Coaching Culture

Your players learn how to be a team by watching how your coaching staff works together. That staff is the most important team you will ever lead.
Patrick Lencioni, founder of The Table Group and author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, joins JP for part one of their conversation. Pat shares how he leads his family with intention, why he drafted youth players for character, and why building a team of coaches is a head coach's most important job.
If you keep asking how to get your players to hold each other accountable, start with this one, because the answer begins in your staff room.
Chapters(00:00) Leading at work and at home
(02:37) Sharing struggles is a gift
(04:29) Running your family on purpose
(09:42) Choosing your family values
(14:56) Culture first in youth sports
(21:18) Pick a few things to be great at
(22:43) The coach who owned the mistake
(25:00) Vulnerability without losing respect
(26:06) Your most important team
(30:11) On a staff there is no they
TOC 3-2-13 Quotes | 2 Questions | 1 Resource
Your fast-track to the episode's most actionable ideas.
"The most important job of teamwork for any coach, pretty much in any sport, is building a team of coaches."
Patrick Lencioni
"If my clients ran their companies the way we run our family, they'd all go out of business."
Patrick Lencioni
"Sins of omission is when you see other people do things wrong and you don't do anything about it."
Patrick Lencioni
2 Questions for Your TeamQ1: If we could only be great at two or three things this season, what would they be, and what would we say no to because of them?
Q2: Where have we seen something go wrong on this team and said nothing, and what would it look like to address it this week?
1 Resource to Go DeeperThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Pat's model of trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results is the framework Erik Spoelstra has used with the Miami Heat staff for years. Run it on your coaching staff before you ask your players to live it.
Explore the model at tablegroup.com
Key TakeawaysYour coaching staff is your first team.
Players copy what they see at the top.
Get clear on the simple things.
Draft for character and coach culture first.
Pick a few things and stake your season on them.
Owning the mistake earns respect.
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Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.

<p>Your practice plan is already shaping your culture, whether you designed it that way or not. The question is what it is teaching.</p><p>JP Nerbun finishes his two-part solo series on practice, starting with the Jimmy System at the University of Jamestown. You will hear how he runs a competitive cauldron, why practices should get shorter as the season goes on, how to let players speak first, and why celebrating the gain changes a team's energy.</p><p>If your practices run well but still feel separate from the culture you talk about, this one shows you how to close that gap.</p><h3>Chapters</h3>(00:00) The Jimmy System story<br/>(03:43) Building a competitive cauldron<br/>(08:46) Efficiency and shorter practices<br/>(11:22) Teaching through questions<br/>(13:43) Let your captains speak first<br/>(15:54) Connection rituals<br/>(18:12) Thank you for letting me coach you<br/>(20:06) Celebrate the gain, not the gap<br/>(23:13) Three positives for every negative<br/>(24:50) Practice is how you build culture<br/><h3>TOC 3-2-1</h3><p><b>3 Quotes | 2 Questions | 1 Resource</b><br/>Your fast-track to the episode's most actionable ideas.</p><p><b>"It's so easy to focus on the gap instead of the gain."</b><br/>JP Nerbun</p><p><b>"Don't share what you're thinking. Let's hear what they're thinking first before you share your thinking, because you don't want your thinking to influence their thinking."</b><br/>JP Nerbun</p><p><b>"I get to do this, I don't have to do this."</b><br/>JP Nerbun</p><h3>2 Questions for Your Team</h3><p><b>Q1:</b> What did we do well in practice today, and what is the one thing we most need to get better at tomorrow?</p><p><b>Q2:</b> Who on this team deserves a shout out from today, and what exactly did you see them do?</p><h3>1 Resource to Go Deeper</h3><p><b>The Coach's Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov</b><br/>JP calls it probably the best book on how to teach through your coaching. It is the deeper dive on the open, leading, and closed questions he uses to turn huddles into real learning.<br/><a href="https://www.coachsguidetoteaching.com/">Visit coachsguidetoteaching.com</a></p><h3>Key Takeaways</h3><ul><li><b>Make competition the reward, not the punishment.</b></li><li><b>Shorter practices keep players sharper.</b></li><li><b>Ask before you tell.</b></li><li><b>Let players speak first.</b></li><li><b>Build connection on purpose.</b></li><li><b>Celebrate the gain, then pick one thing.</b></li></ul><p><b>Get the notes and tools:</b><br/><a href="https://tocculture.com">tocculture.com</a><br/><b>Join TOC Coach, community, courses, and live coaching:</b><br/><a href="https://tocculture.com">tocculture.com</a><br/>Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.</p>

Your team culture gets built in practice, every day, starting with how you show up. Everything else depends on it.
JP Nerbun goes solo to lay out part one of his practice philosophy, starting with Pete Carroll asking Steve Kerr what he wanted it to feel like to be in his program. You will hear why your example comes first, how to set standards as a floor and a ceiling, how the quick set reset drills work, and why success criteria keep practice focused.
If your values look great on paper but practice still feels the way it always has, this one gives you tools you can run this week.
Chapters
(00:00) Pete Carroll's question for Steve Kerr
(02:38) Bringing your values into practice
(03:29) Your example comes first
(07:23) Standards: the floor and the ceiling
(09:26) Standard reviews
(12:48) The quick set reset drills
(15:43) Enforcing the standard
(16:31) Teach your practice philosophy
(19:04) Coaching your coaches
(21:38) Success criteria and reviews
TOC 3-2-1
3 Quotes | 2 Questions | 1 Resource
Your fast-track to the episode's most actionable ideas.
"If you value joy, you better be joyful. If you value curiosity, you better be curious."
JP Nerbun
"The standard isn't the standard until you've enforced the standard."
JP Nerbun
"Really, you're not coaching, you're just resetting. And so they start to coach each other."
JP Nerbun
2 Questions for Your Team
Q1: When you walk into practice, what does exceptional look like, what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable?
Q2: What was our one focus today, and what is one specific way you got better at it?
1 Resource to Go Deeper
The Culture System by JP Nerbun
JP's book lays out the standard review process he references in this episode, and its bonus chapters cover the before and after action reviews he uses to set success criteria for practice.
Get the book on Amazon
Key Takeaways
Your example comes before any drill.
Your values should be visible inside practice.
Set the floor, then raise the ceiling together.
Reset instead of coach.
Teach players, staff, and parents how you practice.
Narrow the focus, then review what you said mattered.
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Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.

If the coach writes the team standards on the board, John Mayer says they become wallpaper. When the players write them, they come alive.
In part two of JP Nerbun's conversation with John Mayer, head beach volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount and the 2025 AVCA National Coach of the Year, John walks through the systems behind his culture: battle buddies, a competitive cauldron, player-written standards, and culture committees that give every player real responsibility. He also explains why autonomy does not mean anything goes.
If your team nods along to the culture but does not own it, this conversation gives you a concrete blueprint for shared ownership.
Chapters
(00:00) Catching players doing it right
(01:40) Curiosity instead of the hammer
(04:53) The competitive cauldron
(05:49) Intentions and battle buddies
(09:44) Standards the players write
(12:02) Culture committees
(14:51) Autonomy with structure
(16:37) Leading the leadership group
(21:17) The hardest part of coaching today
(23:27) Why coach education matters
TOC 3-2-1
3 Quotes | 2 Questions | 1 Resource
Your fast-track to the episode's most actionable ideas.
"You don't know till you go."
John Mayer
"Autonomy doesn't mean anything goes and you can do whatever. The coach is there to organize and cultivate choices."
John Mayer
"If I just put all that on the board, it becomes wallpaper. But when it's their ideas, when it's their discussion, when it's meaningful to them, it becomes living."
John Mayer
2 Questions for Your Team
Q1: What is one decision about how our team runs that you think you should have a say in, and why?
Q2: Who on this team helps you stay locked in on your intention during practice, and how could you do that for someone else?
1 Resource to Go Deeper
The Competitive Cauldron by Anson Dorrance
John runs a version of the tracked, ranked practice system Dorrance built at North Carolina after watching Dean Smith's practices. It raises intensity through visible standings rather than punishment.
See how the Cauldron works
Key Takeaways
Catch people doing it right, publicly.
Curiosity beats the hammer.
Battle buddies put accountability in players' hands.
Culture committees turn ownership into structure.
Autonomy is a skill the coach cultivates, not a job the coach abandons.
Focus on what you can adapt to, not what feels unfair.
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Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.

John Mayer had just won LMU's first conference championship when he started questioning everything about how he coached. He had a system that worked. He changed it anyway.
JP Nerbun sits down with John Mayer, head beach volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount and the 2025 AVCA National Coach of the Year, to unpack the research that pulled him away from being the coach with all the answers. You will hear why a strong learning environment starts with the individual, why his practices open with cartwheels and one-eyed sets, and how handing players problems instead of solutions made them more creative, more independent, and less dependent on him under pressure.
If your athletes execute beautifully in practice but look to the sideline the moment things get hard, this conversation will change how you think about your next practice plan.
Chapters
(00:00) Intro: from elite player to coach
(06:09) What a learning environment needs
(10:14) Do feel-good drills belong?
(14:08) Differential learning and noise
(16:22) The 2019 coaching crisis
(19:49) Letting go of being the guru
(21:37) Earning buy-in with feedback
(26:31) Did it work? Results at LMU
(29:08) How practice shapes culture
(33:41) When new ideas become too many
TOC 3-2-1
3 Quotes | 2 Questions | 1 Resource
Your fast-track to the episode's most actionable ideas.
"I flipped from before I was the provider of solutions, and then I became the provider of problems."
John Mayer
"I'm not as worried about what they like. My daughter likes ice cream. That doesn't mean it's gonna help her perform at a high level. I'm concerned in what's effective."
John Mayer
"These are the sort of people I want to put into the world, not people who follow orders."
John Mayer
2 Questions for Your Team
Q1: What part of practice feels good but does not actually make you better, and where do you feel the kind of struggle that does?
Q2: When something in practice confuses you or is not working, how comfortable are you telling us, and what would make it easier?
1 Resource to Go Deeper
The Nonlinear Nature of Learning: A Differential Learning Approach by Wolfgang Schöllhorn and colleagues
John credits Schöllhorn's differential learning research out of Germany with turning his coaching upside down. This open-access paper explains why adding variation, or noise, to practice can help athletes find their own movement solutions instead of copying one prescribed technique.
Read the paper here
Key Takeaways
Great players don't automatically make great coaches.
Design for the sweet spot between success and failure.
Differential learning turns off the fear of judgment.
A coaching crisis can be the doorway to real growth.
Being the provider of problems beats being the provider of solutions.
Feedback should flow in both directions.
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Better Coaches. Better Leaders. Better Culture.