Lucais MacKay

Parker’s Dad | Throws Coach @ University of Arizona | Georgia Grad | NCAA Champion | All American

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

From sleeping on floors & packing lunches @ convention to being able to present! Have goals, put in work and give back. Know where ya came from & give thanks! #ustfccca #modestoca #callutheran #southeasternlouisiana #oklahomastate #pennstate

[USTFCCCA @USTFCCCA]

Lucais MacKay of @PennStateTFXC has a large crowd for his Technical Symposium entitled “Unconventional Approach to the Weight Throw” at #USTFCCCA18.

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

@Theoldp Been trolling like this since 99’

[Petros Papadakis @Theoldp]

I do it on purpose because of this!

[Arizona Basketball @ArizonaMBB]

Tucson is in good hands.

Ivan Kharchenkov is back.

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

@_OwenM_ Doin the Lord’s Work 🙌🏽🏟️🏃🏼‍♀️ 🏃🏽‍♂️

[Owen @_OwenM_]

Track meet links for this weekend 👇

Kip Keino Classic - https://t.co/HbrCBUudS8

London Marathon - https://t.co/SvkaSW739o

Penn Relays - https://t.co/TsPdp86Cr1

Drake Relays - https://t.co/mhm7uHvKpu

MJ Invitational - https://t.co/t6SlzGhTxk

LSU Alumni Gold - https://t.co/coFeNCqf4P

Joe McDonnell Invite - https://t.co/6jnzRU4QFq

PURE Athletics Spring Invitational - https://t.co/rlFJ1v9npY

39th Multistars - https://t.co/Mp3fwDev8K

BFFTA Outdoor Series 1 - https://t.co/28dI1apWsa

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

Come out to 👀

[Big 12 Conference @Big12Conference]

Field is Set for 2026 Big 12 Beach Volleyball Championship Presented by Allstate

Play will begin on Thursday, April 23, featuring all six of the league’s programs in a two-day event on the campus of the University of Arizona. Teams will compete in pool play for the opening day before moving on to a single elimination bracket on Friday to crown a champion.

📍 Tucson, Arizona
🏆ℹ️: https://t.co/4KXe8ZLoQ5

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

Only in SLO!

[Cowboy Gospeler @CowboyGospeler]

Cal Poly Rodeo Team's second annual Break-A-Wave bareback bronc riding on Pismo State Beach.

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

@letsrundotcom Let the Discus Throwers have their wind-aided facility. They can achieve marks & standards that allow them to almost make a living

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

@ironmikeluke He Goin Get Hizz..

[Track & Field Gazette @TrackGazette]

AMERICAN RECORD!!!🤯🤯

Sam Mattis 🇺🇸 has just gone out to a big Personal Best (PB) of 72.45m in the men's Discus Throw at the Oklahoma Throw Series in Ramona!

He breaks the 43-year-old American Record of 71.32m set by Ben Plucknett and goes 6th on the alltime list!

[Beau Throws @beau_throws]

From Camryn Rogers’ story 😂

Put this in the Louvre

[Paul Hof-Mahoney @phofmahoney]

CAMRYN. ROGERS. 81.13M IN ROUND 3 AT TEXAS RELAYS! SECOND WOMAN EVER OVER 81M AND THE 4TH-BEST PERFORMANCE IN WORLD HISTORY!

THREE THROWS LEFT

[University of Arizona @uarizona]

“BUT WHY DO THEY SAY ‘BEAR DOWN’ IF THEY’RE THE WILDCATS?”

Class is in session. Our topic? John Byrd “Button” Salmon. ↓

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

PRAISE THE LLOYD 🏀🌵🙌🏽@ironmikeluke

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

Incredible pull from @stevemagness ~ Appreciate the parallel from T&F to 🏀‼️ Great Read

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Arizona's was Down 7 to Purdue at halftime of the Elite Eight. Their first Final Four in 25 years slipping away.

Coach Tommy Lloyd walks to the front of the locker room and says: "Guys, the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now. You guys figure this deal out."

There wasn't some huge speech. He walked out.

Every instinct in a coaches body says to give the movie style inspirational speech. Light a fire, demand more, sound like Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday...

Lloyd did the opposite. He left 5 minutes on the clock and sent a key message to the players: This is your team. I trust you to lead it.

The veteran players took charge. They'd been through the tournament losses before, helped with emotional regulation, and reiterated that they still had a shot.

Freshman Koa Peat said afterward: "They told us to keep going. Can't get too high or too low. Just stay even-keeled."

Arizona outscored Purdue 48-26 in the second half. They had zero turnovers and shot 51.6% from the field.
Second half: Arizona outscored Purdue One.

They put on a clinic.

When asked why he did it, Lloyd said after the game:

"The most powerful thing in a team sport is a player-led program. The coach, you have to help them navigate it, but when you can get the players to own these moments, you are just so much better."

He said he'd done it four or five times this year and it worked every time.

There's a mountain of science behind Lloyd's approach

In 2003, researchers Mageau and Vallerand found autonomy-supportive coaching, giving athletes choice, acknowledging their perspective, and avoiding overt control, consistently produced more motivated, more resilient athletes.

Controlling coaching did the reverse: higher burnout and lower resilience.

This is at the heart of one of the most theories in psychology, Self-Determination Theory

When people feel autonomy, competence, and relatedness, you get the highest quality motivation.

When a coach trusts his team to figure it out and right the ship, he's handing them all three at once. It's the ultimate signal of trust when his team needed it the most.

Lloyd built a culture where the players internalized the stuff that matters.

A 2025 meta-analysis by Clare and colleagues looked at 50 studies and over 17,000 athletes.

They found that team captains had nearly twice the effect on performance as coaches did.

Coaches help set the culture and expectations. They guide good leaders, but the players look to who else is in the arena with them.

We need peer pressure in the positive direction.

Lloyd understood this. Too often, as coaches we think we need to "do something." That instinct pushes us to over control, to grip the wheel harder.

When so often, what we need to do is trust that we've guided them the best we can, and show them the trust they deserve.

Steve Kerr once did something similar with the Warriors, telling his team that he was sitting out and they were coaching the team for a game.

Build the culture. Coach the team up, giving them the skills and ability.

And then sometimes, you've just got to step back, tell them you believe in them, that it's there team.

That ownership and self-belief is the fuel of the purest motivation.

Sometimes, when we're struggling, we don't need all the answers. We just need to hear that we've already got the inside of us. And to give us that belief to go get it done...together.

-Steve

Research:
Mageau & Vallerand (2003)
"The coach–athlete relationship: a motivational model." Journal of Sports Sciences, 21(11), 883-904.

-Clare, Hardy, Roberts, Tod, & Benson (2025)
"Do Leaders Actually Influence Sports Performance? An Integrated Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses." Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 47(4), 205-222.

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

We were on the 🛫 @ LAX with 30 T&F Athletes & it was a slightly less loud version of this exact reaction 🙌🏽

[Erika Day @erikaleaday]

“We need a Delly 3 like we need oxygen to breathe”

GOT IT. BANG.

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

Tommy said “Delly’s gonna be there when we need him the most.” Here is THAT moment 🙌🏽🌵🏀

[Kevin Thomas @KevoPosts]

Anthony Dell’Orso always comes through when he’s needed

[Alex Rabb @AlexR64_]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! OUR ARIZONA WILDCATS ARE GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR!!!!! BTFDDDDD!!!!!

[Lucais MacKay @CoachLucais]

@JustinESports @BigGameWildcat @ArizonaTrack Was aboard return flight from competition when the game finished! Final 4 🙌🏽👏🏽 🐻⬇️🏀🌵

[CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 @CBSSportsCBB]

Koa Peat, Brayden Burries, and Ivan Kharchenkov have been integral members of @ArizonaMBB as freshman all season long.

We spent some time the Wildcats to learn more about the terrific trio.

[Saul Bookman @Saul_Bookman]

This is my type of ASMR

[Preet Majithia @preet_athletics]

@CitiusMag ready to roll at World Indoors. Looks like some epic lighting effects in store!