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If you read this space enough, you know I like to check out sports podcasts which are recommended to me when I look at my Apple podcasts app. I really like shows that can make me a smarter sports fan and that make me think. I like to be taken behind the curtain, into the locker room if you will. So, when I saw the show ‘Glue Guys‘ with Shane Battier, Alex Smith and Ravi Gupta, I thought it would hit that mark and that is what I chose to eavesdrop in on this week.
And boy was I right. I won’t bury the lede here. If you also like smart sports conversation, you will really enjoy this show. ‘Glue Guys’ launched on September 10th and is only nine episodes in. Based on the early editions, topics, and guests involved, it stands out in a crowded marketplace.
In the early 2000’s, I was a very young program director at WHBQ in Memphis, the flagship station at the time for the Memphis Grizzlies. The team drafted Shane Battier sixth overall out of Duke in the 2001 NBA draft. I had just left St. Louis where I had had the chance to cover Kurt Warner, who I thought was one of the most genuine people I had ever been around. I thought Shane Battier was very similar. It never seemed like you were interviewing him, it seemed like you were having a conversation with him. So, I knew when I saw his name as one of the hosts that it would be intelligent conversation.
I think most sports fans are familiar with Alex Smith as we’ve seen him in many different ways since he came out of Utah and became the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. We have seen his successes and his struggles. We have seen him fight back from one of the more horrific injuries in football history when his leg was broken in 2018, and we watched him win Comeback Player of the Year in 2020. Now, we are getting to know him as an analyst for ESPN.
Ravi Gupta is the former COO & CFO of Instacart who is now a partner with Sequoia Capital. Like Battier, he is a graduate of Duke University. Together, they are close friends who dive into topics surrounding business, teamwork, leadership, resilience and sports.
Battier posted on X about the show saying, “Our new podcast dives into the unsung heroes of life—the people, moments, and lessons that keep us grounded and moving forward. Join us as we uncover and celebrate the stories of everyday resilience and hidden gems in our journeys.”
I scrolled through the episodes to look at the topics they’ve covered and while they’ve talked with Steve Young and Urban Meyer and they have a full episode on Alex Smith’s journey, the very first episode they did caught my attention. The topic was leadership and what makes a great coach. Since, among others, Battier and Smith played for Coach K, Hubie Brown, Meyer and Andy Reid, I was really interested to hear what it was like playing for those types of incredibly successful coaches.
Fortunately, they get right into it. Ravi Gupta says, “We’re going to talk about what makes a great coach today.” Battier quips back, “Great players!”
Battier has played for what he called “an embarrassment of Hall of Fame coaches” and said one was the “walking encyclopedia of basketball,” as he talked about Hubie Brown. He talked about how people would come from around the world to learn from the “Yoda of basketball.”
He noted how Brown would start clinics the same way every single time. “I’m going to teach you the most important lesson that I could ever teach you about basketball…write this down,” Battier recalled Brown saying. “If you do not have good players, you will not win.”
Battier said it was a common theme among the coaches he played for, “huge egos but huge humility as well.”
Smith says he took what Brown would do as “flipping the script” and putting the accountability back on the players. Smith said a coach like Brown knows he can draw up the best plays possible, but if the players don’t execute it doesn’t matter.
Smith talked about the parity in the NFL and the amount of talent each team has. He said to him, the coaching is the difference maker in the NFL, as they have so much input in game plan, the overall chess match, and the psychology. “All the great coaches I have played for have been master psychologists,” he said.
Gupta turned that thought into his world of business and said people want to work where the leaders make you feel good, but also create that accountability. He said leaders have to understand who it is that does the execution and make sure they believe in what they’re doing and who they are doing it for.
The show provides some great nuggets of information, such as when Battier notes the term ‘leadership’ is highly searched on Google, while the term ‘teammate’ on the other hand is hardly ever searched in comparison.
Football fans will also enjoy hearing Alex Smith talk about how being an Offensive or Defensive Coordinator is in no way training to be a head coach. “The criteria for both aren’t even close to being the same thing.” He uses Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell as an example saying he would interview with teams for head coaching jobs because he is a “big, giant, strong, goober” and because he hadn’t been a coordinator. When it turns out, as many already knew, Campbell is a great leader and therefor more fit to be a head coach than someone with years of coordinator experience.
Gupta deals with founders, people who have ideas to start companies and need to find financial backing and support. As Battier points out, Gupta has to decide if the people looking for investment can be great leaders. To make his point he shares a story about Kobe Bryant telling Phil Jackson he was ready to be a captain and Jackson saying back, “but nobody wants to follow you.” He makes the point that you don’t make yourself the leader, the people make you the leader, it has to be earned.
Smith talked more about Andy Reid, who he said would often say, “Fear nothing, attack everything.” He talked about ‘Big Red’s’ sense of humor, saying he loves being around the guys and cracking jokes. “The reason you see Patrick [Mahomes] and [Travis] Kelce smiling on the field is because Andy is.” He said when the game would be at its most tense moments, Reid was known to crack jokes on the sidelines to keep things loose.
Battier summarizes what he believes the best coaches he has been around all have and says it is integrity, competency and benevolence. In other words, do what you say you’re going to do, have a smart, well thought out plan and treat people well.
“You have those all come together, I’ll follow you over a wall,” Battier said. “That’s the secret sauce.”
Whether it was Jim Harbaugh on dress codes, Coach K’s minimal number of rules and motivational skills, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick’s very different assistant coach philosophies or Rick Adelman giving the players ultimate ownership of everything, the amount of insightful conversation was off the charts. You also hear about Battier and Smith’s time as coaches and whether or not that is something they might pursue further.
From start to finish ‘Glue Guys’ was a very good listen filled with informative sports and business talk. It was recommended to me by Apple and now I highly recommend it to you.
Dave Greene is a former Editor and Columnist for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting.
