NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 28: Matt Nein

Matthew Nein, Head Sports Performance Coach for Salisbury University, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about receiving the NSCA Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year award, personal and program values, and mental toughness.

As the Coordinator of Sports Performance at Salisbury University, Matthew Nein, CSCS, RSCC*D, oversees the training programs of 21 varsity teams, three graduate assistants, and an intern and volunteer staff of about 15. During his tenure, Nein has had the opportunity to work with 12 National Championship teams, eight individual National Championship athletes, and over 300 All-Americans. He has been certified as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) since 2004 and recently garnered the distinction of a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach® with Distinction (RSCC*D). He also serves on the NSCA Advisory Board for the State of Delaware. While not training athletes, he manages all indoor recreational facilities and serves as an Adjunct Instructor in the Applied Health Physiology Department at Salisbury University. Prior to coming to Salisbury University, Nein spent one season as a strength coach in the Minor League Baseball system of the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He received his Master’s degree in Applied Health Physiology from Salisbury University in 2004 and Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Towson University in 2002. 

Find Matt on Twitter: @CoachNein | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfield

Show Notes

“When I began my career fourteen – fifteen years ago, you know it was one about inspiring and impacting people… I don’t think this was ever a goal necessarily but to just go out and… impact as many people as I could.” 1:32

“That was the very first thing after finding out, was reaching back in to all my former staff members, you know, and really reaching out to them and saying thank you for all the work they did.” 2:53

“We’re going to hire people that want to challenge me as well, as a coach, and we want to create that environment and that scenario so that they feel comfortable to be able to challenge and question and really dive in—and I think that makes all of us better as people.” 3:25

“I have a big philosophy that the better your staff, the better training your athletes are going to get, and it just becomes this cyclical concept that we bring in better staff, we get better training, our athletes are going to further grow and develop.” 5:45

“My budget is zero, I don’t have one, there’s no line item anything, which makes it challenging but—so you’ve got to figure it out and got to be creative in what you do.” 9:22

“When someone says no, you come back and okay, what do I need to rework and figure out to go right back at it again.” 9:38

“For me, passion’s probably the biggest thing.” 10:10

“[Interns] starting as a freshman as a sophomore, we’ve got two and a half, potentially three years of work that we can really see them grow and become something in the field.” 10:38

“I have personal values, and then we have our program values and I think my personal values are something I need to live by every day and really it’s that impact, influence, and inspire.” 17:56

“Do you set your alarm in the morning and if you do, do you hit snooze and, if you do, are you willing to attack the day then at that point or are you saying ‘hey it’s okay I’m just going to go back to sleep and delay being successful and great today.’” 18:31

“We have attitude, enthusiasm, energy, and effort as our four program values.” 19:29

“Quote… that Brett Ledbetter had in his book [What Drives Winning] [talks about how] it’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.” 20:19

“Mental toughness is one of the things that is highly talked about, but not really well understood.” 22:25

“Dr. McGuire, Dr. Pat Ivey, Dr. Amber Lattner—I think her name now is Selking—so she also has the Championship Mindset Podcast, which is great… Brian Kang does a fantastic job. They’ve got a couple others: Ken Ravizza works in the baseball setting a lot, but he’s been in other settings as well. To me, that’s that core group that does an absolute fantastic job [regarding mental toughness].” 26:47

“US Lacrosse has been fantastic, I mean they’re really open to it and it’s great for us, great for them, great for the NSCA.” 36:45

“We want to help people grow—that’s what it’s all about, you know, and if we want to do that, we’ve got to connect to people.” 37:35

“If you can’t find something that’ll help you grow as a professional, you’re not really looking very hard at that point.” 41:34

“There’s always something to gain and something to grow from no matter what presentation you sit in.” 41:40