Episode 49

Dr. Klint Pleasant has spent his career doing things that don’t fit neatly into one box:
Head Coach. Senior Vice President. Doctor of Education. Father. Son of a Legend.

He grew up literally living in the dormitories of a college his grandfather built, watching his dad coach, pastor, teach, and lead all at the same time. Basketball was the world he knew.

It’s also the world he eventually had to outgrow.

We covered:
→ How post-traumatic growth differs from post-traumatic stress, and why the distinction matters
→ What 28 years of coaching taught him about servant leadership and trust
→ Why he turned down a major coaching opportunity
→ The role mentors (like Don Meyer) played in shaping who he became
→ His take on AI in higher education and why he still won’t let a machine write for him

Klint has an incredible depth of character that I’ve only seen come from going through hard things.

Thank you Klint for being so open about Rachel, the fear and the growth that came from it. Thank you for sharing such an incredible story.

Chapters
0:00 – Introduction & Teaser
1:20 – Meet Dr. Klint Pleasant
2:40 – Appointed President of Southwestern Michigan College
5:36 – On Nervousness, Change & Denzel’s Quote
6:20 – Career Origins & Family Roots at RCU
9:11 – Playing Football in Texas & Leaving Home
10:42 – Learning Under Don Meyer at Lipscomb
12:05 – Kent State’s Cinderella Run & the Elite Eight
14:39 – Mentorship: The Common Thread
18:08 – Servant Leadership & Ego
23:09 – Rachel’s Brain Crisis: The Night Everything Changed
29:36 – Post-Traumatic Growth: Pain as a Teacher
43:15 – Why He Said Yes to the Presidency
56:53 – Faith in a Public Institution
57:15 – AI, Human Intelligence & the Pilot Analogy
1:06:34 – What Success Looks Like at SMC
1:11:39 – Enrollment, Culture & Building Trust

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