International TEAM (4) Consulting
For more than four decades, Coach Scott Ricardo has helped teams, athletic departments, educators, students and organizations build winning cultures on and off the field.
A former collegiate coach, athletic director, and educator, Ricardo brings over 45 years of experience in team leadership, performance systems, and athlete/student development. His career includes coaching and recruiting roles at major universities including Washington State University, University of California Berkeley, Central Washington University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Humboldt State University. He is the Founder/President of Summer Institutes. Over 26,000 teachers have enrolled in his University of Pacific graduate levels courses since 1987.
Today, he works as an international TEAM consultant, helping teams, coaches and educators implement proven systems that improve performance, culture, community mentorship and results.
Why International Teams Hire Coach Ricardo
Teams seek outside consulting when they want a fresh perspective and proven expertise. Coach Ricardo brings:
45 Years of Coaching & Leadership Experience
22 years of NCAA coaching experience and 39 years as Founder/President of Summer Institutes Consulting.
International Consulting Experience
Proven consulting experience in Europe, including expert game film analysis and professional scouting reports.
Multi-Sport Coaching Insight
Proven systems for building winning teams and developing community TEAM culture across multiple sports.
Youth Mentorship & Leadership
Founder of the "We Believe in Youth" Mentorship Program for "hard to manage" youth and creator of "The Power of 4…The Strength of TEAM."
Most importantly, he coaches everyone that, great teams are built through TEAM systems, not individuals.
Building Winning Programs with Signature Coaching & Teaching Systems
Throughout his career, Coach Ricardo has created several innovative systems designed to improve team performance and culture. Coach Ricardo has helped programs improve performance not only through tactics, but through passionate culture-building systems that create sustainable success.
Examples include:
TEAM Port Townsend & Hughson Initiative
As Athletic Director, Ricardo created a community-driven program that united athletes, parents, and supporters. The initiative dramatically increased attendance and community engagement while raising over $60,000 to improve athletic programs at both high schools through Celebrity Sports Auction / Dinner / Dance Fun…Fundraisers. RESULT: Increased community attendance, program visibility, and generated major funding for athletic improvements.
Passionate Team Intervention System (PTIS)
A performance and discipline framework developed by Ricardo that combines leadership psychology, accountability systems, and team culture principles to improve focus, accountability, and cohesion in competitive environments as well as in challenging classroom settings where student engagement and behavior management are critical. It helps teachers & coaches identify potential culture problems early and address them through leadership development and team ownership. RESULT: Improved classroom/athletic discipline standards, stronger team cohesion, and higher TEAM performance accountability.
We Believe in Youth Mentorship Program
Founded by Ricardo, this peer-mentorship initiative paired student-athlete leaders with youth identified as difficult to manage or at risk of falling through the cracks. Beginning with five student-athlete mentors serving five youth, the program expanded in just two years to twenty mentors supporting over one hundred struggling youth. The program gained national television recognition through the Children's Miracle Network for demonstrating how student-athletes can positively influence younger students through mentorship, encouragement, valued trust and accountability. RESULT: Expanded from 5 mentors to 20 mentors serving 100 youth and earned national television recognition.
Creating Sponsored Booster Clubs
While working with Humboldt State University Lumberjacks, Coach Ricardo founded the "Old Jacks" Booster Club, a community-supported organization whose members contributed annual dues and provided sponsored jobs, meals, and housing assistance for athletes. The program strengthened the relationship between the team and the community while creating practical support systems that helped athletes succeed both on and off the field. RESULT: Built long-term community support networks providing financial assistance, employment opportunities, and housing support for athletes.
THE POWER OF 4
In addition to team consulting, Coach Ricardo is also available to deliver leadership presentations such as "The Power of 4…The Strength of TEAM," a motivational and practical program designed to help athletes, coaches, teachers and organizations understand the principles that create strong teams and successful cultures. This presentation has been delivered to athletes, coaches, students, and leadership groups and focuses on the four essential pillars that create strong teams and successful organizations.
The message teaches that great teams are built when four core elements work together:
Purpose
Understanding the mission of the team
Preparation
The daily commitment to improvement
Passion
The energy and enthusiasm that drives performance
People
Trust, respect, and accountability within the team
When these four elements align, they create the Strength of TEAM, where individuals work together toward a common goal.
The message has been especially powerful with:
  • Athletic teams
  • Hard to manage youth
  • Student leadership groups
  • Coaches and athletic departments
  • Educators
  • Community leadership programs
The presentation emphasizes that winning teams are not just built through talent, but through shared values and disciplined teamwork. When the TEAM wins, the individual succeeds.
A Leadership Philosophy by Coach Scott Ricardo
Throughout Coach Ricardo's career as a coach, athletic director, educator, leadership consultant, Founder/President Summer Institutes, he discovered that successful teams—whether in sports, classrooms, or organizations—are built on a simple but powerful principle:
TEAM.
TEAM is more than a 4 letter word. It is a framework for how individuals grow, perform, and succeed together as winners. Winners remember each other…forever.
At the center of every successful team are four essential elements:
T – Time
Great teams understand that improvement requires time. Time spent practicing, studying, preparing, and supporting teammates creates the foundation for success.
E – Effort
Effort is the daily commitment to give your best. Talent alone does not build champions—consistent high level effort does.
A – Attitude
Attitude determines how individuals respond to adversity, mistakes, and challenges. Teams with the "We Not ME" attitude build trust, resilience, and accountability.
M – Mystery
The most fascinating letter & element of TEAM is "M" for Mystery. Mystery represents the unknown potential within every person. Every athlete, student, teacher, or leader has abilities that have not yet been discovered. Those hidden strengths remain a mystery—until the first three elements, T, E, & A are mastered. When individuals commit to Time, Effort, and Attitude, something powerful happens:
  • Their potential begins to reveal itself.
  • Confidence grows.
  • Leadership emerges.
  • Performance improves.
  • The Mystery disappears. The "M" of TEAM reveals itself to be an upside down "W" for Winner!
What once seemed impossible becomes achievable.
What European American Professional Football Teams Gain From Summer Institutes/Scott Ricardo
Organizations that work with Coach Ricardo gain access to decades of elite coaching insight.
Consulting services may include:
On-Field Services
  • Game film analysis and opponent scouting
  • Offensive strategy by using speed, power and deception
  • Expert Offensive line play and run game systems
  • Practice planning and efficiency systems
  • Game preparation
  • Play calling with a no-huddle 4M Tempo (from wishbone to shotgun 5 wideouts without substitution)
Culture & Development Services
  • Coaching staff development
  • Team culture and leadership development
  • Athlete motivation and mental performance
  • Organizational and program development
  • Staff communication systems
"These consulting relationships include game-day remote press box scouting via FFFH TV and WhatsApp communication, weekly opponent scouting reports, film breakdown, and game strategy consultation—helping European coaching staffs apply advanced American coaching methods to their teams."
International teams often face unique challenges:
Limited Practice Time
Developing Coaching Staffs
Rapid Player Development Needs
Limited Finances
Coach Ricardo's consulting model helps teams accelerate their learning curve by implementing systems that have been tested at the collegiate level. Teams seek outside consulting when they want a fresh perspective and proven expertise.
International American Professional Coaching Experience
Coach Ricardo has worked with teams and organizations in both the United States and Europe.
In 2015, he was invited to Sweden to consult with the Uppsala 86ers of the European American Professional Football League and the Swedish Sports Federation, assisting with offensive line development, coaching systems, and team strategy.
Since then, he has continued to provide remote and in-person consulting for the Catalan Grizzlies in Perpignan, France, helping coaching staffs improve preparation, scouting, game planning, and player development.
His consulting work focuses on helping teams accelerate their learning curve by applying high-level collegiate coaching methods to developing programs.
Multi-Sport/Competitive Education Consulting Expertise
While widely known for his expertise in American football strategy and offensive line play, Coach Ricardo's consulting work extends across multiple sports and competitive environments.
He has successfully worked with educators, teams and coaches in:
  • Wrestling programs
  • Girls and boys' basketball teams
  • High school athletic departments
  • Classroom Management
  • We Believe in Youth development programs
  • Suicide Prevention
His approach focuses on universal team principles that apply to every sport.
What Owners & Coaches Say
"Coach Ricardo has a unique ability and passion to see what teams need to improve immediately. His insights helped our staff improve our preparation, communication, strategies and techniques, all in the first month of our season!"
— Mike Mitchell, Former Head Coach, Upsala 86ers Sweden American Football Team
"His experience from the NCAA level gives European coaches a tremendous advantage. Our coaches & players benefited immediately from his knowledge and leadership."
— Martin Sodenberg, President Upsala 86ers, former President of the Swedish American Football Federation (SAFF)
"I have been to hundreds of clinics and Scott Ricardo's Summer Institutes sits at the very top of that list. As both a presenter and alumni of SI, I can unequivocally say that it opens the door to being your best."
— Coach Golden Pat Ruel, Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl World Champion
"On and off the field, your energy, your passion and your dedication have made a real impact on all of us. You pushed us to become better players and better people. It's been a privilege to learn from you and to share this experience together. Your love for the game is contagious, and you've left a mark that will stay with this team for a long time."
— Coach Farid Kachour, Catalan Grizzlies
TEAM Beyond Sports
TEAM is a universal concept. Wherever people work together toward a shared goal, the four elements of TEAM determine their success.
The Mission of Summer Institutes
The philosophy of TEAM is the foundation of Summer Institutes, the leadership and education organization that Founder Scott Ricardo founded nearly four decades ago.
Summer Institutes was originally designed to help educators and students grow professionally and academically. Over time, the mission expanded to support leadership development across many disciplines.
Today, Summer Institutes promotes the idea that every profession can benefit from the TEAM philosophy, including:
Education
Athletics
Business Leadership
Youth Programs
Community Organizations
Our goal is simple: To help individuals and organizations unlock their potential by mastering Time, Effort, and Attitude so that the Mystery of their abilities can be revealed.
Remember: The Power of TEAM
Scott Ricardo's life's work has been dedicated to helping people discover something powerful:
When individuals commit to Time, Effort, and Attitude, their hidden potential begins to emerge.
The Mystery becomes opportunity. And when individuals discover their potential together, something even more powerful happens:
They become a TEAM.
Consulting is available in person or remotely for teams worldwide.
Why Hire Scott Ricardo
The most important reason to hire Scott Ricardo is simple: he is a proven overachiever who turns adversity into winning success.
Athlete
  • Member of the 1970 Undefeated Football Team – Turlock High School Hall of Fame
  • Member of the 1972 Undefeated Wrestling Team
  • Senior wrestling record 45–2 with 32 pins (still a school record more than 50 years later)
  • Five-time Outstanding Tournament Wrestler Award winner
  • At Subsections and Section Championships, pinned undefeated opponents in the finals in under 30 seconds
Despite these accomplishments, Ricardo lost his first match at the State Championships and received no scholarship offers in football or wrestling.
Instead of quitting, he walked on at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. At 5'10", 197 pounds, he earned starting positions as both a linebacker and wrestler.
During his time at Cal Poly, the football team achieved a 7-1-1 record, including major wins over Fresno State and Idaho State, and a hard-fought tie against Boise State.
Coach
As a collegiate coach, Ricardo developed a reputation for defeating teams with superior size, speed, and athletic talent through technical excellence, preparation, and innovative offensive line strategy and toughness.
Washington State University
As Head Junior Varsity Coach, his teams defeated their rivals, the Washington Huskies, two consecutive years after a decade in which no WSU team had beaten them.
Central Washington University
Helped transform a 10-year losing program into a #2 final national ranking, including a victory over #1 ranked East Central Oklahoma.
Humboldt State University
At a non-scholarship program, his teams defeated higher-division scholarship schools including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Saint Mary's, and UC Davis.
Championship Fundamentals
The images below illustrates one of the most important technical advantages in football—low pad level. Many developing European players struggle with this fundamental skill.
Players who maintain proper leverage, like Humboldt State All-American Center Chris Butterfield, gain the mechanical advantage necessary to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Proper pad level creates success in run blocking, play-action passing, and drop-back protection.
In critical 3rd-and-long or 4th-down situations, Coach Ricardo teaches adjusted techniques such as the standing two-point stance to maximize balance, vision, and pass protection efficiency.

These details may seem small—but championship football is built on mastering fundamentals.
The Bottom Line
Winning with less-talented players is one of Coach Ricardo's greatest strengths.
Through technical expertise, disciplined preparation, and a powerful TEAM culture, Scott Ricardo helps owners, coaches, and players in European American football organizations build programs capable of competing for championships.