In a way, David Heeb is still coaching.
Although he's currently the superintendent at Prairie Home R-5 School District, Heeb has spent so much of his career coaching basketball, that it's shaped his course as an educator.
With a little free time over this past winter break, Heeb came up with the idea of Just Win Today. Two months, 43 states and 13 countries later, Just Win Today has become a full-blown blog and message board where contributors can share stories of motivation and spread positivity.
"I coached for several years, and I talk to former players all the time, guys I coached against, etc. and I give out a lot of advice," Heeb said. "One day somebody said, 'You should write a book.' Well the idea hit me to do this instead."
Heeb has coached high school basketball in Sikeston, Bell City and Caruthersville. He's also coached women's college basketball at Robert Morris University in Springfield, Illinois.
His previous stop was as a principal at Pivot Charter School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was there, in August 2015, where Heeb was in a near-fatal car wreck. Laid up in the hospital for 20 days, he found himself on the other end of the positive messages and advice.
"I was by myself and so lonely and just going through such a hard time physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually," Heeb said. "I got hundreds of texts and calls and messages. That really got me through a hard time in my life. I know first hand how the right words from the right person can make your day better."
So while the inspiration for a website like Just Win Today goes beyond Heeb's coaching experience, it was a coach who provided the inspiration for the site's namesake - Coach K, to be exact.
Mike Krzyzewski, widely known as Coach K, is the head men's basketball coach at Duke University. As the winningest coach in college basketball history, he's mentored countless players, coaches and spectators throughout his career.
Years ago, Heeb attended a men's basketball practice at Duke and one phrase he heard Coach K say more than any other was "Next Play." When applying the phrase to real life, Heeb related it to simply having good days and bad days.
"I just try to make every day a 'win,'" Heeb said. "It's just a mentality that you can't fix what happened yesterday and none of us are promised tomorrow. All you have is what is right in front of you - today. So make today a win. Just Win Today. If you do that enough days in a row, good things start to happen."
Heeb acknowledges that bad days, or losses, will happen, but that it's all about putting them in the rearview. And it's much bigger than what happens on the field or court.
"I think at some point in all of our lives we go through some kind of struggle," Heeb said. "We have problems with our finances, relationships, personal lives, with our job, with our health, etc. Basically, we all have 'losses' in real life that we have to bounce back from.
"Sports isn't the only place to learn how to bounce back from these losses, but it is one of the things in my life that helped me learn how to cope with hard times."
While the initial set up took some time and tinkering on Heeb's part, Just Win Today has become relatively self-sustaining. While some of Heeb's own posts are like expanded quotes of the day, others draw heavily from people in his life, such as teachers, coaches and players he's crossed paths with along the way.
Currently, the contributor community for Just Win Today consists of Heeb and five others. James Hollywood, Jack Walls and Lucas Nutt are all former players Heeb either coached or coached against. Michael Brawley was the student manager at Scott City High School where Heeb did his student teaching and Holly Jo Engle is a teacher from Blytheville.
"My eventual goal is to build a community where everybody shares their own story," Heeb said. "I hope to keep building the site up to the point that my part of it is very small and everybody else does most of the talking. I think that will happen.
"I would love to get contributors from all over the place. I get just as much inspiration from their stories as I hope they get from mine."
To learn more, visit justwintoday.com or 'Like' Just Win Today on Facebook.