Transcript
Speaker: We have six weeks. Okay. You think you're here six weeks and you're like, oh, that's great. That might be 30 training sessions that you have before you go and put a helmet on and you play spring ball. So in your mind, you have 30 opportunities to get better here. You don't have six weeks. You have 30 opportunities. That's how many times we train.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden week two goes by and you go, we have 25. And week three week three comes along and you're like, we're down to 20 or we're down to 19. How are you doing in terms of the day-to-day? And I think that just, to me, one of the big messages almost every day I have with guys is be where your feet are.
Speaker: yeah It's a 12 game season. I don't want us thinking about game nine or 10. I want us thinking about right now week to week, how do we get better? How do we improve? Welcome to the Captains & Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host, Tex Quilkin, and today I'm on campus at UMass Amherst with Minutemen football head strength and conditioning coach, George Green. The Minutemen are off to a strong start this football season.
Speaker: Most coaches get a new team every single year. Coach Green got a new team in six months. And he does not treat the weight room just X's and O's and sets and reps. This is where he feels culture gets built, where captains learn to lead, where confidence comes from preparation.
Speaker: Today we talk about peer-to-peer accountability, hiring people who aren't you and why leadership has to be felt and experienced in the room to be expressed on the field.
Speaker: Thankful to Coach Green for opening up the doors if there's a lot of tools and things and pieces that you liked about it. encourage you check out the education that Captains & Coaches provides. Head to captainsandcoaches.com, click the Education tab up top. I got two awesome in-depth courses in there that combine lecture and practical movement-based leadership tools.
Speaker: One is why they're not listening. This is how to reach the individual and take that problem-resistant kid and aim to turn them into a leader. The next is going to be funishment. This is how you lead the mental and emotional state of a team and bring it together, establishing a culture for your program.
Speaker: A lot of the tools in these lessons we discuss and talk about in this episode. With that, let's hand it off to Coach Green. Talk men and football. Here we go. Ready, ready, and break.
Speaker: Maction, intentional pun there because I'm on campus at UMass, Minutemen football, sitting down. Coach Green, how we doing, man? I'm doing great. Appreciate you coming through. Dude, I mean, 3-0.
Speaker: yep Excited for that. And we were talking books to get us started, and I'm staring at an All Blacks jersey. yeah I've been to New Zealand. I get the culture. Read Legacy, and then Culture Code breaks that down. So let you are connected to Legacy. I i mean...
Speaker: To hang a jersey in the office got to mean something because imagine the young man ask about it. So what is representative from legacy that you're aiming to accomplish and bring to the Minutemen here? I think, you know, first of all, it's one of my, you know, all-time favorite books. I've read it a couple times. I feel like every time I read it, I get something new out of it. And um it's a book.
Speaker: I read in the back end of last season, the jersey was actually a gift from one of my former staff members, Coach Jeff Stern, who's now the head strength coach at Springfield College. Sweet. im Also a big fan of the book. So it's something that to me that resonates in just in terms of the culture. I'm fascinated by teams, organizations, people um that try and build systems, processes, refine them, and then ultimately sustain them. And I think that book represents a lot of those things, if not all those things. yeah Yeah, and sport is that beautiful thing where we're training, we're preparing, we install, and then we set free.
Speaker: Yep. And we need to go back, test, retest, and see what worked on the field, off the field. And then that's the beauty of sports. It's reset every single year. Yep.
Speaker: And speaking and reset, the team this year, we got like 50% new dudes, and it showed up on the first Saturday of the season. So I want to go through the whole summer process, even into the the fall. like when did When did it start to aim to change the culture to now represent and set up that first week one win, which is, I mean, one of the biggest upsets of the year so far?
Speaker: Something be proud of. Yeah, honestly, it's a special group. it you know It all stems from our head coach, Coach Harry Simeak, and the vision that he has for this program. um you know But really, it started back in January more so than even in the summer with yeah you know really instilling those things with this with this new team um and you know developing the two things that he talked about the most, the head coach, connection and and toughness. And i think those two things go hand in hand, um especially as it relates to peer-to-peer leadership. right It's hard to lead somebody that you're not connected to. And in 2026, it's very important that you find a way to connect to your team as quickly as possible because there's new faces. we are pretty much every year. That's what we face. That's that's the inevitable truth. So um it started in the winter, get them together as much as humanly possible, get them to compete.
Speaker: um in everything that we do that's important to our program and we measured it, we scored it, we put them in teams in order to accomplish that. um And then throughout the summer just continue to get those guys around each other as much as possible. And a lot of that happens organically with the the training process in our facility, whether it's on the field working out, our groups are mixed, offense, defense, there's not it's not um you know they're not just training with their side of the ball.
Speaker: So some of it's forced early and then organically, lot of that takes shape. And, you know, the coach has put together a great roster of great human beings that, Honestly, a lot of that happened outside of our facility where they connected together and um you know you could tell they really believe in the vision and the values that our head coach has instilled in them. so Yeah.
Speaker: And so you get the opportunity with January training into summer training to instill this belief in themselves. Because coach, he talks to them, he gets them here, and then he hands them off to you.
Speaker: and they have previous experiences, whether they were a high school student coming to college for the first time or they're at a previous college. So what is January like to change their perception of what college athletics could be that I you know imagine it was or i had a negative experience?
Speaker: What's that first couple weeks like to understand what UMass football is? I think ah one thing that's really important to me, important to our staff, important to the, you know, I introduced you to to Coach Ibin, to Coach Jimmy on the front end, I've got a great staff. I want our guys to want to come in here. I think that's that to me is first and foremost. like These guys come in from all over the all over the country. like This is an extension of their locker room.
Speaker: you know So the way our our our building is set up, their locker room is attached to the training and the training is attached to the weight room. It's one giant locker room. um I'm here really early in the morning. I'm here late into the evening, which most transition coaches are. yeah But a lot of that is honestly set up for these guys. like I want them here because, one, they'll be together.
Speaker: and two it allows us to create relationships and when you have a relationship at the end of the day like you can get guys to do a little bit more than someone that just is kind of off the street hey this there's it's just a transactional communication transactional relationship so you want it to be you know to be deep you want to get to know them as quickly as possible so you got to keep them in the building and you got to get them in the building yeah um i think as early as you can you got to show guys value and And that can come from, you know, a guy walking in and and we I meet with every one of these guys on their visits. We sit one-on-one in my office just like this. I have a presentation, but a lot of it is questions I'm asking about them, their background. Who'd you train with when you were at your last school? What'd you like? What'd you not like? What are what are the your goals? What were some of your goal body weights there? You know, start to get start to really formulate a conversation that allows them to see it.
Speaker: it The vision will be for them as much as it is for the team. um Because the faster you can get them to buy in, the faster that you're going to, know, you're going to get them to work as hard as you want them to work. um But to me, that's that's probably the biggest part is then how can you show them value? So if it's a guy that, hey, i work you know, i you got a guy coming from ah maybe a smaller school, didn't have the resources, I really want to gain weight.
Speaker: who all of a sudden they see that scale going up, their lean body mass going up, you're testing body comp, you're testing body weights weekly, you're talking to about nutrition, you're hammering those things, this guy gains eight pounds in two weeks, all of a sudden he's like, all right, I'm in. you know How do I continue to kennedy to do that? So I think the big part of it early is like, get them excited about coming in, get them excited about being here. and And I think we really saw that this year. That's that's something we take a lot of pride in. Yeah.
Speaker: 6 a.m., 8 a.m., once training for most. So we try to do everything we can to give these guys the opportunity to get great sleep. So our workouts won't start at 6 a.m.
Speaker: There are days because of academically we have to go a little bit earlier. But we have our guys come in, and we have typically a 30 to 45-minute window in the morning where they have to get here before we start training ah where we have training tables. So our guys have to come. They have to check in, eat- breakfast. They have to get into the training room. And a big component that Coach Harasimiak believes in is we've got to instill great habits and routines for our players and help them understand what works for them. um So getting them to eat in the morning. Some guys eat a little bit more, some guys eat less, but you've got to have something in your system.
Speaker: You've got to do prehab, take care of your bodies, get in the training room in the morning. Some guys need more, some guys need less. But early and often, we get them in a routine that sets them up so when we get to – you know, September, October, it's on autopilot. They don't have to think, this is what I do before, this is what I do after. um So that's ah that's a big part of it.
Speaker: Yeah, it's at some point it gets hard. ye So then you lean and you fall back into your behaviors and your routine. Correct. So establishing what works for you That's awesome.
Speaker: So now I want to spend time with the the training process. We were talking a little bit before where you assigned captains in the off season. So how many different teams, how many people are on a team and how are the captain selected? All right. So we had we had eight teams this year. And, you know, just based on our roster size, it was about ten guys or so on on each of those teams. Captains were selected by our by our head coach in terms of who we felt like were guys that we wanted to put in leadership position.
Speaker: whether they were returners or guys that were that were just coming in. um And we split them up into groups. They picked their own team name. We did a draft, which they obviously enjoyed. um And you know this the the process to me is one, like i think off-season development is is critical. You've got to get guys stronger. You've got to get guys faster. A huge part of it from a physical development standpoint is we wanted to measure what matters to our program and compete in what matters to our program, not just...
Speaker: do competitions for the sake of competitions, right? So there's your there's your doses of the tug of wars and your traditional stuff that you might see that's you know competitive off-season conditioning because it's fun, right? we and And there's a dose of that.
Speaker: But a big part of it is we want our guys to put on lean body mass. All right, we're going to measure our body weights and You're going to get a negative or a positive based on what direction you're going and and those types of things. um We're going to measure we're going to measure speed. We're going to measure strength gains. We're going to measure um performance outputs on the force plate and board, things that we test and assess. Clean squat bench, like the the basic, the big three movements. You're getting better, you get points. You're you're having a reduction in those things, you're having negative. yeah um So there's the physical part, the the team building and leadership standpoint.
Speaker: you got negatives for things out off the field so if you went to um you know you were late to class that was a minus for your team if you were late to a lift it was a minus for your team those types of things now and if you go to community service, you get outside and do things that we had assigned that you had the opportunity to earn points for.
Speaker: um You can do that. So in the community, getting together, so connection, building toughness, getting routines, all built into a competition that hopefully um you know each and every year can build and and grow. But I thought it was a lot of a lot of fun and also revealing and yeah gave great opportunities to coach um our leaders and also opportunities for our leaders to coach our players. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: So a few questions on that one. Was there Mr. Irrelevant? Does he know he was the last pick? ah Yes. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Was it it like a badge of of pride and honor, a chip on the shoulder? How'd he take it? he He took it. He actually took it well and he did a good job. Yeah.
Speaker: All right. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I mean, to get it. There's always one. There's always got to be somebody. Yep. So, I mean, no, no shame in that. It's an opportunity to like, all right. yep Yep. This is how they see me. um Are the draft announced, like the results announced, like yeah is it revealed like the NCAA bracket?
Speaker: Like how are they? how they So we actually owned a team that we actually had um each of our captains come up and read off their team. Okay. Yeah. That's cool. um Yeah. I like how you put dudes in place and that shows that they showed potential and you get to have the fun conversation where it's like,
Speaker: man, we got a big year this this year. I see this potential in you and we're going to give you a whole offseason of reps. Yep. So what was that that encouraging conversation like to put the ball in their court and saying, hey, this is a great moment.
Speaker: yep And you're going to have every single day to to build your cohort of eight getting you ready for 80. Right. right Yeah. I think with each of them in in that conversation and in in the conversation with with our head coach, like Coach H,
Speaker: you know, getting that message that, hey, we want you to be a leader in this in this offseason program. This is a huge offseason for our team, how important it is and how much we believe in you. I think each each guy in there was like, hell yeah, like fired up to do it and honored to do it and and didn't want to let anybody down by not doing well in that. And that's what I would say for all eight. Obviously, there's there's winners and losers. There's teams that did great teams that didn't every one of them.
Speaker: did a really, really good job. And those are guys that are doing a really good job right now in our program too. So it was really cool to see that. Yeah. yeah I mean, leadership takes reps. yeah so And then it's it's amazing that y'all there in mentor positions.
Speaker: Yes, we're getting strong, powerful, and fast, but also shaping how you communicate to your team. No question. And then the the weight, pun intended, and responsibility that I got to lead this group. Right.
Speaker: And they're open to receive feedback. And I mean, it it showed up on the field. So i'm I'm curious about the the messaging and the communication because when when does football schedules, when do they come out? Like at what point, if we're training in January, April, when is the schedule announced?
Speaker: The MAC schedule is a little bit later. Typically the non-conference schedule is earlier. Like I think we had that probably going into January. But the max schedule probably came out somewhere around March or April Especially with Sac State being added late and stuff like that. So that stuff was a little bit later I think the normal but sometime usually in the middle of the spring. Okay, and so now lead in guys and I mean utilizing motivation Motivation got to be continuously refilled Do you lean into the schedule and letting guys know we got X amount of days left and who's who's up first? Right. I think there's always a to me I always like to remind guys of how quickly it goes by
Speaker: And so a lot of times I'll have on there, hey, like, and it has nothing usually to do, especially in January, with how close the game is. But it has more to do with, okay, we have six weeks. Okay, you think you hear six weeks and you're like, oh, that's great.
Speaker: I'll break that down. and don't quote me on this because i don't remember the exact number. But that might be 30 training sessions that you have before you go and put a helmet on and you play spring ball. So in your mind, you have 30 opportunities to get better here. You don't have six weeks. You have 30 opportunities. That's how many times we train.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden week two goes by and you go, we have 25. And week three week three comes along you're like, we're down to 20 or we're down to 19. How are you doing in terms of the day to day? And I think that just to me, one of the big messages almost every day I have with these guys be where your feet are.
Speaker: yeah It's a 12 game season. I don't want us thinking about game nine or 10. I want us thinking about right now, week to week, how do we get better? How do we improve? in terms of taking care of our bodies, making sure our body weights are right right now, and then continue to build every every week. And off season, it's kind of the same message. We have this week, we have this training session, this warmup is the most important warmup of our life. Like I'll say things like that to them, because I want them to understand, like, you gotta to be where your feet are. It's not what's after this, it's what's right now. And I think that's hard for,
Speaker: um myself included, i think most people, especially younger people, it's, you're always thinking kind of ahead versus right now. Yes. So in in line with that, I mean, game one, we had we can use it for for months and weeks ahead as motivation. yeahp So you had this date circled on the calendar and then nobody outside this building gave you a fighting chance. So how has that turned into fuel from the coaching staff to give these guys perspective? Because it's real easy to believe
Speaker: what the external voices are saying. So how did you help them believe in themselves to go execute when they needed to? Yeah, I think that that a big part of that is the message from the head coach every day. Like we we we want these guys to be confident and and confidence comes from your preparation. And I think they were, truthfully, I think they were confident in their preparation, whether it was what they did on the field, what they've done with the coaches and in in terms of execution of game plans, things like that, learning, um spending extra time in here, and then their time preparing their body. So I think those those three things, I think our guys were we're confident, but also um i think you can, there's a you know there's there's the bell curve, right? There's overconfident, there's lack of confidence. I think every every week your goal is to kind of fall right in the middle where it's supposed to be. I've done my job, I know what i'm supposed to do, I respect the opponent, I'm gonna go execute, here we go. yeah um
Speaker: So I think that, again, it goes back to, I think, our head coach, his message, what he does with these guys. I think they believe in ah what we're asking them to do. And that's a big part of it, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And so taking us into game time, and I always laugh when I see the strength coaches on the sidelines during the game, the old keep them back coach getting in there. yeah I hate to see it when we see the coaches now grabbing the belts of the head coaches.
Speaker: um I mean, take us into like the sidelines, the motivations when... When did the moment click where the dudes were like, oh, we can do this? Was there a moment in the game? or Was it always just full steam ahead? We're going crush this team.
Speaker: No, I think I think these guys, for the most part, since we really started to, like, identify who we are and get through the offseason and all those types of things, like, I think I think this group has a like a ah positive approach to, like, doing what they're supposed to do, training the right way, taking care of their bodies, attacking those types of that all the stuff they need to do to prepare for a game. um I think they were confident going in, like, listen, we're going to we believe we can compete and play. And then it was you know really one snap, one play at time. That sounds cliche, but I think that was that was our sideline, I think. And that's how our head coach really delivered the message in going into it. It's the the play that's right in front of us is most important.
Speaker: um There's going to be a storm at some point in the game. We've got to weather the storm. like And they they believe in it. So I yeah you know i think that's... you know, they, they were ready for it and they embraced it. And then all of a sudden you're in a game and you're like, okay, right now we've seen it again. Sometimes confidence is seeing it for yourself. We saw it. Okay, now let's finish the game. you know Yeah. yeah Finishing is a challenge in itself.
Speaker: So now as a strength coach, what's what's your message? Are you repeating things you've said a thousand times in the weight room? Are you reading body language? This guy needs me here. Are we loud, vocal, reminding the leaders what to say?
Speaker: What's your approach and feel and going into like being vocal and a a model on the sideline for leaders? Yeah, I think, you know, for me, like a a strength coach on game day, no matter what sport you're in, like you're you're there to to just keep those guys as even kills possible. And, you know, and that's to be able to support them in any way. So a lot of ways for me, that's that might be knowing a guy that's certain a certain player nutritional needs. a certain guy has, you know, ah yeah watch a play on the sideline and maybe there you could tell that they were pretty worked up there.
Speaker: You know, they're they're having a they're having a tough go of it or coach Foster, or he's got a close relationship with a certain player. Hey, I hope that guy calmed down. It's a couple two in one out, deep, breathing you know, deep breathing, get your but heart rate down for a second, control your emotions. One play, evaluate that after the game. Not right now. You got to go back out there and be able to execute. So sometimes it's that. Yeah. Sometimes it's it's sometimes you can over Right, you can over talk to an athlete on the sideline, especially in competition. You gotta be careful, know, in a lot of ways, sometimes just a fist pump is all that's needed. So I think i think each every situation is is is different. You don't wanna,
Speaker: You don't want to overcoach in a moment like that. No, and there's also challenge. If you see one coach or you're saying something, give him a message, and then another coach comes in. And then the challenge is you see one coach talking, I know what I want to say.
Speaker: just going to give dab. don't want to overload right now. So there there is a fun dynamic come game day from the the strength coach. It's more than just... No question. Yeah, for us, there's it's so ands it's deep it's certainly deeper than that. but Yeah.
Speaker: Well, you mentioned your staff. I had the opportunity to meet the boys next door. So, I mean, speak to us about the goal because it's a challenge to to bring the right people in. yeah Get the right people on board.
Speaker: And, I mean, it's a flooded field, so you get a lot of people that are applying and knocking on the door. yep And, I mean, driving around, this is a beautiful place. It's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah. This is awesome. Super fortunate to be here. um So now you're in a position to build your own team. What did you learn from being on great teams that now you get the opportunity to take that charge and find your guys? Yeah, that's the that's the that's your number one thing. Like if anyone ever asked me, like, you know, I've i've i've been fortunate to be at several different places and I feel like I've i've felt the same everywhere I've been.
Speaker: Like, If you ask me what I need in terms of equipment, you ask me for what I need for technology, there are certain things certainly that I think are very important that you need to be able to do your job. None more important than having right people around you. Like that's that's number one. And the right people who have...
Speaker: ah are different. I think first and foremost, like yeah everybody always says this, you've got hire people that aren't you. Well, you really do. right You really, really do. You've got to have hire people that can connect with athletes that maybe you can't reach. You've got to hire people that have a different skill set from a training standpoint that maybe you don't have. and That ultimately allows you to focus on the things sort that that you're great at. and A leader, a lot of times,
Speaker: Certainly going through 20 years of this, there are things that I feel are strengths in terms of X's and O's, but that the leader has to be kind of a little bit of a jack of all. You've got to have a handle on what's going on with the team. You've got to be having your eye on the the bigger picture, of the development piece. It's very similar to how a head coach has to function with coordinators and position coaches. I think as a strength and conditioning coach, you've got to look at that the same way to be able to spread yourself ah across 105 players, or if you're leading a department across an entire department. So to me that but in terms of that identification piece, like you got to have people that really care about the players and know how to connect. The the hardest part to me, like you can teach some of the hard skills and you can teach someone the X's and O's. You can teach someone sports science, catap how to use catapult, how you use a force plate, you know, how to teach ah movements in the weight room. It's very, very difficult for you to teach someone the softer skills yeah unless they've identified that that's a weakness of theirs and then they can probably get better. but the best I've ever been around naturally can connect with the player, can teach, can hold people accountable in a way that athletes respond to. um
Speaker: you know Because in this in this business, you have you have to be able to hold do that. You have to be able to line. You have to be able to manage a large group of young men who are alpha male personalities. You gotta be able to do that. So I think being able to identify people who really fit that, and then ultimately, as time goes on, they're hungry, they they have a skillset, and then you you pour into whatever it is that they're really good at.
Speaker: And for me, one of the things that I really try and do is give people complete ownership. yeah Like, hey, listen, you're gonna oversee this. This is kind of the vision long-term for it.
Speaker: Come back to me with some ideas. what What are your thoughts? And then boom, roll. Especially if they're hungry and they're passionate, it's gonna get done better than anything that I would put in front it in my own way because it's theirs.
Speaker: and And I think that, Over time, that grows and you develop more confidence in being able to release that. where When you're younger, sometimes that's harder because you want to hold on to things. But that's something to me like you bring somebody in, they're going to take it and run with it and I'm going support it versus I'm going to manage or control it. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. With a lot of coaches, you see coaches' trees grow and expand, whether it's football or strength and conditioning. And sometimes those those branches get cut short because not only the head coach is not good at people, but the person they're working with is not good at people and just the whole thing blows up.
Speaker: So having the ability to connect with you, i mean, that translates well for the ability to connect with the players. What are some fun interview questions that you throw out to help I don't know break the ice and see if this person can can hang yeah I'll give you one and this comes from one of my one of my assistants well was at Stony Brook's name is Kevin Markle elite coach he was just at Alabama as the women's basketball strength coach he just moved back to the Philly area his wife just got the head coaching job um ah ah down there and um
Speaker: at Drexel, I believe. And she so he just moved down there. But anyway, the interview question that he would ask is teach me something and something non-strength and conditionally related in 60 seconds or less. And if it was a Zoom question or if it was a video and we we asked somebody it and I've used it ever since then.
Speaker: And I'm like, it puts sweat in water. Yeah, exactly. And and and most most people do. And you watch some people immediately bang. All right, I'm going to get I'm going to use the first thing that comes to my head. I've had people for 60 seconds say absolutely nothing.
Speaker: They just All right. um um Boom. Boom. And I literally, I so set the clock. I set the timer. I have a go and i want to tell you something about who they are. What are they excited about? What are they, you know, outside of the Yeah, exactly. Someone, you know, someone talks about how they make their favorite coffee. Boom. ah right. This is a coffee drink or this is this person's, but someone talks about how they cook. This is this person likes to you get to know them or you also get to see kind of how they handle on the fly. Cause you ask somebody, Hey, prepare a program in advance. Talk through it. Very easy to do.
Speaker: all right, here's my program, this what I believe in, I've got my notes here, or I can revert back to it. But you put someone on the spot like that, it gives you a little bit of an inside look on who they are, but that's a little bit of an outside the box. um question that, you know, and then you go into the other stuff. You obviously you ask the X's and O questions. You asked those types of things, but that's one that to me just it's an icebreaker, but also it exposes some some some things in people. Yeah, man. yeahp Yeah, I love it. Now I'm go to be prepared for that next time.
Speaker: That's a great podcast question too. Yeah. Just don't ask me that because then I got it now. I got to come up with something. No, I'm stalling. is yeah what I'm saying here. um Within the hiring process, I mean, ah continued education is so important. So these guys got to be responsible to do their job, but you want to continue to help them grow. yep So where do you steer them for education?
Speaker: Do you then try to draw out, oh, this guy understands this this tech or this thing? You got to teach me. So then like how how does education and professional development work within the walls here with the Minivan coaches?
Speaker: Yeah, i I think it comes down to like where does the person's like passions lie in terms of like, all right, this person's really super excited about tech and things like that. We're going try and put you in the right position to be able to learn from either certain people or conferences and things like that.
Speaker: To me, the best way to learn is go see somebody. go do a site visit. um you know and That's an area for me that I would prefer at times. Not that I think ah a conference isn't a good way to to learn, because you get a kind of a broad overview. um But to me, sending someone to go see somebody who you know does something a certain way has probably more value if you're trying to identify something very specific and ah and with an organization, a group, or a person who you know does it at a really high level right away in a practical sense. um So to me, that's probably the first place to start. um And then other than that, it's really kind of leaning into them. a lot of times the feedback I get in terms of continued education will come from something that they've observed. So, um you know, coach English, who just recently joined us from the the Detroit lions has some experience on observations of RPR. So this is an example.
Speaker: There's a group that comes in and does some prehab stuff in the morning, him doing a course in RPR would help our program also help him. It's an area that he oversees and he, a group he works with. So that would be a specific course or, or a um a program that would make sense for him to do that would support ah what we do. yeah um So we would go down the line with that in terms of where responsibilities fall.
Speaker: um Yeah. And the I mean, it's networking, too. 100%. So they're learning something, but you're also teaching them how to network. yeah And that's the name of the game in the industry. yep So the one takeaway I had from Ron McKee free, he was like, I only hire people that want to be a future head coach. Right.
Speaker: So now, what's your mindset knowing that I'm going to pour into these guys, and they're going to go off and do great things? Yeah, as they should. So, you know, i've I learned this a long time ago, like, I'm always Sad to see great people leave. There's no quite like when you throw a play someone that's really good. It's never easy like anyone who tells you it is is Like there's there it's always difficult to to fill the shoes of someone who did a great job but It's also something that you need to celebrate and it makes your program better every time you're able to do that because the next person who comes in is sitting in a seat that Had somebody in it previous to them that was able to build and grow and they can take it and run with it
Speaker: Right? and And also it helps you attract the next person and the quality of candidate I've seen over time increases over time. So I'm the first to tell a ah staff member, if there's something that you see, knock on my door and tell me, I will do everything I can. I will pretend I don't work for UMass. I'll help you get the job.
Speaker: And I've always felt like that there's like, I don't know, there's like some like there's like some good karma that comes with that. You never want to hold someone back. And ultimately, I feel like it's helped in terms of retention where people don't take an opportunity that's maybe a bad job or a sideways job. It's an opportunity for growth and either responsibility, pay, opportunity to lead their own program. like that's ultimately where you wanna see people go for. And if they're doing that, you're doing the right things. And you know i I was fortunate to to be at Stony Brook for a while where I got to see some people really grow as interns turned into had you know assistant coaches who went on to now either run their own program or be at a high level. And and that's something to me that like probably at this point in my career is equally as satisfying as the development of the players. yeah Because that's,
Speaker: you know that's Pretty special when you have somebody that can go do it their their own way, but they were you were able to watch them grow at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. I had stint Georgetown University, Iron Hoyas, Mike Hill's the man. I know Mike Hill. Yeah. Mike Hill's the man. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Fantastic. ah Going back to the previous question, he would always ask the interns or potential hires, do you believe in aliens? And then you just shut up.
Speaker: and allow them to navigate whatever beliefs, questions they have and just see if they were they're in for the layover test. Because the amount of downtime that strength coach has, can and I have a genuine like fun conversation with this person? But within Iron Hoy is like all of us transitioned into like military tactical at some point.
Speaker: So now the NSCA Tactical Conference is just one big Ironheart apart. That's pretty cool. Which is awesome. yeah So I always like that, that even though, ah you know, it's we're in a different sector per se, we're still boys because we had those time in the trenches together. Exactly. Yeah. yeah You develop, you know,
Speaker: i you're in this business long enough, you work long hours, you don't, you know, sometimes ah you see, truthfully, this is this is actually a fact, you see them more than you see your your your your friends and sometimes even your family at certain times the year. um So some former staff members are mine now. i If I had a wedding tomorrow, there'd be a lot of former strength coaches who worked with me, either at Stony Brook here or Mary Washington that would be at my wedding, which is, you know, when you think about it, those are people that you become lifelong friends. So, yeah. um
Speaker: So now getting your doctorate within ah performance psychology, what exactly is the degree you're going after? It's an EDD in sport and performance psychology. Okay. yeah So I'm EDD in organizational leadership.
Speaker: Awesome. So taking everything through the lens of athletics, most my core, they're all, you know, up upwards business management. Yeah. Speaking, i don't know, different language to me.
Speaker: So think it's funny, but now I'm probably closer to the the sports performance psychology. So now what's your filter from I picked up this tool, this lesson, how am i going to translate it to my staff to then see it displayed within the team like what's that fun because we got an idea whiteboard over here what's that fun fun process for you to translate lesson into life yeah i i think when people think about sport and performance psychology i think people talk a lot about mental toughness in sports in general. I always wanted to to be able to find a way to actually instill that in the players. And I think a big part of what goes into an athlete being mentally tough is their confidence. Where do you gain your confidence? You gain your confidence through preparation. Where you prepare? You prepare in the way prepare in the field, right? So to me, that stuff all ties in.
Speaker: on a daily basis. And then the next piece of that, relationships, and you've probably, there's probably pieces of this you've learned you've learned about, but if you if you've heard about the eyes off theory, individual zones of optimal functioning, like every person, every player, every individual has this individual zone on a bell curve, right? Well, there's, you know, somewhere in the middle is where you're supposed to be.
Speaker: go too far over the edge. You have a kid that's, you know, spazzing out, not able to control their emotions. Someone on the front end of that, the low end isn't as, isn't it as hyped up, energized, ready to prepare at a high level. So you're helping people find where they should be in order to compete at the highest level. And I think as you get to know players, you start to see those things and can you help them identify that? And you talked about the sideline stuff. Can you help an athlete who, you know, is kind of gone and going over the edge?
Speaker: give them tools and strategies to come back down. you have an athlete who you know is, all right, this person's way too loose. We need to get this guy locked in. This person needs to kind of come back to there. So that, to me, there's so much that goes into those, that's just a small example, the mentality, the daily approach, you know,
Speaker: A lot of the things that come from sport and performance psychology, like goal setting, actually being able to set goals, process versus outcome, educate on what that means. So they're bought into that process over time. and yeah um And as a strength coach, especially a football strength coach, you have so much time with them, you have an opportunity to tie those messages in and on a daily basis.
Speaker: and People talk about micro dosing training. To me, you could micro dose your education and applied training. sports psychology, without them even knowing that's what we've been talking about. um To me, that's really where it makes it an impact. It's not like ah you know a slideshow that you show once a year and you hope it resonates. It's the message you instill every day with your team.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Define. Then you have to model it. No question. That's where they pick it up. Yes. Because they look up to you. And that's that's the beautiful thing. So that and you're translating it down to captains. And then the freshmen are looking up to those dudes.
Speaker: And now we get a whole culture yeah of progress. Yeah. And, you know, we're all allowed to make mistakes. But at the same time, what's our next decision after that? Yep. Yeah.
Speaker: So now within interns, young staff members that are challenged with connecting with athletes, or they see these guys that are a bigger stature than them. And so they, they don't have the authority or feel they have the authority to say, Hey, bad rep, next rep, no rep, whatever it may be.
Speaker: Uh, what's your approach to then giving them the confidence? Cause they can prepare in a book all they want, but then we're out here moving fast, getting loud, music's sp blasting, whistles, reps, sweat, everything.
Speaker: So how do you prepare them to then prepare others? That's that's a great question. I think i go back to what you said earlier. You know, some things you can you can coach, some things you can't. So i think I think early it's identifying, okay, who you are, where do you want to go, and let's be realistic with your goals and where you see yourself, right? So somebody who maybe really struggles in that regard,
Speaker: You, as ah as a mentor and as a coach, and you can, you know, there are being truthful, this is just my opinion, there are some people that certain settings and situations aren't for them. But you can identify what that person's really good at.
Speaker: And if they want to work in this space, what area they could actually make a huge impact on. And maybe that person would be unbelievable with sports science. Maybe they'd be unbelievable return to play.
Speaker: Then I don't need you to be that. I need you to own this area. I need you to help our entire staff in this area. I need you to help us grow this area. And ah I'm going to at the same time, maybe put you in situations where I ask you to be exposed in that area. So you grow and you learn how to communicate um better with maybe that group or holding people accountable or whatever the example you just gave was.
Speaker: um But I think a big part of it being a mentor is identifying like this is where really your path you know can be. And a lot of times I found that it matches exactly with what they want anyway. a lot of people are more, most people are more self-aware than than we think. And if you have some of those conversations, it sometimes will drive them to kind of give that give that feedback. um And then others like have it in them, they just have never done it. And it's like anything else, like,
Speaker: I wouldn't by any stretch sit here and tell you that I'm a good public speaker, but I'm not scared of public speaking. When I first started, not in front of a team, but like if someone said, hey, give a presentation, I'd be like, oh man, like i'd be I'd be sweating thinking about it. Over time, you get more reps, you get better at it. It wasn't that I didn't have potential to be a good public speaker. I just had never done it.
Speaker: Right. So it's the same thing with a lot of times you see a young person, especially an intern, you get in front 104 players and demonstrate for the first time, you might not do a great job. You do it five times, you're probably going to much better. So I think it's then it's on you to put them in the situation where they actually have to do it. yeah And then you coach them through that and you give them great feedback. And, um you know, and and whoever's running the internship program right now, Edmund Forrester is doing a of a hell the job with with our interns and you know, giving them great feedback after session. This is what you did great, this is what you didn't. And you gotta treat them like the athletes. If you're always telling them they suck, they're probably gonna suck.
Speaker: yeah if you're If you're able to point out something they did well while you're coaching, something that, you know, the old you know the old sandwich to be able to give them a little bit of feedback, I think those things go go a long way.
Speaker: Yeah. Observation in athletics is people are afraid to provide praise and tell them like, hey, that was awesome work. Right. So they only give they only show up. And this is young coaches don't do this. They only show up when there's something to fix. Right.
Speaker: But if you're staring at this rep at this moment in time on this rack and a dude does something well. Yeah. Celebrate it and then move on to the next. one Exactly. Versus like. Right. No.
Speaker: Get excited because more often than not, you got to teach kids how to get excited for each other, which that's going to translate onto the sidelines in the field because not everybody's out there. Exactly. You only got 11 there.
Speaker: Yep. So let's learn to celebrate. ah Fun observation. I'm right in the thick of it, but workshop yesterday, I throw out these ah conflict scenarios, college-based because it was I was working at a college.
Speaker: And so, ah I have these phases of conflict. One is, okay, here's the problem. You got to go talk to and athlete about it. Then phase two is like, here's the problem. You got to go talk to an athlete about it.
Speaker: And then there's this form of conflict style. They're avoidant. They're they're aggressive. They're accommodating. They're just going to fall if you push them. So then add these layers to it to help these kids understand how Like complex people are but the first phase is always you go in as captain you you did this. What are you doing?
Speaker: I'm like, all right. Yeah, how did that feel and all they were like, I felt really weird and they were a jerk so ah just Similar to coaching exposing peer-to-peer leadership.
Speaker: Let's just dose this and see how it goes, right? so now Within the captains and I see BOS challenge up here. What are some ways that they're proactively?
Speaker: Calling each other out peer to peer leadership. So that way we get this language of accountability. Whereas a leader, I'm not just showing up when you did something wrong. I'm here all the time.
Speaker: ah I think the first step in anyone leading is leading by example. So early on, It's really not about how many voices you could have telling people to do things better It's how many how many people visibly are doing the right things every day? And you said earlier like if I if I came into work every day and I was inconsistent How could I ask our players to be consistent? How can I ask our players to be consistent with habits routines if I have no habits and routines I eat the same thing I do the same thing I wake up at the same time I do the same things every day because it makes me better but also because I believe I have to model behaviors I'm asking our players to model
Speaker: Same goes to me, probably more important in terms of developing leaders within your program, they have to do it. So, you know, you're not a leader until the first thing you you can lead by example.
Speaker: And then the next thing is being vocal and it's figuring out, and that I think goes hand in hand with knowing your team, knowing your teammates, right? and Being proactive with knowing your teammates. And you just talked about all the, the, how complicated the, each person is individually and how they respond to certain things. When you know how certain people respond,
Speaker: you can hold them to ah the highest standard in my opinion, because you can deliver in a way that needs to be delivered. Some people ah handle you know point blank in your face, listen, like whatever the case is, you gotta fix it, right?
Speaker: Some don't, in some situations, you know aren't a you know, in the heat of the moment, sometimes you can't be worried about, okay, this guy's gonna be, you gotta kind of get it out, but who do you need to pull in after to be able to have a conversation in the locker room? Who do you need to be able to, hey, listen, dude, let's go, let's let's go let's let's take a walk to the dining hall after together and have a conversation with. Some you may need to do that with after. So in the moment, it might all look the same, but as a leader, and you might have to do your due diligence to help that person uh after right so i think yeah i think leading by example uh is first you got to be vocal and then i think you know for for a complete leader like it needs to be visible you got to be you got to be outward you got to show a emotion you got to have that connection and i think i heard mickey mariotti say that once like the last step in the leadership process like the first two and then you got to leave with emotion they got to feel you right so when you're when you're delivering a message it has to There has to be passion behind it. There has to be energy behind it. You got, they got to know you believe in what you're saying. And, um and I think that's when, you know, your team has great leadership is you have people that do all three of those things.
Speaker: Yeah. I love it. And, and we're pushing young, young men to emote versus just shut up and do it. Right. Uh, and so i mean every single day what's interesting now at the current division one level is you're basically recruiting kids every single day so now talk about your mindset has that changed how you coach and approach people knowing that hey guys guys are going to leave or they can leave at any point at any time no honestly like i it hasn't it hasn't changed and um you know and i and i i believe this i believe that
Speaker: quickly being able to form a relationship with somebody, a year is longer than you think. So even if you have someone only for one year, I'm spending a lot of time with that person in one year, probably more so than you'd spend with an average person in really any other situation because of the nature of the business, workouts, practice, on the on the bus, at the hotel. You get this you or you know kind of organic time with them, at the you know we're upstairs in the where we eat after practice.
Speaker: So in six months, all of a sudden, you can really get to know somebody. So if you only have someone for a year ah versus two, to me, you can, in my opinion, you can make the same impact if you're aggressive in how much that matters to you. like um And so I think for us, that's something we prioritize. So I haven't seen an issue with it.
Speaker: yeah yeah So, yeah, I mean, I love to hear that. And knowing in similar space within the the coaching realm, you're pouring into people while they're here, whether you're going to leave or not. Yeah. Because you want them to be better people. Yeah. this I mean, everyone's athletic career ends.
Speaker: No question. Important for them to hold on to that fact. But while you're here, be where your feet are. Yeah. Love it. So speaking of being where your feet are, you were at UMass from 2010 2014.
Speaker: went on but now you're back so talk ah talk to me about like the the the magnitude of returning and this is an opportunity where you get to lead and captain the ship from the strength perspective yeah i was actually here in 2008 2008 yeah okay and then and then was back here
Speaker: so my first ah It was a paid intern spot in 2008. Those existed. Yeah, those existed. So and at at the time, um the head strength coach was was a man but by the name of Bob Otrondo and, you know, forever indebted to him for giving me my first opportunity, really my first. I was an intern at Iowa and then I came here and, um you know, to see where it's grown.
Speaker: is incredible. Like the building we're sitting in right now wasn't here. There was one building with all the athletic department in it. There were three strength conditioning coaches and that served every student athlete. And I'm sitting in a football only building with three staff members serving our football program. So we're very fortunate to have what we have.
Speaker: Very fortunate to be where I am and um i share I share this story with interns all the time. he wrote He wrote me an email when I had first started. This is like 08, 09, 2000, whenever it was.
Speaker: you know Something to the effect of when I first got hired. like I feel like you're going to do a great job. Stick with me. You'll be a head strength coach by the time you're 30. And we go back to confidence. You go back to belief. You go back to those things. The first time in my head I believed I could be a head strength coach when I was 22 or 23 years old And, you know, to be sitting in ah in a seat and the guy that gave me the job, his picture is actually on my office door. this this ah These offices were's were like donated as a, you know, in in his name. um You know, this this place is more meaningful to me than just a traditional, hey, I got a job. It's cool. I got to lead a program now. This is, i I'm thrilled to be a part of helping to turn this this program into something everybody's proud of.
Speaker: Yeah. And I work for the best head coach in the country who allows me to do my job at the highest level. So this is a special place for me. Yeah, man. I love it. So now when you get interns, are you sharing this whole same story?
Speaker: Yeah, i've I've shared that with a number of interns because, i you know, sometimes it's hard for them to see for themselves. Right. When you're an intern, it's similar to the players. Right. You get a redshirt freshman or a freshman who comes in a true freshman.
Speaker: They it's hard for them to see, like, especially after a first couple weeks here, they're like, wow, like, these guys are bigger, stronger, and you go from being the guy to like, that guy's a grown man. And it's hard for you envision like going from where you are to where he is. yeah And I think that's the same for ah for for a intern who is like, I'm doing the intern job, I'm not making any money.
Speaker: You see all the assistant strength jobs posted and they don't pay a ton of money. And you're like, oh my goodness, am I gonna be able to do this long-term? And so sometimes like somebody who's been there, done it,
Speaker: got to a position that you want to be in telling you they believe you can do it. It's probably the most powerful thing you could ever hear. It was for me. So like with the, I don't say that to every intern, I say it to the ones who I genuinely believe do it but have what it takes.
Speaker: um And then, You know, hopefully that has the same impact that it did on me. yeah Yeah, and then that allows them to to pour into the players because I mean they believe that their words have weight correct and ye that's fun to see um So now I mean closing through some fun questions ah Favorite fictional coach of all time Fictional coach? What do you mean by that? Movie-based coach. Movie-based coach. Favorite fictional coach of all time. You say favorite sports movie. Favorite sports movie of all time. I love Remember the Titans. I think that's a classic. I think a lot of people probably say that, but I thought, I mean, I think that movie just in terms of like the team, the connection, a group coming together,
Speaker: you know, that to me is probably if I had to go to, den you know, Denzel's pretty good in that movie. Yeah. I mean, Coach Boone, he's great. yeah Yeah. My mom went to T.C. Williams, so. Nice. She was there at that time.
Speaker: um Yeah. So then in in line with that, is Coach Boone favorite movie coach? If I had to pick one right now on the spot, I'd say probably yes. Okay. And then, i mean, you were a former college football player.
Speaker: is there a college, pro, high school football movie that you lean to Like, was there a movie back in the day you watched before your games that get you hyped up? when i was in um When I was in, I think it was like in like ninth grade, Any Given Sunday came out.
Speaker: And that was when the hits, the highlights, all that stuff. that was That's a classic. So I'd say that's probably my favorite favorite football movie. yeah pre-football would watch pro or the program the program's the other one yeah man yeah and just i was a linebacker so just alvin mac all his trash talk it's like yeah he was vision myself doing that but i never said it no question yep ah Yeah, that's fun. to What are some movies, music connections that you have like to connect to the guys?
Speaker: Because all our movies, they're not even watching. No, they don't watch them anymore. You know, i'm I'm a big believer, like to me, music sets the tone and the energy for the day. um But that is gonna come from them. So like to me, like that's that's a big ah big part of the environment in here.
Speaker: You wanna have the motivation and you wanna have guys believe in and and love the process. But I think yeah music will give you the extra one to 2%. It's really, that's driven by those guys. Yeah.
Speaker: and that's autonomy right so they're building you're building buy-in and investment from them because you're listening to them allowing them to listen to wherever the hell they want to listen correct yeah and i mean the banter and the battle amongst the team you're creating some micro conflict that they got to deal with yeah so i mean there is a lot of depth to allowing the players to pick the music and i mean that's the fun part because guys going hate it guys are going to love it and we got to battle it out.
Speaker: And, you know, it's it's never fair, but it's never equal. But it's always fair. Yeah. But a lot of times it sets the it sets the intent of the day. Right. So like like Coach does all the music the music for the sessions and like our Fast Fridays, we do we do a like a primer session in here before practice and it's all fast paced, more like house music oriented stuff. And then other days are certain different. If it's a squat day, if it's a bench day, it might have a different theme depending on what he's firing up or what the guys are in. so yeah ah Speaking of autonomy, what are some fun weight room stuff that you give the guys where they get to choose or pick? or
Speaker: like a and example, went to UTSA, visited Coach K on a Friday in the summer, and on Friday it was movie arm day. It's like last 15 minutes, they just crank up the music and the guys just did whatever arms that they've seen in Pumping Iron or movies or whatever.
Speaker: And I'm sitting there laughing my ass off because it's all the stupidest arm stuff in the world. lot of preacher curls. Oh, my God. Just hilarious. But hey, didn't matter because Coach K is a freaking man. Those guys love him and UTSA is on the way up. So yeah like what fun stuff movement-wise outside of music do you give the guys for autonomy and and i mean laughs and and buy-in?
Speaker: I think especially in season, you have a veteran, you have an advanced guy. I think you could have conversations about movements, patterns, that and exercises that fit into those patterns that they feel best doing. So a conversation with a guy might like,
Speaker: You know, we have an offensive lineman who Zurcher squats. He's taller, he's longer, it's a better position for him. yeah And that was a conversation throughout the course of the winter. Or it might be a guy, you know, comes in banged up after a game and they kind of know, hey, Coach Green, can I go dumbbell press? Can use the football bar, the the the neutral bar instead of a straight bar bench today? So I think a lot of those conversations, especially with our advanced guys,
Speaker: you know To me, that's ah that's a partnership, especially this time of year. like You have a guy that plays 60, 70 snaps in the game coming in the next day. We're going to do with certain things a certain way. We're going to have a certain target percentage or a velocity target, whatever the case might be. But that movement pattern will give them some autonomy on, especially if it's a guy that We trust. Yeah. Yeah. yeah God bless the guy doing searchers. Yeah. date ah art Yeah. It's a good movement, though.
Speaker: Yeah. ah So last question. Three years from now, we're having this conversation. Where's UMass football? Yeah. I mean, that's that's a great question. It's hard. It's hard to look in it in advance with that. And I saw the question.
Speaker: You know to me, I think the biggest thing is like is consistency in what we're doing, right? And can you build upon every year, every day, every month, a year? And over the course of time, I think, you know, three years is a very long time.
Speaker: but three years of doing the right things and building, knowing there's gonna be ups and downs. yeah Having everything that we're doing now be better in ah in ah in a in a long-term um you know player development way would obviously be something from this room's perspective, but obviously the program and the sustained success is what we're after. so yeah Yeah, and like you mentioned, it was six weeks.
Speaker: yeah like It's not that long. Three years is not that long. No, it goes by fast. It goes by fast, especially when you're a college athlete. No question. So, yeah, dude, I'm um um excited, man, that watching the first game was like, dude, here we go. yeah I'm always about the underdog. yeah So, yeah, it was ah it was magic watching that special game, man. So, excited for the rest of the year.
Speaker: Thank you for your time, dude. Beautiful campus, beautiful weight room. I appreciate you coming Yeah, dude. It was great. All right. Awesome. Appreciate you, man. Action.
