Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Coaches Check-In Episode 10: Chuck Crawford
7/27/2023 10:14:00 AM | General, Women's Volleyball
The Blue Raider Volleyball coach shares his team's offseason process ahead of an exciting 2023 season
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Head Volleyball Coach Chuck Crawford is the latest guest to join GoBlueRaiders.com Staff Writer Sam Doughton on the Coaches Check-In Podcast, as the Blue Raiders prepare for an action-packed season in Alumni Memorial Gymnasium.
After a hot start to the 2022 campaign, Crawford had many questions to answer after a cooled off team left everyone wanting more after Conference USA play. Crawford dives into the work his program undertook to better themselves mentally as a group following that season, his preseason process, the newcomers to his 2023 roster, the new Conference USA landscape and much more!
You can find excerpts of the podcast below, lightly edited for grammar, clarity and flow. The full episode is available for download or to stream at the link above, or by visiting the "Podcasts" tab under "Multimedia" on GoBlueRaiders.com.
---
When do you have all your players on campus for the fall?
The players come back in July and work summer camps, but with NCAA rules, we're not allowed to work with them. They can lift, do open gyms and take summer classes. August 7, this year, is going to be our report date, and that is a fun day because we finally get to interact, have fun with them, start talking to them. So that part is really awesome. They get to have all their gear, which is like Christmas in August. So it's a really fun day!
You watch an 18-year old freshman walk into their locker room and see their locker completely decked out with their gear. It's fun for them. You look at the memories they're going to have and that's one of their first team, collegiate memories. They'll have that memory with them for the rest of their life.
And then the next day, they're always antsy in the morning because they do their physical testing. Verticals and 5-10-5 times and whatnot. But that's our first practice. And that's where you really, as a coach kind of sit back and look (and say) 'Did they truly lift over the summer? Were they self-motivated enough to get in the gym?' Last year, our players did a phenomenal job. And (this year), we'll find out here in a few weeks!
Physical testing is so important for every team coming into the fall just to get a baseline, particularly with y'all playing scrimmages so close to that August 7 date, including the Blue-White Game on August 15.
Yeah, we'll have that game coming up. On August 18, we'll have an exhibition against Evansville. And then after that, we're having our Family Night. In that, we're playing Redneck Olympics. So that is going to be hilarious. The events are: a pie-eating contest, Raw Egg throwing contest, Horseshoes done with toilet seat covers, among several other events. But I think the one the players and the parents are going to be the most looking forward to is the whipped cream pie throwing contest at me!
And I do believe everyone is going to be lined up for that, even my wife. I think I'm going to get lit up on that one, it should be pretty funny.
You spent a lot of time this spring focusing on a lot of sports and social psychology to help get you and your team on the same page after 2022. Walk me through that process your team went through and how you developed it?
We were at UAB (in 2022), we lost in five. A couple of controversial plays in Set 5 there at the end. Realistically, they're a good program, but that particular match, I felt like we should've come away with that one. After the game, I asked (the team) 'What motivates you to play? Why do you do what you do?' And nobody could answer it. The season goes along, we're at Western and our SWA and Deputy AD, Diane Turnham, asks the team after a loss, 'What motivates you to play?' And once again, nobody could answer.
I was sitting back at Western and it was kind of terrifying. As a coach, you hope your athletes are these hyper-motivated, intrinsically driven team to perform. And the reality is, in that moment, they couldn't answer the question.
The season ends, and my brain immediately goes to work on evaluating everything in the program. Myself, my staff, everything that we did, to find out how do we get better. From that point, we started studying several social psychologists. The one thing I wanted to learn was who they are as individuals. The first thing we did when they got back in January was, we had them take the Five Love Languages (Quiz). Of the 11 players we had, eight of them needed quality time. The other three, quality time was their second. So, if someone needs something, either they're a) not getting it or b) maybe they're just wired that way. The other thing they needed was positive words of affirmation.
The second step was I wanted to see if there was a disconnect between myself and them. At some point in coaching, coaches get older and you lose touch with a generation. My father was in the military, was in the Navy, was honorably discharged from the Navy before Vietnam kicked off. But my grandfather served in World War II, was in the Battle of the Bulge, was in D-Day. My great-great grandfather was in World I. I had two uncles that fought for the Union in the Civil War and I had great-great (many greats) grandfather that was in the Revolutionary War. So, my entire family was in the military. I was the first one to be able to go to college. I wanted to go into the military (and not going) is the biggest regret of my life. So, anybody who serves in the military, any police officers, I just have so much respect for that it's really hard to articulate that. General Keith Huber, who works here at MTSU, I just have so much respect for him and have loved having him meet with our players and meet with us.
We watched the opening scene of 'Saving Private Ryan', because I wanted to express to our players that this was the world I came from. This is the discipline I was raised with. So, when I hold certain values of honesty, hard work, grit, toughness so high, in a society that doesn't honesty and loyalty anymore. You're loyal when somebody's doing great for you, but if they're not, you kick them to the curb. I wanted them to make sure they understood exactly where I was coming from. Why I press upon them so hard to kind of hold old school values in kind of in check.
(From there), we started watching some of the social psychology videos. Simon Sinek, Amy Cuddy. What we learned from that was that we had to know if (our players) were motivated or unmotivated. Well, the reality for us was that they were all, and still are, incredibly motivated. But social media, the ability to address conflicts and this generation's inability to articulate their emotions were the three factors that we learned were hurting them.
From that point, we started this process with Simon Sinek and his 'Why' philosophy. And everybody came up with a 'Why' statement. Everyone had leather bound journals where they went through the process. Everybody then had their 'Why' statement and then we developed 'Why' Statement. (For example), my original 'Why' Statement was "To help young ladies develop into the women they want to become.' Over the summer, I gave it a lot of thought and my new 'Why' Statement is 'Through God's discernment, I will positively impact and help young ladies develop into the women they want to become.'
As the spring went along, we talked a lot about it. When we play with our why in mind, the most amazing thing happened. I didn't have to ask them to try harder, I didn't have to ask them to do anything special, per se. They were just so driven, that it changed them as athletes. It changed me as a coach. When I coach from the standpoint of my 'Why', and really focus on developing young women, it brings out the best in me. If I let the competitive side of me get in the way, it has the ability to bring out the worst in me. And the 'Why' changed everything.
Listen to the full podcast
After a hot start to the 2022 campaign, Crawford had many questions to answer after a cooled off team left everyone wanting more after Conference USA play. Crawford dives into the work his program undertook to better themselves mentally as a group following that season, his preseason process, the newcomers to his 2023 roster, the new Conference USA landscape and much more!
You can find excerpts of the podcast below, lightly edited for grammar, clarity and flow. The full episode is available for download or to stream at the link above, or by visiting the "Podcasts" tab under "Multimedia" on GoBlueRaiders.com.
---
When do you have all your players on campus for the fall?
The players come back in July and work summer camps, but with NCAA rules, we're not allowed to work with them. They can lift, do open gyms and take summer classes. August 7, this year, is going to be our report date, and that is a fun day because we finally get to interact, have fun with them, start talking to them. So that part is really awesome. They get to have all their gear, which is like Christmas in August. So it's a really fun day!
You watch an 18-year old freshman walk into their locker room and see their locker completely decked out with their gear. It's fun for them. You look at the memories they're going to have and that's one of their first team, collegiate memories. They'll have that memory with them for the rest of their life.
And then the next day, they're always antsy in the morning because they do their physical testing. Verticals and 5-10-5 times and whatnot. But that's our first practice. And that's where you really, as a coach kind of sit back and look (and say) 'Did they truly lift over the summer? Were they self-motivated enough to get in the gym?' Last year, our players did a phenomenal job. And (this year), we'll find out here in a few weeks!
Physical testing is so important for every team coming into the fall just to get a baseline, particularly with y'all playing scrimmages so close to that August 7 date, including the Blue-White Game on August 15.
Yeah, we'll have that game coming up. On August 18, we'll have an exhibition against Evansville. And then after that, we're having our Family Night. In that, we're playing Redneck Olympics. So that is going to be hilarious. The events are: a pie-eating contest, Raw Egg throwing contest, Horseshoes done with toilet seat covers, among several other events. But I think the one the players and the parents are going to be the most looking forward to is the whipped cream pie throwing contest at me!
And I do believe everyone is going to be lined up for that, even my wife. I think I'm going to get lit up on that one, it should be pretty funny.
You spent a lot of time this spring focusing on a lot of sports and social psychology to help get you and your team on the same page after 2022. Walk me through that process your team went through and how you developed it?
We were at UAB (in 2022), we lost in five. A couple of controversial plays in Set 5 there at the end. Realistically, they're a good program, but that particular match, I felt like we should've come away with that one. After the game, I asked (the team) 'What motivates you to play? Why do you do what you do?' And nobody could answer it. The season goes along, we're at Western and our SWA and Deputy AD, Diane Turnham, asks the team after a loss, 'What motivates you to play?' And once again, nobody could answer.
I was sitting back at Western and it was kind of terrifying. As a coach, you hope your athletes are these hyper-motivated, intrinsically driven team to perform. And the reality is, in that moment, they couldn't answer the question.
The season ends, and my brain immediately goes to work on evaluating everything in the program. Myself, my staff, everything that we did, to find out how do we get better. From that point, we started studying several social psychologists. The one thing I wanted to learn was who they are as individuals. The first thing we did when they got back in January was, we had them take the Five Love Languages (Quiz). Of the 11 players we had, eight of them needed quality time. The other three, quality time was their second. So, if someone needs something, either they're a) not getting it or b) maybe they're just wired that way. The other thing they needed was positive words of affirmation.
The second step was I wanted to see if there was a disconnect between myself and them. At some point in coaching, coaches get older and you lose touch with a generation. My father was in the military, was in the Navy, was honorably discharged from the Navy before Vietnam kicked off. But my grandfather served in World War II, was in the Battle of the Bulge, was in D-Day. My great-great grandfather was in World I. I had two uncles that fought for the Union in the Civil War and I had great-great (many greats) grandfather that was in the Revolutionary War. So, my entire family was in the military. I was the first one to be able to go to college. I wanted to go into the military (and not going) is the biggest regret of my life. So, anybody who serves in the military, any police officers, I just have so much respect for that it's really hard to articulate that. General Keith Huber, who works here at MTSU, I just have so much respect for him and have loved having him meet with our players and meet with us.
We watched the opening scene of 'Saving Private Ryan', because I wanted to express to our players that this was the world I came from. This is the discipline I was raised with. So, when I hold certain values of honesty, hard work, grit, toughness so high, in a society that doesn't honesty and loyalty anymore. You're loyal when somebody's doing great for you, but if they're not, you kick them to the curb. I wanted them to make sure they understood exactly where I was coming from. Why I press upon them so hard to kind of hold old school values in kind of in check.
(From there), we started watching some of the social psychology videos. Simon Sinek, Amy Cuddy. What we learned from that was that we had to know if (our players) were motivated or unmotivated. Well, the reality for us was that they were all, and still are, incredibly motivated. But social media, the ability to address conflicts and this generation's inability to articulate their emotions were the three factors that we learned were hurting them.
From that point, we started this process with Simon Sinek and his 'Why' philosophy. And everybody came up with a 'Why' statement. Everyone had leather bound journals where they went through the process. Everybody then had their 'Why' statement and then we developed 'Why' Statement. (For example), my original 'Why' Statement was "To help young ladies develop into the women they want to become.' Over the summer, I gave it a lot of thought and my new 'Why' Statement is 'Through God's discernment, I will positively impact and help young ladies develop into the women they want to become.'
As the spring went along, we talked a lot about it. When we play with our why in mind, the most amazing thing happened. I didn't have to ask them to try harder, I didn't have to ask them to do anything special, per se. They were just so driven, that it changed them as athletes. It changed me as a coach. When I coach from the standpoint of my 'Why', and really focus on developing young women, it brings out the best in me. If I let the competitive side of me get in the way, it has the ability to bring out the worst in me. And the 'Why' changed everything.
Listen to the full podcast
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