4 | Paul Svagdis on Having Players Set the Standard

Written By Evan Burk
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Paul Svagdis is entering his 19th season as the Head Baseball Coach for Azusa Pacific University. Before arriving at Azusa, he spent 6 seasons as the head coach at Pomona-Pitzer, and in 25 years as a college head coach holds over 600 wins and has been named PacWest coach of the year each of the last 3 seasons.

In this interview, Evan Burk speaks with Paul on how he uses his football mentality in his approach to coaching baseball, finding leadership potential in the recruiting process, and how having a player that sets the standard is a crucial element on all his great teams.

Find this episode for free on your favorite podcast player.

Tune into this episode to hear:

  • 1:40 | What has impressed you most about your players over the past year since the canceled 2020 season?

  • 4:10 | Teaching baseball over zoom + keeping players engaged in a virtual world

  • 8:30 | Bringing the football mentality to his baseball coaching

  • 12:30 | The adaptation + difference in how he led early in his coaching career to now

  • 16:45 | Recruiting: Worrying less about results and more about how they handled the results

  • 20:40 | Building the team mindset + culture - Does resiliency come from recruiting, or from the coaching staff?

  • 22:30 | Shifting the Culture at Azusa - What stood out to you as the things that really helped flip that culture?

  • 28:20 | Having a Player that sets the standard

  • 33:15 | Being purposeful in his approach to recruiting + asking the right questions

  • 38:45 | What are you looking for when looking at a potential prospect?

  • 42:15 | Are there exceptions that you make in your evaluation? Or pretty rigid in your evaluation process?

  • 44:50 | NFL Team Building: Putting guys in the right system

  • 49:15 | Reflecting on the ability to take teams from good to great

  • 55:20 | What goes into a good baseball nickname?

Learn more about Paul Svagdis:

Learn more about Evan:

 
Evan Burk

Evan Burk is a speaker, former NFL coach, and podcast host who uses the sports world as his backdrop to engage audiences with thought-provoking lessons of leadership, team-building, and creating championship cultures.

Evan Burk is not your typical football coach. Despite not playing football beyond high school and no network in the coaching profession, Evan's unlikely football journey began as a 4th grade coach, where he quickly worked his way to the NFL in just 6 years, and included coaching for teams such as the Miami Dolphins, UCLA, and SMU.

After spending fifteen-plus years working with the highest-performing athletes, coaches, and teams on the planet, Coach Burk uses his unique football coaching background to teach people how to utilize the same strategies in business and life that elite players and teams use to perform at a world-class level.

Evan received his B.S. in business management from the University of Colorado, and his Master of Liberal Studies degree from Southern Methodist University. He also hosts his own weekly sports leadership podcast, The Highest Level, where he reveals how championship team cultures are built and the keys to leadership excellence at the highest level.

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