Mike Adams: PTSD, Identity Crisis, and Rebuilding After Football

What Coaches Get Wrong About Building Winning Teams: Greg Berge's 27-Year Playbook

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/fan_mail/new] We sit down with retired coach and school leader Greg Berge to unpack what actually lasts after the wins and losses fade. We dig into trust, culture, and parenting pressures, then land on a simple north star: people over plays, every day.  • people over plays as the core coaching principle  • building trust through genuine daily interactions year round  • accountability with empathy for high-profile athletes  • celebrating bench roles to strengthen team culture and performance  • youth sports pressure, AAU over-scheduling, and why more practice matters  • parenting tension between fun, freedom, commitment, and resilience  • letting kids face safe adversity to build mental skills and reduce fragility  • redefining success beyond championships and ring culture  • culture as what you allow, what you emphasize, and what happens every day  • leaders as the most influential players, not always the best player  • empowering captains to handle locker room problems and grow leadership  • honest role conversations built on transparency and hope for development  • controlling the controllables and impacting the game beyond scoring  Check us out at athleticfortitude.com.  Five stars only, baby. Reach out to Greg: go to greatteamsbetterleaders.com, you’re gonna find his newsletter, products, resources, anything that you’re looking for.   Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/support] Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.

Mike Adams: PTSD, Identity Crisis, and Rebuilding After Football

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/fan_mail/new] We sit down with former NFL tackle Mike Adams to trace how a random act of violence pushed him into PTSD, identity collapse, and a fight to stay alive. We also unpack how yoga, breathwork, better habits, and honest connection helped him rebuild his body, calm his nervous system, and turn pain into purpose.  • surviving a random stabbing and the recovery that followed  • living with PTSD, night terrors, and suicidal thoughts while still playing  • using yoga as a way back to confidence and discipline  • the role of sleep, stress, alcohol, and cannabis in coping and healing  • career-ending injuries and the identity crisis after football  • separating self-worth from performance to compete with freedom  • breath as a practical tool to regulate the nervous system  • why vulnerability creates ripple effects and helps other people speak up  • simple practices for reframing, including “throw it away”  • draft prep truths about willingness, body language, and habits  • what Cam Heyward shows about focus and long-term greatness  Check us out at athleticfortitude.com, download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Five stars only, baby. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/support] Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.

The Best of The Playbook: Justin Su'a- Why Success Feels Empty & How To Engineer Your Identity Beyond Achievement

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/fan_mail/new] From one of our top performing episodes of 2025, Justin S'ua and I  break down why top performers can dominate on paper but feel empty, anxious, and never satisfied, then map out how to rebuild a healthier relationship with success. We trade outcome obsession for intentional systems, productive self-talk, and an identity that holds up when the game ends.  • the curse of competence and why winning can feel expected  • performance anxiety as the hidden cost of high standards  • asking what your mindset does to you and for you  • using a performer self and an off-field self to protect relationships  • building an intensity scale and creating cues to regulate it  • visual anchors and breathwork as tools for focus and presence  • hard work as necessary but not sufficient and how luck shows up  • separating decision quality from results and avoiding survivorship bias  • designing a written process and collecting “process receipts”  • starting small so systems become automatic instead of overwhelming  • habit building with self-compassion and “don’t miss two”  • habit stacking to make consistency easier  • pre-mortems and “when-then” plans for adversity and bad breaks  • productive thinking versus forced positivity and personalized self-talk  • post-game questions that keep emotions in check  • identity beyond sport and framing change as a pivot  Check us out, athleticforteshoot.com, download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel, five stars only, baby.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/support] Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.

Matt Rotheram- NIL Deals: The Gap Between Headlines and Reality

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/fan_mail/new] Matt Rotheram and I break down how NIL negotiations really work when the public numbers are noisy and the real terms stay private. We also talk about why fit, development, and a long-term plan can matter more than a slightly bigger college payout, especially if the goal is an NFL career.  • Media-driven NIL expectations and why players overvalue themselves without market visibility  • How schools budget NIL and negotiate more systematically than fans assume  • Prioritizing scheme fit, coaching relationships, and development alongside money  • Using past client outcomes to help families think long term  • The “cousin Joey” problem and why certification and experience matter  • Overpromised marketing deals versus the reality for most positions  • Contract complexity, incentives, termination clauses, and clawbacks  • Why role players still benefit from having representation ready  • Ideas for reform like agent qualification and limits on collectives  • The mental health and identity shock when the spotlight and money fade  • Investing, business ownership, and building leverage while your network is strong  Download the pod, subscribe to our YouTube channel, check us out athleticforitude.com. Five stars only, baby.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/support] Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.

Coach Pat Narduzzi- How to Build a Championship Culture

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/fan_mail/new] Coach Pat Narduzzi and I break down why Pitt keeps players and coaches in the building while still producing high character pros and NFL Draft picks. We also get real about the transfer portal and NIL world, from tampering to agents to the hidden costs that don’t show up in the headlines.  • low transfer rates driven by relationships, access, and day-to-day development  • a special teams setback story that shows persistence and honest communication  • culture defined as consistency, standards, and equal treatment for stars and walk-ons  • roster management in the portal era, balancing classes and replacing experience with experience  • tampering as a constant reality and why NIL numbers are hard to verify  • concerns about agents taking advantage of athletes and prioritizing money over fit  • transferring trade-offs, including happiness, system fit, draft stock, and lost academic credits  • adapting as the sport changes, including scholarship expansion and keeping people bought in  • the coaching business, firing cycles, and the pressure for instant gratification  Get your season tickets and get ready to go to Charlotte as well. Get your tickets to go to Charlotte.  Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2280421/support] Subscribe, Download, Rate 5 stars only baby! Follow @ColkyJonov10 on all social media platforms.