Mindset Lessons for Coaches with Hunter Price

In this episode of Pro Mindset® Podcast, host Craig Domann sits down with author, youth pastor, speaker, and youth leadership expert Hunter Price to explore the challenges of connection in modern athletics. From navigating the shift toward overprotective parenting styles to protecting young athletes from the pitfalls of a volatile transfer culture, Hunter’s insight on trust, care, and player character provides a vital playbook for families.

Hunter shares his experiences with building intentional locker room cultures, the critical role of family values in long-term success, and why chasing the quickest escape via the transfer portal can derail an athlete's dream of reaching their full potential. He emphasizes the importance of relational recruitment, non-monetary factors in the transfer portal, and maintaining emotional regulation in a cutthroat environment. Hunter also highlights the vital role of radical honesty in coaching and lifelong mentorship.

Additionally, Hunter balances his leadership expertise as a dedicated father of two young boys, Nolan and Griffin. His friendship and mutual respect with Craig shines through this conversation. It's a reminder that Craig entered this business not to guard territory, but to help people achieve their goals and dreams — and Hunter’s collaborative approach to building championship mindsets is living proof of that.

Episode Takeaways: 
💡 Trust—Connection Precedes Correction 
💡 Resilience—Persevere Through The Mess 
💡 Culture—Hustle Fuels The Team

📲Connect with Hunter:
📸TikTok: @hunterprice_v3 
👋LinkedIn: @Hunter Price 
📕Book: https://www.amazon.com/Care-Compete-Coachs-Connection-Margins-ebook/dp/B0GY1NGWVV
🎙️Podcast: www.v3content.org 

🚀 Ready to Build a Mindset That Powers You Through Anything?
If Hunter’s insights on trust and resilience inspire you, the Pro Mindset® Coaching Program can help you align your potential with purpose and adaptability.
 👉 Learn more or apply at www.ProMindsetPodcast.com/coaching or reach out directly to Craig at Craig.ProMindset@gmail.com.

Need professional, seasoned NIL Representation? Reach out to veteran NFL & NIL Agent Craig Domann for guidance and/or representation for your athlete’s career: Craig.ProMindset@gmail.com

#ProMindset #Mindset #CraigDomann #ProMindsetPodcast #Transformation #Belief #Subconscious #Speaking #Pastor #Youth #YouthLeadership #Family #Fatherhood #Parenting #Leadership #NIL #NCAA #NILRepresentation

Transcript

PRO MINDSET (00: 0:00

01.25) Hey, welcome everyone to Pro Mindset Podcast. This is your host, Craig Domann. I'm super, super stoked today. Our guest today is Hunter Price. He's a he's got a heart for youth. He's a he's an author. He the name of his book is Care to Compete. He's into sports. He's into faith. He's into family. Hunter, welcome to Pro Mindset today.

Hunter Price (00: 0:01

27.078) Craig, thank you so much for for having me. I love a good opportunity to discuss anything leadership, faith, family, sports. So this is right up my alley. I'm super excited.

PRO MINDSET (00: 0:02

37.728) Okay, so let's just dive right in. We talked just for a second off air about the challenges of connection for coaches in in in today, in today's world. And you're you deal with youth all the time and you coach coaches. So what do you see as the heart of the issue with coaches reaching kids?

Hunter Price (01: 0:03

03.428) That's fantastic question. I think that's the million dollar question for coaches today because any room I walk into, so I do coach coaching now in clinics and workshops and things like that. So I've talked to hundreds of coaches in the last two years and through the podcast and stuff, and there's two complaints that I hear every single room I walk into. The first is parents. And I agree. I agree. Parents are harder. Because they have almost more leeway and administrators are a little more afraid of them, but that's not what we're here to talk about. The we're trying to talk about the second part is kids these days. And it's a point I made in my book is that every generation has said kids these days. I'm pretty sure the the coaches who coached me thought me and my friends were a bunch of punks. And I was I'm 33, I was at the beginning of the cell phone wave where everyone was texting and on MySpace and Facebook. I'm sure they said, Kids these days. They won't get off Facebook. Kids these days, they text too much. And then I bet those coaches had people above them and coaches they said kids these days. So I think it's a really a poor excuse to tap out of the game as a coach, or maybe to tap out of doing it well or intentionally because the kids are different today than they were. Because that's just how the world works. People change, generations change with technology and fads and all those things. So One of the biggest barriers for coaches is how do I connect with kids these days? And I think the biggest thing, and I'll let you respond to this in my opinion, is that kids these days, they want to know who you are and if they can trust you before they're gonna listen to you. They used to be able to just, yes, coach, I got ya. And that was the expectation. But it does seem to me that the biggest change is that they need to know that you're safe. That you're trustworthy, that you care about them before they will do anything you ask them to do. Would you agree with that?

PRO MINDSET (02: 0:08

59.468) Here's what I would say is that life is a series of phases. And so you go through this phase like when you're in high school, where you know, like anything's possible. And you're like, you're curious and you have dreams. But then you wake up at 40 and most of your dreams are dead. And you're in this phase and you're in a grind. You're most likely married, raising your kids, and and doing that program. And You might be in a job you don't even like. And so it's very difficult to have the ne have the neuroplasticity when you're 40 that a 17-year-old has. And so I think that's where a lot of the disconnection is. Is I've seen it with my own kids. I've had to like reverse engineer where I used to be when I was their age to be able to connect with them. And I think coaches are. stuck in the mud, so to speak, on where they're at, and they forget where they used to be when they were fifteen, seventeen, twenty-two, whatever it is.

Hunter Price (04: 0:11

08.9) I completely agree. And to touch on probably the most sensitive point in the whole thing is parenting seems to have evolved for the worse in a sense to where I work with kids. I've worked with kids for 12 years. I've worked with kids in teaching, coaching, and now youth ministry. So I've seen it all. And it does seem to me that there's more and more holding on to tight. Don't go play in the neighbor's yard. I'm not gonna let you go on this trip unless I'm there to chaperone. I'm not gonna let you try experience this without me intervening. think about this. We used to do progress reports every quarter. That's when companies and schools and everyone would do, and then sports teams like end of the year, right? This is your pri this is how you we would evaluate you. Now it seems like either the parent or the kid wants to know. what's happening every day, every at least every week, maybe every day, some the second a grade goes in a grade book, you're getting an email from a parent that pings their phone and they want to talk. So that's what I think what we're up against. I don't know if it's necessarily it's coming through the kids, but parents themselves are not allowing them to grow in that way. And I think that's the biggest mountain coaches have to climb. It's not the kids themselves, it's how do I how do I lead this young man or woman when they go home and face ten hours of the opposite direction from mom and dad?

PRO MINDSET (05: 0:15

45.378) Well here's something I see, coach, is this. Parents don't like their kids to be in the mess. They don't like their kids to be in that space where there's uncertainty. And that's where you might be a starter, you might not be a starter. Coach hasn't made a decision yet. And the coach might go with the other person for a few games and then switch it up. And you just, as a parent, you just want your kid to know is he a starter or is he the sixth man? And people cannot stand uncertainty. Think about think about anything in life. It starts out as a thought, a dream, and then you start taking action, and then it gets messy. And then it's like it wasn't, there's always things that surprise you, things that you didn't expect, things, variables that you can't control. And then you can either, it's almost like going white water rafting. I don't know if you've ever gone white water rafting. White water rafting is so much fun because it's just so cool. And you look ahead and you see the white, the, you know, the waves, then all of a sudden you get in that moment where you're like, shit, I don't know if we're gonna tip over. You you have that thought, like, my goodness, people hate that.

Hunter Price (07: 0:19

16.515) I completely agree. Parents don't don't like their kids being in that because they don't like being in that moment of uncertainty.

PRO MINDSET (07: 0:20

16.812) So I think parents don't don't like their kids being in that because they don't like being in that moment of uncertainty. So I think the the thing is, is like, let's say, for example, you're you're coaching me and you're developing me, I'm not gonna make linear growth and linear improvement. I'm gonna take two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, one step back. And on those days that I in those practices that I take one step back. I'm gonna go home and tell my mommy and daddy that I didn't go well today. So then they're gonna be alarmed that, well, we gotta reach out to Coach to see what's going on. Because yesterday you were doing great. So it's that whole idea of understanding that there's going to be turbulence. Says that in the Bible, there's gonna be turbulence. When we go on planes, very seldom do you get on a plane, it's just smooth the whole time. So that's my that's my perspective is parents do not like the kids being in uncertainty.

Hunter Price (08: 0:23

17.467) Kids be I completely would affirm that. I think you see it in a few in a few different ways. You see it in the classroom with I have this test, I'm freaking out, and you get emails about the test before you even see the grade or before even taking it. You don't know if you did better or not, and you're already emailing me asking me can you redo the test? And that's very common in the classroom. And then what's making it worse is a sports culture is the transfer the transfer norms now. I don't like this. I don't know if I'm gonna play or not next year. See ya. I don't think it's always about money. I think it's partially about money. And I think there's a percentile of yeah, you're gonna give me a million dollars, I'm gonna move. And I have no problems with that because if someone offered me a million dollars to move to Colorado, Craig, I would move to Colorado for a million dollars. And so but I think there's a larger percentage and I I do talk to college coaches about this, where they're just unhappy in their situation and they're not willing to see it through. And they make a I don't last minute like I d I don't know what to do. I can't see it through. I'm gonna just transfer. And then they regret it 'cause then they transfer somewhere and then they don't play again and then they just uprooted their lives and they make that a habit. And now I think in the high schools you're starting to see it. I see these kids in basketball that are going up to the college ranks and they'll ask them, where do you go to high school? And it's like, I want here freshman year, here sophomore year, here junior year, here senior year, and it's like, my gosh. And people are wondering how do you do that without being penalized and sitting? You transfer to prep schools or private academies and they can transfer as much as they want there. So we're almost feeding into it in a in a really dangerous way by not legislating

Hunter Price (10: 0:28

02.424) all of this. And I think college is gonna it's this is just the beginning of the Wild West in college. And I talk to college coaches and they tell me, Hunter, you have no idea how hard it is recruiting your own players during the season and then recruiting the other kids too. But that's the that's the mindset we're cultivating with what you just said is I'm not willing to see through something that I'm not entirely sure is gonna work out for me personally without thinking about the character growth that's gonna come from seeing whatever situation it is through. So that's a talking point when I go to teams. It's You're preparing for the rest of your life. I know it seems like so nearsighted just sitting here and and you're thinking about all just next season. And you're developing a habit that's gonna last you for the rest of your life. So do you wanna be someone who's gonna quit the second a job gets kind of hard? Or are you gonna be someone that's like, Man, Craig, you saw it through. I'm super proud of you. You saw it through even though you didn't know exactly where you it was gonna fall. So I think sports culturally, we are feeding into with how much we're letting it get out of control.

PRO MINDSET (11: 0:31

09.237) I see lessons both ways. So if an athlete is struggling with a certain program, certain coach, maybe has a maybe doesn't have a a great relationship with his or her coach and decides to hop and skip to a different school. The thing that they don't realize, and the lesson they're going to learn when they get to that new school is the same thing's going to happen there. Because they're the same person. And the and the inability to connect to the coach at school one is going to follow them to school two. So that is a great life lesson for them. That when, you know, it's almost like when the when you boil hot water, what does the frog do? It jumps out. Well, athletes. When they don't get what they want, it's not looking like what they were hoping it would look like, they're not a certain place on the depth chart or in the starting lineup, they they they jump. But unless that person is a better version of themselves at that next school, the same issues are gonna show up. Whereas if they stay, the lesson's different. Sometimes you're gonna learn that, hey, by staying and persevering, you know what? You gotta be more patient. You gotta be more respectful of your teammates because maybe they're just more talented. Maybe you're not a great fit with a coach, and you gotta learn how to become more of a fit. Or the best case scenario is you stay and you're victorious and you end up becoming a star because you did stick it out. But you don't become a star by sticking it out, you become a star by sticking it out and getting better. And working training harder, training better. So I think that, you know, it's it's it's one of those things where you can learn both places. It's just a little disturbing that everybody keeps jumping, everybody keeps transferring all the time. But they're gonna learn their lesson. Either way.

Hunter Price (13: 0:36

11.726) pitch an I want to pitch an idea to you. I've talked to one of my college coach friends about this last week. with that in mind, with all the transferring and all that stuff and how hard it is to keep kids that are not necessarily being stars or ones that are getting paid more. So let's just take a college basketball staff. You have like let's just 10 coaches. The first four coaches are really valuable. The next four it's like you're pretty valuable You might add something here and there, but you're more so just kind of fall in line and and help us out. And the last two are just kinda there doing you know planning practices, play you know, basketball ops director and things like that. So there's nothing schematically that like coach seven through ten are gonna bring that one through six are not, you know. So one of the things I was thinking is that the with the way the culture's changed. Wouldn't you think it would be really valuable for instead of hiring a defensive ins assistant or video coordinator for that seven to ten, like you hired a culture coach. And that coach is he's gonna be a part of like the scheme and stuff, but his expertise is in culture and his job throughout the year is gonna be connecting with every single player and every single coach. And I'm not talking about psychologists. I'm not talking about you go to their office and say, or you're talking about talking about body language and practice. You're talking about feedback and things like that. And if that coach could bring could keep you one of your players that left, would that not be worth it nowadays? I feel like it would. If that coach was successful at getting one person to embrace their role and stay, then that 60 grand to 80 grand, whatever it is, going to that coach, I feel like would be worth it rather than giving it to the third defensive assistant. In today's society where culture matters, where kids are leaving, I think we gotta start thinking more outside the box. And if I had to guess, you know, this is this could be happening, but if I had to guess what's the future of of coaching in this, I think every college staff should have a culture assistant coach. And that's their job is you keep you have our kids stay. You know, so I don't know.

PRO MINDSET (15: 0:41

19.619) Here's what I would say, Hunter, is that I would hire a coach player liaison. And he that person would coach the coaches and coach the players. And if you don't coach the coaches and you just interject yourself, not gonna work. I think you have to educate the coaches on. Hey, you know, when you're let's say, let's take basketball, you got 10 guys, you can't play 10, you got your core six or seven, and you're only gonna play eight, nine, and ten. People get in foul trouble, people get injured, people get sick, or somebody gets in a slump and you need to give them a set for, you know, slow down their playtime. It's the ability of a young man to be communicated with by his coach in an honest fashion about what his role is now. why his role is this now and how it can get better later. And when that's communicated, so let's just talk to the eighth man. You're you're honest with him. You're telling him, hey man, you're you're you're gonna get mop-up duty. We get in foul trouble. You could be you could end up being a primetime guy. And if you get hot, you could be a leading score. But My intentions going into the season, going in, unless things change in practice, is you're gonna be my eighth man. And you're you're probably gonna play five or six minutes a game. And the reason why is because I've got seven guys ahead of you that their role is is higher on the pecking order than yours, but it can change. If some guys start coasting, you might just leapfrog number seven. Number six gets a little distracted with girls and other things, gets suspended from school. You might be jumping up to number six and give every single kid, you know, let's let's not worry about the first the starting five. Six, seven, eight, nine, and ten all have hope. They all know the pathway to getting on the court.

PRO MINDSET (17: 0:46

33.113) They all know where they stand. There's no BS. There's not like, yeah, I love you. And then you never plan. you're my guy. You're you're my you're you're our best guy. And by the time he gets in the game with two minutes to go in the game when they're winning by 20, he's so pissed at the coach, he can't even dribble. Instead of going down to the end of the bench and saying, bro, you're only two minutes, but make them count. Make them count. Show us what you got.

Hunter Price (17: 0:48

55.833) That up.

PRO MINDSET (18: 0:49

06.605) And constantly being honest with every guy in this squad about where they stand. And you tell number six, hey, you're pretty close to five, but number seven's pushing. Number seven's coming for you. And you're constantly telling them instead of focusing on just X's and O's. You're basically allowing them to understand how they fit in the program, how they fit in the team, and what are the dynamics. And you know, I've I've coached several times, several sports, several years. And the worst job I've done was when I didn't communicate about a kid's role. One time I had one season I had five guys that thought they were quarterbacks. Last time I looked, only one can play. So communication is critical.

Hunter Price (19: 0:53

07.809) I used to hate I used to hate seeing a coach do a tryout and post the the roster on the locker room door. To me that was one of like the biggest no-nos in coaching. not just because of like the perceived cowardice of it. It's not that. It's the fact that you're missing an opportunity to set the tone right away with every player on your team, why they made the team and what their expected role is and where they could go. And also I feel like the kids who got cut, you know, let's talk just high school. They're 14 to 18 year olds. They should know what they should know why they got cut. You know, like that should be a don't know, maybe an adult and an MB like going to like a G League tryout. I don't know. But like the kids, like, come on. And I would sit down with every kid and they would take a long time, man. I mean, we'd we'd have 25 kids try out. You're sitting down, let's say you talk five minutes to each kid, you do the math, you're there for a while. And I'd say, here's w where I see you, you you've I'm fitting on this team for the next year. Here's where I perceive your role to be. I would need you to understand something that can change for the better or for the worse. You know. But this is where I perceive your role to be at on this team. And one of the things that I've helped programs where I went to go speak to teams. Teams understand is that you also need to understand how hard it is to be someone who's not playing. I don't think people I don't think like the star players, high school, college, really, maybe even pro really understand what it would look like to have to go through the same grueling practice, the same film study, the same game prep, the same everything with zero extrinsic reward. You're talking about people who have to be purely intrinsically motivated. And I don't think the average kid

Hunter Price (20: 0:58

57.833) knows that or thinks about it. I don't think the average coach thinks about it. And I they do know that. so one of the biggest things for me is just helping to bridge the gap in understanding. Where I talked to a high school basketball team last fall and I said, not a single one of you should make fun of a a kid who's not playing for trying. Because I see it all the time in the weight room, this kid can barely lift whatever or look at him he dove for the ball. You should be sprinting to pick him up. Because the kid at the end of the bench is significantly important for you to be pushing you and preparing you for the game that you're gonna play and the crowd's gonna be cheering for you and you're gonna get the scholarship, and that kid's getting nothing. And I think that's a huge missed glanced over topic in coaching where we talk about the the game dynamics and the practice dynamics and the schematics and all those things, but We're talking about people here. And imagine if you have 15 rostered in basketball, if you have 50 rostered in football on and on, imagine if all 100% of them are bought in to your cause, your practices are going to be awesome. Your games are going to be high energy and positive. And that's something that we completely gloss over because we're just so obsessed with the studs. and then maybe get into those role players instead. So that's something that I think that has been important in our discussions as in the last year or so.

PRO MINDSET (22: 1:02

28.809) One of the things I see, well, first let me share a story with you. I was coaching a sixth grade team. I was an assistant basketball coach. We had talented kids and we were eighteen and and we were going into the state championship, playing a very talented team, and we were in the fourth quarter of the game and it was, you know, very close game. And coach, the head coach called a timeout. And I was like the culture coach. I would like have them breathe during timeouts when they were p you know frustrated with the officials or some mom yelling at from the stands, you know, for her boy that was on the opposing team and it was throwing them off their game. I didn't worry about the X's and O's because they knew their X's and O's. They knew how to play basketball. But in this particular timeout, two boys didn't come in the huddle. There was 10 boys on the team. They sat at the end of the bench and I walked over to them and noticed they were crying. And I'm like, Sam, Kyle, what's going on? They said, we just want to play. I'm like, what? We just want to play. That hit me between the eyes. Here we are in the biggest game, the finals, the state championship, and they don't care. They just want to play. So I remembered that. I put that in my back pocket because from then on, We end up winning the state championship. They didn't play in the game. And six years later, when they're in the 12th grade, they were the only, they were there was only three of those 10 boys that were playing high school basketball. And they were two of them. And they won the state championship. And they were stars. And they went on to play college basketball. Because they had the drive. But what's the point? The point is that when you're coaching and you're winning by 18, you should be clearing your bench out. When you're winning by 10, you should in you should, you know, put in put in a kid that's not gonna make a difference. To give him a chance to develop. Because you just don't know what he's gonna show you until you put him in the game. He can't show you anything on the bench. And so for team morale and and camaraderie and everything.

PRO MINDSET (24: 1:07

55.331) You gotta give the kid at the end of the bench playtime.

Hunter Price (25: 1:08

01.782) Know what your general audience is. I'm assuming coaches are on here. and I I would give some nuggets of advice on just easy things you can do to improve the the the bench cuss culture, the hustle culture, those sorts of things. the first is every Saturday we had scrimmage Saturdays. We didn't do that just for kicks and giggles. It was because those kids had a rough week and I wanted them to be able to play too. Because they probably weren't playing in the most of RC games. Like you we were at a s a smallish town. I had six kids basically every year you could play and there was a cut o a huge abyss between six and seven. And so that the bottom half wasn't playing much. So every Saturday we scrimmage. I was willing to do that and forsake drills and game plan because I thought it was super important that they have some opportunity to play and show what they're what they're learning, what their abilities improving and things like that. and the the other guys liked it too 'cause it's just fun to fun to go and compete. another thing, I made bench highlights, so for varsity games, you know you'd watch the game as a bench player, then during film you'd watch the same game and we wonder why they're falling asleep and talking during it. Cause they don't care because they just watch the game. They don't care. And so occasionally I'd clip out like bench reactions, like a three or you know what I mean? They stand up, they put the three up or they dap each other up. And I'd make clips of that. So it's like you're a part of this too. Here's some look look look at these guys. Look at the energy they brought. Things like that. And then the third thing is I created the the wall of hustle. And the wall of hustle is in our locker room. And essentially anytime someone made a hustle play during a game, I'd screenshot it, print it out, and we'd fill up the wall with pictures throughout the year. And what that did was it awarded effort that wasn't star player effort. Anybody, anybody in your program, no matter what sport you're playing.

Hunter Price (26: 1:13

57.472) can hustle regardless of their skill. So w typically we'd honor the points per game in basketball and football, the touchdowns and yards and things like that, but we don't look at charges and and that sort of thing in the box score because it doesn't exist. Right. So I wanted to find a way to get everyone excited about doing the things that no one rewards. So I think finding some sort of reward system for the nitty-gritty hustle place that every person is capable of Doing it's gonna start increasing the attempts at which they do. And then they place themselves because then they'd go, dude, you've played twelve games and you're not on the wall of hustle yet. You know, like, what are you doing? And those types of things. So I think going outside the box, not doing points per game goals, because who does that reward the scores and what does that make everyone want to be a scorer? And you have one ball, so you can't have everyone thinking, I wanna be the score. so I think those are really easy ways to kind of get get people to buy into the the greater cause.

PRO MINDSET (28: 1:16

01.337) Well, one thing about every sport, especially basketball, is a lot of those non statistical plays help you win the game. And it might be thwarting a backdoor cut. You hustled and they were gonna get an easy two. And you know what? It ended up being a turnover. You forced a turnover. Doesn't show up anywhere. But you know what? You save two points. And you do enough of those types of I call them the invisible stats. Nobody, nobody really cares. nobody aspires to that to to win those. But without those, the team isn't gonna win. Because every team's got shooters, every team's got big men, not every team has hustlers. You know, unselfish kids. Okay, so let's go to I'm gonna kind of bounce around for a second, Hunter.

Hunter Price (29: 1:18

01.976) Let's do it.

PRO MINDSET (29: 1:19

03.881) You are a Christian youth pastor. How do you how do you like bring faith into the locker room, into an organization, into a team?

Hunter Price (29: 1:20

19.682) That's a great question. And I get asked that a lot. You don't do it by throwing Bibles at kids' heads and basically shaming or admonishing them because that's not gonna get anyone to buy into what you're selling. I think people think that when you talk about evangelize, share your faith, that includes you like just being brash about it. That helps no one. So I think that's the first thing is it shouldn't be something that you're being aggressive about. But it should be how the way you live. Like if as a believer and as someone who talked a faith game, if I'm out there screaming and cussing out refs and players, there's no way people are buying me as an individual, as a human. So it starts with who I how I act, even when no one's watching And I think that alone, modeling that alone, is the number one way to get kids to buy into something that you believe. It's not the things you say, it's just how you are and how you treat people. And there's so many ways where I failed at that early on. Maybe I was a jerk to someone, or I I made an immature joke, or and I just sat, I got I get home and I'm just like, what did I do? What was I thinking? So I became way more aware of what I was saying. and then the other thing is like. A lot of virtuoistic living and morality comes from religion. You know, so like the beginning of time, how people learned how to live and behave, morality in general came from religion because there's no let's just say you're you're not a believer, like where did you get your morality from? Like who decided you're supposed to treat people well? It's just like and then they would say, Well, it's how the the greater cause of humanity helps each other. I'd What if the greater cause of humanity made a law that I can steal your car? And I just did it, you'd be upset. So we know that it's wrong. So I think it's just the ways that which the Bible talks about treating people and loving each other, grace and truth, how you speak to people. So like John 1, Jesus was grace and truth. So when I talk to somebody, I need to be truthful in that, hey, you did something wrong and I need to call that out. But at the same time, I need to understand what grace looks like. You're not a screw up forever. I don't hate you. You're not unfixable, like there's grace to improve.

Hunter Price (31: 1:25

37.439) So it's all about the just how you live. And I think there's an aspect of if someone is different and they're just living that way and they're not of the world, you know, in in a sense, people will go, what's going on with that guy? And the greatest compliment I ever received as a as a believer and as a coach, I had two kids playing for me that were not believers. I was kind of worried about how's this gonna go because they were pretty hard the opposite way. And mom was really aggressive about it. And then the after their senior year was over, they played for me for three years. and we we were at a restaurant having our dinner party. And I said, Can I talk to you outside real quick? And I said, Hey man, I just appreciate you letting me share kind of who I am with you guys without, you know, you retaliating or saying anything. And he starts just starts crying. And he says, Coach, you're the first Christian who has ever shared with me f his faith with making me feel loved and not rejected in my entire life. And I was just like, man, what a powerful, powerful reminder that is to even if someone disagrees with you. I can't, I can't if I reject you or I don't show you love at all, then I've burnt that bridge forever. And I think kids especially need the bridge. So it's not you enabling them and and whatever behaviors that or whatever that's wrong. You don't want to enable, but it's loving them anyways. And sometimes love looks like a hard conversation, sometimes it looks like Tough love. but I that's a long answer, but I think it's a really important answer.

PRO MINDSET (33: 1:29

13.593) Well, one of the things that I've seen that is very successful is their the Bible's full of stories and it's about people and it's about imperfect people and one perfect person. And I think that almost everybody in the Bible represents something. Some people represent multiple things. So like Abraham. exhibited patience. Noah had belief in something unseen. Well in s in sports, sometimes you gotta believe that you can win even though you haven't won. What did Indiana do in football the last couple years? The coach got him to believe when they were not winners, you know? Joseph was great at you like not ideal circumstances, being in a foreign country and he He found a way to be successful even though his circumstances were not what he dreamed they would be. And then David was the underdog. He was the overachiever. You know, it's like, how many times in sports does that person show up and win the game, make the play? So we got a David, and then we got a Daniel, face of adversity. You're in the lion's den. Can you trust in the face of adversity?

Hunter Price (34: 1:32

32.907) David.

PRO MINDSET (34: 1:33

43.183) And Moses. Coach picks you, but you don't think you're worthy. You don't think you should play point guard. You don't think you should be the quarterback, but the coach does. Can you trust the coach to put you in a position to be successful, even though your identity of your belief in your identity of yourself is different than what his is or hers is? And I could go on and on, but those are just ones I thought of when you were talking. Go for it.

Hunter Price (35: 1:34

09.281) Can I can I piggyback on that too? I think there's a really important message in each one that all of them were broken people. All of them. Abraham and David both cheated on their wife. David killed somebody. Noah ended his life as a drunk. And you go on and on that God uses broken people. So there's no like, I could never because I've made this mistake or I've done this or I've done this. Where it's like, that's fine. That the the story of redemption is a powerful story. And I think that's maybe the biggest story is the Bible's a story of love and redemption. So as a coach, I need to be a coach who values love and redemption. So you're not a cast out because you screwed up. You still have another another opportunity. It's a whole next play mentality. So I I think you are spot on. And I thought that was really good.

PRO MINDSET (35: 1:36

57.432) No, I think the redemption part is very valuable for lots of reasons in their personal lives and in their their connection to their teammates. And they're, you know, one of the things you've got to be able to do, and I'm not talking about being arrogant, but you gotta love yourself. And you've got to be able to separate who you are from what you do. So athletes, because they perform in f in front of people. They perform on TV. They, you know, sometimes are are worshipped in certain situations. they start thinking they are what they do. None of us are what we do. And so I think it's really important as a coach to help your players understand that they're valuable people even when they fail on the field or on the court or on the pitch or you pick the pick the sport. And it's biblical that some of the most important people in history failed. And then they recovered. And then they conquered. So okay, let's go to let's go to the I want to dip into real quick be a consultant for parents. You know, we talked offline, we could talk about this all all the whole podcast, but just real briefly, what are like the boundaries that pound parents should put on themselves?

Hunter Price (37: 1:40

16.191) I agree. Okay, let's go to let's go to the

PRO MINDSET (37: 1:41

37.547) So that they can foster a relationship with their kid, to have a great relationship with his or her coaches and whatever sport they play, without being a helicopter, without judging, without blaming the coach for you not playing, when you might find out later the kid was, you know, sick or lethargic or distracted in practice, and that's the reason why the coach didn't play him. not because they were trying to be, you know, punitive to your kid. Give a give us g you know, give like a very healthy description of what a parent should or shouldn't do.

Hunter Price (38: 1:43

20.032) So I have two anecdotes for this. The first is my son came home in the spring, he's in second grade, and he was crying to me that kids at school were picking on him. He was in a talent show and he was see he was the only person singing. And I was kind of like, Are you sure you're gonna do that? Like, that's pretty daunting. And and I was really excited for him when he came home crying, and he said I said, How did talent show go, buddy? And he said, They were all making fun of me. So I stopped halfway through. And my heart was broken. Like there is not a whole lot of sadness like seeing your your child heartbroken. And I I sat there and I just thought. And I was like, every fiber in my being wants to call the school up, find out who they were, and go scorch earth on them. But but

PRO MINDSET (39: 1:45

03.99) Ha ha ha.

Hunter Price (39: 1:46

08.43) What what is Griffin gonna learn from this? He's gonna learn that if you're upset, you just take it out on everybody else. And I don't want him to learn about I don't want him to learn that lesson. So what I did is I just we I just talked to him about who I believe he is. He's a good singer, you're a great kid, on and on. Like this is who your dad believes you to be. And I hope you understand that. And in a way, these kids may not have that. So maybe they're taking that out on you. Maybe they're insecure themselves. But it's a fantastic lesson in Sometimes life is hard and sometimes people are mean and you have to keep moving. So I thought it was really important that I pushed him through that. And I guess my recommendation is there are teaching moments in life that don't include you stepping in. And it's really hard. it's so hard having a kid maybe feel slighted on the basketball team or a kid getting made fun of at school. There's some that you definitely need to step into because they're dangerous. But there's some that you need to let go and go, okay, what is my child gonna learn from this? Because if you continue to step in and interject in every single thing they do, they're not gonna have any idea how to operate as an adult, as a human being. That's why I let my two sons wrestle. They're eight and six. My wife and I, like she doesn't come from a physical family. I do. We let them wrestle because one of them's gonna get hurt. Mom's gonna start crying and they need to figure out how to solve that conflict without mom and dad stepping in every time and telling them who's in trouble and who's not. Now, if one of them does an elbow drop on the other one's throat, then we've got to figure that out. We've got to pull them aside and step in. And that's the that's the life one. And the the sports one is like coaching is hard because it's the only profession in the world where I feel like it's acceptable socially for other human adults to boo at you.

Hunter Price (41: 1:51

01.598) And like I wouldn't come into your bank if you're a banker and tell you who to hire, who to promote, and how to count your money. You would think I am insane for doing that with no experience in banking. And yet, that is exactly what you do to every coach your kid has. That kid shouldn't be playing. Well, I'm not gonna tell you who to hire. So stop telling me who should be playing. You have no idea what the skill requirements are for the kid to play. And also at the same time, like you have to trust that I my experience has gotten me to the place that it has to where you can do that. And for me in youth sports, I've always coached my sons for flag football this year. I stepped back. I wanted to be dad. I just wanted to watch from the bleach from the side. And their flag football coach, really nice guy. He just did some things that I totally agreed disagreed with. But I didn't volunteer to coach. He volunteered to coach. He volunteered his time. So I shut up. I sat there. I watched and we had a great season. So I think there's a lot of value in stepping back and going, What am I teaching my child by how I'm reacting? And if every parent understood that, I think societally we would maybe be a little more advanced.

PRO MINDSET (42: 1:54

18.255) Okay, let's go back to Griffin. Okay, so that's traumatic. You're singing at a talent show, your supposed friends are laughing at you or booing you or whatever they were doing. So much so that he quit in the middle of the song. 41.037) There's there's this concept called an outside game and an inside game. And ninety-nine percent of the population plays an outside game. I'm gonna do this as long as I get recognized for it, as long as people are smiling, as long as people are approving it. Doesn't matter what it is, I'm gonna keep going. Hey, you know what? Let's let's take this to running cross-country. Hey, as long as things are going good, I'm gonna keep running. But man, when things, you know. Don't, I gotta stop. So your son made a decision because he was playing an outside game. One of the things I would do is introduce him to the concept of playing the inside game and understanding that if he practiced it, if he was prepared for it, if he knew it, make sure that his focus is on him and his performance and not on them and their reaction. Because this is systemic and everything that we do as a human for the rest, I mean, for your son, let's say he's eight, it's gonna be the rest of his life. And so we've all stopped. We've all played outside games. I just said 99% of the people do it. I've done it. Okay. I've done it me probably millions of times. I don't do it anymore. And it's like life is so much easier when you're playing an inside game. If you deserve it, you trained for it, you practiced it. You don't worry about what they think.

Hunter Price (44: 2:00

20.433) I agree. I and I think that's just I think that's a good representative of coaches too. I think there's some coaches who as long as things are going well, they're great. And the second things are going poorly and people are booing them and and they're not winning and they go, it's not for me anymore. And I just go, Well then why who were you doing it for in the first place? If the the win loss changed your motivation to do it, then maybe you were doing it in the wrong in the wrong vein to begin with, rather than someone who quit because they're burnt out. or they just had another job opportunity or something like that. Or if you're quitting because you're losing a lot, maybe the s maybe the school is so toxic and the administrative is abusive. I don't know. But if you're just quitting because, man, this isn't fun, I'm losing, then maybe you're like you just said, maybe you're playing the outside game and that's not great.

PRO MINDSET (45: 2:02

11.023) Well, I think one of the things that's interesting for coaches is emotional regulation. And most coaches don't have emotional regulation. They they appear to have it when they're winning because that's the objective of a coach is to win. And they feel like they're they're validated when they're winning. When the scoreboard's tilting in their favor, they have total emotional control. But then when a call, bad call, let's say everybody knows it's a bad call, even the official knows it's a bad call. I've I've officiated sports and you make bad calls. It's just the way it works. Or the momentum changes and the scoreboard's looking different. That's when outbursts and anger and and poor regulation of their emotions come out. And I think that, you know, when we talked about before a liaison between the You know, person that would act between the players and the coaches, I think that person should also be coaching the both parties, both groups on emotional regulation. Because what happens in basketball when you get an elbow to the ribs and the official doesn't see it? They obviously are not going to call a foul if they didn't see it, but you felt it. Well, what's mo 90 plus percent of guys do? Go down to the other end of the court and do the same thing. Of course the official sees it then and you get called for a foul. And so then you got this unfairness going on in your mind, like these officials are out to get me because they called it on me, but they didn't call it on him because they didn't see it on them. And so, can you regulate your emotions in that four or five seconds between going from one side of the court to the other and figure out a way to process that so that you don't get called for. Maybe you had four fouls, now you're out of the game, now you're even more mad. So it's like coaches do the same thing all the time. Everything's cool. And then, you know, we got a bad call. They're calling it tight now. You know, the officials don't.

PRO MINDSET (47: 2:07

24.607) Step, you know, I've never seen an official go over to a bench in a basketball game to both coaches and say, hey guys, we're gonna call it tighter. Or hey, we're gonna let it play. No, they just let him play. Or they call a tic-tac foul just to kind of like control the temper and the mojo of the game so it doesn't get out of hand. They don't tell anybody. So guess what happens? The players and the coaches that are on the wrong side of that foul, that's not fair. That's BS. So the the I guess the thing I want to highlight here is that. For men, I don't care if you're 80, 60, 40, 20, 10, emotional regulation is critical and no one teaches you how to have it. Thoughts on that?

Hunter Price (48: 2:10

20.789) That's that's no, that's really good because also a ref has never walked up to someone screaming at him and said, you know what? You're right. I am gonna change everything I do for the rest of this game because you, Billy and the bleachers, or you coach in the in the front row, you guys, you guys got me. Like the you know, nobody does that. So you have to start, you know, weighing out what is worth it. What's interesting to me is My team had a real temper temper like bad temper the first few years and I had a real bad temper the first few years I was coaching and then as I calmed down and I matured and I stopped yelling at the refs as much, what's interesting that followed is my players stopped yelling at their refs as much. So even if you have, like you said, someone on staff, it's like, hey coach, you are drilling that poor ref. And it's that the players are starting to it's starting to rub off on them. They're getting antsy. They're starting to argue with calls. You have to have someone trust. If you have just the 10th assistant coach and you say that at a at a school like Duke or Wisconsin or whatever, like you're probably getting fired. But you know, if you have a a staff member that you trust in a relationship that's positive and that you know they're looking out for each other, I think that's a s a super positive thing. And I I I do think that's something that every college team that's got the money to do it should do. It it's just I I was talking to Matt Doherty the other day. He's a former head coach of North Carolina, Notre Dame, and SMU, and he was telling me that the margin of talent is so slim now. They used to be like just huge gaps. This great group, then this great group, then this tier, then this tier. And now everyone's got access to training, AU, all that stuff. That the the margin is is relatively thin. So now more than ever, intangibles, leadership, and culture carry programs. Talent does not really win you much anymore because

Hunter Price (50: 2:15

19.161) Everybody's got some talent. Unless you're at, you know, a a really poor high school that just can't keep up. But every college team, every pro team, most high school teams, they've got talent. So the thing that matters more than ever is are they aligned and who are they playing for?

PRO MINDSET (50: 2:16

37.561) Well, I I have seen this over the last couple of decades that the margin in talent is been decreasing year by year in every sport. And it's it's not just the biohacks that some athletes do. It's not like using technology that some coaches use. It's not AI that's going to do game planning for you. It's really the mental state of your players and your coaches that's going to reveal itself in big moments. When games are on the line, not when you're winning by 20 or losing by 20. When games on the line, when it's tight, could go either way. That's where your mental state shows up. And I I truly believe that, you know, like even like Brunson for the Knicks. Second rounder. Too short. Not enough of this, not enough of that, and too much of this, or whatever it was. You know, they went back and redrafted his year. I don't know who would be the number one pick, because I don't know who came in in his class, but he'd be a top three guy. He'd be a lottery guy. And the reason why is because he makes everyone else better. Plays in another gear. When the game's on the line, he wants the ball. His mental state is amazing. His confidence, his drive. He's got gears some athletes have never been in. So to me, it isn't about talent. It's it's really about do you have enough talent? It's like a pass or fail thing. you got enough. Okay. Now you can now you can compete. Now what's your mental state? What are your what are your work habits? You know, what are your beliefs? Because that's how you're really gonna show up. Because, you know, I'm an older guy.

PRO MINDSET (52: 2:21

44.555) I started playing basketball when I was probably four or five years old. hasn't changed. Goal's still ten feet high. Basketball's still the same size. Free throw line's still fifteen feet. Nothing's changed. So what has changed?

Hunter Price (53: 2:23

05.042) Yep. And you saw you saw an NBA, I mean, I don't know, it must have been like eight or nine years ago where the median player salary just dro just went away and it was either the high paid or the low paid guys. 'Cause I'm sure the the the general managers were like, dude, I can get someone who's pretty much as good as you for the veteran minimum, who's a positive locker room culture guy. We're gonna take Miles Plumley over the guy in the middle that's making fifty million. And I think that's exactly why, is cause they realize that market.

PRO MINDSET (53: 2:24

05.775) I think it's the

Hunter Price (53: 2:25

34.966) margins low and that the more value is the the locker room guy who's gonna come in and be positive.

PRO MINDSET (53: 2:26

42.819) Well, in the NFL, there's guys that have the talent to play twelve years, if they know their role and they can fit in and make everybody else better and support the guy that's ahead of them, not try to sabotage him. Or they can play two years, beating their head against the wall, trying to destroy the guy ahead of them who happens to be a teammate, same position, and then they replace him with someone else. Because you're not a that that athlete is not valuable to the team because he's trying to stab the starter in the back so he can take his job instead of supporting that guy to make the team better. So I really think that role, knowing your role, and the coaches being very clear on what your role is. I'm not saying it can't change. It could change tomorrow. But you got to know your role. And every single role has to be what we need you to do now and what we may need you to do tomorrow. And they may not be the same thing. And so we're gonna, we're, I'm a basketball coach. We're gonna. We're getting pressed, and I'm going all small. That kid at the end of the bench is gonna be on the court. Now we're going all big. A different kid at the end of the bench is gonna be in the game. Otherwise, he's not gonna play very much. But now we need him. Because they got two big guys in there. We need, we, we need, we gotta, we gotta change our look. Roles. Everybody's gotta know the roles. So, okay, coach, let me ask you this.

Hunter Price (55: 2:30

17.588) Okay, coach, let me ask you this.

PRO MINDSET (55: 2:31

21.549) I'm wanna go back to something we talked about earlier, which is connecting the kids. I think it starts at home. Not just on the court, not in not just in sports, not just at school. You as a dad of an eight-year-old and a six-year-old that you love to death but sometimes drive you crazy. Okay. How do you as a father connect with your boys now? Because how you do it now is gonna make an impact on where this thing goes in five, 10 years for you. So I'm just Curious, how are you connecting with your kids?

Hunter Price (56: 2:34

06.726) You ask, I'm not just saying this, you ask the best questions because that's the root. I've done a lot of podcasts and and we've rarely hit the root of a lot of the problems. And I'm not gonna claim to be a perfect father. At least once a day I look at myself in the mirror and go, You idiot. Why did you say or why did you do that to your son? and here's what I've learned. there's a few things that really stunt the growth of your children. And number one's a lack of curiosity. And what I realized was when my son asks me questions, and a lot of questions, I have a question asker, and I just say, Will you just be quiet? Would you just stop? Son, let us just relax. What I'm actually teaching him is don't be curious. Stop asking me your questions. If I say that enough, what's he gonna do when he's 12? If I have a question, I

PRO MINDSET (56: 2:36

58.799) That's true.

Hunter Price (57: 2:37

05.339) I'm not gonna ask it. I'm no longer curious. And a fr and a mentor of mine the other day said, Hunter, you know what the most common commonality between smart people in the world is? I said, What do you think? He said, They're curious and they ask their parents a lot of questions and their parents answer their questions when they're young. And I think that's so right, because we're gonna teach them that learning is good. Learning's positive, being curious is positive. the second thing is being present. So when I come home from work and I want to do everything but what my son's about to ask me to do. I need to dig deep and do that thing because parents wonder why their teens don't want to hang out with them, why they don't want to go shoot baskets or play catch in the backyard or even just talk to them. And and parents will wonder that and they'll ask me, like, what do you think? And I'll say, Well, for ten straight years, did you tell them to leave you alone when you got home from work? Did you tell them you're too tired? Did you tell them you're too busy? When you had a chore, did you say no, son, you can't join me because I want to get it done fast? Cause if so, I'm not surprised. You know, and you shouldn't be either, because you're teaching them these behaviors. And I think we have to be really intentional about passivity. when we're passive parents, we create children who are not super connected with with their parents because they've had to learn how to do things on their own or or not the things that are positive they thought are negative. Like that's what passive parenting kills so many parent child relationships because it seems so innocent. It's not like an aggressive parenting where it's like I can point to that and say, you were abusive or that was way too far. Passive parenting sneaks up on you. Like you're You think you're doing fine and the next thing you know, you have a terrible issue with your kid, or your kid doesn't respect teachers or respect coaches, or just something's off. And then you don't realize for five years when you came home from work and your son said, Dad, can you go shoot baskets with me? You said no. And now he wants nothing to do with you because he's just built in there's gonna be a disappointment there and I'm not getting gonna ask anymore. So for me, the bit it those are two major. are very simple. allow my son to ask the questions and then be present

Hunter Price (59: 2:42

18.617) as much as possible. And I think there's you could fall off the horse on the either side, right, with this where you'd say maybe you do too much with their kids and they need to learn how to be independent. I do think that's important too. Like I will say sometimes, hey Griff, I just shot with you for 30 minutes. We just played catch for 45 minutes. I'm gonna need you now to go figure something out on your own. So you do so you don't absolutely need me. But I think that you know there's a there's a happy medium there that I think is super important.

PRO MINDSET (59: 2:43

49.411) Well, I'm gonna give you a perspective of having a 31 year old here in about three or four days, a 28-year-old and a 27-year-old. They were eight and six at one point in time, right? Is that we know as a parent we're a protector. We're a protector and a provider, and that really hardly ever goes away until they're emancipated. And then even down the road, you still want to protect them. but you gotta be at arm's length. You gotta just let live their own life. Then you're a coach. Every parent is a coach. You teach how to ride a bike, you teach how to put on their clothes, go to the bathroom, you know, feed themselves, all these things. And that's where most coach that's where most parents stop. They get to the coach mode and they're coaches. And they're the ones that when they're their son or daughter playing a basketball game, they're Driving home from the game and they're coaching their kid on what he or she should have done in the game. Okay? Should have made the shot, should have played harder, should have done this, should have done that. But the best parents, and I didn't do this until the very end. But if I could go back and do it over again, I would start this at six and eight, which is I would be a consultant. And a consultant never tells their client what to do. They always ask them, what are the rules? Like for as a parent, like what what's our rule? They say, Well, Dad, can I do X? And it's against the rules. You just go, what's the rule? You don't say no. You don't get mad at them for asking. You just go, What's our rule? well, does that violate the rule? Does that comply with the rule? Are we are we gonna follow the rules? Okay, we're gonna follow the rules. So now you know the answer. You didn't have to tell them the answer. You help them figure out the answer. Then they say something like, Hey, Somebody pushed me at school. You go, was it was there a reason that person pushed you? You start investigating. Go, what did you do? What did you think about doing? What did your friends tell you you should have done? What do you think you should have done? okay. What does the what does the Bible say? consultant. When your boys are

PRO MINDSET (01:02: 2:48

12.309) In sports and it's highly competitive. They're in club and they're playing for real. And this coach thinks he's, you know, he's got the Harlem Globe Trotters. He can't lose. And they're 14. And your son's getting the short end of the stick on playing time. And he comes home and says, Dad, I don't I don't understand it. Go, well, ask him what does he think? Why does he think the coach has got him as a sixth man? What does he think he should do better? Do more, do less. That helps them learn to be critical thinkers. So then when they get out on their own, they're competent in doing life because you train them to be problem solvers when they were they they didn't necessarily need to be, because most parents can. You know the answer to most of your boys' questions before they finish the question. You can see around the corner about what's going to happen. They can't even see the corner. They can only see what's right in front of them. You already know what's going happen. And you can tell them the answer. Or you can ask them questions and be a consultant and help your kids become more wise.

Hunter Price (01:03: 2:51

35.78) I agree. You the two words that just came to mind when you're talking are just humility and curiosity. If you boil it down to those two things, I think you're gonna raise competent kids. I think you just have to be willing to to get gut through the the heart wrenching. That's what I've learned is you ha it takes like a an injection of get through it. every once in a while. So shout out my kids. I've been muting my mic in between while you talk, 'cause they're home. And it's summer and they sacrificed for me to do this. So I just wanna shout out my kids. Griffin and Nolan, love you guys. I'm glad you're letting Daddy do this and you're being quiet somewhere. Surely the house is destroyed.

PRO MINDSET (01:04: 2:53

13.839) Well, okay. We're I just looked at the time. I'm like we could have kept going forever. Hunter, this is your opportunity to promote your book. If anybody's interested in having you speak, where can they find you?

Hunter Price (01:04: 2:54

31.558) Yeah, so my website is www.v3content.org. And that's where you can find all my information. speaking information, what I would talk about if I came to your church group, your team, your clinic, whatever that might be. and the book is care to compete. And it's really what we just talked about. It's developing a culture of care that allows you to compete. higher than your talent would allow you to. And I had to learn that the hard way. I was at a school without a whole lot of talent and around a lot of talent in the state. And I had to learn how do I compete? It's with culture, it's with care, it's with doing the things in the margin. So that's what the book's about. I encourage you guys to check it out. I've gotten some really positive responses, even from college coaches, which surprised me because I kind of wrote it with a high school coach in mind. so the amount of college coaches around the country who have sent it to me have just been super humbling. and if people have questions and they're like, Hunter, could I talk to you about this more? I'm curious about this, find my information from the website, shoot me an email or a DM, and I will respond to all of them. So thanks for having me, dude. This was a lot of fun.

PRO MINDSET (01:05: 2:57

36.713) Awesome. Hey, thank you listeners for checking out Pro Mindset today. I hope you enjoyed the discussion as much as I did. And go out and have a great day.