From Sidelines to Lecture Circuit
From playing football at the University of California–Berkeley to working as an NFL agent to leading Parish Episcopal School to a state championship twice, Scott Nady is showing no signs of slowing.
Though he stepped down as head coach from Parish in 2016, after 13 years, Nady said he is hardly retired.
Since 2005, Nady has spoken at more than 60 leadership conferences across the nation.
In January 2016, he launched his own motivational-speaking business with clients from Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits to sports teams and rehabilitation facilities. His ultimate goal is to impact people’s perspectives.
“When I’m a coach, mentor, advocate, and friend,” Nady said, “that’s what feeds my soul.”
He builds his presentations around his core tenets: the importance of persistence and perseverance, understanding the definition a bad day, and lining up what’s important.
“The only talent I think I’ve [had] that helped me achieve anything in my life is the complete … inability to give up,” he said.
As a speaker, Nady draws from his own life’s experiences and adversities, including when his son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
As someone who had spent his adult life working with athletic young men engaged in physical activity, it was tough to hear “that it wouldn’t be the same path for your own boy,” Nady said.
The news, Nady said, forced him to dig deep and become a better person.
Nady said being a motivational speaker allows him to spend more time with his son and cover the high costs of his son’s therapy.
He brings to the role lessons learned coaching such as the importance of making connections and the power of words to change someone else, Nady said. “I think to some degree, I’ve been motivational speaking for 17 years.”
Nady also works with the Dallas-based nonprofit New Friends New Life, whose mission is to help sexually exploited and trafficked teen girls and women.
When he learned hundreds of young girls are on the streets of Dallas each night, Nady’s reaction was “bone marrow deep,” he said.
Hoping to reach males at a young age, Nady lectures to high-school football teams and is developing a curriculum for college football programs, educating young men about sex trafficking, and developing healthy, respectful relationships with women.
He doesn’t rule out coaching again.
“If the right coaching opportunity came along, I would definitely take a strong look at it,” said Nady.
However, for Nady, the right opportunity does not mean an easy one. “I’m a challenge junkie,” he said. He thrives on the struggle of building a program, one of tremendous unrealized potential.
“If I can find that setting,” he said. “I’d jump on it with both feet.
“And I would continue to be a motivational speaker.”
