Athlead Podcast

Join us as Ray Ramos shares his extraordinary military career, leadership lessons from Ranger School and Special Forces, and humorous stories from his service, offering invaluable insights into leadership, resilience, and authenticity.

Jon Bleakley discussed the theme of brotherhood through the lens of Jack Hughes' selfless post-game interview after the Olympic hockey final, connecting it to the high standards and unwavering accountability found in special operations culture. Jon Bleakley, a special operations civil affairs officer and current university professor, detailed his military career, the distinction between Special Forces and Special Operations, and the importance of delegation, mentorship, and shared hardship in building effective teams. Jon addressed the difficulties of peer-to-peer accountability and the importance of a leader's positive demeanor.

Coach Chadwick has spent his career rebuilding programs into championship caliber teams across Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. Leading future NFL football players like Drake Maye, has not been an easy task. Along the way, and despite encountering many obstacles, Coach Chadwick, along with his incredible staff of assistant coaches, has developed sound strategies for achieving high standards and maximizing discipline on his teams. He developed his own leadership council and teaches leadership to his players in addition to his normal coaching duties. Championship teams start from implementing the basics from day one: a mission statement, core values, strong discipline, high standards, and mental and physical toughness.

North Carolina State Wolfpack Head Coach, Dave Doeren, embodies the mentality, “We play hard. We play tough. And we play together.” As a coach, Doeren now has more nine-win campaigns than any coach in school history, and has now led five of his past nine NC State squads to seasons with eight or more victories. As a leader, he has hand-crafted a winning culture at NC State, turning into a blue collar workforce that prides itself on winning and family. Doeren’s love for coaching is his love for his players. He prides himself on seeing young men go on to be successful men, husbands and fathers, in addition to being great players. A blue collar coach and a blue collar team, playing their hearts out every Saturday for their blue collar family.