The Real-Life Coach Who Inspired Ted Lasso
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A few weeks ago at the Golden Globes, Jason Sudeikis won the award for Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy for his performance as Ted Lasso, the American football coach who goes to England to coach professional soccer. It turns out that character is based, in part, on a real-life coach from Sudeikis’s past. The Athletic’s Rustin Dodd recently tracked down that coach, and Rustin joins us today to talk about how the relationship between him and Sudeikis helped inspire an iconic character all these years later.
Read Rustin Dodd’s story about Jason Sudeikis, Donnie Campbell and Ted Lasso: https://theathletic.com/2430910/2021/03/15/ted-lasso-jason-sudeikis-coach-kansas/?source=theleadpodcast
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Transcript
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| 0:58.0 | Little windy, little windy as my other Red I would say. |
| 1:00.0 | At the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, Jason Sudakis took home the prize for best actor in a TV series, musical or comedy. |
| 1:06.0 | For his role as Ted Lasso, the American football coach who goes to England to coach the other kind of football. |
| 1:13.0 | Football's football man, where you play it, you got grass, you got cleats, you got helmets with masks on. |
| 1:18.0 | And it turned out the character is based in part on a real life coach from Jason Sudakis this past. |
| 1:23.0 | The athletics Rustin Dodd recently tracked down that coach and Rustin joins us today to talk about the relationship between the two |
| 1:30.0 | and how it helped shape an iconic sports character so many years later. |
| 1:34.0 | You know, Jason still remembers this guy 27 years later and still can remember, you know, a funny thing he said or, you know, |
| 1:42.0 | the folksiness about him wore the things he taught him, even while they don't necessarily have a close relationship. |
| 1:51.0 | From Woodrey in the athletic, I'm under Skelto. It's Thursday, March 18th, and this is The Lead. |
| 1:57.0 | Yeah, that's when sports and art combine, as far as I'm concerned. All right, Phil, let's run again. Let's go. |
| 2:02.0 | It felt like something great was happening. |
... |
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