Joe thanks for taking the time to be with us here today. Could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your current position?
I have been a strength and conditioning professional for 25 years. My wife has been with me every step of the way and she is the biggest reason as I able to perform my work to the best of my abilities. I have two sons and one grandchild. Our home base is Clemmons, NC and I love the house and area I live in. My wife as usual have found us a great place to call home!
I am originally a Long Islander and was fortunate enough to attend Wake Forest University of a full athletic scholarship. My mom and dad shaped the person I am today, but I am very confident in myself and my opinions. When I don’t have the answers, I reach out to my network of “go to guys” which you are one of, and get the answers and information I need.
I am entering my 4th year as strength and conditioning coach for a professional NFL organization. We have “embraced the process” as a team, staff, and organization and reaped the benefits in year three.
Tell us a little bit about your career. As you mentioned in our podcast you’ve been everywhere!
I have been fortunate to lead programs at some tremendous Universities. I have worked at all levels of team sports from the high school to professional level.
My travels have lead me to (in order):
- Pine Crest Preparatory School,
- Wake Forest University,
- Boise State University,
- University of Utah,
- Arizona State University,
- University of Louisville,
- Big House Power Competitive Athletic Training at Proehlific Park, and currently
- The Carolina Panthers.
Awesome! So let’s talk about your current position with the Carolina Panthers. I know a lot of people want to know what life is like as a profesional strength and conditioning coach.
What’s your typical day like? What are the common issues you deal with?
I have a tremendous job, and my guys are great. They make my job fairly easy because they are eager and hard working. This is their livelihood and as their coach I need to realize this when organizing their training plans.
Depending on the time of year, the weekly schedule in pretty regimented. My day starts with a 5 am arrival on average 6 days a week in season and our 9 week voluntary program and between 6 am and 7 am during the transitional periods. The weekly schedule at this level is much better than the collegiate level.
There are really no huge issues as I believe in being the “most adaptable coach in the building”. So, I am prepared for most spur of the moment occurrences.
The greatest part of being at this level is the amount of communication that goes on with your athletes. These guys know their bodies and I love the challenge of listening and then working to put together a plan of success.
Ok, so let’s take that a step further. You’ve worked with football players at every level – high school, college and the pros.
What are some of the differences you see between players at the various levels? And how does that affect how you train them?
The biggest differences are in movement (mobility, flexibility), speed, and explosiveness. As athletes advance in the sport of football this is what separates those athletes who continue to move to higher levels.
The two major changes are a focus on movement before muscle, something that I was leaning to towards the end of my college career, and the decreased utilization of dynamic effort squatting and benching at the professional level.
These guys are extremely explosive. As we always emphasize maximal concentric acceleration in any movement, we tend to work on improving sub maximal/maximal strength and increasing lean body mass.
And on the flip side of that, there are obviously similarities between successful athletes at all levels as well.
In your opinion, what are some of the key factors or character traits that you need to be a great football player?
- Be a GREAT FOOTBALL PLAYER – you have to have the desired skill set at your position to excel at this game. I promise you the athletes who are the best on the field work their trade.
- Have the ABILITY to BEND – the best athletes can sink their hips, load their posterior chain and extend their hips violently.
- EXPLOSIVENESS – whether it’s from reactive strength or starting strength, the athlete has to be able to change direction and come of the line of scrimmage explosively.
- NUTRITION and RECOVERY – I will leave an in-depth analysis of these two points to the experts in these subjects.
Being in the private sector, I live in a different world than you as I have a small handful of athletes to monitor and train. You, on the other hand, have an entire team to account for!
How do you manage working with big groups of athletes with regards to programming and coaching?
From the programming standpoint, we begin in a group design and then look at individuals.
We have what we call “uniques” – those athletes that have different needs in regards to the prescribed programming. Our goal is to develop these uniques in the framework of the Tier System model and if we can’t we work in a similar manner to program design. The evolution of the template has allowed us to be very creative within the Tier System model when it comes to “uniques”.
As far as coaching large groups, it is not hard for me because this has been the scenario my whole career. I started my career when there were only two coaches for the entire university’s strength program.
This is slightly tougher for coaches in this generation because staffs at the university level are huge and most coach’s responsibilities are very specific when a large group is training. My experience has afforded me the ability to “work a room”, finding the right place to view the greatest amount of surface area. Then when I see something that is positive or needs to be corrected, I can pounce!
That’s awesome – I talk to my coaches about finding the best angles to coach. Great stuff!
You are obviously well known for the Tier System (a book I actually purchased almost a decade ago!). For those who are unfamiliar, what is the Tier System? And why did you create it many moons ago?
The Tier System Strength Training methodology is based on Athletic Based Strength Training. It is a three day per week, whole body training program based on the structured rotation of movement categories to give you a priority, major, and minor emphasis of the daily session.
It was created to be more efficient with the overall training time and allow for more emphasis on other components of developing an athlete among other reasons.
Taking that a step further – you’re currently on your FIFTH generation of the Tier System. How has the program evolved over the years?
The biggest goal in the evolution of the program was to keep the integrity of the template. This means that no matter what new and innovating principles we apply the structured rotation of the movement categories remained intact.
The most recent, and probably the one I am most excited with because it really helped organize all of the training modalities we are implementing was your 7 R approach to program design. I hope you remember I was one of the first who read this article and immediately contacted you about adding the 8th R. HAHAHA!
I do remember that, and we did some serious brainsotrming on the phone!
At our upcoming Elite Athletic Development Seminar, one of your sessions is titled “Coaching 101.” As someone who has spent serious time in the trenches, what’s a good piece of advice on how to become a better coach?
Well, this would depend on where you are in your learning process. The one thing that I think helped me was to study the head coaches you work for and the sport you are assigned.
I really believe that going to the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) conventions and sitting in the general sessions, listening to head ball coaches talk about their program’s structure and organization really helped me develop into a coach the Head Ball Coach could count on and trust.
Also, reading books outside of the X’s and O’s of our trade. I am a huge Patrick Lencioni fan. His books are easy to read and very easy to adapt to our jobs.
Excellent. Earlier this year, you were named the NSCA Professional Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year, and you are now the first person to win that award in both the professional and collegiate setting.
What does that award mean to you?
Individual awards are a true reflection of the people around you. That starts with my immediate family and my mom and dad.
Your individual recognition is also a reflection of the staffs you assemble. I have had the pleasure to work with some of the best.
Most important, are the athletes. If you do not develop relationships with your athletes, their want to and belief in you and your philosophies will not allow for success.
I have been blessed to have worked with over 20 unique sports over my career and although not perfect, have been fortunate to have these athletes believe in our process.
This particular award, on a personal level, at this time in my career means I have fought the good fight, tried to be a leader and innovator in our field and was fortunate enough to be chosen over a very competitive group of finalists.
Okay, let’s start to wrap this thing up. If an entry-level coach or intern came to you for advice on being successful in our industry, what would you tell them?
I learned this first hand and I preach this to coaches who are beginning their careers, “The best job out there is the one you have, not the one you want!”
I say this because if you continue to chase the next job, you are not giving a 100 percent to your current job. If you are not giving a 100 percent to you current job, there is a pretty good chance those evaluating you are not seeing the effort needed to either promote you or recommend you for future potential opportunities.
Also, find a specialty niche, and be the best at it. In this era of large staffs at the college level, I was and I believe others are looking for individuals who bring a unique skill set to the general requirements of the position.
Last but not least, what is one mistake that you’ve made along the way, and how did you learn from it and grow either as a coach, professional, or human being?
Not giving enough credit to others when learning my trade.
There were several situations very early in my career where I acquired information from another coach or read and did not give proper credit. This was not on purpose I assure you.
Some people say I give too much credit to others now, but I know what I am great at and I know where I get my other information from. This is a huge problem in the social media age.
We have too many individuals who are looking to establish a platform when they should be investing in their trade. There is a time and place for everything and you need to know when your experiences are valued by your peers.
Joe, thanks a ton for being with us here today. Where can my readers find out more about you?
My pleasure Mike. I have truly enjoyed our ongoing growth as colleagues and friends. I know many others appreciate your contributions to our field. I am excited to join you in giving our clinicians a seminar for the ages! Word’s Win
I can be reached at
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Thanks again Joe!
And if you’re serious about training high-level athletes, whether they are currently elite or just on their way, you need to register NOW for our Elite Athletic Development seminar.
Seats are filling up fast, and the early-bird registration is up next week!