Your Sport Coach Shouldn’t Be Your Strength and Conditioning Coach, But I Get Why That Happens…

If you were to spend any time with me on a Saturday during the college football season, you’d think I have all the answers for the myriad of things going wrong for my team. I can make it sound good, convincing, and effective. 

In fact, I can do that not just for any college football team playing on Saturday, but also when I watch baseball, track and field, and dance.

In reality, I have less answers for strategy and tactics than Billy Napier, and that’s saying something!

My lane is the field of sports performance – strength, conditioning, speed, agility, power, and resilience. That’s what I’ve studied, practiced, and built my career around.

The same principle applies in the other direction.

Why Sport Coaches Wear Too Many Hats

In many schools and programs, sport coaches are asked to do everything. They run practices, handle logistics, teach skills, manage playing time, and on top of it all run the “strength and conditioning program.”

Most of the time, that’s not because they want to. It’s because they don’t have much of a choice. Budgets are tight. Resources are limited. And when push comes to shove, the weight room becomes another hat they’re forced to wear.

Most of the best sport coaches I know would love to have a dedicated strength coach on staff — they just don’t have the resources.

I’m empathetic to that reality. It’s not easy. 

The Problem With “Back in My Day”

The real issue is when outdated training ideas get recycled.

The “back in my day” mentality shows up as:

• The same workout for every athlete, regardless of sport or position
• Squat, bench, bicep curl, repeat
• Conditioning that ends with someone throwing up – as if that’s the goal
• Little thought for movement quality, injury prevention, or long-term development

That approach might feel familiar and usually comes from good intentions – coaches want their athletes to be tough and hardworking. But it’s not performance training. It’s just hard work for the sake of hard work.

Why This Matters

The weight room shouldn’t be an afterthought or a punishment. It should be a tool to:

• Build durability and reduce injury risk
• Improve speed, agility, and power that transfer to the game
• Develop confidence and body control that support sport-specific skills

When the training matches the athlete’s needs, it does all of those things. When it doesn’t, it just leaves athletes tired, sore, and frustrated.

Stay in Your Lane

Just like I don’t pretend to design offensive schemes or hitting mechanics, sport coaches shouldn’t be left on an island to design performance training.

The best outcomes happen when each person does what they do best, and athletes benefit from the collaboration.

Strength and conditioning isn’t about replacing the sport coach. It’s about supporting them, so their athletes can perform at a higher level, stay healthier, and develop more consistently.

Takeaway for Parents:
If your child’s training looks like a carbon copy of every other kid’s workout, or if “conditioning” means running until they’re sick, that’s a red flag.

Smart training is specific, progressive, and designed by someone whose lane is sports performance.

Because your athlete doesn’t need just “hard work.”
They need the right work.

And if your team could use some help, I’m happy to provide it like I’ve done to so many others over the years.