Tim Lenahan is the head coach for men’s soccer at Northwestern University. Northwestern University is a NCAA Division I institution located in Evanston, IL. Northwestern is a member of the Big Ten conference alongside other schools such as: Indiana University, Penn State University, and University of Michigan.

After 17 seasons with Northwestern, Lenahan has made 9 NCAA tournament appearances, and has proven himself to be one of the most premier college coaches in the game today. Lenahan's players at Northwestern have surpassed 155 victories over the past 15 seasons, including a school record of 16 wins in 2008.

Tim Lenahan has an abundance amount of experience playing and coaching and provides great wisdom for athletes looking to play at the college level. In this interview he talks about how he got started in coaching, his tips for staying active and shares some of his best tips for upon recruitment. Additionally, Tim shares with me his outlook on what it takes to be successful: mental toughness or talent? This is an interview you do not want to miss! Enjoy!

Coach

Tim Lenahan: Head Coach for Men’s Soccer at Northwestern University.

Topic 1: Coaching Background

Interesting enough, Tim used to work as an IT guy and played soccer in college. After college he took an IT job close to his alma mater, and began helping out as a part time assistant coach for the team after his day job. He eventually became a head coach, but was still doing IT part time. He ended up becoming the head coach at Lafayette College and then had the opportunity to coach at Northwestern, and he has been with Northwestern for twenty years now.

Topic 2: Tips for Staying Physically Active ​

Tim thinks a big part of the current pandemic is an individual's attitude and approach to the situation. Tim says, 'where there is a will, there is a way' and it's important to get into a routine where you can continue to better yourself each day. Tim says that right now athletes have the gift of time, and should be making sure they touch the ball everyday. 

Topic 3: Tips for Staying Mentally Prepared ​

Tim recommends purposeful and motivational reading during this time. He also recommends breaking down videos and learning to watch a video differently, rather than just for entertainment. He recommends watching games twice, once as a fan and then another time as a soccer coach. Tim says the major objective during this time is to continue to grow and to be responsible enough to self mandate your own progress. Tim also recommends everyone watch “The Last Dance” with Michael Jordan for motivation. 

Topic 4: Recruiting Tips 

Tim’s suggestion for seniors in high school right now waiting to be recruited, is to possibly think about a gap year. This could be something to think about if they could find a good club team to play on. Tim elaborates on what a gap year could entail for seniors right now. He also encourages athletes to not panic and reminds them that everyone is in the same boat right now. His tip for younger athletes is to just keep working on getting better and focus on the things they can control. He also urges athletes to write their own emails to coaches and make sure they proofread it before sending.

Topic 5: Success: Mental Toughness or Talent?

Tim says that there have been a lot of talented players who have failed and not lived up to their full potential because they did not have the mental toughness to succeed. Tim says that you have to have both mental toughness and talent to succeed. He reminds players that if you have the mental toughness you will find a role. Tim says that whether a player becomes an exceptional player or not, is not his decision but a player’s decision. Tim reminds players to play the role they have, and train for the role they want. 

Topic 6: Playing Weather - 30 or 100 Degrees?

Tim says if there is no wind, then 30 degrees is okay with him. However, if there is wind then he would take the heat over the cold. As a player he says he loved playing in the heat, but as a coach he would typically take the cold. 

Topic 7: Mount Rushmore of Soccer ​

Tim’s first pick is Zinedine Zidane. His next two picks are Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo; he notes that Christiano’s commitment to his body and his fitness is incredible. He gives two players for his last pick: Johan Kroef and Claude Makelele.

Topic 8: Top 5 Moment

Tim tells a story from 2013, Messi came to play at Soldier Field with an all star team, and last minute he realized they did not have enough players. He then reached out to Tim for some Northwestern players. Tim says he couldn't use his current players, but he could use past players. Tim also had the opportunity to coach in the game. One of Tim’s past players, who had been working as an investment banker, had an amazing kick that ended up being the number one play on Sports Center the next day. Tim’s player ended up quitting his job and trying to play pro again. They filmed a documentary about it and it called 'Messi and Me'.

Topic 9: Not Top 5 Moment:

Tim came up with an idea for a play where a player would take off the back of his shoe, and when he went to shoot a goal his shoe would fly off, distracting the goalie. Tim says the shoe play has only been run once, and is not one he is particularly proud of. 

Tim Lenahan's advice can go a long way with athletes, remember to stay focused and dedicated to your sport during this pandemic. With the power of time, once you enter the field again you could be better than when you left it!

Full Transcript:

Jess Gregory  

Alright, everyone. Thank you for joining us today I have Tim Lenahan from Northwestern men's soccer. How are we doing today? Tim?

Tim Lenahan  

Doing great. Just thanks for having me here. Like everyone living in these different times but trying to make the most of it.

Jess Gregory  

That's good. That's good. How you hanging in there and locked down? I know we we got another month here in Chicago. So

Tim Lenahan  

yeah. Yeah, I mean, one of the first things I did before when this all started I watched the movie Groundhog Day again. Okay. actually had my team watch it and do like a book report. Yeah. Because we're living Groundhog Day and at first it was kind of a if you won't remember the movie at first he he he disbelief and then I can phase is kind of this anger. And then the third phase is self destructive behavior. And that once he embraces the, the opportunity just to get better every day, his whole mindset changes. So so we're in Groundhog Day, and hopefully we skip the first three phases, and just go To get in better every day and learn how to play the piano and you get the girl at the end, I think was the moral of the story. Right?

Jess Gregory  

Was you gotta love Bill Murray. I mean, how can you not

Tim Lenahan  

right? That's right Chicago Own. That's right.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. All right, well, let's kind of get started and learn a little bit more about you. So I'd love to hear how you got started in coaching and how it led you to being the head coach at Northwestern now.

Tim Lenahan  

We're interesting enough, I was a IT guy. I worked full time in it in New Jersey. I went to Stockton University where I played soccer and was kind of a late bloomer, so there's a little disappointed when it was all over because I'm like, I just like hit puberty. At Wani. I just figured it all this out and it was over. So I took an IT job, but fortunately for me, it was like 1010 minutes away from my alma mater, writing air traffic control software for the FAA. And I was able to be the assistant part time assistant coach, leave boy 430 go to practice. And I can tell you, my man I said this many, many times, my best day as a IT person was nowhere close to being as good as my worst day as a coach. Obviously had a passion for one and I, the other one paid my bills. So it was a good marriage in that sense. But now I became the head coach, and we're still part time doing it at Stockton. And when I was there, we you know, we turned around a program that was two and 15. We won a couple games. We won our league there. And obviously, I had aspirations to do it a little bit more than just it during the day. So I went up to Lafayette College was a small division one school in the Patriot League in Pennsylvania, and was taking over a program that had gone for 12, the last two years before their head coach, by the way, Nelson Rodriguez, who is the general manager Have the Chicago Fire high school I replaced Yeah. So we had a magical year we went 16 and four we went to Patriot League regular season the DA and then the next year we won another championship and then the next year we won another championship. So the opportunity presented itself at Northwestern was a total rebuild. They were in the midst of a 35 game losing streak. I think our RPI was 200 at a two a one and really had no success there. So for me it was it was perfect. right up my alley. I love the rebuilding process. And that's pretty much my journey to get from, you know, it nerds to big tech coach. So awesome. This will be my 20th year at Northwestern now and it's it's been an amazing journey.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. It sounds like it. Now, yeah, it's kind of funny that you talk about how you had to do both at first because there are a lot of programs where the coaching positions are part time so you kind of do have to do something else. At least to feed yourself.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah, yeah. And then the one lucky thing is I have no, I don't have any poor stories. All right out, you know, I eat ramen noodles and in college, but I didn't have to eat them when I was IT guy to condo at the beach and drove a Mercedes. Alright, obviously, I decided to become a full time coach, those things went out the window. All right, so, but I think if at any younger part time coaches, you know you have opportunities in terms of still being a club coach, for the most part to generate income that weren't available. You know, 25 years ago when I kind of got into this. Yeah,

Jess Gregory  

yeah. But I mean, if you love what you do it kind of it makes sense when you get into it.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah, there's a the the passion comes first and then the finances will fall. And there's, there's, you know, there's a Venn diagram that you put together. are you passionate about it, or you're good at it? And can you make money and if you can intercept those three circles, Then you have what you call your calling in life. And I've been fortunate enough to intersect those circles. It wasn't easy wasn't always easy. It's not supposed to be anything worthwhile is not supposed to be easy, but I was able to intersect those circles, probably the last 10 years or so.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. Nice. Now, speaking of that passion, so we have all these kids that are now kind of stuck at home and not able to do what they love out on the field. Can you give them some tips on how they can stay physically active and then we'll kind of go into some other things they can do other at home.

Tim Lenahan  

I mean, one of the things is, is perception and, you know, as a, an okay, Boomer that I am, right. You got to look back and what like my parents did and some kids grandparents did to save the world. Like, when they were their age, they had to go fight Nazi isms. You know, we're asking kids to sit on the couch and watch video a little bit more. More. Yes, I think 90% 99% of is your attitude and your approach to this. It's unprecedented. Right? There's no there's no guidebook. There's no handbook on how to deal with Coronavirus in terms of staying active but where there's a will there's a way and I think getting into your routine, you know, and like I said, I watched the movie Groundhog Day to kind of get myself reminded. I know a lot of people out there haven't seen the movie I highly recommended to kind of, we're gonna do the same thing over and over again. But eventually we have to start using that time to get better. So it's your backyard, doing sprints in your backyard and your parents get mad at you for ripping up the grass. That's okay. All right. Tell them coach said it's okay. I think getting into your routine of growing each day from this process because we have the gift of time now that we might not have. We're usually running the driving here to practice Driving for this doing here. I know they still have school responsibilities. But you know, I would say, make sure you touch the ball every day in your backyard and use this opportunity to get better.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Now, you kind of mentioned a little bit about a routine and I think that's a great way for kids to like stay like mentally active and make sure that they're doing what they need to do. Do you have any kind of other tips for them on how they can keep their mental toughness going and maybe prepare for the game a little bit differently than just outside with them all.

Tim Lenahan  

Think purposeful reading. Again, using the gift of time can you read some things that are motivational? To keep yourself going? Can you watch video can you watch video differently? Can you watch it now? You know we broke down our team we broke down Real Madrid vs Barcelona video this week. A four three game that Messi scored the goal for scored a hat trick and I was at the game live when I was there one of my you know friends was a coach at Real Madrid so I was at the game live and and I had the guys watch it and so again the I said watch it twice watch it as a fan the first time and then the second time watch it as a soccer kind of a coach. So and you start doing some things can you do some purposeful reading, where you read maybe biographies of inspirational people there's all kinds of things on the internet the different masterclass with you know, zombie Alonzo and Ryan Giggs. And so we try to with our team, we try to show a movie each week that is pertinent. On one day, we'll do some video breakdown. And then we read a book called The world's greatest salesman, you know, kind of did a purposeful book report. So I think there's a mind body connection and again, the major objective To continue to grow, right? Other than on board, right on board. Okay, like I said, and then we get back to what we talked about perspective, you're saving the world by being bored. The struggle is real, right? So the stroke, meaning the struggle is not that real, but this is where you have to grow and you have to be independent enough to be responsible for your own time but the routine part is very important. You know, get up in the morning I do some work. usually have a zoom or two. Like I said, make sure you exercise and you know, keeping those endorphins going, do some more work, have dinner and then you know, been binge watching Breaking Bad basically for the last few weeks. And, you know, keeping us going here, but get the routine is important, but also find some purposeful stuff to keep your mind sharp to.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I haven't heard any coaches suggest that yet to do some sort of outside reading that can help you You know, even if you're they're called personal development books, it's still good for kids of any age to kind of be like, okay, I can think about this in a different way and, and use that going forward.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah. And it's written for all levels, you know, there's different books for all levels you know, and just just and again, I'm not one I don't want to read war and peace and you know, 2000 you know, or even Hamilton book which was fantastic, but it was like, you know, 1200 pages. Yeah, find some easy reading with it keeps you interested. You know, I had an interview the Yukon coat so I read you know, read his book this last week because I had an interview him this week. really insightful stuff. If you get one little thing out of every book, you know, on how people did, I would highly recommend, I mean, the language might be a little bit strong, but if they watch ESPN, everybody should be watching the last dance with Michael Jordan. Okay. I think ESPN two has the edited version. That's on Sundays at eight o'clock. I mean, that's been just, here's what's funny about that just real quick. Sure, players are complaining because they can only watch two a week. Ah, they're so used to Netflix and being able to binge. They're like, Oh, that stinks that we have to wait a week to watch that. Like, again, the struggle is real. This is what TV used to be like, right? Not just Netflix binge, right? So anyway, lots of stuff out there. And especially this Michael Jordan thing you get to see what a tough competitor he was. Yeah. The ESPN two version, which is the edited version. So yeah, don't play me if you put ESPN on and parents are like Coach landingham told me to watch the wrong version, ESPN to coach left and said,

Jess Gregory  

Alright, I'll make sure I put that in the caption.

Tim Lenahan  

Okay,

Jess Gregory  

perfect. All right. Well, I mean, speaking of Michael Jordan, going from not really playing in high school and just being this outstanding player in the NBA, obviously Growing up in Chicago, that was a huge bulls fan. So let's kind of talk a little bit about the recruiting side of things and kind of what kids can do during this time to get prepared. If you have any tips for seniors, we can kind of start there too.

Tim Lenahan  

If rising seniors are seniors this year, I mean, if

Jess Gregory  

he freshman in college next year, because I

Tim Lenahan  

Well, I mean, the recruiting process is going to be very difficult now. All right, difficult. And, you know, we just recently completed our, you know, recruiting for 2020 and getting involved in 2021. It's still hard, I mean, you can film but, you know, your dad videotape from the ground, film and it's, you know, some of these look like the old VHS stuffs from you know, 1983 but you got to do what you can, I mean, stay involved and don't panic, don't panic, everybody's going to be in the same situation. You know when this breaks in that it's going to be a little bit later this year now for seniors heading in and still waiting to play someplace, I'm going to suggest as I mean, a gap year wouldn't be the worst, the worst thing, especially if they can find a good club team to play on. Maybe take some courses that might transfer somewhere. But if you really want to play soccer in college, and they're been unable to be seen over the last few months, I don't foresee anything happening. Too much moving forward, the until the end of the summer. A gap year would not be the worst thing if soccer is really one of your true passions and you want to play

Jess Gregory  

now, can you share a little bit more about a gap year? I know I've talked to parents about this before too They don't kind of understand and and it is a little bit different in soccer than it is in other sports and taking that year. Can you just elaborate on that a little bit?

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah, I mean, you're you're you know if you can get on a very good question. team that's still has a u maybe a u 19. model and a lot of teams don't even play you 18 anymore. They just go right to you 19 because the birth year requirements so now if you're a u 20. Because of the birth year I don't have an answer for you for that maybe find a men's team to play on. But you know you saw it a lot more when the the Academy was in because they were 1819 teams so you would have a kid take a gap year and as a you 19 play you know just play your 19 and not go to school be professional about their training that's nothing can you be professional about your training and push your your body to places that it's never done before so if you're not committed by now it again there's going to be some schools that can reach out to you and look you know, at a videotape and and make their judgment. I wouldn't be one of those coaches you know, I wouldn't be able to make a judgement based on a videotape but there may be some schools still looking for people that that also may do that but, you know, gap year, you know, we all might have a gap year, you know, not knowing what's going to happen in the fall. Everybody might have a gap here, you know, so again, there's no handbook on how to handle this. So we're all making it up on the fly, but don't panic. Just keep working keep getting better. And you know, good thing I know your parents are panicking a little bit you know, but good things are gonna happen if you if you keep working hard and that kind of thing.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, well, it's definitely good to know that there are some other options for them too and that that gap year so that they all know does not affect your eligibility going into college either. So you get one year

Tim Lenahan  

gap year until your clock starts. And then you have five at division one you have five years to play for, at the victory. You have 10 semesters to play for. So You know, it's not the worst thing to take some classes don't go full time because then your clock starts you'd have to go part time. Once you enroll full time, whether you're playing or not your clock starts. So just be aware of that.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, those are Yeah, that definitely makes sense. We want people to know that so that they don't waste a lot a year for sure. Um, now let's talk about the younger kids that maybe have a little bit more time what can they do to just if they haven't started with the process? Or even if they have, you know, how can they keep in communication with coaches now?

Tim Lenahan  

You know, the rules are, we can't really contact you and like, we can only contact 20 ones right now. I think until June, we can start contacting 2022. Usually what happens is young kids will email you, they come to your camp. If you happen to be at a recruiting tournament, and there's a gap. There's a game that you know, there's a time slot. You go watch the younger kids. When you hear word of mouth, obviously Those are all out the window. Right? though. I don't know that it's necessary to as a 14 year old to put your video together, you know, because you're watching boys play and you know when you usually get video, it's you're close to being a man. So again, same thing just keep working on getting better. Don't trust the process. We're all in this together kind of thing. Don't panic. You know there's so many parents that call me about, well, this Junior freshman first semester junior year and he hasn't gotten any offers yet. Yeah, okay. It's going to be okay. Just keep worrying about what you can control and not the things that you can't control. We can't control you know, Governor Pritzker controls whether we're out there or not, and that, you know, and to be honest, we've done a good job in Illinois, I think keeping things down so I have no complaints there. But younger kids just keep working, getting get work on getting better. Use the time To get better, and then when this breaks, right? Have all your ducks Yes, you can send emails to coaches knowing they can send an email back to you. Right? Usually, we could send out a question, we can send out a questionnaire or we can invite you to camp. We can't do that because none of us are gonna have camps. So just keep getting better right now. And then when have everything ready to go when we the new normal returns?

Jess Gregory  

Well, it sounds like now it'd be a good time then for them to like you mentioned, get your ducks in a row, trying to figure out what schools they even want to contact if they're too young, like do the research there and kind of figure out, you know, what programs might have openings by the time you graduate so that when you do start contacting coaches, you have a little bit more idea of what they're looking for.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah, and that's one of the things that I recommend, you know, we get such a lot of kids to cut and paste type letters to us. And you know, it's funny because a lot of them are alphabetically done. So what school alphabetically follows Northwestern You know, in the Pantheon here at Notre Dame,

Jess Gregory  

okay. Oh, yeah, okay.

Tim Lenahan  

There's a number of emails that I've gotten. It's a dear coach. It's always been my dream to play at inserts for Notre Dame. And of course, I'm from Philadelphia. I'm kind of a wise guy. I will say, Thanks for coming. I'm going to forward on, you know, Coach Riley over at Notre Dame. I'm sure we'll be excited to get it, you know. And of course, I get an email back, you know, the other thing too, is you, you should write the email. All right, it should be some, because I can tell when the parents write the email, right? Because nobody brag no person brags about themselves when parents brag about their kids. Right? And it's the way it is. It's okay. Yeah. The young man who's young woman who's right into coaching, you got to develop and there's a balance between you know, the the 20 paragraph you know, essay About your awesomeness and you know all small letter Hey bro, what's up, I always wanted to play at your school, you know, with, you know, your, you know, you know, like four with the four instead of the fo or you know, like they're sending me a text message, right? So there's some balance in between the two when you write a letter but again, make it personal do your research on that school, putting paste even if you're sending 100 you send 100 specific emails. And again, the roster stuff is a little bit I noticed you're losing, you know, four forwards in three years. I mean, that's so that it soccer I don't think it fits that way because you could be a forward and you're gonna be a right back in college. Yeah. You know, or especially if your left sided, left footed. Everybody needs a left back. I can tell you that right now. Everybody needs a left back, everybody. When a country needs a left back, so if your left foot it and you play any attack in the you know, you don't look and say, oh, they're using a forward Well, you might be starting left back and and then be a pro left back someday. Because that is so that I would do your research into your schools find out the coach's mentality, how long he's been there. How long do kids transfer out of that school a lot. What's the transfer rate? Those are important things? How many people graduate? Did he graduate in four years? And those are all the research that you can do? Again, getting your ducks in a row. Just like you want personal treatment from the coach. He also wants personal treatment from you don't just mass produce this thing, or doesn't doesn't work out for you?

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely make sense. Now's a perfect time for those kids to try to do some of those things and at least be proactive so that when they can get on the field and start filming again, they'll have all of that that information ready. Right. Yeah, right. So cool. Now, you mentioned a minute ago, you were kind of talking about when you go into college, you don't necessarily play the specific position that maybe you wanted to. And I think that's with a lot of sports, I coached volleyball, and I would want a kid that could play both on the outside and the right side. And maybe your dream was to be this specific position. And then you had to be a different role when you got there. And I think that lends a lot to the mental side of the game is that you know, you want to play for your team and you want to have that mental toughness. So that leads me to my question in a long winded kind of way. I'm sure you've had a lot of success. You've talked about it a little bit. What have you noticed is more important the talent of the players or their mental toughness, or a combination.

Tim Lenahan  

There's been a lot of talented players who failed to reach their potential because they weren't mentally tough enough. And I would say most, all right, and not just mentally tough, just the growth mindset approach of getting better, as opposed to who you are. It's not who you are. It's who you who you can become. And if you have that vision for yourself, so we're talking about Michael Jordan a little earlier not playing in high school. When Jordan did play in high school, he, he got cut from the varsity team, his sophomore year, okay. But by the time he was a senior, and he went to Northwestern, I'm sorry, North Carolina's camp that summer. Roy Williams said, I think we just saw the best player in the state of North Carolina. Okay, that was a year and a half, using that as his motivation to kind of get better, because Jordan would have met most mentally tough players in the history of sport, in terms of how he approach things. There's been some mentally tough players who lacked The talent, what if they have a growth mindset they are going to achieve? All they can possibly achieve? Okay? So the mental part, you got to have both though. But if you have the mental part you will find a role. Okay, you will find a role. It's very important to understand you could be the every kid that we get at Northwestern is all this and all that and all this and I like to when I meet with their parents the first day, I always say to them, congratulations, your son's at Northwestern playing in the big 10 The day was born. Somebody a genie said, well, you sign up for that you would have been like, oh my god. Yes. Well, here we are. I said and your son's exceptional, is exceptional. And they're so proud and they look at each other and usually mom has a little tear come in their face. And I say in an average world. Your son is exceptional. In our world, now they are average in an exceptional world. Yeah. And only a very few will become exceptional in an exceptional world in soccer, comparable, more maintain and become exceptional students. Some become exceptional citizens, exceptional campus leaders, but only the few will become exceptional soccer players. And that's my decision. That's usually the players decision. There might be some limitations. But if you have mental toughness and you have work ethic in you will find a role on your team. Okay. And again, I interviewed the UConn women's coach and he said there's one thing he hates, and that's for teammates. Oh, yeah. It's selfish and for teammates, so you might need to adjust your role. Okay, you might need it not just the position you play but The time you play. And we had, we had a lecture last week, he said, You play for the role that you have, but train for the role that you want. So you might be required 15 minutes a game to come in and give your team a lift. But that doesn't mean you don't train every day to be the starter. Right. I thought that was a great, a great way to kind of explain it.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any kind of stories off the top of your head of team that has done that, that maybe came in a little slow and then they realized that they needed to step it up to succeed?

Tim Lenahan  

Every team that everybody ever has, right, you know, you start with a picture in your mind of what you think the potential is, and, and that's what good coaches do. You know, they they coach you to who they think you're going to be right now. They coach the team to they, what they think it's going to be. Now, that's sometimes there's conflict with that, right? Because you don't always see in yourself what the coach sees. You know, when when you get to a coach, he sees your potential, and he coaches you to your potential, whereas they see who you are right now. Right. So. But yeah, I mean, there's so many examples of teams that, you know, start out slow, and the magic happens. And the chemistry is good, and the culture is good. And key players play key roles and big players step up and do big things. And then usually, that ends with some type of championship. I mean, as a team in 2011, we started the season three, four and two. I met with the team, and I said, you know, we don't really have a problem right now. We're okay. We're not we're not that, by the way, the day before to DePaul. And then we met I said, we're in good shape. We just got to clean up a few things here. But I think we going to be okay. Number 111 straight games and you know, other than Indiana, I think we're one of the few teams when a double undefeated double big 10 championship.

Jess Gregory  

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely has to do a lot with the kids mindsets and where they want to go. They can take it there. They work for it.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah. And this idea that growth mindset, like no matter what your parents tell you how you're how awesome you are. Just, you know, I think and then in that in that book mindset, and again, correct me one group was told they were smart. One group was told they work hard to achieve their success. And the group that was told they worked hard, were much more likely to take on additional challenges. Whereas the group that was told they were smart, didn't want additional challenges. They were kind of set where they were. So Work is work. It's no coincidence for me that every all big 10 guy I've had has also been academical big 10 Because Work is work, and work is part of the mindset, you know, can you put in that work to put in the effort? And then people that work harder usually are mentally tougher as well.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. All right, Tim, now I need to talk about some heavy subjects here. I want to get into some fun stuff now and kind of take our interview into a little bit of a different direction. So I have some fun questions for you. First one is would you rather play or coach in 30 degree weather up here in Chicago or 100 degree weather?

Tim Lenahan  

I saw that question. And I got there's there's the limiting factor there. If there's no wind, my father 30s okay with me. Yeah, I'm okay with her. If it's Lake Michigan howling, then I'm taking the hundred. Also depending on the humidity of the day, right. As a player, I like playing in the heat. I like the heat. Okay, but as a coach Melt on the sidelines now, but I used to like the heat back in the day. Yeah. Remember running sprints training? is you take your shirt off and by the time you get done with all the sweat there'd be, you know 1000 dead NATS you know your sweat. I love that though. I love that part I love but as a coach, if there's no wind, I'll take 30

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. All right, how about your Mount Rushmore of soccer. So it's gonna be your top four all time favorite players and then just a little bit about why you picked each one.

Tim Lenahan  

I have four and a half. So we'll we're gonna so first one for me is that it Zidene Zadan. I think he's brilliant. It's both as a player. Like I said, I had a friend who played at Real Madrid, one of my former players played at Real Madrid, and was the head coach there in between Zidane's two stints he was the head coach there Santiago Laurie. So I followed that team a lot and went to see them play a lot. So I'm just amazed by him and that goal is scored with the left with his weak foot in 2002 to win the Champions League. I just loved watching him and he had size two and and feisty as we remember from the 2006 World Cup. You got to go with the big two now I think they're both amazing cristiana. See Messi does things that nobody else has ever done. And Christiano is not the best player in the history of soccer. But he's the best 34 year old player in the history of soccer. And does fitness no attacking player at that age has ever been able to do what he does in his into his body and his nutrition and the mental stuff is amazing. And that's what's keeping them going for a long time. For the last one, I have two completely opposite players, Johan, Johan Cruyff, who played back for Holland. You know what he added to the game we all know how to do a Cruyff move. Which is so simple. Now everybody knows What a Cruyff, but when he first time he did it nobody had ever done it before. Now it's a common move that six year olds can do, they can Cruyff. I just thought what he did as a player and as a coach, you know you kind of start the Barcelona system. And then my other favorite player is kind of a nondescript guy Claude Makelele is played for Real Madrid played for France. five foot four toughest nails defensive midfielder totally changed that position forever out rather than you know, in the old days you had more of a you know, a pretty boy in there. Makelele changed the way that that position and for me I just even my friend who play for Real Madrid stories say you're my second favorite player on this team Makelele man, and I met him in person once he's literally like five foot four. Yeah, I couldn't believe somebody that's tough. You know, so, I'm gonna say Cruyff because he's a legend. But I'm Makalele because I think is the role he played, which was so simple. Yeah, change two franchises Real Madrid for one and then he went to Chelsea, and then they became champions in England.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. Well, we can totally add another face to our Mount Rushmore

Tim Lenahan  

where you can do half Cruyff and half Makelele.

Jess Gregory  

Okay. Perfect. All right. So now let's kind of go and you can give me your nomination for your top moments of all time. So this is whether you were a coach or a player. I'm

Tim Lenahan  

just like a very special moment, we'll add it to our exact top five. Okay, well, the number one and so we've had a chance to win a couple championships at all three schools that I've coached at stopped in at at Lafayette, a couple and here and those were amazing. winning a championship championships forever. And the guys that you stay in touch with over the years from those groups, that never ends the banter back and forth. So those are amazing, but we had a chance to do something that nobody ever did before or will do. Again. And as in 2013, Messi came to play at Soldier Field with an all star team. And one of my friends Santiago Suri was still playing. He's in the game is one of the stars a guy coached 20 something years ago. So he's Argentinian. So he's one of Messi and friends. And they don't have enough players. So last minute they call me for some Northwestern guys. I can't use the current guys. I can but I can call some doctors and investment bankers and lawyers who at least they've been on the treadmill in the last month you know, so that because games gonna be on ESPN around the world. Wow. With with 25,000 people at Soldier Field and I got to get these guys basically the day before some of them to come play in this game. I get coach in the game. Oh, yeah. Both teams, but not the head coach the assistant for both teams because they don't we put five guys on each team to start Subs, you don't know how to what position my players play. So anyway, we start the game and I'm just saying, hopefully we don't embarrass ourselves. Right? And then about 20 minutes in the most miraculous thing ever happens tear Henri ships a ball into metal isin, our former player who pops the ball up on his chest and hits a full bicycle kick. For one day isn't he's an assistant vice president for GE Capital in a cubicle. And the next day he scores pops a bicycle kick. It's the number one play on sports center. They are higher all around the world amateur banker upstages messy, and and that night you know, we all get together as men now because these guys are 2526 Yeah, well, you know, at a restaurant enjoying a soda, and we're watching the countdown. And then number four, interestingly enough was one of the other guys getting smoked by Messi is really fun. And then number one is mats bicycle kick. And he winds up quitting his job and trying to play pro again and we film a documentary called messy me. Yeah, if you look it up online and everybody looks it up online, you can find the documentary. Messy me that was the executive producer. And so Oh cool. So that that experience and that in that night of celebrating, and then my friend Santiago brought some of the Argentinians Pablo, Mr. Ortega and not Toronto. He brought them out with us. Uh huh. And he was he himself was talking about what an amazing day was because the story of this game is your guys. Yeah, so it was a surreal experience. very surreal. So like I said, That never happened again. Never happened before or happen again. Yeah, you can go look metallized and bicycle kick and see the the kid that scored another goal actually in that game as well. So they subbed Messi Alexi Lalas was the announcer you know, they sub Messi out in the 70th minute he goes, That's okay. Eliason still in the game. Our guy so that was, like I said, the championships are great. But that moment that night, nobody else in the history of sport probably has a moment like that. So it was cool for me as the coach to.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna have to find that clip and see if I can clip it onto here so that

Tim Lenahan  

I'm sure you can. And what's interesting. Again, Sonny Agha can look up that story too. I'll send you the I'll send you the link of how he got from playing for me to the head coaching position at Real Madrid. time he was still playing. So two things happen. One man hits the bicycle kick. Santiago is the one who digs it out of the net because he's on the other team. And then to at the end when we say all our guys let's take a picture together. Santiago walks into the picture because he's one of our guys. He's one of my guys. Yeah, it connected 20 plus years of coaching for me To have all these guys from different areas at Northwestern plus one guy Coach 20 years ago, you know in this game so for me, it was a very much an emotional and surreal coaching moment. So that's my one of my favorite moments. So long story to answer your question, but

Jess Gregory  

I loved it. how rewarding is that to be able to like see that, that player grow and then get to be a part of that experience? That's awesome.

Tim Lenahan  

Yeah, it really was. And I'll send you the link to the article and you can easily find you can be 4,000,127 now views of that the bicycle kick, and I'll actually send you the link to the whole documentary.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, definitely do that. I'd love to watch that. Yeah. Very cool. All right. Well, let's kind of go to the opposite side then and do our not top five. Well, the flip side version of that story,

Tim Lenahan  

so this is a and I was coaching at Stockton when I first got there team wasn't that good and So we had come up with a play a set piece play. Okay, and I think it was three, three hours late in the game. So I don't know how I came up with this play, but this is what we did. See you one player kick the click the back of his heel of his shoe off. Okay, so we went to shoot, the shoe flies off in one direction and the goalie goes to say, first reaction is to go for the shoe. Yeah. And then we play this ball square and put it in a goal. And when when the game All right, so the shoe play has only been one run once. And you know, I've had a ton of guys from that error. Well, you know, I'll do an interview with different coaches last year I got to coach we took our team to play Real Madrid and Raul was the coach of the other team, one of the great Real Madrid players. He was the coach of the U 19. team playing and one of the guys will text did you teach him to shoot play As a joke, you know, like, because our team was bad I had to come up with some deception. So yeah, the infamous shoe plays. Not one I'm particularly proud of, but we did win the game witnessed, like so pretty funny.

Jess Gregory  

That's hilarious.

Tim Lenahan  

That I haven't seen that one since either. So yeah, for this interview, there'll be a whole bunch of people trying to shoot blood. So

Jess Gregory  

I'll have to see if we can find some videos that two people do,

Tim Lenahan  

or they get burned.

Jess Gregory  

That's perfect. All right, well, I've really enjoyed sitting down chatting with you today. I know we got a lot of great info for the kids but then some funny stories at the end which are always which are always helpful and I want to get you to that peloton class. So, yes, yes,

Tim Lenahan  

yes, I've been very active on my peloton. And so my fitness is going up 20% I did a fitness test and beginning fitness to the ad so I'm pretty proud of myself today. Obviously though, here's what's funny, and this is the way life works. This test, I improved 20% and then I took the next two days off, snuck back on the bike, right? So don't tell everybody out there to, you know, hang it off. It's It's It's different for everyone. Don't panic, stay positive and keep working hard and good things are going to happen.

Jess Gregory  

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, Tim. Well, I really appreciate ya and if we don't see on the field soon, maybe we'll sit down again and just talk some shop for fun. All right,

Tim Lenahan  

sounds good. Thanks, Jessica.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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