Sam McGriff has been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Pembroke Hill School since 2013. He came into the field through a nontraditional path, earning his degree at Mizzou on an ROTC scholarship before serving in the Navy, then working as a personal trainer before Pembroke Hill hired him to supervise the weight room after school.
McGriff describes those early years plainly. There was no set culture, no established standards, and attendance was entirely voluntary. Rather than trying to overhaul the room on day one, he built trust first, with athletes, then with sport coaches, and let structure follow. Each season he picked one change to implement fully instead of stacking several half-finished ideas on top of each other.
That approach produced a record board, then a PR bell that started as a wall-mounted piece of gym equipment and is now a fixture wheeled out for campus-wide events. It produced “fuzz up,” Pembroke Hill’s plate-return standard, and a color-coded block system (red, white, blue, silver) that gives voluntary lifters something concrete to chase even with zero mandatory attendance. McGriff also built an Exercise Science class into the school day, giving him room to teach nutrition and recovery in real depth instead of squeezing it into the last five minutes of a session.
Thirteen years in, McGriff’s advice for younger coaches is straightforward: stop chasing the next job before you’ve proven what you can build at the one you have.
Key Takeaways
Change happens one standard at a time. McGriff rolled out a record board, then a PR bell, then the “fuzz up” standard, then a block system, letting each one take hold before introducing the next.
Trust comes before culture. He built buy-in with athletes first, then sport coaches, before anything got labeled a rule.
The color-coded block system (red, white, blue, silver) gives voluntary lifters a real standard to chase even with zero mandatory attendance.
A dedicated Exercise Science class does more for nutrition and recovery education than anything said between sets during a session.
Playing the long game means measuring impact by what you build where you are, not by chasing the next job.
Quote
“If I can’t have an impact here, at this level, then how am I going to have an impact at the next level?”
– Sam McGriff, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Pembroke Hill School
Connect with Sam McGriff:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/coachmcgriff/
Pembroke Hill School – https://www.pembrokehill.org/athletics/strength-and-conditioning
Listen or watch this episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
Sam McGriff:
I think one of the biggest b biggest things was make the big time where you’re at, right? And that’s always like my advice to kind of younger coaches is make the big time where you’re at. I didn’t have that I you know, of course getting into it, you’re like, Yeah, I’m gonna be a D one coach or maybe NFL
Connor:
Mm.
Sam McGriff:
or you know, the biggest the big time, right? and of course I kinda had thoughts like that, but you know, I kinda thought to myself, if I can’t have an impact here.
at this level, then how how am I going to have an impact, you know, at the next level?
Connor:
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach Collective Listeners. On today’s episode, we have the head strength and conditioning coach for Pembroke Hill School, Sam McGriff. Sam, thank you so much for coming on.
Sam McGriff:
Hey, thanks for having me, Conry. Glad to be here.
Connor:
Well, I’m stoked about it, man. Seriously. I’ve known about you for a long time. obviously through one of our former podcast guests and one of your assistant strength coaches. And it’s very cool to actually be able to get you on the episode now. I’m very excited about it.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, yeah. Alyssa told me she was on that, which was great. And yeah, you guys just do a lot for for the community and when she got on there I was glad to glad to hear that and then, you know, ready for my turn up.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’m very excited about it. You’ve also got for our listeners who are listening and not watching on YouTube, you’ve got a I mean, a very distinctive and and powerful haircut and beard. It’s like it’s it
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Connor:
works for you, man. I’m just telling you. Not in a weird way. I’m not trying to start this off in a weird way, but you know,
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
I’ve seen you from a far and I’m like, all we gotta get this guy on. He’s got some power powerful hair.
Sam McGriff:
I appreciate
it. I don’t know what it is, right? With the strength coach. I mean, I guess there’s something like you have to grow facial hair or you have to have some type of a a niche haircut or something something different to the singwich, right? I don’t know what it is. Yeah.
Connor:
you’re a hundred percent correct. I actually
had an athlete ask me the other day if I was born with my beard. Like legitimately. Like they were
Sam McGriff:
Right. Right.
Connor:
like, When did you start growing facial? I was like, All right, relax, man. You know? And so it’s it’s just part of the deal. It’s kind of part of the strength coach starter pack.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. Yeah. Right. I had
a student once go like describing me to his parents and his parents were telling me about it and they were like, Well, what does he look like? And he goes, like a strength coach, I don’t know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
Neal. I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m sorry. Well,
awesome. Well, let’s just get rolling right into it. Can you give us a background of your career in strength and conditioning and then what’s led you to Pembroke Hill?
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, for sure. so I started off, I got my degree from Mizzo. I have kind of a different background as far as getting into the field where I I’m a have a military background. So I went to Mizzou on a ROTC scholarship. And so majored in nutrition and fitness there. and you know, I got all my my my basic search while I was there, but I couldn’t really do like the normal GA stuff knowing that I was gonna have to serve as soon as I got my degree.
so I kind of just kind of saw the field from afar and really kind of just got into, you know, loving the training aspect of it, you know, what we do in the military up at 5 30, working out, doing all that type of stuff and you know, growing up being in sports, just loving a good breakdown, loving a good a good training session. and so, you know, that kind of led to, hey, this is probably something I want to do in the future. but let’s just kind of see where this kind of a military
kind of road takes me, got my certs, you know, did my four years, served in the Navy, overseer overseas, did did did my time there and knew getting out, like, hey man, what I really love to do is like leading training sessions. I really love leading people. and so I want to kind of get back into this. So I got re redid all my certs and said, okay, what do I got to do to kind of to kind of cut my teeth in the field so I can start doing it again. So I started out normal, just doing personal training type stuff as I got out of the military.
was living in San Diego at the time and you know, did all the personal training stuff and kind of just found my voice as a coach. and then moved back to Kansas City and really saw the f saw the field from afar, went to a few like N S C A conventions, L U C C S C C A conventions and was like, Man, this is it. Like th this is what I wanna do. and so
along those lines, same time I was just looking for more than just doing personal training type stuff, wanted to do more coaching. So I started trying to work with athletes a little bit more. And then in 2013, the job here at Pembroke Hill opened up. And so I applied it a and luckily got that job while I was still working on getting my strength conditioning coach certified through CSCCA.
and I reached out to some coaches in there to say, you know, this is what I want to do. And luckily, Brian Silik, who’s over at Avala University, got back to me because we had a similar background. He was a Army guy and kind of got into the field the same way and said, you know, hey, I’ll help you out. Come to Avala and you know, you can kind of kind of learn learn the ropes here a little bit. And so simultaneously I started off at Pemberk Hill and you know, the the title there was Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, right?
and this was 2013 and they were kind of ahead of the time saying, Yeah, we want somebody in the weight room full time. And and really what that meant though at first was from 330 to 530, I was here after school just watching the weight room, right? So no culture really set yet, no really standard set yet. It was just like we want somebody to supervise the weight room and and keep the kids safe, right?
so I said, Hey, that’s fine. I’ll I’ll take that from there and and take it and run with it. And so at the same time, I’m getting you know, my search and and learning from from Coach Silic at Avala. and so with through that process, I just kept trying to overdeliver, man, just over-deliver and making sure that I got to know the students, got to know my athletes, and started to try to have an impact in the community around here. And that led to them being like, Well, hey, instead of just being here after school, because you may be
come here during the day a little bit, maybe help out a little bit with PE, other doors started to open up after I kind of, you know, proved my worth over the time and and tried to have an impact here. And you know, then from then on, just long story short, now we’re you know, I’ve been here for 13 years. and not only did I go from just being part-time after school, I’m full time and as you know, like I haven’t had an assistant. And so there’s an assistant position here as well. and
the weight rooms change over time and it’s just just kind of gone from there. Kind of took this program from just something small after school to to, you know, I’m here full time. summers right now we’re running four days a week, just getting done with like a nine week, you know, training cycle. And the past couple of years I’ve been on the football staff as well. So just kind of taking it from here’s a small opportunity and just trying to run with it. So and I’ve been here ever since and and it’s been great.
Connor:
So okay, so correct me if I’m wrong, your first official job in training conditioning with a within a team setting is the job you currently have now and you’ve been there for thirteen years. Wow.
Sam McGriff:
Correct. Correct. In the team setting.
Yeah. I mean I did, you know, the the personal training thing. and I and I did group sessions there. I did some like adjunct professor work where I would teach anatomy, physiology, stuff like that while I’m keeping, you know, trying to keep my you know, the science base strong and all that. but really the true the first time that I was in charge of running a weight room was here and I’m j I’m still here. So, you know.
Connor:
And so y you say, I mean, it’s such an awesome experience, right? And that’s something that’s a very rare story for a lot of strength coaches. I’ve hosted a lot of episodes and, you know, I would say there’s probably only three or four other strength coaches I can think off of of off the top of my mind who, you know, have started with the school and stayed with them for pretty much their entire high school or collegiate career. And y you mentioned that, you know, you proved your worth and then you’re able to grow this position more and more.
What were the things that you did in order to be able to prove your worth? How were you able to continue to grow this position to make it to the point you are now?
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, I think always just pushing forward. I think you always trying to to have an impact in different ways. you know, and that kind of started with building relationships. before I got to this position, there was I believe they had three or four different strength coaches and all with like only had like a six six month tenure here and then they’d be gone. so started with building trust, starting building trust with the athletes. and then from there talking to the coaches and building trust with them.
and then when we do that and they get and they I get their trust, then you know, we train more and more, they get to be a little bit more consistent and then they start to see results. And then when we see results, you know, kids start coming back, right? And so we kind of develop that need and you know, thirteen years ago the strength conditioning industry wasn’t as big as it is now. There wasn’t as many professionals at at the high school level and and knowing that we had one that you know
Pembroke had one here, I think was was something great that kind of set us apart. and you know, and not just that, but it it worked. It was something that the kids liked and kids enjoyed. and I just kept being able to show that, hey, there’s other areas that I can have a hit impact on the community. So you know, like I said, they had me help out. So I said, hey, can you help out with some PE stuff? I’m like, sure. If that means I can be in the weight room, absolutely, I have no problem. And if that means that, you know, having an impact in PE will get more kids into the weight room.
And more kids committed to my program, let’s do it. Right. And so I did do some a little bit more PE for a time being just to kind of help with that. But I always had that end goal in mind of what do I want this program to be? And what are the steps that I need to take to get there? Knowing that I had to play the long game on this thing, right? I I couldn’t just come in and say, This is the way it’s gonna be, you’re gonna hire me. I’m gonna be for be here this many hours, kids are gonna be committed or not, and and kind of come in with an iron fist. I had to
pick and choose my battles, right? And say, you know, how can we progress this year? How can I get a little bit of better this year and not come in and say we’re changing everything. at the high school level, you can’t really do that in in every s in every setting, especially here where I was. I couldn’t come in and just say, this is the way the ship’s gonna run, otherwise I’m out. and so that’s the other way. I I could play the long game too, just because you know, at that time
yeah, I was married, just got married, but I didn’t have any kids just yet. I knew like, hey, right now, early in my career, it’s all about get your education done, get your certifications done, start networking, really kind of cut your teeth in the weight room in front of kids as much as you can. and luckily I I you know, I was privileged enough and lucky enough to have kind of a home life situation too where I could do that. my wife was doing great at the time and so that was a big part of it too. Good family life at home.
that allowed me to kind of stick through it. And then I think along the road too, there’s always been changes. There’s been changes here in leadership, which I think is huge. leadership can different leadership would come in with a different vision and a different goal. And that would support, you know, athletics and support what I did. and so that meant more increased opportunity, whether that was, you know, more classes during the day, you know, we started having
morning weight sessions and things like that and and slowly growing and and I think our leadership saw what we’re trying to do here. and so we were able to build this thing slowly, like knowing that when you’re trying to turn the ship, right, it it’s slow. it’s slow here at this level. And I was able to play the long game and I had the patience for it because that’s not that’s not always the case, right? Some people are like, that’s it. I can’t I can’t change things here overnight and so I’m out. Right. So I was able to to kind of slow play it too.
Connor:
Yeah, that’s actually my next question for you. Like in in a profession like strength and conditioning, where you know, ultimately there’s a lot of looking to the next position and just struggling with being present. How were you able to play the long game? What were the things that allowed you to be able to be consistent and like you said, you had a vision for what you wanted the program to be and what you
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Connor:
wanted the department to look like? How were you able to have that staying power?
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. I think one of the biggest b biggest things was make the big time where you’re at, right? And that’s always like my advice to kind of younger coaches is make the big time where you’re at. I didn’t have that I you know, of course getting into it, you’re like, Yeah, I’m gonna be a D one coach or maybe NFL
Connor:
Mm.
Sam McGriff:
or you know, the biggest the big time, right? and of course I kinda had thoughts like that, but you know, I kinda thought to myself, if I can’t have an impact here.
at this level, then how how am I going to have an impact, you know, at the next level? So make the big time where I I was at. And then I had a lot of ideas. And knowing I had to pick and choose my battles, I think each season I would say, okay, what what’s the battle that I wanna what I what that I want to choose for this this season or what’s the thing that I want to implement this season? Cause we all have these ideas and there’s so many things that you can do. knowing that it was just me and I’m the only one in the weight room.
I kinda had to pick and choose my battle. So I would think I I kinda think, you know, as in slow playing it, pick one goal at a time and I would slowly start to implement it. So first as I came in, it wasn’t there, you know, again, there was no structure. There was not a necessarily a structured program. There was just a space for kids to work out after school, which is great. but kids didn’t really have a a a goal in terms of longevity in in the in this in in the weight room. kind of how do we progress? How do we
you know, kind of follow some basic scientific prin principles to get stronger and what are the basic movements that are expected of me. So I think one of the first things I did was say, okay, what are my key performance indicators going to be? Let’s just start with that. What what are the things we’re going to do? And so with that, I said, All right, you know, I I you could kind of, you know, there’s a philosophy of should you max out with high school kids or not? Well, I think a lot of times kids are going to max out whether or not you want them to or not. So I’d rather
Connor:
Yeah.
Sam McGriff:
have them do it with me, right? And be safe. So I said, okay.
We’re gonna max out, that’s fine. Here’s what our key performance indicators are gonna be, right? We’re gonna squat, bench, debt, clean, right? And this is how I want them done. And and then we’ll go ahead and start a record board, right? So just starting a record board was a one of those things that was like, you know, created interest and created a little buy in with the kids. Somebody might come in and say, What’s this thing this new coach that has in? is it record board? Well, how do I get up there? How do I get up there? well, you gotta show up, right? You gotta show up.
And then with that, you not just show up, but you gotta live to what to what our standard is. You gotta have be able to move and and and be safe in there. And I gotta be able to trust you if your name’s gonna go up there. It’s not gonna be, hey, you’re just gonna waltz in and hit a max, right? and then they got to see the kind of the progressions with it over a long time. There was a plan. Okay, we’re gonna max out once a quarter. So for us, we you know, it’s every eight weeks.
So once once a quarter, every eight to ten weeks, we’ll we will have one time where we max out and everybody knows when that’s gonna be. and it kind of created a little buzz. I said, it’s max out week. There’d be kids coming down, it’s max out week, are you gonna max out? Are you gonna max out? Are you gonna max out? Right. And so it helped create a little bit of buzz in and buy in. So that was probably another one of the first things that we kinda implemented. They kind of created some buzz around and kind of helped us to build a little culture.
You know, do I think that all kids need to max out? Absolutely not. But I know that my kids are are are gonna wanna do it. So sure, I’ll provide them that opportunity if that’s what you want to do. If that means that you’re gonna be consistent and come in here and work for me, then yeah, we’ll do it. so that was kind of one of the first things. So I think, you know, whether it’s a record board, small things like that, small changes at a time. And then we we started that record board, right? And then, you know, what’s one of the things that you love doing when you’re in a weight room and somebody hits a PR? Well, you gotta hit a PR bell, right? So it’s like, all right.
Let’s get a PR bell of some kind, right? And so we started PR bell, and that has led to even bigger traditions. So we started with this. you can actually kind of see this little bell up here in in
Connor:
Yeah, yeah.
Sam McGriff:
our weight room. That used to hang on the wall in our old facility.
Connor:
well.
Sam McGriff:
and yeah, it used to hang on the wall in our old facility. And we the old facil and after we’d hit a PR, guys would come and ring the bell, right? Well, our old facility being smaller.
The weight room was actually served as the locker room at halftime during football games. And so during football after football games, the guys would usually come back up to the locker room. Well, one day after a homecoming football game where we win on a last second play, right, the football team comes up and what do they do? They go over to the to the PR belt and they start just going nuts on that thing, right? so fast forward, you know, seven, eight years later, I have a bell now that’s about
three times that size on wheels that we card out and stuff whenever you know we have big events and it’s kind of grown from there, right? And I didn’t have that envisioned in the beginning, like, we’re gonna have this bell that you know, that’s gonna be a part of the whole community. I didn’t necessarily have that idea. I th I thought of it a little bit, but I just thought, hey, what’s one thing I can implement that’s gonna create some buzz here, that’s gonna help encourage kids to kind of want one kind of want encourage kids to want to lift, right?
so we started a PR bill and that is something that just kind of became part of the culture. So you know, one thing at a time, you know, it for me, I didn’t come through and just say, here’s all the things we’re gonna do. I think if you try to do too much, right, you’re not gonna necessarily be at all or won’t necessarily land. So I think start slow, pick one or two at a time that you can implement and do those like really well, right? I mean it kind of goes back to lifting, just keep it simple.
Sorry, with some with one goal that you wanna do and and drive those basics home, right? So
Connor:
Yeah, so do you think that that’s where some people can go wrong with that, right? Like you said, like where they’ll try to make too many changes too quickly, it doesn’t work, and then they kinda just go, All right, well this spot this isn’t the sp space for me or the job for me and I’m just gonna move on after that.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Yeah, and the I the idea fizzles out, right? The idea fizzles out and it doesn’t work as well. I mean, I it’s a great culture here now when we have Max Week and everybody’s ringing the bell and and and going nuts and and enjoying it. But man, I tell you, there were times when summers when we would max out where I think I had probably ten kids, maybe ten kids show up over the over during a summer weight session. And now
you know, thirteen years later, I average probably seventy to eighty kids a day. and so
Connor:
Wow. That’s awesome.
Sam McGriff:
I I think sometimes too the things get fizzled out ’cause you’re like, we tried it, it didn’t work. Well, sometimes you gotta stick with it a little bit longer, right? To really kinda get some momentum. the first time you try it, it might not be great, but the longer you do it, you you kinda get some momentum around it. but yeah, having too many ideas, not always the best thing. I think it’s great. Sometimes you just gotta
Again, pick your battles, keep it keep it holstered until you know, okay, now is the time. Let’s go after it. Right. and then when you do, you know, I I I think no looking back, be all in on it, right? Like be all in on it. I remember when I proposed the idea of a bell the first time. people are kinda like, nah, I don’t know if we won’t really want to do that and just kinda wasn’t really the big thing. And then you know, I got a few of the sport coaches behind me when I was like, Hey, let’s get a bell and more and you know, get it up in the weight room. What do you think? And then
you know, football coaches like, yeah, let’s do it. All in. All right, let’s go. And so if we’re all in on something and we have that enthusiasm behind it, I mean the kids are gonna the kids are gonna feed off of that and know. Right. So, whereas if we have too many things, it’s kinda hard to get a bunch of push behind just behind behind those ideas.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. I you know, I was kinda it’s funny we have this podcast today because I was looking through some pictures last night and I needed to find a picture for my wife of like her and the three dogs that we have. And I was like really struggling to like find like a the perfect picture. I never take pictures, so this is this is
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Connor:
a side note. But I was going through and then I started looking through older pictures and I looked back to our weight room here with the men’s basketball weight room. So I started off as the men’s basketball strength coach and you know, basically they
They gave me the keys to this white room. They said, This is the basketball and volleyball white room. You do whatever the heck you want with it. You know, like this is yours, you manage it. And so I have a lot of pictures from the start. And it’s just so funny to see how much it’s changed. And my wife’s a dietitian here. And so, you know, we put in a fuel station. I reorganized some things. You know, we emphasize different things, got new equipment and everything like that. And so I guess what I’m leading into is this was four years for me, right? And it’s 13 years for you.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
at the same school. Do you ever look
back? Do you ever kind of like take a moment just to realize, okay, we’ve really come this far?
Sam McGriff:
man.
absolutely. Absolutely. it it’s it’s fun to reflect on that when we look at some of the pictures and some of the way it used to be. Like I used to have so I well when I first walked came into the weight room, it was just nothing but hammer strength machines. we had maybe two squat racks, but everything was plate loaded hammer strength, which is okay. But you know when you’re limited in space, because we had a small weight room, hammer strength machines kind of occupy a bigger footprint.
And so was like, well, I can only do this isolated movement here. So like probably one of my first changes, like, you know, the at the time I think the football coach was was running the weight room. He was like, Don’t get rid of my hammer strength stuff. Don’t get it. I’m like, okay, well, can we put one platform, one rack in right here? Yeah, sure. One platform, one rack turned into four platforms, four racks, right? and then now our new weight room, which is we have six racks, six platforms, right? And have no machines basically. and so it took time.
yeah, it it it’s been great to see the changes. but at that same time, reflecting is good, but man, we just always put on the gas. Always put on the gas. Like, what’s the next thing? How do we make this better? and and that’s I think that’s something that strength coaches do, right? We’re like, What’s what’s the next thing we do? That’s great, but we’re not just gonna sit here and and and be complacent on this. Like, what else can we do? What else can we drive now? Should we start looking into some
you know, electronic stuff, maybe some V P T stuff, maybe some force plate stuff, maybe something like what else can we do to kind of keep pushing this thing forward. so that it year to year we’re seeing progress and we’re trying to get better, and staying kinda on the on the edge of those things. But yeah, it’s reflecting on it has been it’s great and it’s hard to believe that it gets goes by so fast, right? I mean, you’re in there four years, five years, like, wow, it’s already year four, you’re five. And I’m
Connor:
Yeah.
Sam McGriff:
looking at it going, What? Year really, year thirteen, year fourteen? yeah, but
I think, you know, kind of put tying things together is that you just kinda really focus on the work in terms of building relationships with the kids, right? Being being in the weight room, being bought into what they have going on in their lives, helping them progress, being bought into the community and it just makes it go faster because it’s always something. Something’s gonna change, right? The environment is
it it is a great environment to be because there there’s always just something new, always something new that we can do, that we can implement, that we can push forward. So yeah, long time coming, but it’s fun to look back and it’s fun to see where we can go now. It’s like now where else do we go, right? I mean, we’ve been doing
Connor:
Yeah.
Sam McGriff:
this for 13 years and and we have some ideas for sure. but I think that kind of a message too for for for young coaches too is just never stop, right? Never stop learning and never never get complacent.
‘Cause you can easily get into a retail, this is just the way we do it, this is the way we do it, and we’re just gonna keep doing it the way we do it. there that has its place when things work well. but athletes, just like anybody else, right, will get bored. You know, they’ll we’ll kinda want something new. What what else can we implement to keep our keep our kids engaged? So yeah.
Connor:
Yeah, I think that’s such a great point because, you know, again, I’m kind of in the the baby steps of your journey, right? With only being four years. But even, you know, I remember looking at our conditioning in in the summer of year three, I was like, All right, let me just pull up what we did the past year, right? And then let me tweak like one or two things. And then
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
this year for the summer, it was like, Okay, I’m not even gonna look at that anymore because this is where things start to become automatic. And then to me, once it becomes automatic, we can start to lose some of the passion or some of the creativity or molding what we need specific to each team. So
I think that’s a great point to bring up for young strength coaches because it’s there’s really like two paths to walk. You know, there’s one where you can continue to improve, and then there’s one where very easily you could have a good system and you can run the same system for the longest time and you could probably do it with no hiccups, but you know, is there the same creativity, is there’s the same joy or same passion going down that path versus the the former.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. It and and I think it’s natural too when we have that like, Man, should I change it? And we get kinda hesitant because it’s like, Will it work? And it’s like, Well, how do I go about implementing that? Right? How do I coach that or how do I implement what’s that gonna look like logistically? And so you have that feeling of like, should we do it? But then man, when you decide to do it, just like anything else, right? If you go all in on it, the kids know you’re all in on it, everybody knows you’re all in on it. Then then I don’t know. I I don’t think that you can necessarily
fail when you’re when you’re going all in on something, you’ll learn right how to okay, that didn’t work like I thought it was gonna work. We gotta we gotta change it up or maybe we should go back to doing it this way a little bit. But but yeah I think it’s easy to get complacent. but it but at the same time too like yeah I’ll do the same thing where we we take a program and then go back and say what do we need to tweak to it? There’s some things I did like some things I didn’t like it and that helps too, right? You have your your still your foundation
that you’re gonna do, your basic progressions that you’re gonna do. but then you go back and say, Well, you know, how do I tweak this a little bit? How do we make this better, improve, or or do we have things that we, you know, didn’t like? So yeah, for sure, I think a little bit of both. Mm-hmm.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely.
And so, you know, you you definitely touched on the culture development aspect. One of the things that you mentioned in the beginning of the episode is, you know, there was not really a full set of standards either, which obviously standards are a big piece of the culture development too. And you kind of start off as, you know, from the athlete’s view, like, okay, here’s Sam, he’s in the weight room after after school and we can go lift with him and he can help us out, versus now as the head strength and conditioning coach with an assistant strength coach. What, you know, were the standards you had to implement and how did you go about implementing those?
Sam McGriff:
man. so s yeah.
Connor:
I’m sure it’s a lot.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. Standards. I mean you can go everything from form and technique for certain lifts, but then I think a big one was just kind of like weight room etiquette as far as standard as different standards go. How we put how we racking our weights after a lift, right?
We’re doing a proper handoff. I’m done with a piece of equipment and and now you’re going to use it, which you can imagine, like at the high school level, that’s a big piece because kids just leave it and they walk away. It’s like, hang on, let’s come back. You know, who’s whose equipment is this? and then so that that’s probably a big one. And then with that, like we started a big thing here with our standards that is typical, right, in most collegiate settings, where we call it fuzz up. So it’s how you return weights back to back to the weight. So this is our our logo, hell, Pumberkill.
And then we call that a fuzz, right? PH we call it a fuzz. So we with our plates now that all have the logos on them, right? They didn’t back in the day. but that’s something that after we got new weights, we got new facilities. So you fuzz up. Everything’s gonna be fuzz up in here. We’re gonna have our plates put back to where the pH is r oriented vertical, right? And that’s the standard, not a rule, right? Not a rule that you have to do, but it’s the standard that that we wanna uphold in here so that when
one team leaves, the next team comes in the weight room, it’s, you know, spotless and exactly like it’s supposed to be, so that the other team can live. So fuzz up was a big part of kind of setting the standard. And it’s something that we yell to our kids all the time, just fuzz up, fuzz up. Make sure that you’re that you’re holding the standard. and then the other thing that we did is there was no consistency in terms of how do I know a kid’s progressing? What’s the difference between a freshman who lifts in here and a and a and a
a veteran, you know, it’s what a senior that’s probably gonna go play some college ball somewhere. What’s the difference? so we started kind of a block system where essentially it’s a you’re basically linear kind of athletic development model where we start like our our freshmen off at block zero. So eighth graders, ninth graders be a block zero up to like a block three, right? but the way that we actually kind of did that was oriented with our our colors and our logo. So if you’re a a a freshman starting off, you’re gonna be in our red block, right? If you’re a in a
Well, I say freshman, sorry. So if you are a novice or new to lifting, you’re gonna be in our red block. If you have one to two years training age different, you’re gonna be in our white block. If you’re three to four years, you’re probably in blue. And then our top level lifters here are silver, right? And so we try to be as you know, completely objective to to what those standards are, whether it’s like showing up every single day and being consistent.
Whether that’s looking at your squat form and technique, whether that is the effort that you put in the weight room, whether that’s being a good teammate. And and we after the end of each cycle, me and my assistant coach will sit and go through and look at each kid and say, where do we hold this kid at right now? Right? Where do we hold this kid? Where are they at truly in our program? And then we’ll bring the kid in and say, hey, this is where you’re at right now, and this is where this is why you’re here, and this is what it takes to get you to the next level.
You should be at the next level or you’re not because of this, right? And so it gives them something to work on. and so that was one thing that we did kind of uphold the standard there too, because you know, we’ll have a lot of kids that are s really consistent in different seasons, different times of the year. so let’s say, like, you know, summer right now, we have a lot of kids that are traveling all over the place. Well, you’re not always gonna get to be a top level lifter if I don’t see you at all during the summer. If you show up August first.
You know, and you’re consistent during the school year, that’s great. And and I always want you to be here and I never turn kids away. but where where where are you at during the summer? Right. Vice versa, that’s all of kids that are here all summer and then the school year starts and then I don’t see them at all. Right. So trying to encourage kids to be consistent in here is huge. And starting that block system was was big for us and kind of setting a standard. and then with that, it helps us to kind of
to know at a glance where our kids are at. So not only with the with the block, all of our kids in general, we’ll have times where we live together, times when they’re separate. But if you’re like a blo block zero, if you’re you know, a beginner level lifter, you’re gonna have on a red shirt. And so I know that you have a red shirt. I can tell where you’re at and that kind of helps us gauge when we’re coaching. and if you’re a white level lifter, you’re wearing white and so on.
and so that was a big piece of kind of setting a standard too. And I tell them, you know, hey, every kid should want to have that goal of wearing that silver shirt before you graduate and and we before you leave here. but that’s a tough standard. It’s one that I obviously I I don’t like to hand out much. but I have plenty of kids that that that are right there right now. we’ve graduated some seniors, but as it sits right now, my top level lifters, which I consider like the highest standard, I only have three.
I only have three. So I wanna give out more and I tell I wanna give out more, but you know, we gotta we gotta be consistent in what we do. So
Connor:
Yeah, if everybody’s got a silver shirt on, then, you know, it kinda changes the standard a little bit. Do you
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, right. Yeah.
Connor:
do you like any form of promotion ceremonies or anything like that? Or do guys just show up and girls show up with a with a shirt on one day and everybody’s like, All right, hell yeah, he made it.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, it kinda it kinda depends. Typically what we’ll do is at the end of a list session or end of like that that cycle, then yeah, I’ll hand out shirts and say so and so made it out and there’s a you know, everybody’s kind of cheering or whatnot for But sometimes what I like to do is I will go to our assemblies and hand out those shirts at our all school assemblies, which is cool too because again, having an impact on the community outside of just the weight room.
Right. The strength coach has to get out of the weight room and actually go somewhere else, right? so I can award them like at those ceremonies and kids know, like, wow, kid this kid made it up to the next level type of deal. So I try to promote it like that if I can and have some type of how do we make this bigger than just inside the weight room? Yeah.
Connor:
I like that. I I think that’s really cool. And I again I like what you say of the strength coach getting outside of the weight room too, right? Because it’s easy to kind of stay within your the strength coach’s own comfort zone and getting out and like you said having an impact on the community is huge. Is
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Connor:
and so is strength interesting participation voluntary for certain teams, or is that like how it kind of operates at your school?
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, so that’s that’s a big piece is because we’re we operate a little differently. We’re we’re a private school. so we don’t have a mandatory freshman PE necessarily strength and conditioning type class, and we don’t have mandatory weights. Everything is essentially voluntary. so that’s that’s a big piece for us here. Now certain teams will have the expectation that you’re gonna show up.
Right. And so you know kind of what I’m talking about there. So they’ll have the expectation that you better show up to weights. but we being a smaller school, we don’t always have a hard and fast rule that you have to show up or else. now that’s something too, you know, what do I do, how do we take this thing further? That’s probably something that I would like in the future, right? Is like if you’re not showing up to weights, then that there there’s there needs to be an impact somewhere else too, to make this truly a part of a culture and what we do.
But I will say on that same note, every team every team lifts. Every team has a scheduled time that they come into the weight room. it’s just that off season, it’s completely voluntary, right? Completely voluntary. So, so that’s a challenge, right? That’s a challenge of getting kids in here and and building up kind of the culture and making that that expectation that that that’s just what we do. but it’s a great time here in the summer. I’m just still kind of thinking about it because, you know, we’re just getting done with the session today.
You got kids that play all different all different sports lifting together, right? and and so that is this is the probably the one place that we get kids from different sports all together lifting together, doing the same thing, supporting each other and kind of building that community and culture. And there’s not too many other places on campus where you get this diverse group all together, kinda chasing the same goal. So
Connor:
Yeah, the block system makes even more sense now with the voluntary participation, you know,
Sam McGriff:
Right.
Connor:
like it it makes complete sense. And I I I like it to start off with, but obviously to me that’s a fantastic solution to with the voluntary, you know, that that I can see is excuse me, that’s a hurdle. That’s a hurdle you gotta get over, right? and so I loved I love your process and which what you just mentioned is really cool too, because I remember we had a volleyball coach here who played at Kentucky, and even at Kentucky when she was playing, she said that
over the summer we had open hours in the weight room. We all had the same strength coach and so everybody lifted at the same time and it was really cool for us to all actually be together and see each other. And so I could see the the double edged sword of the voluntary, right? There’s, you know, obviously you want to get as people consist as consistent as possible, but then also you get some kind of cool environments because of it.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And like
Connor:
No.
Sam McGriff:
I said, I don’t want to ever turn kids away. And I rarely ever do. Rarely ever do. If you wanna lift
Let’s go, right? Get it get get them all in here lifting together. it it creates a really good environment. It’s been good for us too. And you know, I think the big thing for us here is at this school is we provide every kid the opportunity, right? We can provide every every kid the opportunity. It’s tough when you look at the different sides of the bell curve, right? Like you have your top level performers, you know they’re gonna get in here, right? And you have the kid that does not wanna get in here, right? so you try to shoot for the middle of the bell curve. and you know, some
Sometimes you miss, sometimes you you’re not gonna get every single kid in here all the time, but we provide the opportunity at the end of the day. It you know, the opportunity is here for them to get better. And that’s that’s just what I that’s what I’m passionate about and love, you know, providing that opportunity for kids.
Connor:
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s something, you know, we even talk about with our our guys and from a basketball standpoint who have big body transformations to make, you know, either weight gain or weight loss, you know, we always say we’ve got the resources for you, you know, but we also can’t hold your hand. I you know, you’re gonna see Connor for one to two hours out of the day and you’ve got to take care of business outside of that too. So we’ve got the resources, you’ve got the opportunity to do it, and we’ll set you up for success as much as we can, but ultimately it’s up to you. Yeah.
Sam McGriff:
Right. Exactly. Absolutely.
Connor:
Okay. And so I’m curious about this too. This is this is a well timed podcast for me personally. I appreciate it. So we had a volleyball elite camp, essentially, or ID camp is what they called it. And so it was kind of our, you know, higher level recruits or prospects who you know, will most likely be playing collegiate volleyball at some form. and, you know, I basically we did a couple different athletic testing with them, vertical jump, lane agility, different couple different couple tests.
And at the end, you know, my station, we had basically a five minute segment before they had to move on to the next station. And I kind of just used that time to talk about a couple of different things with like recovery, nutrition, sleep, a couple of different things like that. and I got a lot of blank stares, right? Talking about, okay, let’s not have our phones in bed. You know, we need to eat three to four meals per day. Like, and I can tell it’s just a little bit different at the high school level because neverybody’s not, you know.
P athletes are a hundred percent motivated, right? But you know, the athletes I work with are all in a scholarship. A lot of these athletes are getting paid to be here and they know that if they do well, then they can probably have a chance at a pro career as well, too. How do you approach talking about recovery and developing recovery ha ath habits with your athletes?
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, that’s that’s huge. especially because like the limited time you have with them, right? It’s tough at the beginning of a session or tough at the end of session to say, like, before we do this quick breakdown, let me tell you everything there is to know about sleep or nutrition or whatever it is, right? so I think that is one way that I still do go about doing it, is right, I have to make a point, like I’ll make myself notes to say, okay, let’s talk about just
protein this week. And like eat during that week when before we do a breakdown, I’ll talk about, you know, what are some good sources of protein? How much protein should I have, right? Different things like that. So I give myself some notes to make sure that I try to hit on at the end of a week, like at a breakdown session, to make sure that I just quickly touch. but kind of big picture, I knew that just doing that doesn’t provide all of the
information that a kid should need, right? Or and it’s not adequate time for if I have a question about nutrition and I’m a timid freshman, I I don’t think I’m gonna ask that question right now or we’re doing a breakdown in front of everybody else. So one of the things that I would that you know I did kinda in support w of the leadership here too was we started a c a a class. so we started a a class called exercise science which is essentially I provide a time for
students to work out during the day, but also we have a classroom academic portion as well. And so that is when I really hit this stuff, this stuff home. And I can actually go into a little bit more depth and we can have a more conversation about okay, what are your actual sleep habits look like? And we can kind of start talking about that. now I wish that enrollment in that class was like every single athlete that we have here. that’s not quite the case. But I will say that about 75% of the people that take my course
go on to play collegiate athletics. And that’s just because the it’s important to them, right? It’s important to them to kind of learn and dig a little bit more and about training their bodies and things like that. So starting that class is is one thing that I’ve done that that that helped. And I think that I I again I would like to get more kids in there, but usually those kids go back and kind of re you know, reinau relay that information to some of their friends. And that’s how most kids get get their information, right? Is from their friends if it’s not from their phone. So
starting small with that is just at the education piece and that exercise client that exercise science class has been huge for us in kind of in in kind of helping to relay that because you know we can’t can’t lead a horse of water and make them drink. They have to want to take the drink, right? So the kids that take my course want to learn more about it and they’re going to you know take heed of what I say and say, Okay, well, coach said that we should probably do this, this, and this. Let me think about that a little bit more.
whereas sometimes kids on one end of the bell groove are going to say, Okay, coach, gotcha. I’m gonna go back to doing what I do, right? at the just the nature of their age. so the class has been been really good for us.
Connor:
That’s so cool. I mean, seriously, like I I I remember as a, you know, young high school athlete, we had it was pretty similar situation to when you first started. We had somebody in the weight room who helped work work with us. And I remember I would be I I can confidently say I’m not very confident a lot of stuff. I’d be a silver lifter, right? So I’d be in the silver block because that was
Sam McGriff:
Yeah. Right.
Connor:
just, you know, it was the place that I was the best at. and I
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, yeah.
Connor:
was not very athletic and I found out that’s where I excelled. and so there was a lot of questions between
myself and a couple of other athletes, to that coach and just a lot of different things that we wanted to know. So actually having a full class and a resource like that would have been I mean, it would have been my dream. You know, instead of having to go to another elective like I think we had a dance elective I had to take and I definitely would have been an exercise science way more.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, and and and that’s what I tell the kids too. It’s like, hey, I can take this wherever you guys want to take this. That’s the beauty of having this this independent school where I’m at. I’ll have kids that come in and and they’re like all about nutrition. Coach, can you can we talk more about this? What’s a good protein? should I be taking a whey protein? Is whey protein better than you know, isolate like you know, asking those very specific type of questions that you’re like, okay, so you you really do care about this. This is this is your thing, right?
where our kids will come in and coach, you know, really get into training or I’ll have kids that really like Olympic weightlifting. Like, okay, let’s really focus on Olympic weightlifting. it and so I can take that course wherever I wanna go and I I hope it really kind of you know, helps to satisfy those kids that are just like, I want a little bit more. I know this basic stuff and I’m trying to find out a little bit more and I want to make sure that I’m getting, you know, hopefully help them, you know, make sure they’re getting the information from a good source and it it helps them along the way.
So that so that’s probably the biggest part is that education piece. I wish it was more because you know, like I said, if they don’t sign up to take my course, they’re not gonna necessarily get that in depth knowledge. I’ll talk to them about it and and it’s tough, right? Sometimes it sticks with kids and sometimes it doesn’t. So, but just like anything else, right? Consistency, trying to deliver the same message to the kids and trying sometimes you’re like a broken record ’cause sometimes the first time it doesn’t stick and and you you try again. So
Connor:
Yeah, but you br you bring up such a great point too with especially with high school athletes of giving them information from a quality source, right? I mean, I I I I still see some stuff sometimes on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it may be, and I’ll be I’ll believe it, you know. And then like I’m like, all right, I actually have to fact check this, you know, and then it’s completely incorrect.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Connor:
and so it it it it’s funny because I have a very good friend of mine who also post on social media, and he basically was like, Why do you post the, you know, most simple stuff? And I’m like, because there’s so much
bad information out there that, you know, somebody’s got to post something consistent and have the background in it. And obviously a lot of people do that. But there’s just also so much noise and different things that people will try to put out there and make it seem incredibly drastic, to try to grab attention and try to get views. So having that information from a high quality source is really important. But like you said too, they’re gonna share that. Like that’s not just a like, okay, I got misinformed now. Now it’s gonna be like, hey bro, you know, like you actually should only have fifty grams of carbs a day.
You know, like I heard I read I saw it on, you know, this nutritionist reel or whatever it is. And it’s like, my goodness now. Right. And so having that quality source I think is really, really cool.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, yeah, definitely. yeah, it and you know, I tell kids all the time too, we even in my course we’ll take like Instagram versus reality, right? Or social media versus reality. Like, okay, this we’ve seen this, but what does that how does that really translate in reality, right? and the and the real thing, the great thing about working with high school athletes is keeping it simple is huge. So you said you post stuff that that’s like so basic or feels like it’s basic, but man
If we keep things simple and keep it consistent, right, I mean, especially at my level, that’s that’s always gonna work a hundred percent of the time. Keep it simple, keep it basic, but be but be consistent about it in whatever it is, nutrition, whether it’s sleep, whether it’s how you’re lifting, but just be consistent. And that’s the hard part, right, with kids, i i is the consistency piece or or most athletes. Yeah.
Connor:
Yeah, a hundred
percent. I remember the first reel I ever posted that w did really well and like it was a similar first TikTok that I ever posted too was it was it this was slightly unethical, right? ‘Cause it’s not necessarily the best quality of study because it was only on nine participants, I think, but was the Stanford sleep study with men’s basketball players and they yeah
Sam McGriff:
man, I know what you’re talking
about. I use that in my class all the time. Yep, yep. Yep. Yep.
Connor:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know it’s and I
remember like I was like, all right, slightly unethical to use this because it’s not the best study, but I mean it blows up because people see, okay, this actually directly affects my sport. If I sleep, I’m better at my three point shooting percentage, free throw percentage, I’m I’m faster and there’s less injuries. And it’s like all these things that ultimately if you can get a couple attention grabbing pieces for good, it can really make a huge difference.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, absolutely. I use that one every time I talk about sleep hygiene, man. It’s just like just be
Connor:
That’s awesome.
Sam McGriff:
consistent with it. Just be consistent with it. Now, I mean, right, yeah, the study, we know there’s a lot of different things that go on through the season that are gonna make you better and perform better at those tests. But I mean, man, if I can get kids something tangible to say this relates to my sport and sleep can have a ha you know, can have a great impact on on my performance, then you know, why not why not have them, you know, kind of can buy into that. So for sure.
Connor:
a hundred percent. Yeah,
I love it. Okay, so I w always e end with a a little bit more of a fun question too. so obviously you’re in the Kansas City area. What is the favorite barbecue dish for you?
Sam McGriff:
man. so I I gotta c I gotta I gotta go ribs. I gotta go ribs. I
Connor:
Yeah.
Sam McGriff:
think ribs both for me to cook and to eat. I love to I love to smoke to smoke meat, you know, it’s just part of being the Kansas City area too. So I gotta go ribs. And for me, you know, I I I pff probably go Joe’s. I go Oklahoma Joe’s, barbecue ribs, yeah, that’s what I that’s my go to.
Connor:
That’s awesome. I I remember my first year at Texas Tech, we had the Big Twelve tournament in Kansas City. and you know, obviously I just had Tex I’m from Syracuse, New York. You know, there’s not really
Sam McGriff:
Okay.
Connor:
a ton of great barbecue around. There’s one restaurant that’s good, which I’ve talked about on the show in the past. But I go out to Texas and you know, we’re having all this amazing barbecue and people were like, Well, you’re gonna go to Kansas City, you gotta try it out. And I was Yeah, whatever. You know, it can’t be Texas.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
Connor:
And then we went out there, and if you’re from Texas,
Please cover your ears. I mean, it was it was amazing. It was better for sure. And I can definitely say that. So I always have to ask when I know for somebody’s from the Kansas City area.
Sam McGriff:
yeah, man. Joe’s Joe’s is where it’s at. I guess it’s KC Joe’s now, but it used to be Oklahoma Joe’s, but Joe’s is where it’s at. but you know, Texas has good brisket too. It’s it’s great brisket in Texas. So, you know, you gotta give them their props. But yeah, the home of barbecue is here, baby, Kansas City.
Connor:
I love it. We’re taking hard stances, which is exactly what we want to see. So yeah.
Sam McGriff:
yeah.
Connor:
Well, Sam, seriously, thank you so much for coming on, man. It’s been it’s been great to get to know a little bit more about your story and your process. I say this I think pretty much at the end of every single podcast, right? But there’s always something new I learn and there’s always something that I feel like really helps me as a coach, and that’s why I love doing this podcast. And you and you certainly helped me today, and I know you helped our listeners. So thank you.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah, I appreciate it, man. And thanks for all you do for the community, man. Like I said, in in the past ten, thirteen years, just the strength condition community is just is just blown up and it’s great. And it’s because of of of guys like you that come out here putting this content out and helping connect coaches and and helping us all get better. It’s all about
Connor:
I really appreciate that. That seriously means a lot. Thank you, Sam.
Sam McGriff:
Yeah.
All right man, thank you.
