National Coach of the Week - The Heart of Coaching: Teamwork, Perspective, and Building a Legacy - Joel Bradford, HC, McCallie High School (TN)

[Music] When or lose, we need to go out and create a memory and seize that moment of like, let's go out there and play the best we can. And if you win, you can hang your hat on forever and remember something that, you know, another team has done. And if you lose, let's see how we play. Did you have some some chair spilt moments and things that you can build on? [Music] McColley Head Coach Joel Bradford has been named our week five national coach of the week presented by modern football technology. Coach Bradford's Blue tornado seized the underdog role in delivered a statement win on Friday September 19th, 2025, beating number six in the country Mission Viejo from California 25 to 14 at Spears Stadium. This recognition is presented by modern football technology, the real time analytics platform built for high school staffs to make smarter, faster decisions. With live scout for in-game tagging, instant drive and situational reports, he'll be grading and practice tracking that turns reps into actionable data. Modern football technology helps coaching staffs align what they see with what the numbers confirm. Coaches use modern football technology to tighten game plans, accelerate halftime adjustments and close the loop from practice to Friday night execution. [Music] We're back for our week five national coach of the week presented by modern football. It's hard to believe we're already five weeks into this. The season is flying by. We have another great performance we're going to recognize here in this week are national coach of the week is Joel Bradford, head coach at McCauley High School in Tennessee. Coach is great to have you here and congratulations on a big win this week. Thank you Keith for having me and thank you for the honor. Obviously it's a group effort. There's a lot of people involved so I appreciate you having me. Yeah, absolutely. Before we get into talking about some things here, I want to make sure you have the opportunity to recognize that group effort. Like you said, all these kinds of awards are collective. So I want to give you the opportunity to mention your staff and the players obviously who are a big part of this as well. Yeah, I mean, I'll start with I guess our defense coordinator and former head coach is still on. He was my head coach Ralph Potter. To me, he's a legendary coach. He does a lot with the program and has done a lot. And then our linebackers coaches, Casey Cook and Chris Richardson, our D line coaches Chris Harre. We got Kelsey Watson, the defensive backfield, offensive side. We have Kenny Shull. He's our running back coach. You got Mike Newman, long time Olon coach. He's the magician behind it all. And then we got our receivers coach Corey Simpson, Titans coach Thomas battle, quarterback coach Jack Samsel, our special teams coach Brett speakman. So you know, those guys worked tremendously hard and obviously they help out with the plans and helping the kids execute the plan. Well coach, you mentioned the coach you took over for Ralph Potter. If anybody knows about Ralph legendary and what he's done in his career. And that's not always easy to follow. But before we got going, you talked about to me the word perspective. And it's something that's I think really important in the way that you're approaching the game and the process behind it. And we love to have you share those ideas with our listeners about your perspective and the approach you take to the game. Yeah, I mean, it's just when I first started and we were talking about this when I first started, but I was like, me got big shoes to fill and it's a big program or you know, just we've been very successful in the last several years. So now here you are. Now you're taking the helm and I'm like, I see it as a blessing. You know, like I can't put too much stress on myself to think about outcomes and think about like how I'm going to do or anything like that. The only thing I can do is what I can control. And so for me to attack each day from a grateful standpoint from a place of gratitude that to me, that's what keeps me. I guess humble at what I do, but also it keeps me just focused on what I do. And you know, my job is to get the guys get the players and the staff ready to play each week and to play. And at the end of the season play at their optimal level. And so that's my job. And at the same time, I want to level on the kids and see it as a ministry and see it as a moment of their lives where they can be impacted through the sport and through the mentors that are around them all the time. So, you know, like we work too hard as coaches to give our to be hard on ourselves. And I give a lot of credits my wife, Courtney. So I think the white coaches wise are the unsung heroes because they sometimes hear all the potential negative stuff and the positive stuff. And she's like, can we talk about something other than football? So we have those conversations quite a bit. So she's the sounding board for me. But yeah, I just think it's about I know it's cliche to say about we've got folks on the process, not the outcomes, but honestly it's true. And I care about the objective is to win games and win a championship. But really what I care about is how the kids play the game. And I want them to play relentlessly for four quarters physical and rely on their execution and doing their job rather than emotion or entertainment stuff. You know, it's like we have a job to do. And I think when the kids realize that if they do that and they feel that where they're executing on a high level and doing their job and playing for each other, you know, special things can happen. Yeah, you know, as you were saying, I mean, we always talk about the process, right? You hear that obviously made famous by Nick Saban, right? The process and staying focused on that. But I think you've fooled in something very important there in this in the perspective in that approach in that how that actually does feed the process, right? So we can't just say, well, here's the process. Here's how we do it. Be really rigid with those things because it still comes down to especially you as the leader, how am I approaching this? And there's a lot of different ways you can do it that really, you know, we're talking about human process is still human beings, right? So it will affect how they behave to it will affect how they approach that process so they're going to approach it with a growth mindset. Or is it something that's that maybe feel so rigid that they're not growing as much as they need to. Yeah, and it's like, you know, I tell the team this and I tell myself this and it's not to excuse anything, but one team in every conference or in every league or whatever division, one team wins the championship, right? And a lot of things go into that and a lot of things, you know, the ball bounces funny sometimes. So at the end of it all, what do you want to be? What do you want to remember? And then how do you want to be remembered as a team? And so from my point of view, it's like, you know, we can't necessarily control our outcomes. So whether we win or lose, let's address how did we play, you know, and let the scoreboard and the championships take care of themselves. And so when the kids focus on their task and how they play the game. And then let's address it when or lose of what can we take from that moment? What can we take from that game? How can we learn from it? So sometimes you play bad and you lose. And it's like, well, we played bad. Let's learn from it. Sometimes you play bad and you win. And it's like, well, you know, maybe it's the opponent, you know, they're outmatched, but we've got a lot to learn from. And then same thing with winning. If we win and we played bad, or if we played well and we win, it's like, guys, that that was huge. That was massive. But let's learn from like, let's learn from us. Let's go from there, build on that. And then if you play well and you lose, it's like, well, guys, like, I'm proud of the way you played the ball bounced funny on on this player, you know, some play they made more plays than we did, but they earned the victory because we played well. And that's what it's about. So bottom line is, let's play well. Let's do our job. Let's execute and let the chips fall where they fall. Yeah. And in this particular case, the opponent, you played Mission Viejo number six in the country. At the time, you were playing them, been following them. There had coaches been on the podcast before and I know they do an excellent job. They've had some big wins over nationally ranked teams this season too. And, you know, sometimes just that opponent on paper coming in could be daunting, especially for, you know, high school kids. So I'm sure perspective was a big part of this too in the approach that this is still about how we play the game. Obviously you got the results you wanted this week. What's that look like for a program? I know you guys have played some big teams, you know, in some ways becoming a national program in that you've got to go outside of your area to play some teams and get some games. The approach there, you know, I know there's, I see a lot of teams who as they get success nobody in their area wants to play him. So it kind of a star no apply to more and more teams. What advice do you have for getting into these kinds of games and again, I think it does go back to what you've already shared that perspective. Yeah, I mean, you know, it goes back to only one team when the state championships. So then it's like what do you when you're 40 or 30 years old or just after you graduate high school. And to me, you know, I remember a lot more losses than wins. Yes. But I remember the big games. I remember the moments that the challenging moments. And so like I told the team going into last week. Number one, like we got something to prove because we just came off the loss, you know, we've got to get back to work and we got to get better. Number two, it doesn't get any easier. We're about to play the number six team of the nation. So you'll better buckle up, right? Or you're going to get exposed, which proves to the way you prepare and play the game and how you practice each week matters. And so you better be locked in. And then along with that, it's like, guys, you have something that no other McCoy team has ever done, you know, the B.D. top 10 team of the nation on our home field. And that's going to be a memory that you're going to be able to play. The memory that can last forever. You can cherish forever. But if we lose against that top 10 team, you're also going to remember how you play it against them. You know, so winner lose, we need to go out and create a memory and seize that moment of like, let's go out there and play the best we can. Like that's all we can do, you know, and if you win, man, something you can hang your hat on forever and remember something that, you know, no, the team has done. And if you lose, okay, well, let's see how we played. And did you play well? Did you have some cherished moments and things that you can build on or did you take and have some things that you can learn from, you know. So like, that was my mindset going to the game. And the kids, again, I have to not only know if they listen to me, but I had a one. of the players tell me Thursday night, thing is our senior quarterback and he goes coach, I have a feeling that our team is ready to play. I just feel like something special. And so the kids in the locker room, they can feel it more than I can. And so that kind of gave me some hope. But in terms of the victory and the result, I think it's huge for our program. For the kids to understand that, hey, how you play can, you know, you can do special things. You can actually beat quality teams like Mission of YeHo, like if we play together and play well and do it for every play relentlessly for four quarters, like special things can happen. And you give yourself the best chance to win. And so it gives them a memory for a lifetime, you know. I think that night was pretty, it was a great spectacle for our school, like the pride, the student section alumni coming back. I think it was family weekend. So a bunch of the families of our kids were here. And so they got to see a high level of football being played. So it was a unique experience, which you know I'm biased, but I think being unbiased, I think our program and our school is pretty unique within itself too. Yeah, and I think you would agree with this too. And teaching kids the approach you're taking, they see that they're gonna model that and football will end for everybody. You know, as coaches, we're lucky because we get to do it. We don't have a senior year, we can keep going till, either we decide not to or to someone decides that, you know, we're not doing it anymore. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) When you're calling a defense on Friday night, guessing is dangerous. Jordan Ursick, defensive coordinator at Folsom High School shared how modern football transformed their process. Instead of hoping they were on track, he and his staff had real time numbers to guide every decision. Let's take a listen. Looking at doing this prior to using modern football, you know, your ability to hit those goals paired to now is when you're looking at it in game. I think it's huge. Last year, I think we saw seven or eight weeks in a row where we hit all six of our unit goals for the game for defense. It's huge in just having the numbers in real time and not assuming, being able to use those to influence your play calling and then use efficiency to help you get those calls as big. Before what we would see is we were pretty good four out of six, but we would usually miss one or two, even in the games that we were winning. You don't have to wait until the end of the season to get these kind of results. With modern football's in-game analytics, your staff can be up and running by this Friday night. The interface is simple, the onboarding is quick, and the impact is immediate. Go to modernfootball.com to start making smarter calls in real time. [MUSIC PLAYING] One thing I old somebody last week, or I learned last year, really, but I told them last week, because like, man, what being a head coach does for me, it disciplines me to respond the right way every time because the eyes are on me. If we lose, or something bad happens in a game, I can't freak out. I was like that as a player. I just kind of put my head down at work. I think that came from my dad. I had to chip in my shoulder. I was smaller than everybody. I had to outsmart people. I just had to find ways to win. And so for me as a coach, I'm kind of the same way. But being a head coach, it really had to check myself. And then when we win, you can't walk around like you did something. You just got to be like, well, what a blessing. That was a great game. We got the result we wanted, but how did we play? How just like that? That's what I'm more worried about. And the kids here that all the time is like, we made enough plays to win or whatnot, or maybe our opponent was a factor in that. But yeah, it's fun being a head coach, but it's also hard because you got to discipline your thoughts and your reactions to your situations. Well, and I think if that's something that you could pass on to your players through the experience and what they're learning from you, there's that ripple effect in life and really through what we do. I mean, I think that's what's so special about football coaches and what we do to touch a community that positive or negative, what we do will have a ripple effect. And we obviously want to be on the positive side of things of that, the impact we have through our players, through our communities is going to grow with everything that we do. Yeah, I would hope they would always think of how they responded in football, their days playing football, you know, later on in life, when life hits, right? Life hits all of us, so it's all about how you think about it, how you respond to it, you know, I mean, from being a husband, being a father, being a coworker, you know, relationship with coworkers, and your family members, you know, your endlaws. And I mean, there's so many things in life that you gotta be able to kind of see the good and situations like the blessings and situations. And then also if it's bad, you just gotta be okay, this is good. Oh, you gotta have that mentality, this is good. And why is it good? Because, you know, you have a chance to respond the right way. And if you can discipline yourself to respond right more than wrong, I think that's what you consider maybe success for some people, you know? Absolutely. Our world definitely needs more of that coach. And I appreciate you sharing that with us here. Congratulations again to you and the Blue Tornado, the start you've had the season, the big win, and best wishes and good luck the rest of the way. Thank you. Thank you Keith for having me and it's a huge honor. And so, you know, at the, at the time, at the half of the program, you know, we thank you and everything you do for the game. And so it's been fun being on here. So go blue. Congratulations to Coach Bradford, his staff, and the Blue Tornado on a signature performance that showcased physicality, poise, and a clear plan start to finish. It's not too late to add in-game analytics. With Modern Football Technology, the interface is simple, the onboarding is quick, and your staff can be live by Friday night. Schedule your demo and make smarter calls now. Go to ModernFootball.com or click the link in the show notes. [Music]