Episode #66: Mitchell McPartland

🎙️We're Going to Handle Hard Better

How do you build a program that thrives under pressure, embraces high standards, and leads with care? University of Chicago Head Volleyball Coach Mitchell McPartland joins the show to break it all down.

This conversation is packed with insight on how to lead a high-achieving team, manage expectations, and coach with both poise and purpose. Mitchell shares his journey from NAIA libero to D1 assistant to DIII Head Coach, and how his mindset has evolved along the way.

We also explore what it looks like to coach in the UAA, recruit at a high-academic institution, and create a culture where "handling hard better" becomes the team’s competitive advantage.

🎧 In this episode, we cover:

• Building and sustaining success in DIII volleyball
• Coaching defensive specialists with a libero’s mindset
• The impact of high-academic recruiting
• Leading with calm, clarity, and consistency
• What it means to “handle hard better” as a team

🛠️ Explore more tools, resources, and my book Significant Recruiting at coachmattrogers.com

🎙️ Subscribe, share, and leave a review if this episode brought you value. It helps us reach more coaches, families, and student-athletes chasing significance over success.

Transcript

0:09

Welcome back to The Significant Coaching Podcast, the show where we have real conversations with college coaches about leadership, team culture, and the human side of the coaching journey. I'm your host, coach Matt Rogers. And today's episode features a coach who brings authenticity, strategic brilliance, and a calm confidence to the court. Mitchell McPartland, head volleyball coach at the University of Chicago. Mitchell's rise to the coaching ranks from a volunteer assistant at South Florida to leading one of the most respected division three programs in the country is a masterclass in growth, trust, and staying true to your roots. We'll talk about what it means to lead with humility. How to build a culture of consistency and significance in one of the toughest conferences in NCAA division three. We're also gonna talk about his experience as a back row player at Libero shaped the way he sees the entire game. Before we get started, a quick reminder to check out coach matt rogers.com for all your college recruiting and leadership resources. You'll find my weekly blog info about speaking events, free tools for families, and my book, significant recruiting, the playbook for prospective college athletes. You can also schedule one-on-one recruiting strategy sessions or book me to speak at your school organization. And hey, if you enjoy the podcast, do me a favor, subscribe on your favorite platform, leave a rating or review. Send me a message with your thoughts, and don't forget to share this episode with a coach, an athlete, or a parent who needs to hear it. You can always follow me on most social media platforms at Coach Matt Rogers and check me out. Send me a message. All right. Let's dive into my conversation with Coach Mitchell McPartland. Coach McPartland, thank you so much for being on the show. I wanna start a little bit talking about University of Chicago. When I think of. Some of the great universities in the history of the United States, university of Chicago pops in my head and for all the right reasons. I think you've had 40 Nobel Prize winners, 25 Pulitzer Prize winners, four alum have won Academy Awards. The list of all these great accomplishments goes on and on for University of Chicago alums. How has that been for you to be at that type of place? Do you feel that sense of history? Yeah, absolutely. I think it's pretty hard to miss just being on campus. there's certainly an atmosphere or a feel for that kind of history. as someone who doesn't come from a high academic background like U Chicago, I think sometimes I'm not as in tune to some of it as others on campus. But obviously the type of women we recruit and, just being around all the athletes, knowing other people across campus. There's certainly a huge sense of pride across campus to be here. Even if, for me, I'm not a, faculty member. I don't teach or anything like that. But obviously there's a sense of, greatness. And, I think a huge sense of pride for being who we are as an institution. And I think, credit to U Chicago for, I think they continually what they represent. And, they've, continued to do that for a long time now. it's, what attracts students to be here. you've been such a great inclusion in that and what you've done with the team and how you're building that program. it's been really impressive and fun to watch. you spend time at South Florida and at Drake and now University of Chicago, three, very diverse Stops for you. what has that been like, that journey and how would you compare the three, when you're talking to families and recruits. I think, obviously Drake in South Florida being division one institutions, but very different division one institutions, from a location size, they're very different from another, I think the biggest thing for me has been, division three is just the balance and, the academic priority not to say that some of our athletes at Drake or South Florida, were not, academics. Were not a priority for them per se, but obviously the way division three is set up and the limitations we have, I think it's, I just so appreciate that I get to coach women who are really passionate about volleyball, passionate about competing for national championship, competing to be the best at their sport, but they are just incredible. People, very passionate about their, obviously their academic endeavors, other extracurricular activities. And I just love that. I think that's why I really have found, I feel like I found my fit personally in coaching in division three is'cause I feel like that's how I view life as well is that, it's great to have that balance and that opportunity to pursue what you are passionate about. And, I think at a place like you, Chicago or other division three institutions you really get that opportunity. and that's not to say that there aren't great opportunities at institutions like Drake or South Florida. We talked about the recruiting process and is, being in a place like UChicago it's a 40 year plan, not a four year plan. and I think because obviously the students here are here to get an incredible education and to be challenged, but it's something that's gonna set them up for the rest of their life to be successful. And, I just really appreciate, Being at an institution that in a department that really prioritizes that. I'm gonna be at a high school speaking to a bunch of families tomorrow night, and it's one of the things I always talk about is I wish I could give every parent the experience of being on a University of Chicago campus on a beautiful campus. Yeah. and really what is different than a Drake and a South Florida or wherever we're talking about, because. the size is immense, and they've got south Florida's got a great reputation. Drake's got a great reputation. But what you get in terms of one-on-one, and that experience is so unique and so good for your soul. Have you found that? Have you, is that a sense of yours? And do you use that as a marketing tool with your recruits? Yeah, for sure. And I think it's something that admissions certainly, makes a priority is that student professor relationship, and I know that, in talking to our players, that's, I think it's not the only reason obviously, that they came here, but it was a big reason Why is that those, oftentimes the professors of our players are incredibly experienced in the field in which that they teach. and oftentimes, that they did that first, whether it's, hey, obviously we're really well known for our econ we have professors who are, incredibly just experienced in the econ world, and then they Yeah. Just having that, I think the, just the connections there, is really valuable. And not just like the information that they're learning, but the real life, work experience that they're getting. And, so I think that's, definitely something that is a huge plus something that we talk, in the recruiting process, a lot of our players talk about how a lot of our classes are very discussion based and, UChicago obviously talks a lot about free thinking, free speech. Yeah. And so I think it's really cool for our players to have the opportunity to. Listen and hear and be a part of conversations with people from all different backgrounds. And obviously all of our experiences shape our, whatever our reality is, our own individual reality. So I think it's really cool for them, to have that experience. and a lot of their classes are really small. one of our players last quarter had a class, it was a class of five people as a first year. So just, that's great. And people at Uch Chicago are not intimidated by that experience. just being a first year, I, they look at it as, wow, this is a really opportunity for me to have really intimate, high quality conversations about topics that we're passionate about. And I think that's, something that obviously they, they really love about being here. Not everybody, right? Some, some people that's maybe not their thing, but for the most part I think they, maybe if they don't realize it in the moment, it's something that they really appreciate. A part of their academic journey here and just how that's gonna translate to them, or translate for them in whatever they do, for the rest of their life. And I'm a small private school kid. I went to co college. So for me, I have a very unique perspective on this in terms of, I know what it did for me I really look at it, and again, maybe this is my ego, maybe this is just my personal perspective, but I think it forces you to be authentic and figure out who your authentic self is. Yeah. Do you get a sense of that too? Absolutely. I went to, I'm from Iowa originally, I went to Grandview in Iowa. I do think live in a society right now where we are fed opinions and not necessarily, encouraged to think for ourselves all the time The students here, I think they're encouraged to really, Hey, you're gonna hear other people's opinions. You're gonna hear my opinion, but I really want you to formulate your own opinion and think, about, your own experiences and how that's shaped who you are. and yeah, I certainly think that smaller, more intimate experience does allow you to be maybe more authentically you and not maybe hide behind other people. And that's obviously gonna help you, as you enter into the workplace and just. Become a great human being. Yeah. And in a lecture hall with 300 kids, you can hide in a classroom with five kids, you better be engaged or, yeah, absolutely. For sure. And that's why some people that's terrifying obviously. and but that's, it's okay to have that discomfort that, that uncomfortability'cause it's obviously gonna just create growth and opportunities for you to learn a lot about yourself. Absolutely. I'm talking to university presence, recently the conversation always goes back to how do we better prepare these kids to be adults? What are we doing? Not just teach them about economics and physics and biology and English, but what are we doing to help them become better adults and learn how to live in this world? So I think those things all go hand in hand. The more they get that one-on-one contact with adults, with professors, with staff members, they can build relationships. they can see, wow, I really like how coach handles himself. I really like how this professor handles himself and how they treat me. Yeah. that to me, that's the value of going to a college, right? A hundred percent. the life experience is, and I do think, it is such a formative time of your life, It's like really for most people, it's the first time they are living on their own. They're independent and you start to, maybe separate, those experiences you had with your parents or just growing up in the community you did. And you start to learn about other people's experiences. And I think that. I hope that more people, and maybe it's not just college, that's a opportunity, but that we all look to have more of those opportunities to learn from other people and try to put ourselves in their shoes and, try to understand where they are coming from. And, yeah, I certainly think college obviously is a great, formula for that happening. That's great. I wanna really get into you'cause you've done such great work in Chicago. I was named the interim athletic director. I was the head basketball coach and they named me interim athletic director when I was 26, 27 years old. 25 years ago. Yes. And I just remember the weight of that interim word and how it. I was, is this gonna be my job? Am I gonna be, am I, they gonna keep me? You've done such great work with it. You took that interim tag and you turned it into something really great. And I wanted to ask you about the identity that you really saw for the program back then, and has it become what you hoped it would be? Yeah. Or has it changed as you moved into that full-time role? I think first and foremost, before I get into that, I have to give a lot of credit to the coaches, the head coaches of this program before me. The Sharon, who I worked for, who's at Colorado College now, Vanessa Wabe, who was here, and now she's at Wash U. both, both are, I'm really close with. So I think they did a lot of heavy lifting to get the program to where it was when I took over as the interim. I think. For me, I got to coach, be an assistant in 2019 where we had a lot of success. we were number one in the country. that was obviously really incredible Sharon has, coached for a really long time, a lot of division one experience. I saw, what she did and how it was put in place. I thought, wow, okay, I just have to do this. and I realized that while Sharon and I are not the same human beings in the way that our brains work and the way that we see things. So I think that first year, as the interim, it was challenging'cause I think I was battling inside myself. Okay, Sharon did it this way, but maybe I don't, that doesn't fully resonate with me, or I'm not gonna be able to lead that way'cause that's just not who I am. So I think, to your point, that pressure of. I'm the interim. So in a way you're trying to prove yourself that, hey, I can do this job. This is a job that I want. so maybe that was a little bit of extra pressure, in hindsight that's, almost four years ago, a lot younger then, A lot of growth since then. so yeah I think there was, certainly it was interesting and, it was right after the pandemic. so that obviously had challenges of itself. so yeah, it was a really incredibly valuable experience. Sharon had said, Hey, if you wanna come to CC with me, but she was like, but I think, I wanted to be a head coach. She said, I think you, having this experience as the interim, even if you don't get the job, is gonna be incredibly valuable. And, it was fortunate to, keep the role, Yeah, it just certainly, yeah, what I mean, didn't have a full-time assistant. my assistant was, is still our volunteer assistant he had a full-time job. So it was just honestly a blur of a season, to honest. But I can relate to that. it's a lot. But anyway, at the same time, I wouldn't change it for anything. And I certainly think the way I, try to run the program is certainly different than it was in 2021. The advice you got from Sharon was, Hey, come with me if you want, but whether you get this job or not, the experience, being able to dive in and run your program and really run it your way is so valuable.'cause you know you're gonna make mistakes. It's just inevitable. You're gonna recruit the wrong kids. You're gonna regret the practice plan. You're gonna regret a substitution you made. You know it. You have to go through that to get where you are. Yep. I want to go back to that word identity. When you think about the identity of where your program is now, what is it that you're talking to your girls about? Because. It doesn't matter who I'm watching. I can watch you play. I can watch Platteville play, I can watch Oshkosh, I can watch Hope. Yep. And it's just, you can just sense really clearly. Yeah. This is something they really stress. Yeah. It's so important to them. What are those things that are really important to you? Yeah. The way you play, the way your girls interact. Are there things like that you guys talk about all the time? Yeah, for sure. I think, culture is really important to our, to our team, to our women especially. I think that they first and foremost want to be in an environment where they feel supported by one another. Obviously, that's support looks, different in many ways. but I think that's ultimately really incredibly important just because, the academic challenges that are presented at a place like UChicago with how fast everything goes there, it's really stressful. we talk about how volleyball. We want it to be an opportunity for our players to really just be present at practice, competing, whatever it is, and let some of that stress go. and part of that is being in that environment where I have, 18 women around me who really love me and respect me, and, regardless of our upbringings, we really value one another. So that's super, super important to our current team. in terms of I'd say maybe more on the court stuff, we really, communication is a really big one for us. doesn't mean you need to be, when we're recruiting, we're not always looking for the loudest person per se, But gosh, your ability to communicate with your teammates is. Not just important in the sport of volleyball, as you continue in life being able to understand that people communicate differently and need different feedback. We try to have a conversation at the beginning of the season with the team, but also, the team themselves has a conversation with one another of, Hey, how do you best give feedback? And how do you best receive feedback? and how can we best help you in that area? That doesn't mean that, okay, you think this way or you receive feedback this way. And maybe I'm gonna push that a little bit and maybe, let's say for example, we have a player that's, a little more sensitive to feedback or, takes things a little bit more personally. I can be that way. And maybe we're gonna challenge that, right? Okay, hey, yeah, maybe you are a little bit more sensitive and hey, you know this player who I could yell at, scream at? And they'd be like, whatever. All good, you're not, obviously, maybe I'm gonna communicate with you differently, but I'm also gonna challenge you in that when you are in your work environment one day, not everybody is gonna have this conversation with you. They're just gonna expect that however I communicate with you is how I'm gonna communicate with you. And you have to figure it out, I think communication is a big one for us. Not just'cause it makes us better volleyball players and helps us have better chemistry on the court, but also just what does it do for you? Outside of volleyball and your relationships and your career. So that's really important. And then we just really talk. Communication is one of these things ultimately it's how do you control the controllables for us is, that's a big one for us, right? So like our, how do we show up every day? Just our attitude, our mentality, our effort, how we communicate with our teammates, how we treat our teammates, our coaches, our support staff, the waiter at the restaurant. Those are all things that, are, super, super important. Whether we win or lose, we're gonna be a program of high integrity and people that treat other people the right way. because, winning is great and we wanna win a national championship and that's awesome, but most likely people are gonna remember how you treated them and how they made you feel. And so if we can be a program that is, hey, we treat everyone we interact with respect. We, just be great humans, I guess at the end of the day. So we try to, incorporate, some of those volleyball things and how do we translate that to life and through your four years in our program, how can we help you not only become a great volleyball player, but also a great human being, and someone that's gonna go out into the world and make a positive impact at the end of the day. Yeah. You're going into year five, right? Yes. This will be season five. So you've got seniors that have been with you from day one. Know who you are, know your expectations. Have you seen a change from year one to year five and how those seniors become the voice of that identity and how they teach the freshmen that they come in the door? Are you see that? Yeah, now? Yeah, I think so. Like our current rising seniors, they were seniors in high school during my first season. So I think them especially, have really, I think, taken that message and run with it, and just in how they are going to treat their teammates ultimately. At the end of the day, I think it's for myself and my staff. We're all different and we all have different experiences, but it's just really important that we still just treat humans like humans I think ultimately I want it to come from a place of love and respect and that, hey, I'm saying this to you, or we're having this conversation'cause I love you and I want you. I think that because I'm older and have more experience, I think that I can see, this lesson in your ability to grow in this area. And I think our current, our rising seniors who are, who will be our captains or who are our captains, they're both very different. And with both of them we've had different challenges. Especially I think about how they were as first years and just how much they've grown since or now. And I certainly don't take all the credit for that. But we've had difficult and tough conversations and it's really, I think I. Maybe in the moment. It wasn't always super well received, but I think if you probably ask them now, they'd be like, okay. But they were right or I understood where they were coming from. I see, what they were trying to sell. It's been really fun to see, our team. evolve as I've evolved and, I think as a leader, you just try to be really consistent in how you show up and how you treat people and, the energy that you bring every day. And I think if you are consistent, your team will also be consistent in how they show up every day as well. Coach as a dad of a almost 16-year-old volleyball player it makes me feel so good to hear not what you're saying, but how you're saying it because you say it with so much passion. It really sounds like your program is such a safe place to be in terms of your growth and your development and being able to take chances and being able to figure out who you are as a human being. it just sounds like you've created that culture where if you're mature enough to just open your eyes for a second and say, this is pretty good, I'm probably not gonna get this at every place. And I think that's an important, I think for us, it, how, that's how we try to differentiate ourselves through the recruiting process is, we are, yeah. we are ultimately trying to, help you grow and become the best version of yourself. And those lessons can be taught through, on the court and off the court. and that's why obviously sport is such an incredible, avenue for people to learn so much about themselves. But yeah, it hasn't always been great. Like you said, there've been a lot of mistakes, things you reflect upon and you say, okay, moving forward, I can be better in this. And I think a big thing for me has been, as an assistant for a long time, you aren't in the head coaching role. You make ultimately every decision, right? you get the credit whether you deserve it. You get the blame whether you deserve it. And that's been a challenge for me. I want people to be in an environment where they feel really happy or they feel safe and inclusive. at the same time, I can also create that environment while still being direct and, having tough conversations and, ultimately not telling people what they want to hear, but what I think is gonna help them grow and become better. I love it. there's not a better way to really self-analyze yourself and see your growth from year one to year two to year three than being a college coach. I tell people all the time, I still have all my folders from 2001, and I remember my first year as a head college coach, 25 years ago, I had one folder in my computer. Year two I had four folders. By the time I got to year 10, I had 50 folders.'cause I learned there's so many things that I have to be responsible for. Yeah. I don't want to have to recreate this every year. Yeah. I don't want to have to rebuild, so it's not was just my maturity and my in learning patience and learning how to, take the good with the bad, but it was just, yep. How do I get myself organized? are there things you look back at the five year older version of yourself and go, gosh, I've improved so much in those categories. Yeah. Do you see that? Yeah, for sure. It's obviously, it's a little bit harder to recognize in the moment sometime. Yeah. I think, like I was saying, I think my ability to be, maybe a little bit more direct in my communication with our athletes when, I feel like there's, an opportunity for them to grow. Whether it's, hey, your attitude or the way that you're responding to mistakes, I think is harming yourself and the team. I think, ultimately it's my job to be honest and direct with my athletes, with our women. it is not my job to try to appease everybody or make everybody happy with playing time or whatnot. it's my job to, create an experience that is, Unparalleled that they would get anywhere else. And I think part of that is, our players wanna be challenged and they do wanna grow, even if, in the moment there's pushback I know that ultimately, at the end of the day, that's what they want. and it is nice because I think it's something we talk about in the recruiting process. And so I think when our athletes now get here, that's the expectation is that, okay, if you know my coaches, see something that I could be doing better, they're gonna tell me. And it's not, always gonna maybe be in the moment that is best per se, when it's right. but they're gonna tell me and they're gonna help me grow. So I definitely think my communication has grown a lot.'cause it is different, from being an assistant to a head coach. I think organization is certainly a place of growth still for sure. I think it's, to your point, it's like creating, creating a system that you're working smarter, not harder. And I think there's this like notion with coaching that, and I'm challenged with this, is if you're not grinding, you're not, responding to emails till 11:00 PM you're not gonna win. And I don't want that life for myself personally. so I think it's trying to find ways that you can, work smarter and not harder all the time. And, and I went through that my first 12 years of coaching. I was married and we didn't have any kids, so it was really easy for me to just get sucked into an 80 hour week and, and see my wife at 10 o'clock. You, and I love the fact that you're feeling that already. I gotta, I gotta see my husband. Have time for myself. I gotta have time for the girls. It's so important. Absolutely. I want to get into, player development with you.'cause you've done such a great job of really developing your kids from the ground up and finding those right kids. you were a lib in college, right? You played lib. Yeah, I did, For two years. I love talking about the positions, because I was a point guard. I had to teach. Yeah. I had to teach all these big kids as a basketball coach, 6, 7, 6, 8 kids. And I was always a little guy. Yeah. So when you think about that, when you think about the work you've done at the D one level and the D three level, working with dss, working with outsides how do you go about tailoring your player development across those different positions?'cause you got, what, 18 girls on your roster typically? 15, 18? Yeah. How do you go about formulating that two hour practice that, five hour practice, five day practice week? How do you go about it so those kids really get the teaching they need to grow? Yeah, that's a great question. yeah, I think it's, so for me. It's important to obviously have certain, whether it's drills or concepts that are, you stay true to in, in the things that you teach kind of year in and year out. It's also and my staff, that we look at the players we currently have and we tailor things to obviously, what their needs are, right? So if we have, maybe we have middles that are maybe less experienced, or just need, they need more work in this area, compared to maybe some other teams we've had, obviously we're gonna make that more of a priority. You could tailor that across all positions and whatnot. as a head coach, it's important. You have to be pretty proficient in every, skill or position, per se, especially at our level, right? I don't have. Three full-time assistants who I could, designate, Yeah, I think for myself and Jen, my assistant, we do a pretty good job of balancing one another that we both feel really confident in taking, libs, dss, attackers, setters, and we can depending on the day, be able to take whatever position it is ultimately I decide where I wanna be, obviously. Yeah. a lot of times that ends up being set or hitter things just because offense and volleyball is so obviously incredibly crucial. So a lot of times, Jen does a lot of defensive stuff, first contact with our DS Liberos. we typically like to practice on two ports.'cause it does give us the opportunity to do some sort of positional breakout every single day. Even if that's 10, 15 minutes of whatever little thing that we wanna get better at. Then oftentimes we really try to then translate that skill work into, okay, now we're playing six on six, we're playing live. And how do we then tailor the drill? Let's say we just, for 10 minutes we worked on, set our middle connection when, the pass is, eight, 10 feet off the net. Okay, now that's gonna be the priority in the six on six play. So that way our players can say, Hey, I just worked on this. Now I'm going into a more chaotic, uncontrolled environment, but I feel confident that, I just worked on this. I think, Making sure that there is a reason and a progression to everything that we're doing. And certainly at a place like U Chicago, other high academics, our players wanna know, why are we doing this? What's the purpose? I can't just have a drill and say, I just felt like doing this today. Like I, there needs to be, when we're planning practice, we wanna make sure that everything that we are doing has a reason. we are able to tell our players, this is why we're doing this. This is the rep count or, we're playing to this point or whatever. And, so I think that's been really great being at a place like Uch Chicago.'cause it forces you to it really forces you to be you. Our staff, we have to be great in practice every day. Because if we are not great, our players are going to, be disappointed because they're obviously really high achieving. They have high expectations, we have high expectations. So if we have high expectations for them. We have to hold ourselves to the same standard as well. so we really try to, have a decent balance. I think we try to compete a lot, as much as possible. Even if it's not six on six, obviously competition is where they're going to, feel uncomfortable. They're going to be challenged the most. certainly like in our fall season, we try to compete in as much as we can. Whilst, while knowing, hey, there's a time and a place to maybe slow something down and break something down and just rep something out without the. The outside noise of competing. But, ultimately we compete, the record shows winning or losing in competition. So we need to practice that as much as possible. and then the last thing I wanna add on quickly is we talk a lot. my assistant Jen, she has her master's in mental performance, so that's another big component that we try to incorporate into our practices. Huge. Yeah. But then that's before practice, we talk a lot about like mindfulness and just really being present, big quote our team likes is be where your feet are. and that's, so that's a big one for us just because, our players are really high achieving and they have found success in just about everything that they've done. sometimes our challenge is how do we get our players to Sit with the discomfort of, Hey, we lost that match. Or we, and not, it's not the end of the world, but okay, hey, what do we learn from this experience? How do we grow from this experience? And that's what we can focus on moving forward. because it can become very analytical and that we, like every, oh, I missed, I attacked that ball out. What did I do? Sometimes you just miss it move on. Like it is what it is. It's okay. I love, it's a great, it's a great problem for us to have, that our players are, they. They are they're attentive to detail that they, really they want. And again, that's the reason why we have to be great.'cause they really want to know and do as much as they can to be the best. but some of it's, we're, again, life skills, trying to teach them how do we move on from mistakes? How do we accept that we are going to make mistakes and be okay with that and not let it, dictate, how we're gonna perform the next point, the next match. whatever it might be, it's okay to not be okay. Yeah, Absolutely. And as someone who comes from, both my parents are teachers, come from rural Iowa, I think, in that environment you're you sometimes you gotta figure things out yourself. there's not always someone there to, clean up the mess sometimes you just go through tough times and, I've tried to take that experience and, allow our players to try to learn from that as well. That's great. And it's so important for us coaches to understand that.'cause oftentimes we know it'cause we're older and more experienced, but, it's making sure the kids understand, yeah, we're working hard, we're gonna be disappointed when we don't do great things, but that doesn't mean the world's gonna end. We can be upset and not be. Ready to jump off a building. Exactly. You know what I mean? For sure. Yeah. I think it does help being at a place like U Chicago because volleyball is not like the be all, end all. Yeah. To them. And that doesn't mean that they don't care by any means, or they're not upset when we, maybe don't achieve goals or win or whatever it might be. they also, I think, do understand that, there is more to life than winning and losing a volleyball match or, whatever it might be. they understand that there's more success for them to be had, we try to tell'em, hey, for a lot of them, getting a B or a C on a test is the first time that's ever happened, in their whole academic life. it happens here at U Chicago. so like, how do you respond to that, failure per se, right? It's not really a failure, but how do you respond to that failure or that, falling short of something and that's, you just keep moving on. you keep going and keep giving it your best and that's all you can do. My word is significance. My book is called Significant Recruiting. my business is called Significant Coaching. So I talk about significance a lot and everything you're saying is screaming significance at me because you don't want things to rely on mere chance, and that's the whole concept of significance. Anybody can come in a gym and get a ball spiked off their face, and that ball could go back over the net and land and get a point. But it's teaching them how to be prepared for every situation so they know how to drop step and get their frame right. They're always being able to control where that ball goes more and more. I wanna talk about your league because your league is a frigging gauntlet. There's no weak sisters, there's no puppies in your league. So with all that, the idea of significance and how you prepare your team, how do you prepare your team for the physicality and the mentality of going through that gauntlet? Because when I look at your records, man, and you're winning all, you're winning 20 games almost every year in that league, it's, how do you do it? It's tough. I tell you what, it's tough. And every year I'm like, huh, when is it gonna get, it's just gotten better since I've, in 2019, it has gotten significantly better. When I first started in 2019, us Emery Wash, were pretty good. and not to say that other teams weren't great, but just the level from three through six and even, seven and eight has. Significantly jumped. so yeah, I think how we prepare them, I think we're in a really fortunate spot in the Midwest in that it's a pretty, great area for division three volleyball in that we don't have to travel very far to play, some of the best teams in the country, outside of our conference, and we only play seven regular season conference matches, and then we have our conference tournament. So we don't, we only play everybody once, maybe twice if we see'em in the conference tournament. So it's my job to, okay, we have this gauntlet of a league, how do we, I think in order for us to, the UAA is winning a UAA championship is really important and to our team, and that's a big goal that we have. But ultimately the goal is to win a national championship. You know how for me, okay, if we wanna be the best, you have to play against the best. Every year we play Hope who, last two years has been national runner up. We play a lot of the Yac schools, which is Yeah. You talk about a gauntlet there. Yeah. So like this fall we'll play, Oshkosh Whitewater, Platteville, Eau Claire, so four of four of the best team in the Yac. You are a glutton for punishment coach. I know. And oh my gosh, every year, this is my dilemma in scheduling is I wanna play the best. Yeah. But it doesn't really prepare us. Ultimately for what our goals are at the end of the season. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm 100%. I was the same way as a coach. Yeah. So now I do think there is a balance there. Yeah. We can't play a top 25 team every single match outside of our conference. It sounds like you're trying though. Yeah, I think what's so great, I think in division three, especially, the programs that are in the top 25 consistently. Yeah. They all have that sim they have very similar mindsets and so a lot of times we all wanna play one another because we know that, hey, even if my re like last year we were, 25 and 11. Okay, those 11 losses don't look great, but all 11 of those losses are teams that make the NCA tournament, it's, to me, it's not about the record per se and having, oh, I want to have the highest winning percentage or win the most matches. It's really about how do we produce the best team by the end of the season and yeah. you gotta go through hard times to get there. certainly scheduling tough is a big one, for us. And, one other thing that is important is, and I get this from our women's tennis coach, who's now won, multiple national championships with our tennis teams. And one thing that he said he spoke at a student athlete event, we had. And it really resonated with me. And he just said that, his women's tennis team had finished national runner up, I think two or three years in a row, right? Rough problem to have, right? but you're almost like, you're just, right there and like multiple years in a row. And he said that his team just decided that we're gonna stop waiting for it to get easier, right? Oh, we're gonna wait for CMS to lose this player, or we're gonna, wait for, this nasca school to lose this good player. And they just decided, you know what? We just have to handle hard, better. And I think that really resonated with me because in the UAA, D three volleyball is so good. you just have to stop waiting for things to get easier. It's not going to get easier. you just have to handle hard, better than other people. You just gotta, you gotta push through things not really make excuses or, oh they were just really good. Yeah, they were really good. So what are we gonna do about it? We gotta, control what we can control and, not make excuses. Yeah, the hard schedule, certainly helps us though. Yeah, absolutely. you want your kids to get to that national tournament and go. We've been here and done this. Yep. We're not afraid of you. Exactly. For sure. We, everybody we played looks like you. Exactly. Everybody we played has got a six two front line. everybody we played has got a little barrel that could get every ball up. Yep. We know how to beat you. We're not afraid. Yep. And it's great for our confidence to be able to look back on those situations and, we, as coaches can, point out exactly what you're saying. Hey, we've done this many times throughout the season. So what's another one? I think we found the title of your podcast, and I'm definitely gonna steal that from you. We're going to handle hard, better. I love that. Yeah. It's Not my quote, so I'm not gonna claim it, but gosh has it really resonated with me. it's because it's really just, there's a really great Netflix documentary out there, and it's, I can't remember the actor, but he's talking with his therapist and his therapist is talking about how even in life there are things that we can't avoid. And one of them is, shit hitting the fan hard stuff. Like it's ultimately it's going to keep happening. And I think there is this notion in our society that like, oh when I get to this age, it just gets easier. Or when I get my job, it gets easier. And it's nope. It just presents new challenges, so that's where you know, hey, just, yeah, handle hard, better, or try. I love it. It's the blessing of the curse of being a coach. Because you want to be great, you want to grow your kids and there's so many ways to do that, but at the end of the day, the faster you can throw'em in the fire, they learn how to extinguish that fire. They learn how to deal with the heat. Yeah. I love your approach with that. if one of your players was on the podcast, what do you think they would say about you? Oh gosh. I think they would say that, Hey, our coaches really care about us as human beings. And I think that's, I will always take pride in that. And whether or not I'm the best volleyball coach or whatnot, that can be your opinion, whatever. But I want our players to know that we really value them as humans and as people first and foremost. I think that all of our players could say, when we have individual meetings, we talk a little bit about volleyball, but it's mostly about life, But that, to me, that's, I want them to feel as though we're really invested in the relationship that we have with them. And it's not a, yes, it's coach player, but it's also, it's human to human. I think for our women, that's, gonna help them perform at the highest level if they know that, hey, first and foremost, my coaches, really love me whether or not I'm a great volleyball player that isn't ultimately what decides how they feel about me, as a person. See, I think they would say that. Mitchell, he really cares about us and he, at least I hope that's what they would say. that doesn't surprise me in the least coach, but, I guess we had a recruit here a couple weeks ago and, we asked oh, how was your time with the players? And they were like, oh, it's great. They said that, you and Jen are like their aunt and uncle. And I was like, oh, that's great. I love that. For a lot of our players, obviously they're from across the country or, whatnot. they're plane right away from home. So it's important for us to be, a good support system for them. I love it. I love it. let's talk about recruiting a little bit. Yeah.'cause and that's why I asked you that question. I wanted to lead into recruiting a little bit. Yeah. What are some of the things that you've gotta have? Are there non-negotiables for you when you're, and obviously a 22 a CT and a 3.0 is a non-negotiable for University of Chicago, but what are some of those characteristics that you're looking for? Effort. Skillset? Are there things that you just gotta have When you bring a recruit in the door? Yeah, it's a great question. yeah, I think, yeah, I think we really try to make sure that they are people of high integrity. I think that's super important, and obviously, having a lot of conversations with them, but also talking to, the people that they are around a lot, right? So they're, whether it's their high school coach, their club coach, whomever it might be, I always start the conversation with that person. I don't want fluff. I want, give me, be honest, be direct. This is someone that ultimately, these are people that we are around a lot. And I like, I wanna enjoy the time that I spend with the team. And that doesn't mean that, obviously there aren't gonna be challenges and whatnot, but I wanna be around people that I enjoy being around, we have some people that are, highly extroverted, but we also have, few players that are, more introverted, more quiet, whatnot. And I think that's important to me to bring in a diverse, array of players. Whether that's personality, race, that's where they come from. Socioeconomic, I want our players to have, an experience that they are around different people than them. I don't wanna recruit 18 of the same person, but they need to be great. First and foremost, and they want to see other people, with respect and whatnot. I think when we're watching recruits play, I think the effort piece is important, right? Because I don't really want to teach effort. I, that's, something I, when you figure out how to do that, what you let know you, right? So I think, just, are they giving their best on the court? But also a big one for us is how are, how do they act when they're not playing? And whether that's, oh hey, a middle plays through rotations and they come out, right? But maybe they're not playing that set, they're not playing that match. A big one for us is what are they like on the bench? Are they really engaged? Are they really, are they supporting their teammates? or are they, are they pouting? Talking to the person next to'em and not really paying attention. That's super, super important to me.'cause like our bench, we call it like our bench culture is really important. and how that can have a huge impact just the match and how we do. can that change your perspective on a kid that you're like, wow, that athleticism is something else. And then you see what happens on the bench? Sure. Can you go on 80 degrees really quickly? A hundred percent. my sister, I could too checked off many people that we've been interested in, that we walk up to their court, they're not playing. And I can't tell you, there's multiple times where I, we look for the,'cause we walk up to their court, we look for their number. Oh, okay, they're not playing. Okay, lemme look over on the bench. And they are totally disengaged. Totally, just not present. Obviously. Maybe they're upset that they're not playing. and I immediately am like, Nope, I don't. I just don't wanna deal with that. I don't wanna deal with that. I don't want to deal, I don't want to try to motivate our players to support their teammates. That is a given, being a part of a team sport is that whether you are playing or not, you support your teammates. and that's by being engaged, giving feedback to them that those that are playing, you're cheering, whatever it is, there has to be some sign of. and so if they're doing it, if they're not engaged now, it's just a culture issue that we've had, that's, been an issue for us a couple years ago. It's just not something that I. Personally want to deal with as a head coach. Yeah. And yeah, it's that off the court stuff is super important. but really, yeah, I think I personally am a little more attracted to an athlete that's, maybe sometimes a little bit smaller, jumps really well or is really fast. That's more of the style that I like now. we have two first year middles coming in that are six three and six two it's not always the case, but that certainly helped. Well done. They're both, super athletic and, they both move really well. And, yeah, I like a player who, you try to look at obviously the potential that they have from a volleyball perspective and, sometimes we have players that are maybe a little bit more raw and just not as experienced, but we feel confident in our training that, we can catch'em up to speed Get them to be, even if it's not, hey, first year you're starting and playing. but by, second, third, fourth year, that's the expectation is, yeah. That, that you're competing for a spot. I love it. I tell kids all the time, the longer you're college coach, the more recruiting becomes like shopping. Shopping for clothes. If you're gonna walk through a Ross or TJ Maxx or a, you name it, you know really quickly, okay. That's not gonna wash well, that's not gonna fit me well. That's, that is gonna be uncomfortable. I don't like that material. And the more you do more you're recruiting, the more you can look at a kid and go, I'm not gonna enjoy coaching her. She's not gonna enjoy playing for me. She's not gonna be able to keep up. Absolutely. And I think that's important. It's important that you mention they're not gonna enjoy me, because I do think that. While we are obviously recruiting an athlete, they are also recruiting us. Like they are trying to figure out, hey, is this a good fit? Are you a good fit for me as a coach? And, we don't want the recruiting process to feel like, we are just recruiting the athlete. We want it to feel like a two-way street in that, we are both mutually recruiting one another. Yeah. Trying to figure out is this the best fit, for, and we know that we are not the only part of their experience in college, but we hope that obviously we can be one that's, really impactful, absolutely. Yeah. they're gonna get a world-class education at University of Chicago, but they're getting a world-class education on your court too. That's what hope. That, but, it's the good challenge that we have is, yeah. Mediocrity is not an Acceptable way for us to go at our job here, especially from our players. again, parents and teenagers seem to understand this. If they want somebody like you to recruit them, you've gotta show Coach McPartland, all right, what am I bringing to his program? what am I gonna do to make it better? Yeah. Okay. this isn't just, I'm buying a ticket to go to the show. What am I gonna do to make his program better? Because I'm gonna leave his school with this, and this. What can I bring to the table? It's like a job interview. As soon as you start talking about, Hey, what can you do for me? you're not a very good candidate. For sure.'cause we want, yeah, we want them to know, Hey, this is what we can do for you, but what are you gonna bring to our culture? That'ss different, or what are you gonna enhance? Or, whether that's volleyball off the court, always looking for people that are gonna add. Something new or different to our program. And that's what kids need to understand too, is the better the school and the better the program. The more options you have, the more you can say no a lot more, you can walk away a lot more, a lot faster because there's another 20 girls that wanna go to the University of Chicago. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. And some not, we don't use, we don't say this very often, once in a blue moon it's, hey, I think it's, we talk a good amount about like gratitude and just, yeah. you can get lost in the stress and chaos of everything, but just being like, Hey, we're really grateful that we have this opportunity because there are a lot of people at U Chicago, UA, nescac, whatever that. They would love to be in your position because they want to have that experience you're having, and yeah. For sure. Cool. Coach, I so enjoyed talking to you, and I really appreciate your time. Would you mind, would you do a little rapid fire with me? Sure. Absolutely. Fire questions for you? These are fun. I think you'll like'em. Yeah, for sure. All right. Lobero or setter, which position is more underrated? Ooh, underrated. Oh my gosh, that's a hard one, because they're really the hardest to recruit, aren't they? Yeah. Which you gotta put the most time into those kids. I would agree that those are the two positions that are, you can't just watch someone warm up and go, oh wow, that's, okay. Yeah. There'll be, we can work with that. it does take more time. Underrated, I wanna say I feel like Ero because a really good libero. Not that a really good setter doesn't make a difference too, but I almost feel like it's under maybe a little more undervalued Impact that they can have. And maybe I'm just being a little biased as a former Loro myself, but, I think a novice would tell you that too, if you're watching volleyball and you're like, that ball never hits the floor on that side. It seems like 80% of the time it's the same kid that's getting the ball up. Yeah, for sure. It's always that lib for, and I think the eros get more, like they have more of those wow, what an amazing dig, or, wow, that was incredible. The centers, I think go a little more like under the radar and Yeah. Yeah. They're, but as someone who's, as coached for a while now, I think that setters are, I think the way volleyball is evolving in our country, I think setters are getting more and more recognition for what they do. And I still think the arrows are underappreciated. Yeah. Just as a whole. Yeah. they're also typically the last ones to get recruited too, right? In our class. it probably depends. I don't know what it's like the D one level, but if you have a really good libero, gosh, that Yeah. Makes a big difference. Obviously just your ability to win matches, but yeah, they are typically last in the recruiting process. there's a lot of great five four liberos out there, but it's really hard to find that six two outside with the huge gun and can really rip it, touch ten five and, yeah. Ultimately your hitters are the ones that are, they gotta put the ball away, so They do. Favorite away Jim in the UAA? Ooh, good question. let me think. I really, so Carnegie Mellon has a new facility, which is beautiful. NYU has a new facility, which is beautiful. So they're really nice. Honestly, though, I have to say, I really like playing in Rochester's gym. I don't know if you've been there, but I've seen the pictures. I don't think I've been in that gym. it's older. yeah, like that, like a circle, it's different. It's old, a little like Illinois Wesleyan even smaller than that. Really small. I love those old gyms. it reminds me of high school. It's just like intimate, I enjoy their gym and I think Rochester is such a cool city, Yeah, it is. That's great. All right. One book, podcast, or documentary. Every coach should consume. That's okay. anything that you're like, gosh, that really made a difference for me. It really opened my eyes. Anything like that. Yeah, that's a really good question. The documentary on Netflix, I believe it's called, I'm trying to think. it's the one I was talking about earlier. the way the therapist talks about, the way our brain processes things was really impactful for me. The way our brain works is so fascinating and how that impacts our sport is also really fascinating. when you think of it, text it to me later today. Yes. I wanna check it out. I love that stuff. it's really interesting. Good, good. is there a volleyball hill that you're willing to die on? Is there something you're like, if I could get that done, or if I could get to that, that accomplishment, is there one of those that you're like, oh yeah. Anything personally for your team, anything like that? Yeah. I think for our program right now, I think like winning a UA championship is super important because I think it's, obviously a conference championship is really great, but like with how good our conferences, I think, yeah. Maybe what a confidence booster that gives you that. Oh wow, we can win our conference championship. I think that's a, and for me personally, I think that's a big one.'cause we, my first year here as an assistant, we finished first in the regular season, then we lost in five in the finals. So that was like, we were so close. so I think that's a big, a big one. And then ultimately, I almost won a national championship as a player. And so that would be, that would really be the, that would ultimately be the goal. Just that, that incredible feeling. but, one step at a time. Absolutely. And my niece is going through the same thing. Yeah. She, that league is just a bear two. And there's, yeah. My gosh. Good. And it's gracious and it just seems and I'm seeing you do the same thing like every year. It's just like you're getting one more notch in that ladder, right? Yeah. But so does everyone else, and that's the heart again. But that's, I can't wait for everyone else to get worse. you just gotta keep raising the level you do. And you're doing it. you're gonna get there. I put you in a room with 300 volleyball parents. What's the one piece of advice you want them to walk out the door with about recruiting? Recruiting? my always big one is be authentically you. and find the fit that is best for you. And, the saying goes, comparison is the thief of joy. Stop comparing yourself to other people and their journey in their recruiting process. Be be true to your values, be true to what you want your experience to be, and go for it. If you wanna play at the division one level, that's awesome, then, you go for it. but also there are also other really great opportunities outside of Division one. And, I think the volleyball community is getting, and that's why I think D three is getting better and better is more and more parts of the country are starting to, send their players to division three schools and are like, wow, look at that success that they're having. Look how much they're winning. They're competing for a national championship, and then they get, a great education or they get to have experiences that are, outside of volleyball. But yeah, I think ultimately. Be authentically you. And that's, and whether you're interacting with coaches, players, whatever it is. I think that's always a big one for me. Great advice. Absolutely Great advice, coach. It has been such a joy to get to know you. I'd love to call if you're up for it. I'm gonna call you a friend and Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. If there's ever anything I can do for you or the women in your program or your program itself, don't be afraid to ask. But it was just a joy getting to know you, and I know great things are ahead of you. Yeah. Thank you. For having me. I always love, similar to, what you said, it's always really great talking to other coaches and just getting to hear, what their philosophies are and what they value. And so it's been a fun conversation, so I really appreciate you asking me to do this. it's been great. My pleasure. Good luck in 2025. We'll be cheering for you. Thanks Matt. Appreciate it. Well, that's a wrap for this week's Significant Coaching podcast. Huge thanks to Coach Mitchell McPartland for joining me and sharing such thoughtful insight into his coaching journey, his philosophy on leadership, and the incredible work happening at the University of Chicago. If this conversation resonated with you, whether you're a coach, a parent, or a student athlete, I'd love for you to subscribe and leave a review. Your feedback helps us reach more people who are passionate about growth, culture, and significance support in sports. And remember, if you're navigating the college athletics recruiting process or want to bring me in to speak at your school or organization, head over to coach matt rogers.com. You'll find my weekly blog speaking info and tools to help families and coaches at every stage of the journey, including my book, significant Recruiting, the Playbook for prospective College athletes. Until next time, keep leading with purpose and chasing significance over success.