Mick Unplugged — Damon West: Transforming Rock Bottom into Maximum Impact

Podcast Host: Mick Hunt
Guest: Damon West
Release Date: July 28, 2025

Overview

This episode of Mick Unplugged features Damon West, a former Division I college quarterback who spiraled into meth addiction, led a burglary ring, and was sentenced to 65 years in Texas prison. After a harrowing journey through hardship, incarceration, and reformation, Damon turned his life around and is now an acclaimed speaker, author ("The Coffee Bean"), and inspiration to NFL teams, corporations, and universities. Damon discusses his rock-bottom experience, the lessons he learned in maximum security, and his now global mission of spreading transformative leadership, the “Coffee Bean” philosophy, and relentless personal growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Day Everything Changed: Damon's Sentencing

• Opening Impact: Damon relives being sentenced to 65 years (a life sentence in Texas) on May 18, 2009 ([00:00]).
  • “The jury gave me life that day, or as they say in prison terms, six dimes and a nickel.” — Damon West [05:20]
• Background: Damon grew up in Port Arthur, TX, came from a good family, was a high school and college quarterback, but after injuries led to addiction, his life unraveled.
• “Addiction doesn't care who you are, where you come from.” — Damon [07:45]

2. Addiction Knows No Boundaries

• Meth’s destructive force and misconceptions about it and addiction ([06:42]–[08:43]).
• “Addiction touches every one of us — whether you’re an addict, the victim of an addict...or just a taxpayer.” — Damon [08:17]

3. Facing Family, Friends, and Accountability

• Damon discusses the humbling confrontation with his parents and the reality of lost trust ([09:10]).
• “You earn trust by the spoonful and you lose it by the bucketful. On May 18, 2009, I dumped the whole bucket.” — Damon [10:22]

4. The Mindset Shift: Promises & Survival in Prison

The Promise:

• Damon's mother: “No gangs, no tattoos. Come back as the man we raised or don’t come back at all.” ([11:57])
  • “I was stunned. How was I going to deliver on this promise?” — Damon [12:52]

The Reality of Prison:

• Advice from other inmates: Only survival is to join a gang, but one man — Muhammad, a lifelong inmate — offers different wisdom ([13:59]).
  • “The strongest man in prison always walks alone.” — Muhammad (relayed by Damon) [15:51]
  • “You don’t have to win all your fights, but you do have to fight all your fights. Just get back up.” — Muhammad [16:04]

5. The Coffee Bean Parable & Its Transformational Message

The Parable:

• In a boiling pot (prison/life), you either turn soft like a carrot, hard like an egg, or change the whole environment like a coffee bean ([16:36]).
• “If you ever shut yourself off to people because of their differences...you could miss some of the most important lessons and some of the best friendships in this life.” — Damon [17:31]
• “The coffee bean...the smallest...has the power to change the entire atmosphere...Just like the power inside of you.” — Muhammad (via Damon) [18:46]
• Keys to survival and growth: resilience, refusing to victimize yourself, and influence over your own environment.

Application:

• Damon urges everyone, leaders especially, to “be the coffee bean” in the midst of adversity ([20:10]).
  • “The power’s inside each and every one of you.” — Damon [22:22]

6. From Prison to Purpose — Damon’s Rebirth

• Damon explains turning his prison experience into a spiritual awakening and opportunity for servant leadership ([24:11]):
  • Teaching fellow inmates to read, preparing them for GEDs—a shift to selfless service.
  • Upon release, he spends years living in his parents’ spare bedroom, rehearsing his presentation in the mirror, waiting for his chance ([24:54]).
  • “You either find an excuse, or you find a way in life.” — Damon [25:21]
  • “There’s no such thing as an overnight success...you gotta get in your reps.” — Damon [25:57]

7. Breakthrough Opportunity: Meeting Dabo Swinney

• Damon’s big break comes via a chance meeting with Clemson’s Coach Dabo Swinney after being rejected by every other coach at a major college football awards show ([29:55]).
  • “The voice in my head is telling me I don’t belong there...Sometimes, the voice in your head is fear talking to you. And you don’t want to listen to fear because fear is a liar.” — Damon [30:18]
• Dabo is profoundly moved and brings Damon to Clemson, then connects him to Nick Saban, John Gordon, and more ([31:53]).
• “If I listen to the voice of fear and doubt that night, we’re not having this conversation today. And the world doesn’t have the coffee bean message.” — Damon [36:41]

8. Going Global: The Coffee Bean Book & Legacy

• John Gordon calls Damon and proposes co-writing the book, which becomes a worldwide bestseller ([34:55]).
  • “The world becomes a pot of boiling water [in 2020], and that’s when the world discovered the coffee bean guy.” — Damon [35:20]
• Key mentorship: “Don’t ever change your message. Too many times in life, people don’t see results fast enough, then they change their message. Stay on your message.” — John Gordon (via Damon) [38:50]

9. Why Damon West Does This: The ‘Because’

• “I think everybody deserves redemption. And I think at some point in life, we all need redemption.” — Damon [40:43]
• The emotional search for Muhammad (the man who shared the coffee bean parable) and honoring his legacy:
  • Damon discovers Muhammad’s real identity only to find he died before Damon’s release ([41:57]–[43:15]).
  • He connects with Muhammad's family, restoring their memory of him and starts a scholarship in his name ([44:46]–[45:57]).
  • “I really believe...he told me that story so that one day I could come back and redeem him. Because everybody deserves redemption.” — Damon [45:52]

10. What’s Next: “Six Dimes and a Nickel” Book & Vision

• “Every chapter is a different lesson...at the end of it is a reflection piece on how you apply the lesson in your life.” — Damon on his upcoming book “Six Dimes and a Nickel” ([46:25])
• Mick pledges support, including a bulk order for an upcoming leadership event and challenges listeners to do the same for a future in-person book signing ([47:55]–[49:24]).

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• [02:00] “Human beings are capable of way more than they think. We allow overthinking to get in the way of overcoming.” — Damon West
• [16:04] “You don't have to win all these fights, but you do have to fight all your fights… Just get back up.” — Muhammad (via Damon)
• [20:45] “You were always closer to it than you even realized. You just gotta keep going.” — Damon
• [21:47] “People don’t always remember what you say, don’t always remember what you do, but they always remember how you make them feel.” — Damon, quoting Maya Angelou
• [30:18] “Fear is a liar… Instead of listening to myself, I talk to myself.” — Damon
• [36:41] “If I listen to the voice of fear and doubt that night... the world doesn’t have the coffee bean message.” — Damon
• [38:50] “Stay on your message. The world will come to know you for what you stand for.” — John Gordon (via Damon)
• [45:52] “Everybody deserves redemption, Mick.” — Damon

Notable Segments & Timestamps

• Life Sentence and Addiction Backstory: [00:00]–[07:45]
• Facing Parents & Accepting Responsibility: [09:10]–[11:18]
• Muhammad’s Coffee Bean Lesson: [13:59]–[19:41]
• Coffee Bean Philosophy Applied to Leadership: [19:41]–[22:33]
• Sports as Salvation in Prison & Servant Leadership: [24:11]–[25:57]
• Dabo Swinney Encounter and Breakthrough: [29:55]–[36:41]
• John Gordon & The Coffee Bean Book: [34:55]–[36:54]
• On Message Consistency & Breakthroughs: [36:54]–[39:53]
• Finding Muhammad’s Family & Redemption: [40:43]–[45:57]
• Upcoming Book - "Six Dimes and a Nickel": [46:25]–[47:55]

Takeaways for Listeners

• You control your environment by refusing to become a victim of it—be the coffee bean.
• Integrity, rep-count (“reps”), and persistence are required for real change.
• Redemption is possible for everyone and can even come full circle by changing other people’s stories.
• Never abandon your message in the face of slow progress — “stay on message.”
• Fight your battles, even when the odds are against you, for that’s the only way to earn both survival and impact.

Resources & Follow-Up

• Damon West’s Website & Booking: damonwest.org
• Pre-order "Six Dimes and a Nickel" on Amazon ([46:25])
• “The Coffee Bean” book (with Jon Gordon)
• The Coffee Bean Guy Story: WFAA feature on YouTube

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