Brenda Kirkpatrick Brown

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this show is Brenda Kirkpatrick Brown.

Brenda is a former College Basketball player and Head Coach at the University of North Carolina.

Brenda was an assistant for 10 years at Georgia Tech, Charlotte and Florida before becoming head coach at UNC Asheville in 2012.

In her 8 years at UNC the team won back-to-back Big South Conference Tournament crowns in 2016 and 2017, an elite 8thand sweet 16th in the NCAA Tournament, four consecutive postseason berths and one Big South Conference regular-season title.

In 2016 she was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year.

Brenda is presently taking a sabbatical and so we caught here when she had the time and space to reflect on her coaching journey. This meant that she was philosophical but also reflective on the things she could have done better, and like all the great coaches she is lifelong learner and thinking about what she will do differently next time.

She believes that you coach the individual and not just the athlete, and that you can never be the type of coach that the athlete has to overcome in order to perform at their best. This means that you have to guard against your passion interfering with your emotions and the way you communicate.

She has great positivity and talks about using belief and positive language to help people overcome their own doubt. And she shares the great quote from Billie Jean King on pressure being a privilege and how this influences her approach to leadership.

Other highlights for me included:

Her view that when choosing a captain, you should look for someone who consistent in their work ethic, and is not afraid to take accountability and sacrifice themselves for others.

And Her advice to other female leaders on communicating your passion but also explaining how you are coping in the role and achieving the life balance that will be important to other women who may be considering a leadership position.

It was a lot of fun interviewing Brenda, she has great energy and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [e-mail] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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