John Herdman, the most successful head coach in the history of Canada soccer, came to Toronto FC at the tail end of a miserable season for the club. When great athletes rack up terrible results, he diagnoses Sports trauma. Herdman has been there before. He works with a team of people and trusted methods to break that bad spiral. The worst thing about trauma for Herdman, is that it brings laxity, teammates giving each other permission to deliver less-than-best efforts. There are many ways to approach the problem, but the one thing he won’t tolerate is shaming. Herdman goes back to his own childhood in figuring out how to improve teams. School was humiliating for him, a kid with undiagnosed ADHD. His openness about personal experiences can be arresting. When Anastasia asks what he would have done differently in light of the Canadian Mens’ poor results at the FIFA World Cup last year, Herdman bluntly says he should not have gone to Qatar. His team wasn’t ready, he wasn’t hungry for the win, and a tragic event within his own family left him in no condition to bring the proper fight to the World Cup. It is unusual, uncomfortable even, to hear so much honesty from anyone, let alone a sports leader. But the thing about Herdman’s candour is, he makes a listener believe. So when he’s asked how he plans to turn around Toronto FC’s recent humbling, he reminds everyone that this is the only team in the history of MLS to win the triple crown. They took the Supporters’ Shield, the Canadian Championship and the MLS Cup in a single season. Why wouldn’t you have optimism for that club? WARNING: This episode includes discussion about suicide.