Coach Tony Holler

10/16/2026

One week of recording my audible.

Over 4 hours completed. 9 hours to go.

21 of 102 chapters ✅

25% of the book ✅

10/15/2026

Most people aren’t searching for the truth. They’re searching for confirmation that they’ve already found it.

We are wired to conform.

For most of human history, survival depended on belonging to a tribe. Acceptance meant protection, food, and shelter. Rejection could mean isolation, vulnerability, and death.

Our brains evolved to treat social rejection as a threat. Disapproval makes us uncomfortable. Being different feels dangerous. Challenging the beliefs of the group comes with a psychological price.

We inherited brains that prioritize belonging over being right.

No wonder we cling to tradition, defend conventional wisdom, and resist ideas that challenge what we’ve always believed.

The truth may set you free, but first it might get you kicked out of the tribe.

10/12/2026

“If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you should feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.”

~Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish

10/09/2026

Doing my own audible is going to be a challenge. 😳

10/05/2026

Read a story this morning of what inspired the Wright brothers. ✈️

In 1878, their father, Milton Wright, brought home a small rubber-band-powered flying toy based on a helicopter-like design by French aviation pioneer Alphonse Pénaud. Wilbur and Orville were fascinated by the fact that it actually rose into the air. They played with it until it broke—and then built copies themselves.

Their mother, Susan Koerner Wright, was unusually mechanically gifted for a woman of her era. She had grown up around her father’s carriage-making shop and became skilled at working with tools. She reportedly made household appliances and toys, repaired things, and built devices for her family. She also made clothing for the children.

💥 Their father inspired them to think.

💥 Their mother inspired them to build.

I can’t get the word INSPIRATION out of my head.

Good teachers (and parents) inspire kids to read more, think more, question more, and DO more.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

🔥🔥🔥

10/03/2026

Yesterday, I stirred up a hornet’s nest.

A 🏈 coach sent me a post ⤵️

The first day in Basic Training, Rusty Whitt said due to one standard violation out of 200 of them resulted in bear crawling from 8:00am-12:00pm.

"What happens if you take the kind of standards they expect in an infantry basic training setting and put it into a college setting?"

🤔

I quote tweeted ⤵️

This is how NOT to do it. 🥴

… (notice that I was not disrespectful, did not get personal, and did not accuse the man of abusive coaching)

IMO, this echoed of what happened recently at Arizona State. ⤵️

The Arizona State hockey incident involving 21-year-old Matthew Mayich occurred on August 20, 2026. Mayich suffered catastrophic brain damage after collapsing during a military-style conditioning workout conducted in Arizona's summer heat. His family's attorney says he has no chance of meaningful recovery.

+++

The defenders of Rusty Whitt called me “soft” and much worse. Attacks were often personal.

They pointed out that Whitt doesn’t believe in military discipline in college sports. (Totally contradicting the clip.)

Many defended it saying Florida was 4-0 and ranked 8th… and that Rusty Whitt has been a winner everywhere he’s gone. (He’s an S&C guy 🤔)

Many told me I should stay in my lane (washed up high school track coach).

I have always believed that military discipline and physical punishment has no place in education-based sports. I’ve seen far too much in my 44 years as a coach.

I can’t imagine talking about bear crawling four hours on a cinder track with a perverse nostalgia and applying it to a football team.

I will not be silenced. 😊

10/03/2026

JUST IMAGINE 🤔

What if you entered every game one mph FASTER while your opponents entered the game one mph slower?

What if you entered every game 100% HEALTHY and 80% in shape, while your opponents were 100% in shape but only 80% healthy?

What if you entered every game will a full roster of kids who see practice as the best part of their day, while your opponents have decimated rosters due to injuries, apathy, and misery?

What if you developed toughness through love of the game and extreme athleticism while your opponents developed toughness through fatigue and suffering?

Just imagine. 🤔

CAN’T HAVE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS WITHOUT GREAT PLAYERS (COACHING IS OVERRATED) It’s my opinion that coaching is overrated and talent is underrated. This phenomenon is largely due to coaches owning the narrative. Not all coaches, just championship coaches. History is written by the victors; the lose...

10/01/2026

二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず

Those who chase two hares will not even catch one.

“If you chase ENDURANCE, you will never catch SPEED.”

09/27/2026

You don't need more time, you need more focus.

Practice the disciplined, joyful pursuit of less, not the undisciplined, miserable pursuit of more.

Double-down on the 20% that produces the 80% of your results.

09/24/2026

We’ve been sold on the idea that toughness is created through fatigue and torture—and that toughness is the key to winning.

There’s a better way.

Win through executing fundamentals.
Win through team-first focus.
Win through improved athleticism.
Win by making the sport the best part of a kid’s day.

Don’t train kids to survive the sport. Train them to thrive in it.

(And, I consider all athletes “kids”)