Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves

157: Ed Jones II - The Big 5 Mentorship Structures & Solving Real Problems

• Ryan Gonsalves

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What happens when a former athlete takes his love for sports and turns it into a movement?

In this episode, Ryan sits down with Ed Jones II, founder of Beyond the Field, to unpack how a childhood filled with competition, community, and coaching evolved into a career centered around impact. Ed shares his journey from fast-footed kid in Houston to collegiate player, coach, and now thought leader in player development.

In this episode, we talk about: 

- How a childhood moment with a football helmet and strong winds led to a lifetime love for sport

- Why Ed built a national summit for player development professionals, starting with a single Zoom call

- The five types of mentorship every athlete needs (this structure is gold)

- What most people get wrong about working in player development

- How missed opportunities shaped Ed’s mission to create resources for the next generation

- Why he turned down a quarter-million-dollar offer at age 17

- The mindset shift that came when he realized he wouldn’t go pro and how it freed him

- What makes a great player development coach beyond the sideline

- The importance of building community impact into athlete development

- The “solve-it mentality” that turned his passion into a movement

This one’s full of real talk, useful frameworks (especially if you’re in the player development space), and a powerful reminder: if the horse won’t drink water, maybe it just needs watermelon. 

💎 GOLDEN NUGGET:
"The value is in being adaptable. If they need you to do something, you can do it." — Ed Jones I 

 Want support on your own pivot? 

Visit www.2ndwind.io to learn more or book a session.
Let’s help you figure out what’s next and build a career that fits where you are now.

Links:
Check out Ed’s book The Player Development Guide on Amazon. 

Speaker 1:

When did you start to either pick a sport or start to recognize I've got a talent here, I can do something with it.

Speaker 2:

The first sport actually, well, racing. We used to run a lot and I was actually fast for my size, like very, very fast. I just thought I never lost. So I just thought everybody was always slower to me, get older, like I probably should have kept running. So I'll never forget the first time I played American football I had a helmet on and I'm running and I'm like what's this noise?

Speaker 2:

Like you know, I've never had a helmet so I didn't realize the wind. I was running so fast, the wind was like in my ears and so I'm worried about this noise and this kid, like boom, right in my front yard. He just takes me out and I'm like I might've been eight so I'm crying, I'm like I don't want to do this, I throw it down. I played basketball for a while and I actually would play up. So if I third grade, I played fifth graders at summer camp and basketball just came more natural to me but also got bigger than everybody hi, I'm Ryan Gonsalves and welcome to a second wind academy, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes.

Speaker 3:

Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story. Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations. Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty. Elite athletes are still people after all. Let's be inspired by the stories of others.

Speaker 1:

Ed, thanks for joining me on the Career Clarity podcast today. Really excited to have you on here with me. Thanks for having me. We are going to delve into you know we're going to pick into little bits of you, but I'm loving for those who are watching or everything that we're seeing behind you there. I want to delve into all of these different things that are going on in your world and really get you know, just get a good understanding man. I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, I'm excited. I got a lot to talk about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, please give me that introduction on who you are and what you're up to nowadays.

Speaker 2:

My name is Ed Jones II. I'm from a small city in the United States called Houston, texas. I kid, it's a big city. I'm from Houston, texas. I've loved sports my entire life. I'm from a family of real estate people and professionals brokers my dad's a broker, my mom used to sell out entire neighborhoods Just never stuck with me. I love sports, I love communication and I love teaching, and so I was able to do that play football, American football.

Speaker 2:

Growing up, I had the opportunity to go to University of Houston. After that I was a coach. Then after that, I coached for six years, got back to my alma mater and had the opportunity to be a director of player development in college football. So I was able to do that at the University of Houston. I was super excited. So I was at the University of Houston, university of Kansas and Baylor University. They were football teams for six years and then there was a transition and so those things stayed with me that I talked about earlier.

Speaker 2:

I love sports, I love communicating and I love teaching, and so, even though I wasn't in the role, I found a way to do those things so I was able to create a podcast. So I'm excited to be here on your podcast. I was able to create some blogs, a couple of e-books, and this journey just keeps going courses, events, summits, and so basically I'm the founder of Beyond the Field, where we develop people and elevate programs, and so we help people who help athletes, make sure that they get their messaging right, make sure to get the resources they need so that they can develop athletes, so that programs can elevate. So I'm a little quacious, so that is my elevator pitch of me yes.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, man. That's a really good intro and the bit that I pick out from there is towards the end. You're talking about you help those who help athletes and making sure they're getting their pick. You know, one of the bits we were talking about the last time was on the player development, so you talk about events and conferences that you run. Talk to me a bit about that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so it started when I was in the role, I saw there's a convention called American Football Coaches Association. They have a convention every single year, and so one year I was there when I was in the transition from a job all the directors of football operations, the people who are operation heavy, that skill set of logistics they would just sit in a room and just bounce topics off each other. So I was like we probably could do that in player development. So I reached out to them and we didn't get those opportunities. We got a couple of chances to speak, which was great, but we didn't get that specific opportunity to have people in a room. And so I'll never forget, I was in a taxi cab in New York, headed to the airport, and I was talking to a couple of people I know in this space and they were like, hey, we need something for us, we need a conference for us. And so I was like, all right, whatever, I'll do a Zoom, because we did a big Zoom during COVID 2020. And so I did a Zoom. I was like we get 28 speakers and we could have 28 people show up. Perfect, Good event. 114 people showed up and I was just like, okay, we might be on to something.

Speaker 2:

So you know, first year everybody's like we should do this in person. I'm like whoa, pump the brakes, pump the brakes, Right. I'm like we're going to do this virtual again next year. So we did it virtually again in 2024. And the price went up, because if you run an event one time, you run it again. You realize different things.

Speaker 2:

And so I was like all right, with the price going up, we'll probably have 40 people, whatever it may be had 85 people there. So I was like, oh sweet. So I was like all right. And at this point you did it well, twice. So I did it in person here in Kansas City, where I'm living, and that was a big step of faith. And it actually just ended about a month ago yeah, literally a month ago, yeah, a month ago. And so it was a massive success. We had over 100 people room at one time and I want to say I forgot to tell somebody. I knew it was 100. I wish I had told one of the interns or students to count everybody, but I think we had more people in person than we did that first year virtually. So yeah, it's exciting.

Speaker 1:

There's something about being in person, getting there in person. We're human. We like this mix right.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. It kind of changed my whole business model into like, yeah, the virtual stuff works because it's easy for people, but the high ticket is in person.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And so talk to me about the types of people you got together at your event. I've got to say, you know, I admire the fact you went from online, did it again online and then said, ok, let's make this in person. And I admire the fact you've gone and put on an event, an event for people like me people I work with people like us to come along and say, ok, how can we better develop players and how can we do this as a community and a network? So I'm keen to understand the types of individuals, the clubs or associations. Where did they come from for this event?

Speaker 2:

I'll start with the team that helped me. So I shout out to there there's a. Her name is Lauren King. She's been working with me for three years on this. So she's seen it literally go from a meeting October 13th 2022. And I'm like, hey, we're just, we're going to do it Right. And she's seen it to where it is now.

Speaker 2:

And then I had space. There were three other people who helped me Kenneth Dobbins, trinity Montero and Madison Cole and they all just came along and I called them my brain tank and then from there we had eight students and then we had five professional volunteers. I'm telling everybody look, here's the deal. I don't have money to pay. I'm working on sponsorships. I want to get meals, I want to let you know up front. This is what it's going to be. But they were like we don't care.

Speaker 2:

So I go to the speakers and I stuck to a lot of speakers that have spoke virtually for two years. So Dr Lacey, carmen Johnson with the Toronto Raptors, jessica Gray with the Detroit Lions, alexander Martin with the Miami Dolphins, to Brooke Blaine with Arizona football, savannah Bailey with Florida football, and there's so many more Dr Lori Robinson, who's with Houston Texans. We had Dr Jamil Northcutt, who was a senior vice president at MLS. He built out MLS's entire player engagement space and so he was there. And so you get all these speakers. It was 20. We had some world speakers as well. I don't want to miss anybody's name. But also there's a lot of speakers, so you get them there and I reach out to them and they're like hey, we want to support you.

Speaker 2:

So once again, I'm like hey, before I make the ask, I just want to let you know if you get a speaking fee, it's probably not going to happen here, right? Well, not probably it's not going to happen, right? So, thankfully, they all came through and really excited about that, and so we had those professionals. So then we're looking at our attendees, right? So now we got to focus on the attendees, and so we had people who were in this space. So people may have just got a job or learning it, people that want to transition into this space. We also have people who are on the outside of this space. So your mental health providers, your I think we had another, we had somebody there, one one attendee. He's a former prosecutor. That is like you just get to know these people because you know all you see is like so-and-so paid for a ticket, so-and-so paid for a ticket, and so I get a chance to meet him and I'm like tell me about yourself. And you're like, oh, I did this. There was one lady who does improv. She was there.

Speaker 2:

A major sports architecture firm here was one of our sponsors that you'd find out about sponsors, and so we had that. The three core or the four core values we had were to grow network partner hire. The hire part is always tough, so we'll probably just go to grow network partner, but we got a room full of people that you could be on this spectrum of I've done it all, to this spectrum of I'm learning, I want to learn. So it was good. It was an intimate space and I thought it was a good gathering of people.

Speaker 1:

That's good. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I like the values as well and you know what you've articulated is very much what helps drive me in this podcast and getting people like yourself on to share your journey, but then also for everyone involved to just grow, to grow a little bit to hear from one of the stories, but then to meet and connect, as I say, but that networking aspect really comes through and so I think the you know, like you say, you started from a point where you could run it from your room. You know that and now, as you continue, those partnerships become more important because the stronger the partnerships, basically, the louder the voice can be to share this story around supporting individuals achieve their dreams but then have their life, build good people, not just a top athlete.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I love what you said. Somebody reached out to me. We have this publication called the D1 Ticker that people use all around the world, and so it basically keeps people up to date on what's going on with Division One athletics as a whole world, and so it basically keeps people up to date on what's going on with division one athletics as a whole. And uh, shout out to Ty Brown, he has, uh, it's called a one question podcast, leadership podcast, and he was like hey, I got a spot If you want to do ads.

Speaker 2:

I was like I didn't even think about that. So I paid for ad and got like a 500% return because one of the sponsors was going to there. So it's just like people coming along to help you as you get it done. And so, yeah, definitely, I've learned through this the power of partnership. So in the virtual aspect, whenever we drop a speaker, that's when things will kind of go big. But if you have something in person, with all those costs, I've learned the importance of sponsorships, because that is loud when people see and they're like, well, hold on, we want to be in there too.

Speaker 1:

So, yes, let's take it back a little bit. I always like to get a bit more of the story of you know someone who does on the show, people can start to connect and just get this understanding on, I guess, some of the driving forces and influences that get you to who you are today. So you know, you speak about your family quite entrepreneurial that's what I'm hearing. You've got a family of entrepreneurs. I'm guessing from yourself, this is an extroverted family of entrepreneurs. So there's a lot of talking that's going on. But tell me then from a sporting perspective. You play in American football. You know how important was sport to you as you grew up that is very important.

Speaker 2:

We were blessed athletically the family. My dad played basketball. He's a high school basketball star. My mom was a high school track star. My brother plays where.

Speaker 2:

I just knew sports right growing up. My sister's really, really good at basketball. My other sister was a really good swimmer and my younger brother he was the most out. He got everybody's athleticism. This is crazy. And then there was me.

Speaker 2:

So I love sports because it gave me community and I learned community. My dad also was a coach, so he would coach at the local Y and so I got to see structure and I got to see how you can impact somebody's life through a medium, and that medium was sports and so I played it because I got to see how I can get the brotherhood from it. But also I was one of those guys when I was a senior I would take a freshman under my wing Right. So sports played a big part in our family because there's five of us, so they had to get us out the house and so sports is a way to get us out the house and we're just competitive. I mean it was everything was competitive, very, very competitive family, and so that helped me. That helped me see different things.

Speaker 2:

But going back to what you said like entrepreneurial mindset, I didn't think about it until you said it. It was always solve it right, just solve it, solve it. I actually created an invention when I was 17 because my cousin couldn't attend the event and I was like, why can't he attend the event here? All I need to do is do this. And this company offered me 25 or a quarter of a million dollars and I did turn it down because I was 17. I was like I almost fight for royalties but that just kind of shows you where I was at the time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you guys are gonna get rich, and I don't want money too, and so we just. I just saw my parents make things happen and even take the actual aspect into their, their work, their jobs.

Speaker 1:

I like what you said was I know I brought it from an entrepreneurial perspective. You came from it from a solve it, and it's that solution orientation that drives entrepreneurship. That drives, hey, there's a problem here, why isn't anyone fixing it? Well then, that confidence to say, well, maybe I can give it a shot and step in, and so that solve it mentality I like that. I'm going to pick that one up now. Ed Jones II said the solve it mentality and how that leads to entrepreneurship. That's the second book. This is it. We're gonna do this book together it's funny.

Speaker 2:

You mentioned my dad's from east texas and my mom's from port arthur, which is like a factory city, and so they had a whole bunch of brothers and sisters. My dad just literally I mean it was a lot of just quagmire, so I think it's macgyver, whatever they call it macgyver yeah, it happened like here we gotta figure out. So we got a barbecue with two pigs. Let's figure out how to make a barbecue pit.

Speaker 1:

So right like so. Sport was always something that you were going to to be doing as a child growing up. That was it for you. When did you start to either pick a sport or start to recognize I've got a talent here, I can do something with it.

Speaker 2:

The first sport actually, well, racing. We used to run a lot and I was actually fast for my size, like very, very fast, and I just didn't. I just thought I never lost. So I just thought everybody was always slower to me, get older, like I probably should have kept running. So I'll never forget the first time I played American football I had a helmet on and I'm running and I'm like what's this noise? Like you know, I've never had a helmet so I didn't realize the wind. I was running so fast. The wind was like in my ears and so I'm worried about this noise. And this kid, like boom, right in my front yard, he just takes me out and I'm like I might've been eight so I'm crying, I'm like I don't want to do this, I throw it down.

Speaker 2:

I played basketball for a while and I actually would play up. So if I third grade, I'll play fifth graders at summer camp and basketball just came more natural to me but also got bigger than everybody and so touching people in basketball they don't let you play much. And so my best friend across the street in our cul-de-sac, he was like hey, man can play football. And I was like you know what? I was in sixth grade. So my parents, my dad, he's like, do you want to play? I was like you know what, let me try it. And they just told me just to tackle people. And that's what I did. I just ran around and tackled people and so I got really good at football, really opportunities to get scholarships.

Speaker 2:

Because I didn't, I didn't realize all this stuff was happening. I just I didn't know. Nobody had done it before me, so I didn't know. I also did track and field, so I threw the discus better that discus and shot. I didn't understand like I just did it more, like, okay, I was always like perfect attendance kid, like I just showed up right, I didn't there. There was no like aspect of me understanding how good I actually was.

Speaker 2:

And I found out later. Some of my teammates didn't tell me because they didn't want to not play yeah, so it's just football. Yeah, football is pretty easy because it's a, it's really a, it is brute, but it's really a thinking sport, strategy, sport, and so I would get like my coaches would get mad because I would see stuff that they were trying to do before they even saw it. So I liked the strategy and so, yeah, I got good at that pretty quickly because you start realizing they're like I'm a freshman and they're bringing me up to varsity, we're playing like Vince Young and you're just kind of like why am I?

Speaker 2:

here and you don't realize. Like you just think it's happening, like oh, they put me in five of my teammates. Like no, they're trying to get you ready for play.

Speaker 1:

So you really played, you did. It sounds like all these sports for fun, like you say. Your attendance was great. You showed up, you played and it just so happened you were picked for these different, you were moved up years or squads and to you, that was just part of that was just part of playing yeah, I just didn't, I didn't understand.

Speaker 2:

Now I kind of, now that I've been on the back side of it and I coached and I'm in college level. Here's a funny story. I had a practice and I had a practice and the head coach they're like hey, ed, I had, it was a good practice. And the head coach is calling me to the his office. I'm like, oh man, what did I do in English class? Like, did I? You know, I was, I wasn't bad, but I was, you know, I was a little sister. So I'm like man, oh, she told. I'm like, oh man, ms Evans, let them know. So I go to his office and he's sitting there.

Speaker 2:

There's a coach from Arizona and a coach from Arizona state and my teammate. He had just signed to go to Arizona and he told me before he's like dude, you're the best D lineman I go against. Like he's like you're really good. So they come see practice and they're like, hey, the coach from Arizona is like hey, you got a good practice. And I'm like, oh, I'm being recruited, Like you know, and I'm like, oh, thanks so much, coach.

Speaker 2:

And he was like you know, the guy before me. He was like he said that we should watch you and I'm glad he said that because you really like you fit in our system. And I'm sitting here like, oh, this is happening Right, and so it was funny because it's Arizona and so Arizona State's their rival. So the head coach of Arizona State stands, the coach from arizona state stands up and he's like whoa, yeah, we were two, you had a good practice. And I'm sitting there like my coach is looking at me and I'm looking at, I'm kind of looking inside the eye like what do I say he's like just just don't be, you know.

Speaker 2:

And so I just I didn't, I didn't know like, I just didn't know. At times it was like because I just I always started I never was a backup, you know, until like my senior year, me and this coach it was whatever. But yeah, I just never like I didn't get. People were good, I played against good people, but nobody ever like embarrassed me, if that makes sense. So I just I don't know and I look back and like, ah, but it all works out how it's supposed to work out.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, I know what you mean. I know Well, I know exactly what you mean. To be honest, when, within your environment, you grow up good and you enjoy it and you perhaps don't recognize how good you are compared to people outside of your bubble, and you've got this thought of, wow, if I knew then I was that good, maybe I'd have pushed. I mean, you show up, you do the work, but I would have found more, I would have been able to keep going and keep pushing. So did you ever have aspirations to be? I'm NFL, I'm going, this is I can go all the way. Did that ever happen for you? It's interesting you mention that.

Speaker 2:

So I think I didn't go to my first football camp until my senior year, literally, which is crazy Because when I was working in high school, we were telling these kids to go to camps freshman, sophomore year. So literally we had just finished a summer workout. I'm hanging with the guy I play D-line, he plays on the other side. He's like man, I'm going to go to this camp. I was like what's a football camp? He's like UTEP's having a camp. You can get a scholarship if you go. I'm just like, okay, I was like you know, I don't know, I'm 18 and I'm not thinking or 17, I'm not thinking recovery, right, I'm like let's go to McDonald's and then go there. So when I, when I was done playing, like I knew I wanted to continue to play, so I went to University of Houston, I was like, hey, I'm gonna go be a walk on because University of Houston.

Speaker 2:

Going back to what I've always wanted, I always wanted to work in sports and University of Houston was the only school I visited that had a sports administration degree and they had it listed out. Every other school would say do business school and then you go to sports. But I wanted to study sport and so I was like you know what? I'm going to University of Houston. I'm a trial for the team I walk on. I know I'm not going to NFL, so I want to continue to play football. But if it doesn't work out there, I'm going to school for what I want to go to, because I had opportunities to play at smaller schools, which is crazy now, and I think about there was one school, a local school, who was trying to recruit me and another guy and we would never leave the classroom and they kept telling our English teacher she's like what is wrong with y'all? But it was tough for me because I didn't think scholarship, I didn't think money, I think you know, like going to school for free.

Speaker 1:

What were you thinking at this time? And from a family of athletes, entrepreneurs, how come this didn't sit? How come the parents went like get out of class, go get your scholarship. You know what was going on? Well, number one, I didn't tell them.

Speaker 2:

So the second thing, too, was this university. They had lost for like a decade. They hadn't won a game in a decade and I've always won and I just I didn't want to be a loser. It really was that simple. I mean, I hate to make it that simple, but me and him. He ended up going to the school. He didn't play, but they would keep.

Speaker 2:

And our English teacher was like I'll never get her name, ms Tull. Shout out to Ms Tull. She's like what is? She literally came to. What is wrong with you? Like this coach has been here all week and the only reason he can't come to this room is because of our rules, right, and so he's like. So I was like she's like, why don't you just go down and talk to him? But I just, I didn't want to lose. I just I hated losing. I'd always everything, every team I was on, we won, we were a winning team. So that's really that At 17 or 18, at the time, that's all that went through my mind. I don't want to lose. It wasn't. Hey, I'm not going to nfl, I go to school for free. I could be debt free. I just didn't want to lose because of showing up every time in my life showing up for sport, the result of showing up, giving great effort, and all that was winning.

Speaker 1:

so I couldn't imagine yeah, showing up doing that, yeah, and losing yeah, they hadn't won a game for a decade.

Speaker 2:

I think they had that ncaa's longest streak. And so I just now now hindsight, of course I'm like, well, but once again, the University of Houston, it worked out, it was all good. And so I went there to try out and I actually tried out and I had one of those you know as athlete, those outer body experiences where you're like whoa, I'm moving past, I was beating everybody, I'm feeling good, like I was. This is the best I've ever felt. And so the next day they have the people make the team and I don't see my name. And so I read it again, I walk away, come back to the door, read it again. And it was, I guess.

Speaker 2:

At that point I went to go eat lunch. I was like, and these guys that were on the team, who I knew, they came and they were cussing me out Cause they were like dude, how are you going to miss the team meeting? You made it. And I'm like I didn't make the team. They're like wait, we were at the trial. Like how did you not make the team? I was like I didn't make the team. And so there is kind of when I was just like you know what? I was glad I was at a university. I had my time to deal with it and.

Speaker 2:

I. My career was over at that point, but I knew what I wanted to do. So it's crazy talking about it, but that's kind of how my sports career was. Yeah, and so then?

Speaker 1:

you know we talk then about you. Know you, we talk then about you know you've got this love of sport. You're recognizing, well, yeah, you're recognizing, hey, you're not making NFL. So you start thinking about, I guess, ways you can stay in sport, so careers that enable you to stay in sport. How did you pick? Why not go down and I'll say, an agent route? Or why not be a coach? You know a pure coach and do that, that studies. How did you come about studying sports? I guess administration and doing things like that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah it was. It came down to like, once again, my family's real estate. They were like, do you show you? I was like I don't want to touch it. I don't want to touch it. My mom's like you should get your teacher's certificate because you like teaching. And I knew that you could do alternatives. I knew you can get a degree and then go back and do alternative certification. So it's like I won my degree.

Speaker 2:

Originally I did go into it to be a sports agent and crazy I was like sports agents spend too much time away from their family. I was a coach, so that tells you everything I need to know. But I started there and then I was like you know what I think? I want to be athletic director and so what I enjoy. At the University of Houston we were one of the first schools to have a sports management program, but our professors were just incredible of how they taught us and how in depth, every situation. I mean I've learned physiology Hopefully I pronounced that correctly Anatomy, risk management. We learned human development. I mean we learned I mean it was expansive of everything to facilities. Right, it was a lot and I really enjoyed it. And so getting towards the end of it.

Speaker 2:

I was like I did a marketing internship my sophomore year, junior year and my senior year. So I thought I wanted to do marketing. Marketing was my minor actually. So I did sports administration. I did a minor in marketing at the Bauer School of Business, which is a big time business school not only in the state of Texas but in the United States, and so I was like I like this marketing thing. You know, it just kind of works for me.

Speaker 2:

I was always kind of had a catchy. You know, kind of I would always say stuff to people and be like that's pretty catchy, right. So I just did that and did that for three years and got some connections and I missed my marketing GA meeting. It's the one time I didn't set alarm in college and I missed the meeting and I missed out on that opportunity. And you know, I just went back to what I knew. I knew I still like going back, I like communicating and like teaching.

Speaker 2:

So whenever we had interns I was one of the head interns to help people. So I was like you know what we get into teaching and coaching and that's kind of how it happened. But I like the full aspect of coaching, like it wasn't just coaching. It was how do we help players and how do we build a program, how do we set culture, how do we interact with former players, how do we interact with parents. So it was just all that stuff that I learned gave me the opportunity to continue to do that stuff because I just like, I like it, all systems in a sense right.

Speaker 1:

I talk a lot about when people looking for their next sort of career and they think, okay, I'm. I mean, I'm not where I want to be, I don't feel like I'm where I should be. And I talk a lot about getting in the right game, just getting on the right field of play, and the position will sort itself out. So get in, the role will come. But as long as you're somewhere where you're interested, you're energized, and you'll find somewhere that you can be good, you can start to excel at that.

Speaker 1:

And as I listen to you, I listen to your story, you really exemplify that you are someone who has said, okay, I want to be in sport and I'm in sport Administration, coaching, teaching, development, directorship I'm not sure, but I'm going to be in that space and then from that you are then able to start to shift out or work out. Well, I need to be somewhere where there's some element of teaching or education that I'm giving and I need to communicate at the same time. So I'm in sports, I'm educating individuals and I'm having to communicate. And by feeling out, by internships, by then supporting other students, by doing what you can in your area, you started quite simply mapping out areas of expertise in in this chosen field of sport that's him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it's crazy to say that, actually it's true yeah, you know, because we say, because you know I'm like I want to ask you so what was the plan? But I said you know, because we say, because you know I'm like I want to ask you so what was the plan? But I said you know, I'm perhaps reading ahead into what the answer is, but the answer was I'm just in the space. You were doing things you enjoyed. You were doing things that you became good at.

Speaker 2:

I just I like impacting people, and that's just people like what's your dream job? And I was like I don't know, like I guess it would be. I used to say like I want to be a team president because I felt like a team president could impact the entire organization. But then I'm like I can impact the organization. Where I'm from, right, and so it's part of it too is like the way I was. My dad actually taught us. It's just crazy talking about this, but when we played, my dad played basketball, so that was my first sport, but he always taught us to play all five positions, and so we were. Always.

Speaker 2:

Everybody had to bring up the ball. You had to learn how to be a point guard. You had to learn how to space it out. Then you had to learn how to be a two. You had to learn how to play. You had to learn how to play defense on top of the.

Speaker 2:

I could play the end, I could play the nose, I could play tackle, and so I got on the field early because the coaches knew I knew everything. Like I literally got in trouble one time with a coach because and this is the coach who didn't play me my senior year, and part of it was he had just came in and here I am the defensive lineman. He's sending a cornerback blitz and I'm telling a color, because if you don't call a color, the safety is going to think it's man and the quarterback's going to see it. He's going to throw a touchdown. And so he's in the meeting and he's like oh, here we go. We got the nose guard telling me how to run defense and so I'm like I don't say anything.

Speaker 2:

And then guess what happens? We go to practice. He calls zip without calling him. We always say zip white or zip green or something he just calls zip, and the quarterback sees it and he literally throws an 80-yard touchdown in practice. And here I am running after the receiver like all right, but my dad always taught us to like know everything, because he would say the value is in being adaptable, the value is in being a utility player, the value is in if they need you to do something, you can do it. And then when I work with people in athletics, you're just like, oh, you only know how to do one thing, like you're specialized, right, and it's just like working. I always make this joke anybody that works in the sec they've to me.

Speaker 2:

I've always felt like they never work, because it's 80 works in works in west the sec, which is the big southeastern conference, that's the big football conference here, and they say it's like the closest thing to nfl. So whenever I work with people at SEC, I always give them a hard time because they have these huge staffs like their football staff would be like 120 people. And so like one time this guy was like this printer, how do I do this? It's like it's giving you directions go to the next thing, press next and get it done. He's like, but somebody I was like no, you're going to do it, Press next and get it done. Like this is something that you can learn, this is something that can help you. So some people just don't, they just specialize and they just stay in the lane. I want to know what people do, just so I see how I can help.

Speaker 1:

So Like that? Yeah, again that. How do we say love of learning, going out, keep pushing yourself, bringing in knowledge. But I think, also to me, what you've described is a path towards empathy, so there's a path towards putting yourself in someone else's shoes so you can understand what it is they have to go through, in this instance to print. So if I ask someone to go and print 500 copies of something, it's like okay, I know what they have to do, I know how to you know, help solve that problem.

Speaker 1:

Do you find that? I guess, when you think about being in this world of sports and you know, not only have you been in that sort of player development type position, but now you're in a position where you're helping player development managers to do their job better, which sounds like that same empathetic leadership, that understanding and knowledge knowledge, the basis of Beyond the Field, and the book and the summit and the blogs and whatever somebody's seen is, when I started in 2016 for my high school coach, there was nothing to go to, there weren't any resources and I had to figure it out, which I enjoy.

Speaker 2:

I enjoy, but it also like I had great relations with the players, but I was like man, if I had these tools, we would have been able to do so much more, and so I've created all this so nobody like I was a high school coach.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know anything about player development. So if another college coach grabs a high school coach says, hey, come, do this, they have this or they have the blog or the YouTube channel or whatever. And so it's that empathy of like I remember what it was like to sit in meetings and like the strength coach, they have a deal, academics says something. And they come to me and I'm like I mean the players, they look like they're maturing and everybody laughs because I don't have anything to talk about, right, and so it is empathetic and it's like for me. Somebody asked me like when are you going to stop the podcast? And I was like I don't know, because I just think of something every time. I'll go back in the old file, like, oh yeah, I need to let them know this because that is something that can help.

Speaker 2:

And so I've just always wanted to help people. It's just it's. Somebody asked me. I was on another. Somebody was like where did that come from? I was like I, that's just how I'm wired, like it's how I was raised. You just have to. We always help people. Like that is, if you wanted to eat in our house, you had to help somebody.

Speaker 1:

You better help make the food. Don't just come and sit at the table, yeah, or else it's not there for you. So you've got a book. Tell me about what's the book about, what inspired you to then write the book and how. So that's three questions all in one.

Speaker 2:

So this is the player development guide here. Let me pull it so everybody can see it. Player development guide right there. It's on Amazon. There you get on my website. Amazon works the best for people.

Speaker 2:

But basically wrote this because this is a combination. I wrote an e-book and I wrote another book for coaches and I was just like sitting there and somebody was like, hey, you should probably put both of them together. So I did and I added some other stuff. But this is based I'll tell you a little bit about what's in here. So, broken down into three parts, the first part, part one, is what is player development? So somebody buys this book and they don't know anything about player development.

Speaker 2:

So me in 2016, right, what is player development? Right? Then the second part is the Beyond the Field program what I use to have success in the role. And then the third part is the secret sauce, like all the stuff nobody's telling you about, like engaging your alumni, mentorship, all that stuff, right? So this can be picked up by any coach, anybody that's interested in player development, colleges, whatever it may be, but it really, once again, I just wanted to leave something for people to be able to get what they need, and so that I mean it's really that it's just a guide. I mean it helps, and people ask questions and what I always wanted to do is I always want to give people what I did, but not make what I've done the the only way, if that makes sense, like it's like hey, here's how I had success, but your team's gonna be different, like your sport's gonna be different. Your culture may be different, you're in another country, sports may be different, right?

Speaker 2:

so yeah, it's a guide to help people there the marketing is me is like all right, I gotta get this back up. I can't just lay it out, but but yeah, so that's.

Speaker 1:

That sounds great. So we've got there. What is play development? It talks about how you operate as beyond the field, and then you've got some elements of the secret source. If you don't mind, just share one of those secret source elements. You know people have got this. Find their podcast. It's good they've listened for 30 minutes. They deserve a little bit of something. So what's one of those secret source?

Speaker 2:

Appreciate you all. Make sure you like and subscribe there. It is Always good to do that. I'll go with mentorship. Right, there's five phases of mentorship and a lot. I learned this once again. My coach thought this was important right To get to the next level. So there's mentorship.

Speaker 2:

You have player to player. So when a player comes into an organization, you have an experienced player or somebody from maybe the same area, but they're there. You have player to player. You have former player to player. So now you're bringing in your former players, your legends, alumni, whatever it may be. You have staff to player. So this isn't necessarily the coach, but someone on staff.

Speaker 2:

So if a player wants to learn about like, for instance, we had a player who wanted to learn about being athletic director, His dad was athletic director, but he didn't want to learn from his dad, I get it, it's cool. So we had different steps. We have professional or, excuse me staff to players, so someone on athletic staff. Then we have professional players. So this is somebody that is in the city maybe alumni, maybe not but somebody in a professional field that is not associated with our organization who becomes a mentor for the player. Right, we had one player. He was just like I just want to learn from entrepreneurs. So we just got him set up with entrepreneurs and now he's an entrepreneur. He's selling coffee. It's awesome. And then the last one, we put on the player, which is the player to the community, Now our players. So the players had four different ways.

Speaker 2:

If you come in a program, you've had a player mentor, you've had a former player mentor, you've had a staffer mentor you and a professional mentor you. And now it's your turn. It's your turn, You're going to go mentor the community. So that's the secret sauce those five steps of mentorship. This is things that coaches always talk about. Right, Everybody talks about it, but does anybody have the structure? And so the book has the structures that coaches talk about. Every coach is like we got to do mentorship. Well, what does that look like, coach? And then the coach is going to say, well, I paid you to do it. Awesome, here you go. Here's fine, right.

Speaker 1:

I like that. Listen, even just hearing it. Like you said, many coaches, development managers, they'll know how to mentor what you've just described. There is a structure. As I say, it's a great system. We're following it and saying, okay, if you have a player in mind and you recognize, well, I should be their mentor. But it's not working. By simply looking at your secret source of five different types of mentorship, you're probably going well, you're certainly increasing the chance of that player becoming a successful mentee because they will get it from those different angles or different perspectives, and perhaps that last one, that important one, is then delivering that back to the community. They themselves become that mentor absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it created so much value for our program and the community involved. Like, and it helped me because I learned this one of my coaches. He's like these guys don't do what they're supposed to do academically, whatever, or socially. They're not going to mentor. I would never forget I had a player at a university. He had a rough week and I was like, hey, man, here's the deal. We're about to go to school, I'm going to tell little Timmy that you couldn't make it because you can't make the decisions that you're trying to help little Timmy make. No, no, no, no. I can't, I can't miss little timmy. And I've got to tell our coach I said coach because we have this mentorship aspect this player is on the right path because he doesn't want to miss his time with little timmy every week. Right, you know? So that's that's for all the managers and executives that worry about discipline. Hey, there's ways, there's ways.

Speaker 1:

That's good and there definitely are ways and I think that can be successful in helping athletes become better individuals, better people, but doing that through sport and through the role or the position they hold in the community as an athlete. The position they hold in the community as an athlete. And you know, in this example you've got little Timmy, who very quickly looks up to this young man, young woman of 18, 19 years old who suddenly recognises oh wow, hold on my. You know I'm doing this for me, because I enjoy it, but suddenly I recognise the impact that it has on others and that hopefully helps them round out to be an even better human being, let alone a better player or athlete. Now I'm interested for you just. There's a moment where, at 18, 19, you recognize that you're not going to the NFL, that you're not going to be this pro player. What sort of impact did that have on you at the time?

Speaker 2:

It was pretty interesting. It took some burden off me. My parents didn't have that burden on me, but it just took burden off me. I was able to be 18, like to be a student. You know when I always joke. When I didn't make the University of Houston football team, I actually went from being a D lineman I got us a pretty good shape and got down to linebacker and the coach there.

Speaker 2:

During my marketing internship, our executive assistant moved to football, so I would always go visit her and the coach would look at me and I was like, oh no, he wants me to come play. And he asked her one time does he want to play? And I told her I said hey, I'll be honest, I like being a student, I like what I'm finding out about myself, I know what sports are and sometimes I would regret or I asked myself what would have happened if I would have done it. I still don't think I would have went to the NFL, but I had a chance to play college football. It made me then take that from a goal to like, okay, what's your next goal? You have to have a goal. Since that one's gone, what are we going to do? And graduation was the next one, but I hate to say this. It's allowing me to look at what's next and really take advantage and be in the moment of every opportunity that was given to me.

Speaker 1:

You know. It's interesting, then, that, because the first description you used was burden and I'm wondering, to be NFL, it sounds, or maybe it was never actually your dream, you just played. Because you played and by removing someone else's dream and it doesn't mean that was thrust upon you by parents, but perhaps just even friends or players well, if you're that good, then you must want to keep going and play, and you were able to remove that and then focus on a goal that you were then able to create yourself.

Speaker 2:

It's crazy. You mentioned it. I didn't think it was realistic. So actually, when I did make the University of Houston football team, there's a Texas Southern University, there's an HBCU that's across the street, and they had a defensive lineman who was going to go play in the NFL and so my trainer he was like dude, you can go play with him and you can do well and you'll get a shot because scouts are coming. I'm still thinking to myself like I don't think I'm that good. I was just like.

Speaker 2:

I just want to graduate with a sports administration degree, it's okay. But that conversation came back up again and I'm, like you know, I'm very realistic. Like there's people that are optimistic, yeah, but you know interesting bit.

Speaker 1:

So, as in our roles, what we see, we see where individuals in them, more than they, believe in themselves, and often our, I guess, is it the purpose Often. The purpose of our role, then, is to help them see that they can be more than just the player, more than just X, and then let them see that and then help them build a scaffold to actually achieve it. It sounds like you didn't have that. It sounds that you didn't have someone who said it sounds like you didn't have that. It sounds that you didn't have someone who said super bluntly but I believe in you more than you believe in yourself. This is where you can become, and now here's the 10-step program to get you there. I'm going to help bring you along that path. Right, yeah, you had the, I agree. Yeah, it's funny, you mentioned that.

Speaker 2:

I was thinking about that the other day Like, where would? It's funny, you mentioned that I was thinking about that the other day. Where would I have been if somebody had been like, hey, we see a lot of talent in you, but you can do it? But I will also say this there was a coach my freshman year. They brought the varsity D-line coach and he came to freshman practice. He was like, hey, this Ed Jones guy is really good, and D-line coach was like I used to hide from him in the bathroom stall and so I'll literally go to and I picked my feet up to make sure he couldn't see, cause I was so afraid of him because I just didn't, I didn't understand. He was trying to make me better. He was just such a hard coach on everybody.

Speaker 2:

And then my other, my defensive coordinator. He told me after my sophomore year and, like I said academic, I fell off the track team. So I messed up at the end of my freshman year and he told me said Ed, you need to stay here. Like there's potential there and you need to stay. But I just didn't, I just didn't register Like nobody. And no father of data said, hey, we want you to play varsity and you're going to be this and if you play varsity, a sophomore, you can get reps. And then you get reps. There's going to be colleges. Look at you. You, when I coached, just to be fair.

Speaker 2:

But then I remember I had one teacher that had nothing to do with football. You had to in in Texas. You have to have a 70 to play, you have to pass the play. So I told her I just want a 70. I always say she failed me. She didn't fail me. I had a 67. And she was like Ed, I'm not giving you a 70. She said you're level math.

Speaker 2:

I was actually in it with students a year ahead of me, so I was already ahead of the curve and she was like you're brilliant. She's like you just don't give any effort. And I was like but I do. She's like, no, you don't. And I was like well, I just want a 70. She's like you're not getting a 70. She said you will not play football until you get of the time he got a scholarship to North Texas. I was like, hey, man, you know, try and put me on right when I'm finding out what scholarships are. And he was like I don't want you to take my spot. I was like wait, you thought I could take your spot. This whole time I've been here, he's like yeah, I was like, why do you let me know? He was like because you would didn't, and I'm sitting here like he's the man and he's thinking like I got it, this guy behind me.

Speaker 2:

So I do sometimes wonder if I'd have had that person who was like hey, set me down, Cause I had to do this with a player we had a real heart to heart, Like. And I told him. I said, hey, what I'm about to tell you may hurt your feelings, and I called his mom. He's like hey, I'm going to, it's going to get really real in here, but it helped him and he had an opportunity to get his grades straight and he played Division I football. So sometimes I wonder if what my life would have been like if somebody would have just grabbed me Because I wasn't a bad kid. I just wasn't. You can tell by the story. I just, I was just there, Like I just yeah.

Speaker 1:

You showed up. You showed up but that purpose, that North Star, wasn't necessarily shown to you with a path to get there. But then or should I say, but with that then showing you how to do it. And look, this is one of the things that, again, it's the purpose of that underlying purpose of the Play Development Summit, it's the underlying purpose of this Second Wind podcast is capturing that one more person. If I could just help you know as a community, if I can help 1% more, get 1% better every time we'll bring in that one extra kid, that one extra player who will come in, that one extra Player Development Manager, because we need options and sometimes one route just doesn't, doesn't matter what we do. And I was speaking to another pdm player development manager the other day and he was really saying you can bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink, and he's like so okay, so how do we help more of them recognize sooner that they need to drink, so they don't just dehydrate and die?

Speaker 2:

and that's what it's about it and I love what you said. So my take on that you can bring a horse to water but you can't make them drink, then my thought process is that we got to find some options. Get this horse hydrated. If the horse don't want to drink water, let's get vegetable over here. Let's get watermelon, apples, celery that's filled with water. He doesn't want to do this, let's go over here. Let's make this water. Let's add a little sugar to the water, a little salt to the water.

Speaker 2:

Like we have to find an option because this horse has to hydrate, because we got to get on the horse to get out of here, right? So I've changed that like okay, so, for instance, we would go community impact and originally we were just doing one thing and thing, and so one player said, hey, well, I don't like going in front of kids because I don't like reading in front of kids, and so I had to go back and think like, well, how can we give them an option? So we have four options you could go. It was education, it was the environment, it was health and it was hunger. So we gave them four options, like if you want to down, I'm like, all right, we got to find a way to hydrate the horse, so let's hydrate the horse.

Speaker 1:

That's right. That that and that is it. And again, it's solve it, right it's. We have a problem. We know where we want to get to. How are we going to help individuals? How are we going to hydrate the horse and make something a bit better? So, as you look at where you are now, what's that North Star for you and how are you going to, or how are you making sure you're going to get there? What's your support network? How are you going to, I suppose, not repeat what has happened before or now. You recognize it. You know what. What's your strategy?

Speaker 2:

So for me, it's probably the hardest thing is connections and people. I like to, because I'm the type of person I'll go eat lunch by myself, I'll go to a movie by myself, I'll just do whatever I want to do by myself and I'll put out content. I don't care what it looks like, I'm just like, I just need to get it out. So for me, there is wisdom in others and I learned this during the summit and so, having that, I think I'm at a place which is crazy, because now, going back to when people saw stuff, now being at the summit was what everybody saw, that before I saw it. So I'm at the point in my life where I'm like, well, let me catch up to what everybody's seeing. So there's people who I'll never forget.

Speaker 2:

We had a speaker who, when I drove him back to the airport, he told me I told him this is what, beyond the field, is we do at the University of Kansas football team. He looked me dead in my eyes. He said you need to make this LLC because by the time you're 40, this would be a big deal. Then I talked to another guy who I work with at Baylor University. He saw my structure. He said man, you need to make this company. It's going to be big time.

Speaker 2:

So it's like okay, so then what do I need? There are people who are losing this job, and I love impacting people. I want to be able to hire someone because then I can literally impact people and I know how many people I need to hire. But I also know you got to get funding and I know you have to do like.

Speaker 2:

And so for me, the North Star is very scary because it's like hey, you know like people are like what's everybody's like what next? And so you're like okay, how do we balance it? So making many, many more connections, but I think for me, staying in the lane that I'm in, because that's what's helped, but also opening up my mind and just stepping out of faith if it doesn't work. It doesn't work, oh well, like it's a rep that didn't pay off. You know so, but to answer it more strategic, it'd be more. I think the first north star for me is for this to be full-time for me and then for it to make enough to where I can hire someone, and then for it to make enough so we can hire somebody else I like that, I like it a lot.

Speaker 1:

So look, for you're thinking about those, thinking about coming into the pdm space, the player development space and arena. When they come and approach you and say, what do I need to do to get into this space? What guidance or advice do you give to them?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's something that they don't like to hear, but it's a five-step process and I think forgive me if I forget some of it. I like processes but I'm just systems. I got to get better. It's a podcast. I had as like 500 views.

Speaker 2:

But number one they got to understand what this space is. I think a lot of people see the pictures and they think it's oh, you get to go to community or you get to do career stuff. That's like 10% of the job. So number one is understanding this space. Number two is they need to know their value. What value can you provide? Because a lot of times, like when I got hired, I was talking to Tom Herman, the head coach at University of Houston, about our kids that they could recruit, and he was like I want you. And I was like, oh, okay. And he was like, so what can you provide to my program? I was like, oh, this, this, that right. So you need to know your value.

Speaker 2:

The third one is they need to network. Right, you need to reach out. You need to know people, but do it strategically, then they need to. So intentionality is another big one there. They need to be intentional, right. Like, don't ask somebody in player development. What is player development? Find that out somewhere, right, go, go, go, go watch one of my podcasts. Go watch them, but get intentional when you have that time.

Speaker 2:

And then the other one I think is you have to prepare. You got to create some type of plan. It may not be a fleshed out plan, but you got to create something because I've heard people the way I do. It is like if I interviewed somebody, I'm saying all right, by the end by they would come in, they fly, I fly them in at night, right, and somebody did this to me strategically. It was pretty cool you fly me and you get them in on the last flight, nine o'clock flight, and then eight o'clock you got to. I'm telling you in a text hey, I'm so glad too late to prepare, and so there's some other stuff there. But number one is they got to know what they're getting into, because if you don't love people or love being around people, don't don't do this. I used to tell people all the time they're like what's the hardest, the students or the adults? I was like the adults, the adults. But yeah, that's what I would give advice to people.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Listen, Ed. I just want to say a massive thanks for coming on and do you know what I'm going to say? Sharing your story but quite simply, having a conversation Really appreciated learning a bit more about you and what you're building with Beyond the Field and the Player Development Summit. So I definitely wish you best of luck and let's keep in touch. Absolutely Will do, Ed. Thank you, man. Thank you, man. Thank you for listening to the Second Wind podcast. We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers. If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwindio for more information or to book a consultation with me.

Speaker 1:

I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Brook Design, nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together. That's all from me. Take it easy Until next time.

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