Welcome to the The VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who have battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory, one story at a time. All right, hello, hello, and thank you for joining us today as we travel from NFL safety to life's MVP, where we explore the ultimate transition, leveraging elite discipline to coach youth and find purpose-driven leadership with wise sports. Today's guest's core purpose is uncovering the root issues that prevent optimal performance in health and life. the definition of a perseverance and excellence. In his final season at Syracuse University, he delivered career best numbers, 78 tackles, 10 pass defended, and three fumble recoveries, cementing his reputation as a defensive force. He represented Team USA in the 2003 Gridiron Classic and consistently ranked among the top playmakers in the Big East Conference. From high school standout to collegiate leader, his journey is a masterclass in resilience, grit, and peak performance. But as many of us know, true leadership often begins when the spotlight fades. So I met Will the past summer when signing up my youngest son for flag football. However, as a longtime Syracuse football fan, Will has always been on my radar. His time at Syracuse ended around the same time as the storied Paul Pascalone era. But that's not what brought me to Wise. Will has redefined himself and built an entirely new reputation with U Sports. Friends and neighbors both told me about how Will Hunter's WISE sports programs were a great way to introduce kids to organized sports. I was not disappointed. I even volunteered and coached a few games when needed. Will Hunter's journey from the demanding structure of the NFL to founding WISE programs to mentor youth is perfectly aligned with the VICI Code mission of exploring breakthroughs and purpose-driven leadership. Will, Of course. So every show we like to jump straight into the early stages of your success. And that kind of paves the way for some breakthroughs, some challenges. So we want to get into the athletic and personal breakthrough. Let's talk about the end of game, right? You achieved the dream, playing for the Minnesota Vikings after a standout college career, where you earned the Coach Mack Award for intensity and focus. What was the most significant challenge, both mentally and personally, of Oh, man. It was... At first, when I first left, it was... I didn't believe it. And then as more time went on and not getting the opportunity to go back out there and prove that I belong out there, it's when the depression started to set in. And really, you don't even realize that you're starting to become depressed. It just kind of all of a sudden you wake up one day and it's like there's nothing. You feel empty inside. You feel like You don't have, you know, a part of your life is just gone and it's missing. And you go from a structured routine year round to, you know, well, what the heck do I do now? Kind of thing. And then then the other side of it, what direction do I go? What do I do now? I've been playing football for so long. This is all I know. It's I mean, it's it's hard to explain. It hits everyone different. Especially those that leave not on their terms. You get the guys that actually decide to retire and then you get guys like myself who unfortunately are forced to retire without even getting another opportunity to compete out there. But at the end of the day, I think it. I think things played out the way they were supposed to play out. Do I miss it? Would I have loved to go back and try it again? Absolutely. But, you know, God had a plan for me and it didn't it didn't mean playing another two, three years of football at Amen, brother. Yeah, I can't say I know what it's like to be in your shoes, but with my military background, when I got out of the military, the same questions, the same identity crisis hit me, like, you know, what do I do now? Who am I? Like, you know, so much of my identity was in my performance of what I did on a day-to-day basis and trying to reinvent myself was tough. You know, there's the fear of what's next and the identity crisis of like, well, who am I now without that uniform? You know, we both wore uniforms. Can you tell us what led to the breakthrough realization that your next purpose had Um, I always knew, um, even from a young age, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and a coach. Um, I think, I started to work with kids a little bit more, and I started to feel fulfilled, almost. Like, this is what I wanted to do. And what happened was I started training some kids first, and then another program came around, started training some of those kids. And I felt rejuvenated. I felt like my energy was coming back. I felt like, you know, after all these years, this is what I've been talking about. And this is what I wanted to do. And then I saw some of the kids get better. And that is where I felt the most satisfied and the most fulfilled is that, oh, wow, this is I said, I want to do this. And now I feel I got the feeling of doing it. And it almost replaced it. It wasn't immediately that it. The NFL, but over time, I started to wake up and look forward to teaching and look forward to coaching, and it just kind of gradually came over me that this Yeah, I think you hit on something really important that a lot of entrepreneurs out there that are listening that, you know, you just got to know, like you just started, right? It wasn't like this, let's spend several months trying to figure out what I'm going to do. You just went with the first thing. You started training somebody and that led to the next thing. And I love that because a lot of times there's paralysis by analysis. A lot of people suffer from overthinking things, where with you, it just came natural. You went straight towards where you could make the best difference. I spend a lot of time in youth sports. You've seen me. I've been on the field with the kids when I can. I spend a lot of time with baseball and other sports too, wrestling. It's like giving a gift, right? There's nothing better than making someone's day or letting someone know how much you care about them by giving them a gift. And that's what I feel with coaching youth sports. is you get that warm feeling of like, man, you know, I'm really helping out. I'm really making a difference. And it's a double reward because not only do you get to do that, but over time you get to see that progression. You got to almost, it's almost like, not that we should be living this, like, how can I do it better? But like, we've learned our lessons. We've seen where we've made mistakes and we can kind of make it right by passing that on. So those are two really great aspects of that answer. Now, I want to kind of go back a little bit further to your time at Syracuse. You were named the director's honor roll and were team captain at Syracuse. How did you balance the intense fitness and training demands of football with the discipline needed for academic excellence? Because in your time with, you know, you sports, there's also that other side at that age of, of academic excellence and, and getting the most out of your education. How did you balance I think, um, coach P, uh, you know, we'll give a lot of credit to him cause it was his program at the time. I think, uh, he said not only did he set the standard, but, um, he presented a routine. And once you accepted the routine for what it was, didn't try to change it, didn't try to do more, didn't try to do less. You kind of accept the routine for what it is. And then you just kind of everything kind of plays in it. I don't know if I'm saying it right. Everything kind of moves into place. So, you know, he set the routine. This is you got breakfast, you got class, then you got study hall, then you got practice, then you got study hall, right? It was already scheduled out and laid out for us. And then again, with anything you do, when you do it consistently, it becomes part of you. And so, you know, those first couple years of Doing this consistently, it just kind of made it easy for for me and for a lot of my peers at the moment at the time to just kind of do our best. And the best part was I wasn't always a strong student, but they provided resources for us. So we had the help that we needed. We didn't have to go searching for it. We had, you know, at the time computers was big. Now everybody has one. So we had the access to the computer lab to get all our work done. So everything we needed was always in one location. So we didn't have to go over here to try to get something done. So it kind of made it easy. And then, like I said, we had not only did we have the resources around us, we had people in place that were able to help us maintain. So, you know, as far as their their side goes, but my side was this is something that I know I wanted. Not necessarily breaking a generational curse, but I knew that if I didn't succeed here, what would become of me and what would become of the dream that I had for, you know, my mom. I told my mom I would go off and do good things. And, you know, she was always my motivation throughout college. And just kind of, I just wanted it, man. At the end of the day, I just wanted I love that. It started with a promise. How, how great is that? That's awesome. And you made good on that promise. And I, and I, and I think where you were getting to with, you know, uh, James Clear wrote atomic habits and he said, and he's coined the term systems over goals. And what you described was a system. There was a system in place to help you build, uh, uh, good habits and those habits, built a structured lifestyle, I find that I rise to the occasion when things are the hardest. When I have the least amount of time, I tend to be more structured and I'm able to fit more in. I'm able to get more accomplished. And I think that's a little bit of how things work for you. There was a system, then there were good habits were formed and before you know it, it just became a part of your daily routine. And you know, that's just so important for, um, anybody in sports and in the uniform forces, that's what we bring. We bring that structure to our business life. And that's a big part of what makes us successful is we know that motivation comes and goes, but discipline and systems are here to stay and they're here to follow. And when you have success and you're managing more people, those systems become an asset. You can follow those systems and train people to do things how you do things. So I love that approach. So we also hear that, you know, there's always athletes and even, you know, people in the uniform forces that end up having financial challenges, you know, how did you, how did, what was the toughest financial challenge you or your peers faced when transitioning out of the league and Good question. I think when, Uh, when you're, you're trying to transition when you're in it, you don't think about what's going to happen after. Um, so you don't necessarily be preparing yourself and I think, um, and I digress for a second here. The NFL at the time when I played. didn't have this resource. But since I have left and been part of the alumni and stuff like that from the NFL, they have now implemented systems where there's people to help you transition. And no matter who you are, how old you are, you're going to always need help sometimes. And football players, You know, maybe just athletes. I don't know if it's all uniform personnel. But I do know. And we touched on this earlier, we played this game for a very long time, and then you get to the highest level and it's all you know. Right. So when it's over, you don't think about, well, damn, I should have saved my money. I should have did this. I should have did that. You're thinking about Um, you know, and then the other side to is, you know, you come from nothing, right? You come from absolutely nothing and and you're getting these big checks and you're like, whoa. You know, I haven't seen that before. You know what I mean? All these zeros. What do I do with it? So you go out, you splurge, you buy things. I honestly want to say I was a little more conservative with my money. I wasn't just I wasn't buying the fancy cars and the jewelry and stuff like that, because I always knew being as I was a free agent, I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn't last very long. As good as I was, I felt I was very, very good football player. Obviously, you can't make the NFL if you're not a good football player, but not getting that second opportunity, you know, was devastating. So I was kind of preparing, but I was also hoping that I got a second contract so that I can really show what I'm capable of and then really set some money aside. So we, you know, I got married in 2005. So I played a year, then I got married and, you know, two years after that, I played two years after that. So we were, we were preparing for the opportunity or when I left football, uh, financially anyway, not mentally, but the financial part was, so we set some money aside. Um, and the one thing I would tell each player is, set 10% aside, at least 10% of your checks, every single one of them and just put it away. Don't touch it. Don't look at it. And you'll, you know, you'll be set for a few years after you retire. So I was set, um, you know, for a few years, uh, I think, you know, life happens. And then you go through the depression part that we talked about a little earlier, where you don't want to go out and just get any old job. You know, you feel your pride wouldn't let you do these things. So you put away your nest egg and then, you know, before you know it, you know, life, life happens. And then you're right back, you know, kind of where you started at. So I would say, you know, it was the challenge was, you know, trying to, if you can get out and still have your mental not going to that depression hole, I think you'll be fine as long as you put the 10% away. But if you have all these life challenges that Yeah, I'm so glad you said that, because yeah, it's great to put some money aside if you can do it, because you came from an era where there weren't a lot of resources there for getting into the league and getting out, onboarding and offboarding. It was just, here you go, here's checks. And not all the guys come from money, so they don't know how to manage money. So they're just kind of like, hey, life is life, let's go. But I would agree, if you can get out healthy, physically and mentally, there's always a chance. You had an opportunity to get an education, and you've got people skills, you've got a brand that you walk away with, that if you can walk away feeling good, and you may not have all the money, that's something to be grateful for, and that's a blessing. Like you said, though, for the younger generation, start putting that money away sooner than later, because you don't know what's gonna happen. You can be elite one second, one snap later, you ain't coming back to the field, right? So, yeah, I'm really happy. I remember when I was in college, I thought of like, there's gotta be this program that like trains these athletes, because they make so much money for the university and yeah, they get their free ride, but like, you know, what are we doing beyond education? How are we preparing them for life? And I'm glad that they're doing a lot more now for these athletes. And I feel like they have to now because of, of, you know, paid athletes at this point, you know, how do you manage that while you're also managing basically a full-time employee as a, as a athlete, but, and also the academics. So I'm glad they have more of those programs now. But let's switch over to what you're working on now. I want to talk about the core of the WISE program. The name WISE program suggests a focus on the inner motivation. What is the biggest challenge facing the youth you mentor today? And what is the purpose-driven breakthrough that your I want to say the biggest challenge. Well, there's two challenges that I feel are kind of equal. One, Kids, they don't, I don't know how to say, they don't want to play unless it's organized. So that's a challenge. And then two, A lot of them feel, and I don't know if this is the parents, you know, putting this pressure on them, but a lot of kids in my mind feel like they're being pushed into the sport. And it might not be in this sport that they like. One of the things that Wise would like to provide is a fun atmosphere. Uh, we want you to, when you come to us and our accurate, you know, our saying is prepared to play the game, right? So, and we're not just referring to the game, the sport, you know, that we're teaching, we're referring to sports in general, but also the life portion of it. If you believe in yourself, and this is what we want people to take away. If you believe in yourself, no matter what it is you decide you want to do, whether it's sports or other. If you believe in yourself, half the battle is won. You've already accomplished many, many things, and you didn't even realize it from the simple fact that you believed in yourself. And then you just got to go out there and try it. And, you know, no matter how many times you fail at it. something that you if it's something that you want to do, you gotta keep going at it. You gotta keep staying with it. You're gonna fail many many times in the process but with and again, same thing we talked about in college, right? The repetition part part of it. The more you do things, the better you become at them and that's what we're trying to teach you here at Wise. We want you to go out and be good, productive young men and be respectful of your Yeah, so important, right? Self-love leads to confidence, and confidence leads to, you know, overcoming obstacles, because life's going to hit you all the time. You may think you're over the hump. There's no such thing. You know, God tests us in ways to prepare us for, you know, his vision that he wants us to fulfill. Having those core positive mental attitudes, self-worth, leads to the confidence and the resilience to overcome things. Those are really good lessons, and we see those every time we come on the field and spend time with you, Will, so we appreciate that. How do you leverage your experience in high-pressure roles like, you know, playing safety to teach kids about focus, effort, and positive attitude, the qualities that earned you the Coach Mack Award? I think that that's part of it. One is simply, you know, telling my story. Letting people insight and get an understanding. Oh, well, if he can do it, you know, I can do it kind of thing. And then just leading by example, you got to be the person that you, you know, you're preaching to these kids. Otherwise, Listen up people, he just said it, be authentic, share your story, let your team know, right? And lead by example. Those two things will take you so far in your business. You know, you can overcome. a subpar product or service if you're just authentic. You may not be the best, but if you're just authentic, that just resonates with your team. And leading by example, you know, it doesn't matter what the employee handbook says. It doesn't matter what your core values are, your mission. If you're not living that, no one's going to buy into it. And Will, I see it every time you live those ethos and it's really special to see the kids you know, relate to that. Now, let's get into the purpose pillars and leadership. Leadership with faith and family. You've gone from being a player to a defensive coordinator to assistant head coach and now head coach and a program leader. How has your approach to leadership changed? I don't think it has so much in that You know, I am who I am. I'm going to bring the same effort and energy to everything that I do. And the one thing I like to do is when I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. And I'm trying to bring my kids in to understand that same thing. You have to handle your part of whatever it is you're going to apply yourself into. And then the rest will take care of itself. You can't do what other what someone else wants you to do. You can't do this. Can't do that. You have to be you. You have to approach everything with one hundred percent effort and attitude. And then Yeah, I agree with that. How does your commitment to faith and family guide your purpose today, especially in deciding where to invest your energy with the WISE program? I think if I, one thing we had, my family and I had talked about is how can we bring, you know, our faith into the WISE programs. So we, We felt at the end of the day, we really couldn't, you know, do that because we deal with so many people with so many religions and backgrounds and all this other stuff that kind of play into it. But, you know, I do wake up in the morning. I pray that I was able to wake up. I pray that I'm able to keep running the Y's programs. I pray that he, you know, put good fortune on myself and those I'm able to come in contact with. So there is the faith-based piece there. So we do believe that, you know, without him, you know, none of these things are possible. But then, you know, as far as, you know, with dealing with the kids and getting them to understand that part is really, again, we go back to just walking by, you know, walking by faith, man, just being the person that you are. And again, setting the example. And then, you know, when there are opportunities to bring, you know, our faith into it, you know, we take advantage of those when those opportunities present themselves. But I mean, again, just at the end of the day, just being, you know, like you said, being authentic and walking, walking Walk the walk, right? Yeah. Now let's talk about what's going on next with you. The ultimate goal of the Vici Code is to inspire breakthroughs. What's the biggest personal or professional challenge you are focused on overcoming right now in scaling the impact of I don't think we have any, aside from having our own space, I don't think we really have any challenges. One of the things that I pride myself on in the Y's program is that when players come to me, they come in, most of them come without any skill. When they leave me, they have a skill. They have something that they can hang their hat on. That's why we say prepare to play the game. I've had several kids come into my program, you know, who couldn't walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. Now they leave, you know, now they're passing out bubble gum. You know what I mean? That's where we feel we've done the best thing is that we don't want you to stay with us forever. You know, man, God, please trust me. I would love for you to stay forever. But I want you to go. I want you to come to me, get prepared and then go try it out somewhere else. And if it's successful, I did my job. If you're struggling with it, come back. Let me show you something else and then go try again. So that's kind of where we are, man. I would love I love the fact that I seen kids come in and down their starters on their varsity football team. Some of them are even in college. I think we're probably two years into kids going to college where we first started now. Yeah. So, yeah, man, like that kind of stuff is awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I even have a couple of guys or a couple players stop in. You know from when they come home from college just to say hi and stuff like that. It is it is the most fulfilling Yeah, and I think that's the community-oriented aspect of WISE that makes it so successful is it's about paying it forward. It's about mentoring. It's about really having an impact on the community. And, you know, it's so cool to see those kids move up from, you know, my son, he's just turned five. He started when he was four, moving all the way up. My older son, who spent a season with you a few years back, you know, he's now a junior in high school. And, you know, it's great to see that, you know, it's true. The sports just show you so much more about life than the sport itself, winning and losing. It's how to win, how to lose, how to be a teammate, how to, you know, it's just more. It just teaches you that life's just more than just you and you guys do a fantastic job with that. Um, you recently accepted a head coach job this past fall at a local, uh, Syracuse high school. Looks like there was some positive momentum toward the end of the regular season where you guys finished the season with two straight wins. Can you reflect on the season and tell us how you manage juggling responsibilities as Um, I think, you know, having, uh, having some support here at home, kind of plays a big role in that. You know, my family is very supportive. They're here when I need them. They're out of the way when I don't need them. I think the school itself, you know, providing the resources for us to be successful and for us to come in and focus solely on football, I think that helped. I think just being able to compartmental to lie. I don't know. I'm screwing the word up here. Put things in this place in order how I want to do them. And then again, going back to the routine thing, right? I have a routine of how I want things done. And then I said my family and then my coaching staff, I can kind of delegate some of this stuff where it's not too heavy. It's not too stressful where I'm, you know, doing both of them at taking those systems that you learned from Coach P and implementing them into your business. And that's just how it's done. There is a balance between nurture and nature, right? It's people and systems. But without the systems, you're not doing people any good. So it's good you have that. Now, we're coming towards the end. Based on your journey from the NFL to mentoring, what's one final piece of tough, purpose-driven advice you would give any listener who is at a crossroads in their career and Do what makes you happy. Do what makes you happy. And then when you're in a position, I go by the motto, each one teach one. When you're in a position to give back, I really, truly believe in it. Hopefully it is not just me, but I really, truly believe when you give back and you see the transition in the person that you're giving back to or the people you're giving back to or the company or whatever it is, when you see that transition of them going from this place to that place, man, you're truly fulfilled. Yeah. You, if you do what you love, you don't work a day, right? Perfect advice. Now, where, where can people find you? Uh, the wise program, how can they find you? You have, you're on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Um, they can find us, um, few places. Our website is wise programs.com. That's W-H-Y-S-P-R-O-G-R-A-M-S dot com. On social media, just at Y Sports, you'll be able to find us. The minute you type W-H-Y-S, it starts to show up. I think we've been very active on social media for some time now, so just typing those four digits will, Beautiful. And so just want to go over a couple of key takeaways for our audience. Have the courage that's required to navigate career transitions. As Will has shown, you can do it at various stages in your life. I mean, really, we're constantly changing our career when you think about it. Even at an early age, we're going from middle school to high school to college. Those are all really important career changes when you think about it. It builds character each along the way. When you think you're on a path, have the courage to understand that it's okay to transition. I started my business at 41. Most people who become millionaires, they don't do it until they're 50. That's a real stat, right? So do what makes you happy, do what makes you fulfilled, and navigating that career path, that career transition becomes a lot more easy. And then the power of transforming athletic discipline into life purpose, right? You learn so much from athletics, so many aspects of life. If you weren't athletic and you didn't participate, you know, don't rob your children of that. Get them involved in something. Let them get dirty a little bit, right? Let them mix it in with the kids. There's so many life lessons. And then just please remember the profound impact of teaching youth, you know, the wise, you know, to get better, hone in your skills and, you know, be there every step of way. Give them the skills that they're gonna need later in life. Will, thank you so much for your honesty and your continued commitment to youth leadership. We thank you so much. We hope we could do this again. We'd love to maybe do this maybe next year or so, see how the next season went for you and God Thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels