Sam Puryear on Diamonds in the Rough

Coach Sam Puryear is the Head Coach and the Director of Golf at Howard University. When coach took over, the program was actually a Division II golf program. But they got a donation, a six-year commitment from Stephen Curry, the NBA superstar, to help fund the golf program at Howard. Since that time, since Sam has taken over, they’ve really turned into quite a program. Coach came from Michigan State University, where he helped lead them to a Big Ten Championship. Coach was actually the first African American head coach in golf at a power-5 conference. Coach has a ton of accolades: he’s produced one National Championship, he’s won the Big Ten Championship when he was at Michigan State, he coached at Stanford where he was an assistant coach, he’s gotten two coach of the year honors, he’s won a ton of awards, and coach is also an author. He shared an inspiring story in his book, Diamonds in the Rough, which talks about his journey and his love affair with golf, not just from a golf standpoint but also a life standpoint and the life skills that he instilled in a lot of young people who otherwise may not have gotten access to the wonderful sport of golf. He’s been recognized by several media outlets, including ESPN, the Big Ten Network, and Inside the PGA Tour. He has served as a consultant for the movie From the Rough.

He really is someone who focuses on his mission and cares deeply about pouring into young people and giving back to people that look like him. Golf hasn’t always been open to people that look like Sam. Even though his dad played golf at a high level and Sam played at golf at a high level, what you’re going to find from coach is he really wants to inspire not just the student athletes at Howard, but to people who look like him continue to get access to golf and to other parts of our country that maybe they haven’t always gotten access to in the past.

Sam had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“At the end of the day, a coach is a mentor, parental figure, sometimes a psychiatrist or psychologist, sometimes a buffer, sometimes just a great pillow to listen” (7:00).

“The keep it simple make it fun perspective is the way the best professionals even look at it” (8:45).

“If you’re not enjoying something, it becomes tedious and monotonous; it just becomes overbearing at a certain point” (9:35).

“People don’t realistically know what they’re going to be great at” (12:00).

“There should be a slight exposure and acclimation to a lot of things before we engage in those one or two that they’re specifically good at” (12:40).

“There’s so much more involved in sports than just development” (13:00).

“Teamwork is how we survive” (13:50).

“When you listen, you actually hear what you need to hear” (24:50).

“We have to give kids opportunities to be great” (25:25).

“My success at this point is when I see young people that tell me they have a dream, and at the end of their tenure they have a chance to live it” (27:10).

“Going to college does not make you successful. But having the chance to be a productive person means learning how to live amongst others and doing those things necessary to be productive” (29:10).

“The riches that you leave on this earth won’t come in the form of bills, they’ll come in the form of the spirits and the hearts that you’ve touched” (30:00).

“Our number one goal here is to win. Our number two goal here is to maximize whatever ounce of potential we have in us, in the classroom and on the golf course, so that we can be the best version of ourselves” (33:10).

“I never want to be the starving baker” (34:50).

“At the end of the day your input and output seem different, but yet they’re the same” (38:20).

“If you pour bad gas in a really good gas tank, you’re going to get a bad result” (38:30).

“Much is given, and much is expected” (42:35).

“You have to learn how to lose” (43:25).

“We can always be better” (47:35).

“In life, we all have uniforms to wear” (51:50).

“We all are players in a much larger game” (53:35).

“Too many people get caught up in telling their story first. You wouldn’t have a story if it were not for other people” (56:35).

“I want to give people their roses while they can still hear it and see it” (58:20).

Additionally, you can purchase Sam’s book, Diamonds in the Rough, on Amazon.

Thank you so much to Sam for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.