In the world of college athletics, there's a version of success that looks like a rocket ship. You start at a mid-major program, you grind, you move, you climb. Each stop is bigger than the last. Each title is more impressive. Director. Associate AD. Award winner. You are, by every measure anyone in the industry would use… arriving.

Louisiana Lafayette. Then Marshall. Then Baylor. Then the University of Miami. Then Georgia Tech. That was the career trajectory of our guest on this week’s episode, Chris Yandle. Onwards and upwards.  

And then, in 2016, at one of the most prestigious athletic programs in the country… he was fired. There's something nobody tells you about rocket ships. The higher they go… the harder they fall.

For nearly a decade, he poured everything he had into college athletics. He moved his family four times in nine years. He chased titles, bigger programs, bigger platforms. And somewhere along the way, the work stopped being something he did… and became everything he was.

And when it all came apart — and it did come apart — he was left with the hardest question a person can face. Who am I… if I'm not this?

The road back wasn't linear. It never is. There was therapy. There was teaching. There was a PhD. There was a communications job outside of sports. There were handwritten notes slipped into his daughter's lunchbox that became a book titled Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad's Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter. And then one day, standing in a Target in Lafayette over Thanksgiving — his phone lit up. The Today Show wanted to do an interview about his notes to his daughter. And then, the Kelly Clarkson Show called. 

The comeback was longer than the climb. And it was worth every step.

This episode was produced and written by Brandon Barca and Andy Boggs.

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Lucky Enough: A Year of a Dad's Daily Notes of Encouragement and Life Lessons to His Daughter

Dad pens over 600 inspirational notes for daughter – Today Show

Dad Writes Daily Lunch Notes To Help Daughter Overcome Bullying – Kelly Clarkson Show