Masters in Coaching Podcast- Episode XXVII

Tim Cates talks with Jim Kunau about taking over as the new Director of the Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration Program at Concordia University Irvine.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Twenty five years as a high schoolfootball coach in southern California. Now he
runs the Masters in Coaching Athletics AdministrationProgram at Concordia University, Irvine. He
is Jim kun Now and he joinsus now on episode twenty seven of the
Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's goWelcome into episode twenty seven. Already twenty

(00:22):
seven episodes of the Masters in CoachingPodcast here on iHeart Radio or wherever you
download your podcasts. We have anew component to our podcast now. No
longer it's just audio. We arenow audio and video. So we are
often running here in the fall oftwenty twenty one, and we couldn't be
more excited to talk to the newdirector of the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration

(00:44):
Program at Concordia University, Irvine.He is Jim kun Now and he joins
us now. Jim, welcome,How are you, sir? Hey great?
Great to be with you, Tim, sure appreciate this opportunity absolutely.
First off, you have a newposition. You are now running the program.
How excited are you to be incharge? I'm extremely excited. You
know, I was a head footballcoach for many, many years and one

(01:07):
of the things I enjoyed most aboutthat was working with other coaches. Unfortunately,
we are able to have some successwhere I spent most of my career
at Orange Lutheran, and because ofthat, we had quite a few coaches
come and visit us, and Ialways enjoyed every opportunity I had to interact
with him and then helped them inany way. So to be able to
do this full time is a littlebit of a dream come true. Now

(01:29):
he took over for Tony Diaz afterhis retirement. What is it like taking
up baton now and heading forward asthe director and kind of putting your own
stamp on the program. Sure well, I think first of all, you
know Tom White, who was ouroriginal founder. Tom built this program from
nothing. It's the first great programin this field. I think he taught

(01:49):
it out out of the trunk ofhis car with his first twelve students,
then built it to the point whereyou know, we've had over a thousand
students in our program in any onetime and over four thousand graduates. Then
he asked it on to Tony,who did a great job and got us
through the bulk of COVID I think, which was no small feeds. So
following in the footsteps footsteps of Tomand Tony is a real privilege one I

(02:13):
really enjoy. And I think thebiggest, probably the biggest slight thing that
we've added to it is to reallyemphasize equipping and empowering our coaches in every
conceivable sense to be great agents oftransformation the lives of young people, whether
that's working with kids in middle schoolor the majority of them were either in
high school or college, with thosecollege aged students, but the really cause

(02:37):
of profound and lasting impact in thoseyoung people's lives. You know, we're
just kind of putting a little bitmore of a laser focus on that.
You mentioned it. Nineteen years atOrange Lutheran, six years at Rancho Christian.
You want CIE of Southern Section titles, you want a state championship in
both spots. Your background as afootball coach and now being an administrator and

(02:59):
overseeing this program at Concording University yearof I just want to go back to
your days as a head football coach. Is that something you wanted to get
into. Obviously you were in ina long time at different stops and very
successful, but was that something youalways thought and saw yourself doing. Ironically,
No, when I first started off, I was in business for a
while. I got a master's actuallyan international business and was involved in that

(03:22):
for a little while, but Ijust wasn't that fulfilled. There's an old
saying that your career is what you'repaid to do, and your calling is
what you're made to do. Well, for me, I found out,
you know, that career wasn't allthat fulfilling. And then it just through
an irony of a couple of personalconnections I had, I got involved in
in coaching and I found that wasmy true calling. You know, I

(03:43):
think what God had really prepared meto do, and I've just loved it.
Once I got into it, Ino longer was in a career but
living into my calling. And that'sall the difference in the world. Really.
It's funny because you take over aprogram at Concording University there, as
you mentioned your two assessors before,got it going and have taken it to
the level that it's at. You'regonna take it to an even greater level,

(04:04):
of course. But when you tookover your two football programs at Orange
Lutheran and at Rancho Christian two spotsthat you helped build and you really put
your stamp on there, and itreally you started from the ground floor.
Sure did. At Orange Lutheran.When I first my first year as head
coach in nineteen ninety three, wehad twenty one players on our team and
we were California has about thirteen differentdivisions, Division one being the highest.

(04:29):
We were in Division twelve and wewere kind of the bottom feeders in Division
twelve. But we had a planthat we worked pretty continuously, and it
took us about eight or nine years, but we got to that Division one
level to the point at which wewere able to compete effectively with the top
schools like Modern Day and sir Byand Saint John Bosco. And that was
great. But you know, thebiggest thing that drove me there is what
droves it drives me now, andthat is that I always felt like that

(04:54):
character and faith are developed the mostwhen the adversity is the greatest, when
the challenges are the greatest. Andof course, as a competitor, I
think you always want to play againstthe best and test yourself against the best.
But I think the thing that distinguishesour program in this field, it
was the same thing that drove meback then. It was making a big
difference in the faith development and characterformation of the people that you work with.

(05:15):
And I just enjoyed that so much. And of course it was really
fun that that long ride we hadto rise from that low level to an
extremely high level and the same kindof thing out at Rancho Christian. But
that's what I look forward to here, is that Tom and Tony created something
so special and so unique. Idon't have to remake this at all.

(05:35):
We'll just have to continue to strengthenit and maybe add a couple twists to
it. But I just love workingwith people. I loved football too,
because you work with such a largestaff. I think it Orange Luthan,
we had about twenty five coaches onour staff because we have lots of kids,
lots of teams within your program,and so I've always loved working with
those other coaches and helping, youknow, and helping us all develop may

(05:59):
development. And we worked together andultimately created something very special, and that's
that's where we hope to continue todo here. We're gonna get into your
pyramid of purpose here in a second, but I gotta ask you as somebody
who I love high school football inSouthern California. We talk about it on
the radio as much as possible,and I love giving the programs outside of
the Trinity League. Sorry, nooffense to the Trendi League schools and the

(06:20):
powerhouses, which obviously get their respectand get the honor that they deserve because
they're very talented and very talented.You of course set up that set that
up with Orange Lutheran. But withthat being said, the direction of high
school football and having the has andhas not now and really the powerhouse programs
and then everybody else, and we'restarting to see programs disappear at the high

(06:42):
school level at different levels. Ifear that in you know, however,
long ten twenty years and high schoolfootball as we know it may not look
the same and there may be smalleramount of schools actually playing because of the
powers that are being developed all throughoutSouthern California. Have you noticed is that
is that something that you've even thoughtabout? Yeah, you know, I
haven't thought too much about that.I think, you know, even the

(07:06):
numbers and even those kind of eliteprograms you're talking about at modern day Saint
John Bosco surveying, and I stillhave I have good friendships with coach Rollinson
and modern Day and coach Thomas aSurvey and so Worth and coach Negro over
at BOSCO, but their numbers havedeclined to fair amount. It used to
be they'd have over two hundred kidsin their program, and now that's declined

(07:28):
pretty significantly with just fewer kids playingfootball. That's the trend that I think
is a little bit more ominous.It isn't so much I think the larger
schools or even the great public schoolprograms, whether you're talking about a Mission
Bah or a Corona Centennial. Idon't think it's so much that they're taking
to when you get I think it'sjust kind of the decline and participation in
football that concerns me a little bitmore. There, Jim Knew, the

(07:53):
new Director of Masters and Coaching AthleticsAdministration Program at Concordia University, Irvine,
is our guests. Let's talk alittle about what you've implemented now as the
director and the Pyramid of Purpose.Tell our viewers our listeners a little bit
about this. Sure, well,we wanted to just kind of have a
simple picture of simple visual and ofcourse, Coach Winn's pyramid of successes is

(08:13):
extremely well known. But we justcreated six blocks at the bottom across the
foundation for us, because we area strong Christian institution, that the first
block is anchored in truth, andthat's really based on a verse in the
Book of John that says where Jesussaid, I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. Noman comes to the Father except through me,
so we're really built on him.The middle block at the bottom is

(08:35):
powered by purpose. I think it'sso important to have a purpose that's greater
than yourselves in order to have fulfillmentin life. And that's for anybody in
anything that they do. And thenthe third block across foundationally for us,
we call a guide with grace.You know, each day we believe we
draw our breath by the grace ofGod, our creator, our sustainer,

(08:56):
and our redeemer. And that's howwe want to treat our students. Every
student that comes into this program istreated with grace, with respect and dignity
as we see them as children ofGod, literally and crafted and specially made
every person that we deal with.And I think that helps our program too,
because people come in and they feelcared for. They know, yes,
their high standards, are going towork hard, they're going to learn

(09:18):
a lot, they're gonna engage,they're going to network, but they're going
to do it in an atmosphere that'sreally an empathetic atmosphere where we understand that
they're working professionals, that they're doingserious jobs, and we work with them
hand in hand and try to meettheir needs as they progress through the program.
So that's the base of it,and then what we hope to do

(09:39):
is to really to create coaches andathletic administrators who walk out of here with
a complete understanding of how important itis to have exemplary character, to be
paragons models of excellence for their families, but for all the people they work
with in their schools, and thenfor them to also have a compelling confidence
as we help them to raise theirskill level, whether they're coaching volleyball or

(10:01):
softball, whatever the sport is,or an entire athletic department, but they're
really raised the level of their skills. So if they have great credibility,
you know, when you when youare highly competent, you command a lot
of credibility. And then when youfocus on character development, to have character
and competency and then and then alsoto cultivate that that caring aspect. That's

(10:22):
a powerful formula that we want tomake sure that they leave us with so
that they in turn can do thething. To me that it's the greatest
of all that athletic folks get todo, and that is to build champions
for life. You know, allthe young people they work with. It's
great to be seasonal champions. Weall want that, we all we all
pursue that passionately. But there's somethingeven better, and that's when we help
young people, whether they're fourteen yearsold or twenty two years old, become

(10:46):
champions for a lifetime. So that'swhat our pyramid of purposes in the MCA
program. But ultimately it leads tohaving a huge impact and whatever talent,
community or state that you live inin such a very positive way that it
changes the trajectory of people's lives andhelps all those young people become true champions
for life. I have to putthe pyramid up for everybody to see.

(11:07):
I think you hit it right onthe head, with the foundation being the
most important thing and in the middleof the character and working on that and
molding that in order to get tothat top of the pyramid and being a
champion in life is so well doneand well said. This is something Jim,
that you've had to talk to yourprofessors about and implementing it now as
you take over. Yeah, itis. We've shared it. But you

(11:28):
know, the great thing is withall all the men and women that we
hire as instructors in front, they'vealready lived this out or they wouldn't be
joining us, and we certainly wouldn'thire them. But just to be very
candid, they are people who justwho have lived out in their lives that
pyramid and they are paragons where they'reat. And so it is such a
special group of very experienced educators thatwe have who've been very successful as athletic

(11:54):
administrators and coaches and who really havebeen transformational agents, and from public schools
but also some from private schools anduniversities. But we've just got a great
collection of folks who know how torelate with virtually anybody from any any demographic
or any institutional background, Jim,coming out of the pandemic, coming out
of the shutdown, have you guysnoticed it up taking people wanting to maybe

(12:18):
further their education, maybe wanting tofurther their job placement, and looking at
Concordias an outlet to do that.Yes, I think Tim, you're exactly
right. I think you know thatone of the things the pandemic did.
I think it forced us all todo two things. I think it helped
us all to focus on how preciouslife is. But it also caused all
of us to reflect on, hey, how am I doing? Am I

(12:41):
in the right profession? In theprofession i'm in, Am I maximizing my
talents and my gifts? I thinkas we all kind of saw how precious
life is through the pandemic, andso I think as a consequence, we've
had many I think coaches come tous who want to expand their abilities and
skills, and so that that's happened, but also people wanting to get into

(13:01):
coaching and teaching. You know.I think it was the great evangelist Billy
Graham, who wants and encouraging acoach, was wondering whether or not he
was in the right perier. Hesaid, look, you as coaches will
influence more people in one year thanmost of us will in a lifetime.
And I think that's where there's suchgreat fulfillment I think in this great profession,

(13:22):
and so it has I think causedan uptick and interest largely coming out
of the pandemic. I think you'reright. Well, Jim, we appreciate
your time. Thank you so muchfor sharing about what you're doing and leading
Concordia and the program and the pyramidof purpose is fantastic. I know people
will benefit tremendously from it. Thankyou so much for your time. Thank

(13:45):
you for sharing what is happening nowand your leadership moving forward. Very exciting
times there Concordia University, Irvine,and then Masters and Coaching Athletics Administration Program.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Tim. It was a pleasure
to be with you. Thank youto Jim ko now is the new director
of the Masters in Coaching Athletics AdministrationProgram at Concordia University, Irvine. CUI

(14:07):
dot eed u slash Coaching to findout all about their program, if it's
a right fit for you, whatthey can offer you as well if you're
looking to further that education or thatadministrative or coaching career. Again, Cui
dot eed U slash Coaching. Thanksagain to Jim, thank you for watching,
Thank you for listening on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your
podcast. Until next time, Solong, everybody,