The core concept of Coaching Conversations has always been coaches simply getting together to talk. This episode is really just that - a recording of a pair of coaches talking about what's going on and what they're thinking about. In this case, it's myself and my friend Ruben Wolochin, who you may remember from Episode 20.

Since it didn't have a specific unified focus, I was tempted to call this "The show about nothing". :-)

Not surprisingly, the conversation wanders around, touching on NCAA scheduling, covid vaccinations, Athletes Unlimited, and several other topics.

In the episode, I mentioned the new women's league former Hawaii coach Dave Shoji is involved with. You can learn more about it from this episode of the MasterCoaches Weekly Buzz show. We also referenced the Volleyball League of America. I had a couple of guys from the VLA on during the original Conversations series.

I referenced some changes to the management structure of the German volleyball league. Here's a story (in German) about that.

I also mentioned Benfica playing in the Portuguese Cup. I had a bunch of focus from that club on for an interesting Conversation about different staff roles and support functions at a pro club. As Ruben noted, Benfica beat Mamede in the quarterfinals the day we recorded this discussion. The next day they beat A.J.F. Bastardo in the semis, to set up a final against Sporting CP. Unfortunately, they lost in 4.

I brought up the back-to-back nature of play in the men's Big West Conference, which features Long Beach and Hawaii. It's a structure we've seen a number of conferences adapt for the women's season this year.

And for the record, the longest trip for Medaille in the men's AMCC - at least currently - is to Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, PA) at 4+ hours. Our two other away trips for the 2021 season are Penn State - Behrend (Erie, PA), and Geneva (Beaver Falls, PA).

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You can find a complete list of the initial series of Coaching Conversations here.