In early April of 2020, Kansas City Director of Athletics Dr. Brandon Martin announced a new community of excellence for KC Athletics' Head Coaches—Roos Inspiring Success & Excellence (R.I.S.E. ALLIANCE). The program is designed for KC Athletics' head coaches and will aid in knowledge-sharing, instructing, and providing a meaningful forum for open dialogue and ideas under the guise of comprehensive excellence.
During a period of reflection and discovery, the R.I.S.E. ALLIANCE created a community of excellence designed to be a support network for coaches who share a common goal and competition, self-improvement and leadership. Below is a list of recommended books, created by Roo head coaches. For more information on the R.I.S.E. ALLIANCE, click here.
Billy Donlon
Head Coach
Men’s Basketball
Book Recommendations:
Grit – Angela Duckworth
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Outliers – Malcom Gladwell
Who Moved My Cheese – Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Kendell Hale
Head Coach
Women's Tennis
Book Recommendations:
Extreme Ownership – Jocko WillinkGreat leaders do not make excuses. Instead they figure out a way to get it done and win. There is no such thing as bad teams, only bad leaders. This book is from a Navy seal approach of leadership and owning up to mistakes.
Competitive Fire – Michael ClarksonGreat book on competitiveness, where it comes from, how to feed it to get the most on game day. How as coaches can we motivate the arousal levels of our athletes for peak performance?
What It Takes To Be #1 – Vince Lombardi, Jr.Leadership book using the Lombardi method. This book has many practical leadership principles to use with your team to develop a winning culture.
The Mentor Leader – Tony DungyThe main book for my coaching philosophy. We are here as coaches to help our athletes grow in their character and this book gives great advice on how we can do this on a daily basis.
The Talent Code – Daniel CoyleThis book is a technical guide to how to develop talent in our athletes. It takes the hubs of all the great camps of talent and finds the commonality of what they are all doing and gives us guidelines of how we can do the same within our programs.
Jacie Hoyt
Head Coach
Women’s Basketball
Book Recommendations:
Chop Wood Carry Water – Joshua MedcalfI recommend Chop Wood Carry Water and Pound the Stone, both by Joshua Medcalf. I would recommend to read Chop Wood Carry Water before Pound the Stone although they aren’t related in story at all. Chop Wood Carry Water is a book that our team reads together every off season. We often times go back to certain chapters throughout the year. I love it for our team because I feel like it covers all the ins and outs that our players go through throughout the course of a season.
Pound the Stone – Joshua MedcalfPound the Stone is great because it’s actually a basketball story, but is very applicable to all sports. It too is about focusing on the process of things rather than the outcome. I’ve noticed a lot of sports teams have made this their team motto recently! Both are great reads and both are very simple and quick.
Ryan Pore
Head Coach
Men's Soccer
Book Recommendation:
The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life - Jim TresselJim Tressel's book is about leadership, something at which he excels and knows what successful leadership is all about. The life lessons Tressel extrapolates from the game are universal in their application. He uses the Big Ten Fundamentals (Attitude, Discipline, Excellence, Belief, Work, Handling Adversity & Success, Love, Responsibility, Team, Hope) with the lessons and experiences he has absorbed over his outstanding coaching career to help understand his leadership style with great detail.
Christi Posey
Head Coach
Volleyball
Book Recommendations:
Dare to Lead – Dr. Brené BrownDr. Brown is one of my favorite authors, presenters and humans. In her book, she provides research and personal stories to illustrate how to be brave, be vulnerable and to be better leaders. It is a practical playbook that puts leadership lessons into action. It challenged my own leadership style and then inspired me to move in a more open and courageous way of leading. I was motivated to encourage our players to show up, be present, be brave and work through the hard.
The Vision Of A Champion: Advice And Inspiration From The World's Most Successful Women's Soccer Coach - Anson Dorrance and Gloria AverbuchAnson Dorrance’s book has impacted my coaching in many ways…. Despite it being a “soccer handbook”, I have used many strategies that Dorrance used while head women’s soccer coach at UNC. It was actually written for youth soccer players – a guidebook to get to an elite level. There are stories and testimonies from previous UNC players; many of whom went on to become best of the best in women’s soccer history. There are ball handling workouts, conditioning workouts, technical direction and off season challenges; however, the part of the book that was most valuable to me was the chapters that described athletic excellence. I appreciated being invited into the culture that was UNC Women’s Soccer – from their traditions, on court and off, to their goal setting sessions, to the letters written to every senior and read to them in front of their team on their last regular season match. I bought it when I was a high school coach 100 years ago and I continue to refer to it regularly.
The Ideal Team Player - Patrick LencioniPatrick Lencioni has written several books in the business world that have translated into Team Building in athletics. Our team read his book “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” several years ago when we were struggling with our team chemistry and identity. His books are fables first then a deep dive into identifying the issues of the “subjects” in the story, how to process those issues and strategies for improvement. This book, provides great insight into selection of the “right” people to fit into the culture that is built, rather than building the culture around the people who are already there. I believe this book is helpful for hiring coaches and other staff members that fit, but also finding the right recruits to continue to cultivate your culture.
Kerry Shaw
Head Coach
Softball
Book Recommendation:
Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court - John Wooden & Steve JamisonGreat book on Competitiveness, where it comes from, how to feed it to get the most on game day. How as coaches can we motivate the arousal levels of our athletes for peak performance.
I recommend this book because it is functional to any walk of life. The book is not exclusive to basketball or athletics, but is a great guiding beacon of wisdom from the legendary basketball coach that simply refers to himself as a common man that stayed true to his principles. In fact, this book stays away from the X’s and O’s of basketball and instead just reinforces a simple plan of how to be a better person guided by an ethical and moral calling bigger than yourself. An added bonus is that the book is an easy read and that’s important for someone that is not a avid reader.
Benaud Shirley
Head Coach
Cross Country / Track & Field
Book Recommendation:
Believe It. Speak It. Do It.: Finding Peace Within Your Purpose - Beverly KearneyAt some point in our-lives we will be face with adversities, we must always find the courage to stay the course even when we are at our lowest point. I relate to this book well because as a student-athlete competing in the big12 i had a glimpse of the obstacles Bev Kearney had to overcome.
Jessica Smith
Head Coach
Women’s Soccer
Book Recommendation:
Daring Greatly - Brene BrownDaring Greatly is a powerful lesson on how vulnerability can help us connect, engage and live more wholeheartedly. It shows how our pursuit of perfection can hinder our relationship with people we try to lead and the absolute power that vulnerability can have in creating meaningful bonds. If you are interested in connecting with yourself and others, Daring Greatly is a must read.
J.W. VanDenBorn
Head Coach
Men's Golf
Book Recommendation:
Win Forever; Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion - Pete CarrollThe text focuses on creating competition as a means to stay committed to the process of continual improvement. The central idea is focusing on the process rather than the result, and in doing so, creating an environment for people of all organizational types to succeed and reach their potential.
Tribes - Seth GodinWith the emergence of advancing technologies (Internet and social media), the world and becoming smaller and barriers to personal and group connection are being eliminated. Tribes are being formed through the connection of groups of people, leaders and ideas from every walk of life. Individuals who have no formal authority are leading in ways never seen before. Centered around passion, not necessarily expertise, these leaders and their “tribes” are influencing our world in immeasurable ways.