Mike Minter joined host and veteran NFL agent Craig Domann to talk about coaching and the things he learned throughout his football career. Minter started his career with the University of Nebraska and spent 10 years in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers. After retiring he got his start coaching with his son’s football team. He moved on to high school coaching and won multiple state championships. Minter’s love for coaching stems from the things he learned from his coaches and teammates as a player. He tells Pro Mindset® Podcast the different aspects of a coach’s job and what makes a good player.
“He was the first one who taught me about striving for excellence and believing that you can do what you want to do. I remember him telling me ‘You're going to the NFL,’ when I was only in the third grade.”
Mike Minter had many influential coaches throughout his career. It started with one of his first coaches in the 3rd grade who was one of the first coaches to see Mike’s talent. Having that seed planted at a young age helped Minter dream big. That coach taught him not just his potential but the power of belief. Minter believed in himself and his talent, enough to make the University of Nebraska a goal. Belief is an important part of the Pro Mindset and a coach’s job is to instill belief in their players. Coaches may be the first line of support for a player and see things the player does not.
In Minter’s opinion another part of a coach’s job is telling the story of the game. Minter first saw in his Coach Tom Osborne and uses now as a coach himself. Minter says that football is like a movie and each game has its own category. Sometimes teams are mismatched in skill and it is a blowout, that’s horror. Other times the teams are evenly matched and it is a close game, that’s drama. A coach’s job is to study the other team and know what the story of the game will be before it even begins. It takes training, hours of film, and a passion for the game to develop that skill.
“I remember he told me, you're not fast enough or big enough to go to Nebraska. So I asked him ‘If I'm not fast enough or big enough, how fast you gotta be and how big you gotta be?’”
Minter tells a story about himself in high school. His coach asked him if he had a plan to play in college. Minter had a long time goal of playing for Nebraska since he was young. That goal was his purpose as a young player. When Minter was told he wasn’t good enough to play for Nebraska he put in the work to get there. Without that goal of playing for the University of Nebraska, Minter may have settled where he was and his story would be different. It is necessary that players not just have a passion for the sport but a purpose as well. Without vision and goals to strive for it is easy for a player to get lost in the game. As a coach, Minter works with his players to develop goals. “I look at a young man who wants to play this game of football, you better know what you want out of it. You can't do this casually.” Football is a hard game on the mind and the body. Even so, aspects of being a football player will become mundane. Having a purpose will push a player through the challenges of the game. There has to be a goal for a player to fight for every step of the way, if they want to be successful.
To hear more about Mike Minter’s story and how he helps his athletes build a Pro Mindset, listen here.