Hangin With The AD Podcast
Hangin with the AD is an interview style podcast where Don Baker (CMAA), Cobb County School (GA) District Director of Athletics, partners with Josh Mathews (CMAA), The First Academy (FL) Assistant Athletic Director, to discuss hot topics and lessons learned with leaders in the world of athletics. These leaders include high school athletic directors at the district and local school levels; college athletic administrators; leaders in spaces that connect to athletics such as nutrition, wellness, recruiting, student-athlete recognition; current and former athletes; and others, who can help athletic administrators develop themselves and their programs for a better daily experience for their athletic communities. We hope you enjoy the time we spend with these special guests. Please leave us a review or rating to help us know how you were benefited from this podcast or how we can improve it. Thank you for listening. And until next time, thank you for spending your time, Hangin with the AD.
Hangin With The AD Podcast
Episode 153: Kim Coleman - Executive Director - Athletes for a Better World - Atlanta, GA
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Welcome back to another episode of the Hangin’ with the AD Podcast. Today, we’re bringing you a special conversation that goes beyond wins, losses, and championships—because as athletic leaders, we know the real impact of sports is found in the lessons that last long after the final whistle.
We’re joined by Kim Coleman, Executive Director of Athletes for a Better World, an organization built on the powerful idea of “Winning More Than the Game.” In this episode, Kim shares her journey, the mission behind ABW, and how the organization is working to highlight the incredible character, leadership, and sportsmanship happening across all levels of athletics—from high school to the professional ranks.
We dive into the stories that define why this work matters, including moments that capture the true spirit of sport, the legacy behind the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, and how partnerships like the Vince Dooley Scholarship Awards with the GHSA are recognizing student-athletes who lead with purpose.
For athletic directors, coaches, and anyone invested in developing young people through sports, this episode is a reminder that what we do is about more than competition—it’s about building better people.
So sit back, take a listen, and let’s talk about how we can all help our athletes… win more than the game.
You're listening to the Hanging with the AD podcast, where we break down hot topics in athletic administration and lessons learned through leadership. Now, here are your hosts, Josh Matthews and Don Baker.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to another episode of Hanging with the ADs. Today we're back with another special episode of Hanging with the ADs. We have Kim Coleman, the executive director for Athletes for a Better World, joining us today.
SPEAKER_01Kim, thanks for being with us. Josh and Don, I'm excited, man. I couldn't wait to jump on with Hanging with the ADs.
SPEAKER_03All right. In case you don't know about Athletes for a Better World or Kim, he's going to get us up to speed on that here in a minute. But for short, uh the motto of Athletes for a Better World is winning more than the game. So that gives you a heads up of where we're going, what this conversation is going to be about today. But let's jump in, let Kim introduce us to his organization that is trying to help athletes and coaches win more than the game. So, Kim, let's start by you telling folks who you are. We typically uh call it the back of the baseball card bio. So tell us what the back of Kim Coleman's baseball card might look like.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Um well Josh, thank you for that kind introduction. And again, it's good to be on with you and Don. Uh Athletes for a Better World. I'm the executive director for Athletes for a Better World. Uh, been on the board uh for now over three years now. And in a nutshell, basically, Athletes for a Better World was founded in 1998. Um, the organization basically arose from, I hate to say this, but parent and player bad behaviors across the nation. Um and what ABW does is try to provide a positive mentorship for young student athletes in the sports marketplace. Uh, we're committed to providing values and disciplines and integrity, uh, respect, cooperation, and just a compassion, which is uh basically the cornerstone for athletes for a better world. Uh we conduct the Coach Warden Citizen Cup Citizenship Cup Award each year, along with the Coach Dooley uh awards. And it's basically it's an honor to recognize uh young student athletes who uh excel, not just on the field or on the court, but uh in the classroom and as well as uh in their community.
SPEAKER_04So, Kim, let me ask you this: how did you come to know about Athletes for a Better World and get involved with it?
SPEAKER_01Uh, you know, that's a good question, Dot. I had met um Steve Petterack, who was our chairman, uh, prior to becoming on the board. Um I had done some research on Athletes for a Better World because I kept hearing and seeing their names, you know, throughout Atlanta and wanted to find out more about what they were doing. And as I found out uh more information on their mission statement, I realized that I wanted to get involved and see if I can lend um my talents and my you know bandwidth to them. Uh interviewed with Steve, um and they were crazy enough to put me on as a board member, and then a year later um promoted me to the executive director. That's good. That's good.
SPEAKER_03Talk about uh you do some b basketball stuff, right? Talk about your basketball life a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Josh, my my wife doesn't think I work. Uh it's you know, because it's all basketball. I'm I'm fortunate enough to own a company called Halftime Sports, which is a small sports marketing company, but we run uh local, national, and regional basketball tournaments and camps here in Georgia and out throughout the country. Uh another thing that I'm involved in, I'm equity owner with a company called Shoot 360. Uh it's basically what we call the future of basketball. It's our it's our goal to merge sports, technology, training, and entertainment into one venue. It's what players, well, we say players uh come to get better. It's uh it's a big video game type uh shooting machines, passing bays. Uh it's something I wish we would have would have had when we were younger, because we live there. It's all basketball. So I've got my hands and everything that's sports and basketball related. Um I'm 62 years old, guys, but uh my heart tells me I'm I'm a little younger than that. My wife and my body sometimes tell me I'm I'm 62 years old.
SPEAKER_03That's good. Yeah, yeah. My body tells me I'm I'm I'm older too. But uh yeah, I understand that feeling. All right, so uh you mentioned the mission of Athletes for a Better World. Tell us about that mission. Tell us about what Athletes for a Better World is a little bit more in depth, and uh just just let us know why this organization is uh such a powerful organization.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, that's a good, again, a good question, Josh. You know, the the mission of the organization is to provide positive impacts to student athletes throughout the country. Uh we want to recognize those young people that are doing, again, like I said, great things in the classroom, on the field, on the diamond, but more importantly, in their communities, being a positive impact in their community. So we try to acknowledge those young people. Uh again, you know, we it was founded back in 1998. Uh we work and present the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup uh each year. And as you guys know, Coach Wooden is universally regarded as one of the finest human beings that ever graced the world of sports. Um you know, with that citizen cup, we acknowledge five recipients this year, Josh and Don. Um one professional last year was Hall of Fame coach uh Roy Williams from Kansas, and you were there at Gandison, North Carolina.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh we acknowledged two uh collegiate athletes, one female, one male. And then through our friends who had NI, AAA, and two high school students as well. Um this year's recipient is Josh Hubbard from Mississippi State. Um Josh will probably get drafted in the NBA. Um and this may sound like a crazy statement, but he's even a better person off the court. Just a phenomenal young man. He's worked with uh the children of Mississippi. He's done so many great things in Mississippi, and he's just continuing to do a lot of great things. So again, our our job is to find these young people and to acknowledge them across a nationwide bandwidth uh nationwide platform.
SPEAKER_04Kim, let me ask you this. You mentioned obviously this year's recipient, as you say, athletes for a better world is trying to recognize the great character events that happen in sports, dining art, right? It seems like every time that you you look online, you're all all they're showing is a fight or a negative headline uh regarding an athlete. The organization has recognized hundreds of leaders in sports from the high school level all the way through the professional ranks. Um, do you have maybe one story that you can share that epitomizes why athletes for a better world exist? Maybe put a human face on it.
SPEAKER_01Dick Vitel. Zig Vital. Uh this is one of the most well-known sports figures across the world. Um Zig Vital, if you ask him about athletes for a better world, his heart, his mind, his face will light up with a smile. Uh he acknowledges us when he's on the air. But Dick Vital, as you guys know, can just be a cancer. And he epitomizes really what we're all about. I mean, he's just a phenomenal person, just a great guy in general. Um, Coach Roy Williams, who has some great stories to share. Uh, Josh heard a lot of his stories last year. Um you know, the thing about Coach Williams is you send him a text and you have to make sure that you're not expecting to get that answer like immediately. He is a phenomenal guy, but we'll text him on a Monday saying, hey coach, is your hotel set up? Um, got car service ready for you, the whole nine yards, and he'll get back with you probably about a week or two weeks later. Our chairman Steve Peterank is the one that dealt with coach. And he'd always call Steve, big guy. Hey, big guy, yeah, big guy. I uh we're we're all set up, we're all good. Um, you know, next time just make sure you go through my his grandson kind of handles all of his business uh affairs and appointments. Um coach Williams is a great guy. He just and he'll tell you, even when he was you know coaching at UNC, he did not like using the phone or texting people. He's just not that's not his forte. But I wish he'd recruited me. But anyway.
SPEAKER_04That's like my that's like my dad. He my dad does not have an email address. And I'm like, how liberating is that? Like that's I mean, it's just you are so free. He was that that that's anytime we try to wear him out about it, he's like, ain't nobody wearing me out on the email.
SPEAKER_01It's good. Yeah, I'll tell you what, I applaud your dad. I applaud my dad. That is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Coach Williams was a treat to get to be around. Y'all gave us the opportunity to sit with him and his wife, and just a pleasure. But yeah, you're I mean, the just the storytelling ability that he has, you can see why people wanted to play for him because he can just make you feel at home, make you make you feel like he's he's known you forever, right there, and you've only been around in five minutes. So it was that was a great pleasure to sit sit at the same table with him for sure.
SPEAKER_01And Josh, to to your point, every person that Coach Williams met that particular night, 99% of the people he didn't know, but Don, he would shake your hand, look you in the eye, and for the next power, two, three, four, five minutes that you were talking with him, you felt like you've known that man forever. There was a certain presence that he gave that he made everybody feel warm and just welcome, and like you were old buddies, you know, from childhood. He has a way of just making you feel really good during that time. And again, just you just feel fantastic. You leave thinking, Man, I feel like I've known a coach forever. You know, and he doesn't carry around a sense of entitlement. You wouldn't know he was a hall of fame coach. You know, you you would not know that at all. He does not present himself like that, very humble. Um, just just a fantastic person with a fantastic spirit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was great. It really was. Um, you know, that that event you mentioned was that the Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame downtown Atlanta. Uh, you mentioned it, you call it the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup awards ceremony. Uh it was a fantastic event. I know we talked on pre uh on on air here before, before we got on air here, that y'all are changing the format this year. And I think that just shows reflection. Everything's trying to make things better, better experience for all your recipients, and uh more personal touch, which is great. Uh, I think that that event will be missed, but you know, just like all of us, we're trying to improve our events, improve what we do, right? Um why do you call it you mentioned Coach Wooden, but how did Coach Wooden's name come to be associated with the citizen citizenship cup that y'all do or citizenship award that you give to a special athlete or coach? Uh so so how did how did you get I I know you just can't throw John Wooden's name on anything. So how did you get Coach Wooden's name on it? And uh, you know, why is that important?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Coach Wooden had found out about Athletes for a better world um shortly after the organization had started, and he loved everything about the mission statement. It kind of tied into his pyramid of success. And he had talked with um the founder, Fred Northrop, and said, How can I get involved? And he lended his name to Athletes for a better world. And you know, from the and it started off in Los Angeles, moved to Seattle, and then eventually moved to Atlanta. Like um, it was Coach Wooden that himself that said you guys can have use my name a part of your event, and uh just make sure you uphold the standards that I've always lived by. That was big it sounds basic, but that's really how it all started.
SPEAKER_04That's like the best NIL deal ever, right there.
SPEAKER_01Don, that's that NIL deal, if it was today, would be worth millions and millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_04That's really good. That's really good. Maybe last one for you. That the for the folks here in Georgia, uh, Athletes for a Better World also spearheads the Vince Dooley Scholarship Awards. Um, maybe talk about how you all partner with the GHSA to recognize two to three student athletes through the legacy of former UGA head football coach and athletic director Coach Vince Dooley.
SPEAKER_01Coach Dooley was was much like Coach Wooden kind enough to uh allow us to use his name for the award. I think and much like the Citizen Cup uh Citizenship Cup Award, it it's a it's a challenge, Don, because we are getting applications from hundreds and hundreds of student athletes throughout Georgia. And everybody is incredibly talented. They all have high GPAs, they all are community leaders, they're they're all gonna be doing wonderful things after their high school careers. Um so it's it's a challenge, but it's really again, we're acknowledging some of the best of the best when it comes to student athletes here in Georgia. We invite uh over a hundred kids to come to the event, and at the event, that's when we recognize uh the top male and top female uh recipient of the Vince Bewulley Awards. And it's man, I had hair before I used to go through all those applications, but man, it's it's it is challenging because it's not that it's difficult, it's or painstaking, it's just that these kids are also talented. And it's good to know, Donna Josh, that our hey, our future are in the hands of these very talented kids.
SPEAKER_04I was just about to say that. It's a you get when you do something like this and you're involved in something like this, especially on the back end, like you are, in a world that can seem so dark, you know, if you look at the news and you're like, I don't know how we're gonna, I don't know how we're gonna make it through this whole thing. And then, you know, and then you read stuff like that and you go, we're gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay, right?
SPEAKER_01Now, and that that's a great point. And to your point, we go through hundreds and hundreds of applications, and it's really something that fuels and fills the soul with uh with a good, strong spirit, because you see that, like you said, you watch the news and it looks like everything's falling apart. And then we go to these applications, we go, you know, we're gonna be okay. We're gonna be in good hands. These young people today are so talented and so driven uh for success and to make the world better. I you know, it's it's I I'm I'm very comfortable in saying that we're we're going to be okay. And my my children and and my grandchildren are gonna be in good hands.
SPEAKER_04Well, how does if someone's listening to this today, they want to know more about athletes for a better world? Where do they go? How do they get started?
SPEAKER_01Go to our website, it's abw.org. That's abw.org. Pull up the website, gives you all the general information that you need to know about contacting us. How can you submit an application for the uh Coach Warden Award, uh Coach Julie Awards? Uh it has pretty much everything that you need to know uh on that website. Again, abw dot org.
SPEAKER_03They can make a donation there as well, right?
SPEAKER_01Whoa.
SPEAKER_03You don't have to hold back on that.
SPEAKER_01Hey, you we are a 501c3 organization, so all donations are uh are needed and appreciated.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you just said those donations go to help a kid with a scholarship. So there's nothing wrong with that for sure.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. Yeah, good deal. Kim, thank you so much for the time today. We hope that this raises awareness for athletes for a better world and the platform and encourages, especially our Georgia colleagues, to promote the NIAA and Vince Dooley student scholarship opportunities. This idea of shining a light on the best of us, I think that's a home run. I think you can never go wrong with that. We appreciate what you're doing. Thanks again for the time.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's it's it's been an honor, an honor and a real pleasure. Can I just say one more thing about 100%, yeah? The Coach Wooden Award. Um, we know the male recipient is Josh February from Mississippi State. Uh, we haven't announced a female um recipient yet, but we do have four finalists and and Don and Josh, these these young women are phenomenal. Um the finalists is Kiki Rice from UCLA, uh, women's basketball, uh Galen Trubrent from USC, she's uh women's volleyball. Um joining blanks, uh Scottish Schulte from Michigan State, she's a gymnast. And my last one is Molly Hall, those four women are phenomenal. Not just on the court. You probably see Kiki a lot on you know on the Big Ten network. Um phenomenal person off the court. All four of them are just phenomenal. So I wanted to acknowledge those four young ladies, and we'll be making an announcement here in a couple weeks that he will be the actual uh recipient of the award.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's great. We look forward to hearing who the male recipient of the Coach Wooden Award is. That's that's outstanding. And we look forward to continuing to follow follow athletes for a better world as y'all um look to win more than the game. So thanks for that. That's a great little motto. I love that.
SPEAKER_01That is yeah, I'm about to deal with that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, shoot, it's it's right there on your on your website, win more than the game. So that's uh we appreciate what y'all are doing for uh interscholastic and collegiate athletics and really the character building behind what athletics does. So uh thanks for spearheading and leading athletes for a better world and letting us be a little small part of that.
SPEAKER_01Thank you guys for giving us this platform to promote uh ABW and our events. You guys are fantastic, and we greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.