lessons from Randy Pausch’s famous “brick walls” message in his last lecture and my own experience training for my first marathon, we’ll unpack how to stay resilient, navigate setbacks, and keep going when the path gets difficult.

Learn More About Zach:

Not every great performance starts with feeling great. Last week, two of the world's top music artists, Taylor Swift and Noah Kahan, reminded me of the same key lesson that is relevant for elite performers in any domain. In this episode, we explore why feeling your best isn’t a prerequisite for doing your best and what becomes possible when you stop treating your internal state as a prediction of what you’re capable of.

Learn More About Zach:

Mark Gottfried has experienced college basketball from nearly every angle including as a player, assistant coach, head coach, broadcaster, and now as a speaker, mentor, and podcast host.

Mark began his coaching career at UCLA, where he spent seven seasons as an assistant and helped the Bruins capture the 1995 national championship. He went on to serve as a Division I head coach for more than two decades at various programs such as Murray State, Alabama, NC State, and Cal State Northridge.

Across his head coaching career, Mark accumulated more than 400 victories, won multiple conference championships...

In 1943, Edwin Land’s three-year-old daughter asked him a simple question after he took her picture: Why couldn’t she see it right away? Her question helped activate an idea that had been developing in Land’s mind for years and ultimately contributed to the invention of the Polaroid camera. In this episode, Zach uses that story to explore why meaningful growth frequently occurs before it becomes visible and why great leaders help people see the progress they may not yet recognize in themselves.

Learn More About Zach:

What conversation are you currently talking yourself out of? Difficult conversations rarely become easier simply because we avoid them. More often, the frustration, assumptions, and tension continue to build beneath the surface. In this episode, Zach shares some practical strategies for navigating difficult conversations and becoming more skilled at them.

Learn More About Zach:

John O’Sullivan is a former collegiate and professional soccer player, longtime coach, author, speaker, and the founder of the Changing the Game Project—an organization dedicated to creating better experiences for athletes by transforming the way we coach, lead, and develop people through sport.

John is also the host of the Way of Champions Podcast, where he and Dr. Jerry Lynch have had nearly 500 conversations with some of the world’s top coaches, leaders, researchers, and performers. He is the author of several books on coaching, culture, and athlete development, including Changing the Game, Every Moment Matter...

Wherever you go, your attention goes with you. So why wouldn’t you deliberately train it? In this episode, Zach explores how training attention can strengthen other mental skills, why calm isn’t necessarily the goal of meditation, and what it means to develop greater stability in the moments that matter most.

Learn More About Zach:

How do you respond and adapt when you confront conditions you didn't prepare for? In this episode, Zach shares the remarkable story of a world-renowned pianist who was forced to perform on an instrument that was far from what he expected and created something extraordinary by adjusting the way he played. Through lessons from music, Roger Clemens, and a professional hitting coach, Zach explores why adaptability begins with accepting reality, focusing on what remains available, and trusting your ability to improvise.

Learn More About Zach:

Josh Steinbach is the head volleyball coach at Villanova University, where he is entering his 20th season and has become the winningest coach in program history with more than 300 career victories.

Before arriving at Villanova in 2007, Josh's coaching journey included stops at San Diego Mesa College, Penn State, University of Cincinnati, and Wright State. During his time at Villanova, Josh has earned BIG EAST Coach of the Year and AVCA East Region Coach of the Year honors while building a program that has consistently competed at a high level on the court and in the classroom.

Why do some lessons stick with us for years while others disappear almost immediately? In this After the Whistle segment, Zach builds on a lesson from his conversation with Maryland Basketball's Josh Chambers about the role emotion plays in learning. Zach discusses why information alone isn't always enough to create engagement or change and how emotion influences what captures our attention.

Learn More About Zach:

In this From the Other Side of the Mic episode, Zach joins Colin Jonov on The Playbook podcast to discuss the paradoxes of leadership, the role of identity and values in decision-making, and how preparing for adversity, not avoiding it, helps people sustain excellence over time. They also discuss the hidden costs of ambition, balancing professional success with the responsibilities of family, and why the best leaders don't simply chase results, they model the behaviors and character they hope to inspire in others.

Learn More About Zach:

The words leaders choose to recognize often become the behaviors people repeat. In this episode, Zach distinguishes between the three types of recognition: Compliments, praise, and feed-forward. He explores how great leaders not only acknowledge success, but also provide the clarity people need to continue growing.

Learn More About Zach:

Most leaders focus on becoming someone others can trust, but far fewer ask an equally important question: Am I willing to trust others? In this episode, Zach explores the often-overlooked distinction between being trustworthy and being trust willing through the remarkable story of Charles Blondin's historic tightrope walks across Niagara Falls. 

Learn More About Zach:

What if the biggest competitive advantage your team has isn't your talent, but the systems you build around it?

In this episode, I'm joined by Josh Chambers, the Director of Process for the University of Maryland men's basketball program. Josh has spent more than a decade helping build elite college basketball programs alongside one of the game's most respected coaches, Buzz Williams. His journey has taken him from serving as a student manager at Virginia Tech to working with Hall of Famer George Raveling in strategic planning, founding his own creative and recruiting company, and then returning...

Would you rather find out what you’re capable of or spend your life wondering what might have happened if you tried? In this episode, we explore British mountaineer Mo Anthoine’s idea of “feeding the rat” which is a symbol for our human desire for testing limits and deliberately choosing meaningful challenges that stretch your current capacity. 

Learn More About Zach:

Why do some of our best performances feel almost effortless? Using Josh Kerr's recent world record in the mile, this episode explores a hidden paradox of peak performance: The harder we try to force greatness, the more likely we are to create the very interference that holds us back. You'll learn why flow can't be manufactured and how to gain control by knowing what not to control.

Learn More About Zach:

Reading a book is one thing, but actually applying and living its ideas is another. This episode isn’t a list of my favorite books per se, but it is a reflection on eight books whose lessons continue to influence my coaching, leadership, parenting, and perspective years after I turned the final page.

Learn More About Zach:

You won’t always control which thoughts enter your mind, but you can control what you do next. In this episode, Zach uses an unexpected moment during a rainy run to explain two ways we can respond to unhelpful thoughts: Change their content or change our relationship with them. Learn how athletes, coaches, and leaders can redirect unproductive self-talk when possible and continue taking purposeful action when the thoughts refuse to change.

Learn More About Zach:

Many of the most important investments we make don't produce immediate results. Drawing from a childhood memory of preparing firewood with his dad and a quote from musical artist John Mayer, in this episode Zach shares how small daily efforts accumulate over time and why consistent preparation creates the confidence to perform when it matters most.

Learn More About Zach:

Every meaningful dream comes with fine print. Whether you're an athlete, coach, leader, entrepreneur, or simply pursuing an important goal, the journey will almost certainly take longer than expected, require greater sacrifice, and test you in ways you never imagined. In this episode, Zach draws inspiration from the recent MLB and NBA drafts and explains why understanding the "fine print" for your dream can help pro athletes (and all of us) pursue excellence.

Learn More About Zach:

How do you build teams that perform under extraordinary pressure when failure isn't an option?

This week, I'm joined by Dr. Suzanne Bell, an organizational psychologist, internationally recognized expert on team effectiveness, and Lead Scientist of NASA's Behavioral Health & Performance Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Dr. Bell leads research focused on helping astronauts and mission teams thrive in some of the most demanding environments imaginable, studying everything from teamwork, leadership, communication, behavioral health, sleep, and adaptability to support NASA's future lunar and Mars missions. 

Dr. Bell has also spent decades researching high-performing teams and advising o...

We’re halfway through the 2026 year. Before you rush into the next six months, this can be a great time to pause and evaluate your year so far. In this episode, I share a personal mid-year reflection on the lessons and questions that have shaped my first half of 2026 and the halftime adjustments I’m making for the back half of the year.

Learn More About Zach:

How do you build a more connected team? According to Hall of Fame NBA coach Mike D'Antoni, it starts with the coaches. In this After the Whistle segment, we unpack why the relationships among your coaching staff may be one of the biggest influences on your team's culture. We also discuss practical ways coaches can create stronger connections, foster trust, and model the kind of culture they hope to see in their players.

Learn More About Zach:

How do you decide what deserves your time and attention when everything feels important? In this episode, Zach explores why identifying your values isn’t enough, you also need to understand how they’re prioritized. This episode offers a practical way to think about your values and ensure your daily choices reflect the life you’re trying to build.

Learn More About Zach:

Every Independence Day, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest captures the attention of millions of viewers. But few people know the story of Takeru Kobayashi, the six-time champion whose innovative approach forever changed the competition. In this episode, Zach unpacks the leadership and performance lessons behind Kobayashi's success and explains why extraordinary results often come from asking different questions, not just simply working harder.

Learn More About Zach:

Coach Mike D'Antoni is one of the most influential coaches in basketball history.

Following a remarkable playing career in Italy that included five championships, D'Antoni transitioned into coaching and went on to become one of the game's greatest innovators. Over a coaching career spanning more than four decades, he served as head coach of the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Houston Rockets, earning two NBA Coach of the Year awards while helping reshape the modern game through his revolutionary offensive philosophy.

This summer, Coach D'Antoni will be inducted into the Naismith...