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Between Whistles

Between Whistles

Written by: Brian Kays
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Between Whistles is a podcast about coaching, sports, and the quiet part.

Most coaching content focuses on the games, the wins, and the highlights. This show focuses on what happens between them.

The bus ride home after a hard loss. The empty gym after everyone leaves. The player who walks into your office and closes the door. The conversations no one trains a coach for. The work nobody puts in the job description, but everyone expects a coach to do.

I'm Coach Kays, a head varsity basketball coach who has spent almost 25 years on a sideline. Over that time, I've come to realize that a lot of the most important parts of coaching have very little to do with what happens while the clock is running.

We'll talk about winning, because I care about winning. We'll talk about losing, players, parents, culture, youth sports, school athletics, leadership, and what this work asks from the people who choose to do it.

Some episodes will be about basketball. A lot of them won't be.

But most will eventually come back to the same place: a kid walks through the door, and for some period of time, you get to be their coach.

That's the part of the job I want to talk about.

The part between whistles.

New episodes twice a month.

Support Between Whistles: buymeacoffee.com/coachkays

All rights reserved. Basketball
Episodes
  • The Night Before the Season Opener

    The Night Before the Season Opener
    Sep 30 2026

    The work is done. The practices are over. The plan is in place. And now there’s nothing left to do but wait.

    In this episode of Between Whistles, I talk about the strange uncertainty of the night before a season opener—the questions coaches ask themselves, the temptation to keep preparing, and the moment when preparation has to become trust.

    At some point, you have to close the laptop and let the players play.
    Show More Show Less
    13 mins
  • The First Day of Tryouts

    The First Day of Tryouts
    Sep 22 2026

    There is a freshman standing against the wall watching a returning junior put up shots. She has not been evaluated by anyone yet. Tryouts have not started. And she is already trying to cut herself.

    In this episode, Coach Kays reflects on the first day of tryouts. What kids reveal in the first fifteen minutes before instructions have been given. What the coach sees while pretending to be watching basketball. And why the first day matters more than the first day seems to matter.

    Approximately seven minutes.
    Show More Show Less
    12 mins
  • I Used to Apologize for Caring About Winning

    I Used to Apologize for Caring About Winning
    Sep 1 2026

    Coaches are supposed to say winning isn’t everything. For a long time, I felt like I had to apologize for wanting to win too much.

    But wanting to win and caring about your players aren’t opposites.

    In this episode of Between Whistles, I talk about why I stopped apologizing for being competitive, what winning can teach when it’s kept in perspective, and why pretending the scoreboard doesn’t matter may not be the lesson we think it is.
    Show More Show Less
    13 mins
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