NSCA’s Coaching Podcast

The playing field has changed in collegiate athletics, but Kaz Kazadi knows the keys to longevity. Get to know the Texas Christian University (TCU) Assistant Athletic Director of Football Human Performance, renowned for his ability to inspire athletes. Follow his roots from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to playing for the National Football League (NFL) Los Angeles Rams — later becoming a “roaming gladiator” in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and NFL Europe to secure tenure. As a leader in the weight room, strength and conditioning was a natural transition. He recalls choosing a graduate assistantship to embody his “long money” philosophy of purpose-driven education, networking, and positivity. Kazadi compares new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies to free agency and talent acquisition versus recruiting. Additionally, he drills decision-making and delayed gratification as players transition into adulthood. He concludes with advice for creating a coaching network and career vision. Connect with Coach Kaz by email: kaz.kazadi@tcu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Show Notes“Always chase the long money, the things that create longevity. Something that creates longevity is always going to be education, a purpose-driven life, networking with people of like mind, positive energy, being consistent, and being positive.” 8:00 “Adapt. Adapt and be positive. That's the first thing you need to do as a performance coach.” 24:00 “My staff is dear to my heart, man. They keep me alive. I think you're only going to be as good as the five people that you spend the most of your time with.” 28:25 “If you want to get into the field, then get into the field. If the NSCA is having their conference, if the NSCA is having their clinic, I'm going. I'm going to shake hands. I'm going to introduce myself. I'm going to have a digital resume. I'm going to do something to meet the people that I want to meet. And then I'm going to follow up on holidays. Then I'm going to follow up with emails, just the old school way.” 39:40

No two days are the same for Will Gilmore as part of a team that oversees over 800 athletes across 200 sports at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center. From surfers to skydivers, the facility provides an elite high-performance ecosystem for traditionally individual sport athletes. Gilmore highlights the need for remote programming and monitoring to support a constantly shifting roster. Together as a team, they navigate uncharted territory in action sports conditioning, guided by physiological demands and underlying energy systems. Gilmore and NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon discuss the shift in sport science from ample to actionable data to find, change, and measure what matters most. Gilmore reflects on his “career periodization” and having free time for friends and family while working corporate hours — a stark contrast with his background in Major League Baseball (MLB). The pair also emphasize proactive networking and education for future career opportunities. Connect with Will on Instagram: @will_gilmore_ or LinkedIn: @will-gilmore | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs   Want to get involved with the NSCA? Find peers who share your passion for a specific sport or topic in Special Interest Groups (SIGs), or apply now for Volunteer Leadership Opportunities!Show Notes“What I've found is that relationships, again, are very important. You never know what's coming around the next corner. But being a good person, meeting people, forming genuine bonds over strength and conditioning or even things outside of work with people in your field are very important.” 16:05 “Whether the sport demands show that, hey, you need some high-level anaerobic conditioning for this, the mental state of the athlete demands it. So whether that's cliff diving or downhill mountain biking where there's zero pedaling or even pitching in baseball, they've shown that the heart rate gets to 90%, 95% max. Why? Because that guy is stressed out. That is a tough job out there. And so you better prepare him in the gym to handle those demands.” 23:20 “That's really what we're looking for if we're going to be hiring a strength and conditioning coach. Not necessarily, have you worked with any extreme sports, but what is your thought process in going about evaluating a sport?” 26:32

Regarded as a sport science advocate in Major League Soccer (MLS), follow David Tenney’s journey from sport coach to High Performance Director at Austin Football Club (FC). Tenney and NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon begin by discussing increases in MLS staff and embracing the overlap between coaching and performance science staff. Tenney reflects on how experienced coaches often evolve toward mentorship, finding balance between “leader” and “practitioner.” The pair examine the new MLS-mandated performance scientist position, which requires the Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®) credential. Created to standardize the role and responsibilities, MLS performance scientists leverage data from GPS and force plates into effective and ethical takeaways. As President of the emerging Professional Soccer Performance Association (PSPA), Tenney shares his goals to create a network, gain representation, and increase credibility. Tenney and McMahon also explore the robust MLS developmental pipeline, interviewing strategy, and early career advice. Connect with David on Twitter/X: @davetenney or LinkedIn: @david-tenney | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs For a deeper look into sport science, explore career trends and how to leverage the CPSS certification into new career opportunities. Discover your next job or internship on the NSCA Job Board. This episode discusses David Tenney’s PhD dissertation, An Exploration of the Leadership Competencies Required for High-Performance Directors in North American Professional Sports Organizations, which includes interviews with NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS leaders.Show Notes“It's not enough just to be a really good practitioner. You have to know how to manage, lead, and collaborate with different groups and different departments and practitioners from other areas.” 8:35 “Learning to be a good mentor. I think that most people think of themselves, if you go in a room and ask most coaches, ‘Hey, do you think you're a mentor?’ Everyone would say, ‘Oh yeah, I'm a good mentor.’ But very few of us have ever been taught [those] kind of mentorship skills and what that means, and how do you mentor young practitioners. And are you connecting with them in the way they need, not just how you want to connect with them and lead them.” 27:25 “You do always want to focus on some of the hard skills of the interview process, but I think we don't in the interview process ask enough questions around is someone stress resilient, can someone be vulnerable, can someone admit they make mistakes, can someone show that they have a growth mindset. How do they handle when they don't know the answer to something?” 30:30

What does it take to become an award-winning Director of Strength and Conditioning in the National Football League (NFL)? Justin Lovett reveals the “we over me” mentality that guides his role with the Los Angeles Rams. Lovett reflects on receiving the 2024 NSCA Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award after being an NSCA Member for over 20 years. He draws parallels between working with high school and NFL athletes — where the desired training responses are the same and ability levels vary — making versatility key. Lovett also stresses the importance of finding clean and effective training methods to accommodate wear and tear in football athletes. He compares the Rams’ hiring philosophy to gathering “infinity stones,” emphasizing character attributes, culture alignment, and staff chemistry. Lovett and NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon discuss progressing into leadership and the rise of performance director roles, as well as how to seek out career and networking opportunities. Connect with Justin on Instagram: @strcoachlovett, Twitter/X: @justin_lovett,  or LinkedIn: Justin Lovett | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs  Show Notes“Your ability to individualize is critical, and make it position or sport or athlete-specific in many cases... It's never quite a repeat one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter approach.” 7:25 “You need some juice. You need some authentic and genuine passion.” 13:45 “I think, first and foremost, the thing that resonates with me is that it's never about you. It's never about you. These players shouldn't be able to recognize who the head strength coach is when we're working the floor. Everybody — it's almost a flat hierarchy where we're here to help players, so it doesn't matter who gets the credit.” 18:45 “Your players have to be available. They have to feel like they are in a position where they're improving. And you have to be able to audit your programs and show them metrically that, yes, you are in a prime state or a ready state to compete at the highest level. So, it's never about you, ever about you. And the minute it becomes about you, you should leave. And I strongly believe that.” 19:45 “You have to provide strategies for them to grow horizontally within your organization, within your department, and vertically.” 20:30 “I think that's an empowering message for anyone listening is that no matter what you're going through, the challenge you're facing, how you're feeling about your current role or where you want to be, there's someone that's had that experience or can help you maybe relate to that experience better, going back to it's not about us. It's about our athletes, our teams, the programs that we are tasked with empowering and growing, and the people that we influence in this business.” 33:50

You can’t talk about strength and conditioning without Coach Boyd Epley. Regarded as the “Godfather of Strength and Conditioning,” Epley laid the groundwork for the profession and later founded the NSCA in 1978. His 10 Husker Power Principles, developed at the University of Nebraska, remain a cornerstone in programming and formed the basis of sport-specific training. Emphasizing strength and power, Epley implemented testing and debunked the prevailing belief that weightlifting hindered speed. He recounts his journey with co-hosts Eric McMahon and Jon Jost, chronicling how a pole vault injury and exposure to bodybuilding led him to become the first collegiate strength and conditioning coach. What began with cement bars and paint cans evolved into a fully equipped weight room and impressive lifelong career. Additionally, Epley’s open-door policy — even with his fiercest competitors — helped drive the profession forward. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in strength and conditioning history. Explore the University of Nebraska’s Husker Power Principles discussed in this episode. Reach out to Coach Epley by email at boydepley@mac.com. Get in touch with Jon Jost at jonathan.jost@pepsico.com. Find Eric on Instagram @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn @ericmcmahoncscs. This special episode is brought to you in part by Gatorade Performance Partner. Learn more and join their community at GatoradePerformancePartner.com. Want to get involved as an NSCA Volunteer? Discover opportunities to lead and share your expertise at NSCA.com/Volunteer. Applications for many positions open in September and October!Show Notes“We always wanted to explain to the athletes what we were trying to do and make sense out of it so that they would buy in and participate at their best effort… Our 10 principles really provided a path for not only our athletes but others across the country.” 4:10 “Over the years, I really focused on strength and power, the squat and the clean. If that's all someone did, I think they'd have a pretty successful chance to gain and improve their performance. But as a result, I got stronger than Nebraska's football players.” 11:10 “I found out real quick, depending on if the coach recruited the kid, how fast they were going to run. The coach would look at it and say 4.6. So, we had to put up with that for a while. That's why I went to the electrical department at the university and asked them to help. And we created electronic timing at the University of Nebraska.” 19:35 “My biggest problem wasn't the program working or the facility, it was raising money to pay my volunteers… But we even had them sell t-shirts on game day to raise money and created a booster club called the Husker Power Club. When I left the program, we left $300,000 in the bank that was supposed to never be used except to support the strength program.” 27:50

Autumn Lockwood knows football. As the daughter of a collegiate football coach, she’s been attending games and “breathing football” since she was born. Now, she holds a highly coveted full-time position as an Associate Performance Coach for the National Football League (NFL) Philadelphia Eagles. But this was not always her plan. Follow her unique professional path, from a criminal justice major and aspiring Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) special agent to coaching at football’s highest level. Learn how the Philadelphia Eagles cultivate a championship culture through never-ending development, strategic staffing, and sport science initiatives. She recounts how mentorship, building a village, and networking enabled her successful career switch. Lockwood and McMahon also discuss coaching challenges and ways the NSCA can push the profession forward through diverse collaboration, uncomfortable conversations, and deeper in-person connections. They conclude by breaking down the calendar training year, key performance indicators, and athlete profiling in professional football. Connect with Autumn via Instagram: @autumnlockwood, LinkedIn: @autumn-lockwood, or email: alockwood@eagles.nfl.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs   Love football? Join your fellow professionals in the NSCA Football Special Interest Group! This episode discusses the intangible rewards of volunteering, like opening career doors and making connections. Want to get involved? Check out NSCA.com/Volunteer for opportunities.Show Notes“I would say getting in the door, it's all about that opportunity and what you do with that, and how you show up every day. The opportunity is always going to present itself once you have built those right relationships, networked, and done what you can, controlled what you can control, to get there. And then once you're there, it's really, OK, I'm going to observe everything. I'm going to be a sponge. I'm going to be so hands-on. I'm going to be an extra set of hands. I'm going to do everything that I can to help this team, this staff, all these departments that go into building a championship culture. I'm going to do what I can to help that.” 3:25 “Having that belief and that support really kind of helped, and then just building that village around you from your family, from the coworkers that you do work with, with your mentors, those are really the people that I leaned on throughout my whole entire career.” 17:40 “There are definitely ups and downs that come with this field. And it's all about how you take care of yourself and how you're able to navigate those personally, and then go from there.” 20:45

As Director of Sport Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Heather Farmer spearheads comprehensive integration efforts. This includes ensuring every stakeholder, from sport performance staff to academic advisors, has a seat at the table. Farmer also outlines developing an internship and graduate assistantship program to meet staffing needs and offer opportunities for practical experience. She recounts how leveraging relationships — not data — has been her key to scalability. Additionally, Farmer recognizes that to make an impact, she must meet athletes and sport coaches where they are, which she uncovers through “highlights” and “hurdles.” She suggests that sport scientists with strength and conditioning backgrounds, like herself, are uniquely equipped to excel due to their communication skills. Farmer and McMahon also discuss avoiding “analysis paralysis” and how to incorporate data to elevate the student-athlete experience — an unignorable factor as athletes bring an element of “self” in the age of name, image and likeness (NIL). Reach out to Heather by email at: heather.farmer@unlv.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs  Show Notes“I can carry 8 - 10 undergrad interns. I have graduate students, PhD students who wanted that experience. And boom, now all of a sudden, we've got a full operating department. These guys became pivotal. We live tag 6 - 8 teams every day on campus… They get to see what they're doing in action versus just that blind data collection.” 8:15 “We want to align with the coach. Whatever your vision is, we are spearheading that. We are making sure we're traveling together.” 18:20 “So, for them, I gave them, what was the internal workload score of the day? What was that intensity? What was the external workload of the day? What was that intensity? And we look at one recovery metric, and those are the only five things we look at for that team. And is that because that's the best and that's the absolute scientific principle of high performance? No, but we also have to make sure that we talked at the beginning about meeting coaches where they're at. Where can I get the buy-in and the understanding?” 23:40 “I don't want to just grow, grow, grow to meet certain thresholds. I want to grow, grow, grow and make sure those experiences are at such a high level. As sports science continues to grow throughout all of the levels and we're bringing everyone together, I think you'll see more sports scientists being hired at different schools across the country. I think it just takes time, just as the other sport performance pillars did.” 27:25

Get to know Army Lieutenant Colonel Nick Barringer, Program Director for the United States Army-Baylor University Master’s in Nutrition. Barringer shares how he originally planned to become a strength and conditioning coach before a nutrition course inspired him to pursue dietetics. However, it was his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) credential that ultimately landed him his role as the first 75th Ranger Regiment (Army Rangers) Dietitian. He recounts drawing inspiration from the Navy SEALS to start the Ranger Athlete Warrior (RAW) program and seeing the Special Operations THOR3 program follow suit — laying the groundwork for the US Army Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) system. Barringer and McMahon discuss the synergy between strength and conditioning coaches and dietitians, as well as cultural challenges and diverse training ages in tactical settings. The pair also stress the importance of sales and building relationships before discussing basic nutrition advice and pathways into tactical and dietetics careers. Connect with Nick on Instagram at: @nickbarringer.phd.rdn or by email: nickbarringer35@gmail.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Show Notes“If I'm the dietitian at the unit or coming into a unit, I want to get on the calendar of those leaders. I want to go on a run with that regimental commander, that battalion commander, that brigade commander, and have that conversation with him or her to see what their vision is and where I can nest in it.” 11:05 “My first suggestion would be… find those strength coaches who've successfully made that transition to the military. And talk to them before going in.” 13:20 “It's more important in the tactical community that you practice what you preach… I'm not saying you got to be able to do everything that the soldier can do. But if you can put a rack on and at least go a couple miles and do those sort of things, that really carries a lot of weight.” 14:20

After almost leaving the profession entirely, Ashley Kowalewski landed her role as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the prestigious Louisiana State University. Listen as she recounts the strength and conditioning coach who inspired her as a high-level athlete at Oklahoma State University, diverting her path away from pursuing a physical therapy career. Explore how her early experience as an NSCA intern and working with adaptive sports under the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee expanded her network and strengthened her coaching. Discover where to tap into access points that can build mentors in your corner and the importance of being relationship-oriented in a field where collaboration is key. Kowalewski also speaks about checking her ego after a difficult career experience and the challenge of starting again at the intern level. Learn her guiding principle of providing over proving and how high-quality leadership can elevate a program’s impact and staff longevity. Connect with Ashley on Instagram at: @ashleykowalewski or by email: ashk@lsu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Show Notes“That's my big thing with a lot of the athletes that get injured. I have no sympathy for you. I've trained athletes that are wheelchair-bound. I've trained athletes without a leg. Do you think it's difficult for me to train you while you're in a boot? Absolutely not. We can adapt… anything. We can make it work.” 7:05 “I don't really care what you know about the Xs and Os. We can teach that. I think anybody — if you go to any great place, you can be taught, if you're willing, and that's one thing that I want to look for. I want to look for somebody that has a growth mindset. I want to look for somebody that is great at creating relationships and maintaining relationships.” 15:20 “It's hard to just pack up your life on a whim with all that uncertainty. We like to think we're pretty tough in this field and we can put up with a lot, but we're still human.” 19:15 “I think perspective is everything, and how do we keep perspective? For me, a lot of it is not getting caught up in the ‘next.’ It's being caught up in the where I'm at right now. Be where your feet are, we tell athletes that all the time.” 34:10

As a Strength and Conditioning Coach with the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), Jared Siegmund prepares athletes for the apex of achievement and perseverance. Siegmund shares that, contrary to public belief, the Olympic competition cycle is not every four years — Team USA athletes face fierce competition in World Series events along the way to qualify. He also speaks to the creativity required to coach Paralympic athletes, where missing limbs create unique biomechanics and hearing or visual impairments impact cueing. Siegmund touches on his principles-based programming architecture, sample adaptations, and USOPC’s interdisciplinary support team. Additionally, Siegmund and McMahon discuss the new generation of modern athletes who are more in tune with data and can control their preparation experience. The discussion concludes with the importance of a growth mindset and getting out of your comfort zone, as well as opportunities to enter elite sport. Connect with Jared on Instagram at: @jaredsiegmund_ or LinkedIn: @jared-siegmund | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Show Notes“We have a traditional model that we see in our mind as the perfect technique – a baseball batter swings like this, a swimmer swims like this — but when you're missing a limb, it's going to be altered. The form, the biomechanics is going to be altered, and that goes into their overuse injury stuff, how they're producing force. If we can think of outside-of-the-box creativity, and curiosity, and how we innovate, that's going to drive our ideas, our programming. And it's also going to not pin us to our bias. When we do that, we're going to be more successful to give them what they need.” 9:40 “They're all humans. I think once we start to see that and we start to rip off the sense of kind of scared to do anything with them, or train them, or push them hard, […] just treat them like equals, man. It's like, training's training at the end of the day.” 13:25 “When you have a visually impaired athlete, you had to rely on a completely different skill set of coaching and cueing.” 14:22 “When we get down to crunch time this last six months before, three months before, right into the games. Like, we've done this before. We've challenged you strategically in different groups. We've challenged the coaches in certain ways. So we're all confident, so when this happens, we've already practiced it. And maybe even just having a talk about it kind of gives that anxiety or pressure, and it kind of melts away. You know, we've done it, I'm cool, I got it. I'm going to go win, or at least I'm going to give it my best that day.” 21:20