Ted Lasso is a popular series on Apple TV+. It is about an American football coach who is hired to coach a professional soccer team in England. As Lasso struggles to understand an unfamiliar game and help his players work as a team to be successful, he utilizes a variety of philosophic ideologies to achieve his goals. Other academic and professional areas have used some of these ideals to achieve better outcomes in students or employees. No attempt has been made to link the lessons of Ted Lasso to college science. Students who take microbiology are nursing, biology, premed/vet students. These students need to achieve good grades in this course to succeed in their major. The stress these students feel is high. How do college science professors help these students achieve and maintain excellence while being cognizant of their mental health? Characteristics of Ted Lasso and his life lessons can and should be used in how we teach and mentor our microbiology students. These lessons, used in a college science classroom, can increase student success and lessen student anxiety. Of particular importance are using empathy, understanding, positivity, humility, resilience, and humor daily. Students appreciate being told that they should be a goldfish when something does not go right (i.e. poor exam grade, bad lab results); rather they should focus on the future. After instituting a Lasso-like classroom, all students were surveyed. Every student (100%) said they felt their professor conveyed that she believed in their ability to succeed in microbiology, showed empathy and encouragement, was positive, provided humor and a safe and nurturing learning environment. Using a Lasso –like classroom resulted in students saying that although the course material was challenging, they loved the classroom environment which was happy, fun, amazing and enjoyable.
