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- Dell McGee: The Power of Connection
Dell McGee: The Power of Connection
Great Teamwork, catching people being good, and more.
Paul Barnett
November 20, 2025
Welcome to the Great Coaches: Leadership & Life newsletter.
Every month, we share new podcast episodes featuring interviews with Great Coaches from across the world of sports. Our interviews delve deep into the careers and leadership of our guests, seeking new insights to help us all lead our teams, communities and families better.
We also frequently share additional content and insight from our interviews across our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Youtube, and TikTok. You can learn more about The Great Coaches, follow our channels and explore our website from our new Linktree page.
The Four Cs with Dell McGee
This week we were joined by American Football Coach Dell McGee, who shared with us the concept of the ‘4 Cs’ which define the culture of his team at Georgia State: Connection, Commitment, Competitiveness , and Composure. He also speaks about the power of vulnerability, and the necessary role it plays in shaping that vital commitment pillar.
We also discuss purpose, and how a clear understanding of it acts as a unifying force across the team, driving effort. Dell also explains how this understanding of the purpose helps coaching staff to motivate their athletes, leading them to push the right buttons.
Finally, I think there’s a lot to be learned from what Dell says about navigating 'hostile times’; he stresses the importance of getting neither too high nor too low — a great reminder to all of us to focus on the way we react, respond, and display our emotions.
Make sure to catch the full interview now, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Questions For Reflection
What are the pillars which define your team’s culture?
What are the purposes that drive the people in your team?
How well are you able to regulate emotional ups and downs during tough times?
This Week’s Guest
Dell McGee | Copyright: Georgia State
Dell McGee is an American Football Coach.
As a player, Dell played for the college powerhouse that is Auburn before embarking on a professional career that included stints with the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions. Upon his retirement, he started coaching as an assistant at the High School level, eventually becoming a High School Head Coach and leading his team to win the 2007 state championship.
From there, Dell moved into coaching University teams, eventually going on to join the Georgia Bulldogs as their Run Game Coordinator and Running Backs Coach under Kirby Smart.
After eight years with the Bulldogs (helping them to national championships in 2021 and 2022), Dell was announced as the Head Coach of Georgia State in 2024.
On Great Teamwork
We also released another special episode last week, ‘On Great Teamwork’.
Running a successful team where people work together efficiently and effectively is something that a lot of leaders find daunting, so for this episode we were joined by two Great Coaches — Lisa Alexander and John Kessel — to explore how they managed it, and to identify the practices and ideas that can help all of us to encourage great teamwork.
One highlight from the conversation was hearing Lisa describe her experience of building teamwork through a focus on the mechanics and dynamics of the people involved. This, she tells us, is underpinned with good conversations which lead to improved connection and — ultimately — a sense of shared team identity, which she describes as “Sisters in Arms”.
Another highlight was John’s comments on trying to catch people ‘being good’. John is someone who has experience in both the athletic and corporate worlds, and from that experience he has realised that this emphasis on promoting and identifying good work is considerably lacking in the typical workplace.
This was a fantastic discussion, and I hope that it will help you with your own team going forward.
“I often think it's almost like a dance. that's where I see the truest sense of teamwork.”
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“The more grey you have, the less commitment and buy-in that you have.”
New Club Success
This great article looks at the story of San Diego FC, Major League Soccer’s newest club.
Despite being the fresh faces on the pitch, San Diego FC have been making waves within the MLS Western Conference, and this is largely due to their origins as a part of the Right to Dream project — an initiative that brings together players from all backgrounds and genders to help them reach their playing dreams.
A fantastic short read that will no doubt be of interest to those of you looking to hit the ground running with new teams or groups.
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