Good Game with Sarah Spain · iHeartPodcasts

F-Bombs and Old Fashioneds with Bev Yanez

April 9, 2026·50 min·4 clips

How did an Edible Arrangements Instagram story leak a major WNBA free agent signing?

1. Good Game with Sarah Spain covers WNBA free agency news and an in-depth interview with Racing Louisville NWSL head coach and 2024 Coach of the Year Bev Yanez. 2. Host Sarah Spain opens with an eight-player core offer rundown including Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty), Nafisa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana Fever), Kelsey Plum (Los Angeles Sparks), Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings), Alisha Gray (Atlanta Dream), Ariel Atkins (Chicago Sky), and Ezzie Magbegor (Seattle Storm). 3. The episode's central questions are how Yanez built a Coach of the Year culture in one season, why her first year as a head coach felt inauthentic, and what the financial reality of a women's pro soccer career actually looks like. 4. Nneka Ogwumike's apparent move to the Minnesota Lynx was inadvertently broken by local company Amazing Balloons Minnesota, which posted a 'Welcome Nneka' arrangement on the Lynx court to its Instagram stories before any official announcement. 5. Gino Auriemma issued a second apology statement following his confrontation with Dawn Staley at the NCAA semifinal, this time naming Staley directly and saying 'I lost myself' — an upgrade from his Saturday statement which apologized only to 'the South Carolina program.' 6. Yanez explains that in her first coaching season in 2024, she performed a persona she thought was required of a head coach — demanding, formal — that conflicted with her natural 'glass half full' outlook, and the team's culture suffered as a result. 7. Her 2025 turnaround came from building a cultural foundation first by assessing the 'type of characters' being brought in, then letting a style of play emerge from that foundation rather than imposing it top-down. 8. Yanez uses small whiteboards in pre-training meetings: players list every blue object in a flashed photo, then she asks if anyone noticed the yellow object, using the exercise to illustrate that 'whatever you spend your attention on is how you perceive things.' 9. The whiteboard system is designed to give players a voice and have them construct team identity themselves — so they can say 'my peer thinks this' rather than 'coach said this.' 10. Yanez left the game in 2020 earning approximately $28,000 per year, having been coaching private sessions full-time in the off-season just to pay rent and gym fees in Seattle, since NWSL contracts only covered the six-to-seven month season. 11. The decision to retire came when she decided to start a family, because there was no financial structure that allowed her to do both simultaneously. 12. The spark for coaching came during a season in Japan after the Women's Professional Soccer league folded — she ended up on a team where she and the coach shared no common language, forcing her to learn through observation and magnet-based tactical feedback rather than verbal instruction. 13. In Japan, Yanez was asked to play as a striker despite spending her entire career as a midfielder, initially doubting her ability; two months in she committed to the position and ultimately became the first foreign player to win the golden boot in the league. 14. Yanez describes this experience as teaching her 'how to be a little bit more observational' and showing her that the types of environmental motivations a coach creates can transform what a player believes about herself. 15. U.S. Soccer's coaching license programs — which Yanez entered through NWSL-player initiatives in 2018 and 2021 — helped her bridge from private coaching to professional staff roles by giving her structured feedback on session design, periodization, and communication. 16. The pro-level coaching license, Yanez explains, focuses on self-knowledge, meditation, and clear headspace — framing coaches as performers who need psychological preparation to make sound in-game decisions. 17. Yanez has 'the utmost respect' for U.S. Women's National Team head coach Emma Hayes and describes their communication during international breaks as transparent and problem-free, with players returning from national team camps better rather than conflicted. 18. The interview is collaborative and relaxed, with Spain asking follow-up questions that show genuine familiarity with Yanez's career arc, including specific details from pre-existing interviews. 19. Women's soccer fans, coaches at any level interested in team culture-building, and followers of NWSL roster moves will find this episode most relevant. 20. Listeners primarily interested in match analysis or tactical breakdowns rather than leadership philosophy and behind-the-scenes coaching process may find this episode light on those elements.

As heard by us

A thoughtful coaching conversation about leadership, shared expectations, and how the game has changed.

Sarah Spain's conversation with Racing Louisville coach Bev Yanez tracks a clear arc: what she wants from the team this season, how an inauthentic first year as a head coach pushed her toward a leadership style that felt like her own, and how much perspective has changed since…

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You want the story behind Bev Yanez's coaching voice.

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