Professional Speakers Bureau International

Professional Speakers Bureau International

The Working Bureau with the Working Speaker for the Working Client!

BRIAN POLIAN

TOPICS - • Coaches • Coaching • Competitiveness

• Decision Making • Education • Organizational Leadership • Relationships • Youth

BRIAN POLIAN - PROGRAMS

  • Working with Generation Z: Honor the Relationships
  • The Responsibility of Organizational Leadership
  • Leading Your People
  • Dynamic Coaching

“Brian’s expertise does not apply only to education and athletics.  Anyone in leadership can draw valuable perspective and gain practical tools from his experience.  If you are interested in becoming a more effective leader, growing a winning culture, or building stronger connections with young people, you can benefit from Brian’s message.”

— Greg Brown, CEO, Motorola Solutions

“We were very fortunate to have Brian come and speak to the Carolina Panthers coaching, operations, and personnel department during training camp. As a staff, we were looking for a way to better connect with our current athletes in order to build deeper and more meaningful relationships.  With future NFL prospects, we were seeking better connections with them during the scouting process.  Brian stressed the importance of placing value on the relationship and shared with us the skills on how to nurture these bonds. Learning to connect with these young athletes, on and off the field, and building trust is the key. Brian provided the tools that allowed us to build deeper, more meaningful relationships in every aspect of our lives and not just in sports.”

 — Scott Fitterer, Former General Manager, Carolina Panthers (NFL)

“When I approached Brian and asked him to speak to the 50+ leaders at my firm, HW&Co., I came away very impressed with his message and delivery.  At HW&Co., I speak about how our leaders need to make decisions to lead effectively and have a positive impact on our culture and all of our people.  Brian was able to draw from his experience in leadership, teaching, coaching, and mentoring to provide a positive experience for our people.  The stories he shared and the advice he delivered to my leadership team on the responsibilities of leadership were impactful and resounded throughout the organization.  Not only did he leave a great impression on me, but I received numerous comments from my team about the passion and energy with which he shared his message.”

 — Brandon Miller, CEO, HW&Co Accounting

“After hearing Brian's presentation on Coaching and Teaching Gen Z, I quickly realized how influential his message would be for high school coaches and teachers.  His focus on the importance of developing and strengthening relationships IS the 'secret sauce' for highly loved coaches and strong team culture.  He does a wonderful job of showing his growth as a coach, by sharing his insightful personal stories of relationship building with athletes at every level.  This is truly one of those presentations that I recommend to all of my colleagues and their coaches.”

 — Rory Fitzpatrick, Director of Athletics, St. Ignatius HS (Cleveland, OH)

BRIAN POLIAN - BIOGRAPHY

Brian Polian has served in leadership roles in and around college athletics for over 25 years. His career began as a football coach at the NCAA Division I level with stops as an assistant at Michigan State, Buffalo, Baylor, UCF, Stanford, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, and LSU. He distinguished himself as a special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator, developing a reputation as one of the finest coaches, recruiters, and roster-builders in the country. His units on the field appeared at or near the top of the national rankings regularly throughout his career. On the recruiting front, ESPN.com, Rivals, and 247 recognized him as one of the top recruiters in the country at the conclusion of multiple recruiting cycles.



Brian also has experience as a head coach, having guided the University of Nevada, Reno football program for four seasons. He led the Wolf Pack to two bowl games in four years and unprecedented academic success. Throughout his time as a coach, he also helped guide the future of college football by serving on the AFCA Ethics Committee and on the inaugural College Football Officials Competition Committee. In recent years, Brian shifted from leadership on the field to leadership in administration. He served as Associate Athletic Director/General Manager of Football at LSU, and most recently, has taken on the role of Director of Athletics at John Carroll University.


Brian grew up around the game of football at the highest levels. He is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame and Super Bowl winning NFL executive, Bill Polian. His lessons in leadership have been drawn from legendary coaches like Marv Levy, Tony Dungy, and Nick Saban, to name just a few.


Reflecting on his time in coaching, Polian noticed a shift in the mental/emotional make-up of the young people with whom he was working and began to dive deeper on that subject. In 2020, he published the book Coaching and Teaching Generation Z: Honor the Relationships and a second edition was published in 2023. He has also used his more than two decades of experience to develop programming to help professionals grow in both the Responsibility of Leadership and in Effective Coaching. NFL franchises, collegiate athletic departments, school districts, and businesses of all kinds have invited him in to help their people get better.


Polian is a graduate of John Carroll University, where he was a student-athlete competing in football. He also has a master’s of science in education from Baylor University. Brian and his wife, Laura, have two children, Aidan and Charlotte and they currently reside in Solon, OH.

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BRIAN POLIAN - MEDIA

Coaching and Teaching Generation Z: Honor the Relationships

In coaching vernacular, a “relationship guy” is someone who performs at their peak when they have meaningful relationships and bonds with the coaches they work with every day. In reality, this concept is not exclusive to athletics. All people have an inherent desire to be close to others. We are all “relationship guys.”


Brian Polian has served as a coach and administrator at the highest levels of college football for over 25 years. He has traveled the country recruiting elite student-athletes and working with them on a daily basis in the highly competitive and pressure-filled world of collegiate athletics. In that time, he has witnessed a dramatic shift in how best to effectively teach and develop young people. 


Generation Z is different from their predecessors, and the failure to recognize that and to adjust will put any person that works with them at a disadvantage. In order to effectively teach or coach Generation Z, establishing and maintaining healthy relationships with them must be the first priority. “We have to honor the relationship before we can honor the task.”

Coach Polian draws upon his experiences and reflects on relationships being the greatest rewards in life, why they are so important to young people, identifying the building blocks of relationships, and how to build better ones with Generation Z. He examines honestly on the dynamics of diversity in working with today’s student-athletes. The book also provides simple but effective ways to guide the giving and receiving of feedback and reminders of some of the characteristics that make Generation Z so unique. Finally, some of his mentors and valued peers from across the coaching profession share their observations as to the importance of building relationships with students and athletes.


This book is not just for members of the coaching community. It can serve as a resource for administrators, teachers, employers, and even parents—anyone that works to help young people develop and grow.

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