Mike Potenza is the Head of Performance for the San Jose Sharks of the NHL, where he oversees the strength & conditioning and nutrition staffs and serves as a liaison to the Sharks medical training staff to ensure a streamlined collaboration between the two departments, focusing on the Sharks player’s health, training, fitness, and rehabilitation programs.

Potenza began his career as the strength and conditioning coach for the University of Wisconsin Men and Women hockey teams, both who captured the 2006 NCAA National Championship. Potenza also had responsibilities with the wrestling and softball programs at Wisconsin.

Between 2006-2022, Potenza served as the Sharks strength and conditioning coach. He was directly responsible for the team’s overall strength and conditioning programs, which included the physical testing and evaluation at training camp, creation of individualized workout programs, and assistance in the rehabilitation programs for all injured players. Through his time in San Jose, Potenza worked directly with several notable and legendary veteran players, including Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Following 16 seasons working with the Sharks organization, Potenza joined the Golden State Warriors in 2022 as their director of performance. In that role, he was responsible for the player’s training schedules, management of performance testing, implementation of player specific training programs, and served as a liaison to the coaching staff to maximize the efficiency of performance and management for team workout schedules, until rejoining the Sharks in June of 2024.

Highlights of our chat include:

Connecting by asking players "what do you need to help your game?"
The most important piece of coaching equipment is a couch
Skills he wished he learned earlier in his career
Not making your players "lab rats"
The qualities of the great coaches he has worked with throughout his career

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How Do You Know When It’s Time to Leave… the Job, the Career, the Relationship or the Location?