Building a successful career in sports performance requires more than understanding sets, reps, and data. It requires the ability to communicate, build relationships, remain accountable, and understand the purpose behind your work.
In this episode of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, Kevin Deitz, Assistant Sports Performance Coach at the University of Cincinnati, shares his career journey and the experiences that have shaped his approach to coaching.
Kevin discusses his work with load management, particularly within sports like soccer, and explains the importance of continuing to learn while developing both broad and specialized knowledge. He also breaks down the core pillars of his coaching philosophy, including intent, accountability, respect, and human connection.
The conversation also explores professionalism in strength and conditioning, the influence of social media and technology on coaching culture, and the importance of creating a life outside the profession. For young coaches, Kevin emphasizes networking, communication, continuous learning, and finding a purpose that leads to long-term happiness.
Key Takeaways
- Approach training and coaching decisions with clear intent.
- Accountability demonstrates respect for athletes, coaches, and colleagues.
- Load management requires continuous learning and an understanding of each sport’s demands.
- Coaches can benefit from developing broad knowledge while building expertise in specific areas.
- Networking and cold outreach can create valuable relationships and career opportunities.
- Professionalism extends beyond technical coaching knowledge to communication and interpersonal skills.
- Coaches should lead by example in both professional and social environments.
- Maintaining interests outside of coaching can support long-term work-life balance.
- Young coaches should focus on relationships, continuous education, purpose, and happiness.
Quote
“Intent with what you do is crucial.”
— Kevin Deitz
Kevin Deitz :
why are you gonna try to bring someone down when they’re just trying to do the same thing that you’re doing and that’s get by in life and find purpose in life, which to me is just finding happiness, whatever that looks like.
Connor :
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach, Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have Kevin Dietz, assistant sports performance coach at University of Cincinnati. Kevin, thank you so much for coming on.
Kevin Deitz :
Hey, yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Connor :
Well, I’m stoked about it. And one thing that I asked you pre-show that I also want to ask you on the show so our listeners can get some clarification, there’s another Mr. Deets that we had previously on the show from University of Cincinnati. Do you have any relation whatsoever to Cameron Dietz besides a colleague or work relationship?
Kevin Deitz :
No, no relation. we like to say that ancestors when they came over, somebody maybe misspelled it for mine. so if they’re if if he ever talks about the correct way of spelling deets, it’s probably his way because every time I see a deeds, it’s spelled his way. but no relation between us that we know of.
Connor :
Yeah, you gu you guys have like the ultimate what I call like the Connor conundrum, right? Because everybody spells Connor differently and then everybody thinks that they spell it correctly.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
So you might be the first person I’ve ever heard who’s willing to say, you know, my name might be spelled incorrectly. So I I think that shows a little bit of
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, well I mean yeah, when you
s only see it spelled one way once, it’s kinda can’t really take ownership of it, I guess.
Connor :
Yeah, that’s fair. That’s understandable. Well, we are excited to kind of get to know you a little bit better and obviously ask you some questions. Can you just give us a background of your career and strength and conditioning, some of your experiences and then what’s led you to Cincinnati?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, of course. so I would say it started all back in high school. I wanted to be an architect when I was growing up and my uncle was an architect. So I went to go shadow him for about a week and then realized that was not what I wanted to do. a lot of different rules and regulations that were really confusing to a young kid. so tried to figure out a different path. figured
Eventually that I wanted to go athletic training. So I actually did my undergrad in athletic training at Methods University in North Carolina. and then through that schooling and process realized that wasn’t what I want to do. there were a few instances of like the emergency care aspect that I didn’t feel comfortable in. And I was like, probably shouldn’t have people’s lives in my hands like that if I’m not feeling comfortable with it. so from there it was either PT or strength conditioning.
so I ended up at Ohio University as a graduate assistant, working under Jared Azar there with men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and softball, doing strength conditioning and fell in love with it, loved it from there. from there went to University of Maryland, did an internship for a summer with their Olympic strength conditioning staff, and then ended up at Wittenberg University for a year, and then from there
university of Cincinnati where this is now year four here.
Connor :
Well,
I’ve never heard architecture before. I’ve heard a lot of different careers
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
that people were interested in. What you know, kind of drew you to architecture? What made you interested in it?
Kevin Deitz :
I have a strong feeling it was Legos and just my love for building Legos. but then I found out there’s a lot more than just clicking pieces together and designing something. You have to actually follow the laws and down to the nitty gritty details and all these different codes and I was like, I’m way over my head on this.
Connor :
I mean, that’s totally fair. I do I do love playing with Legos as well, so I can identify with that. but you know
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. I mean what God doesn’t.
Connor :
Yeah, exactly. That’s very true. I remembered building the Burj Khalifa. That was like my first like actual Lego, you know, Folgo project. it was awesome, fell in love with it, and then I found out they were like a hundred dollars a set at the time. I’m sure they’re more expensive now. So you know, I kinda gave up on the Lego dreams as well too. but what’s what sports do you currently work with at Cincinnati?
Kevin Deitz :
Currently work with women’s soccer and then track and field throwers and sprinters.
Connor :
Very nice. Excellent. And so I guess this is this is kind of an off the qu cuff question a little bit, but I’m just curious about this. You know, you mentioned working with a lot of different sports coming up through your experience. You know, how do you kind of feel or why let’s start with this? How do you feel about kind of the idea of specialization of sports within strength and conditioning? A lot of coaches are now trying to specialize and say specific things like I’m a soccer train coach or basketball strained coach.
and do you feel like you are fitting into a specialization a little bit or do you try to stay as general as possible?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I think that’s a tricky question.
I would like to say that we can stay as generalists and I know keep our options open with working with any other sport, but sorry, lights are on a sensor. Maybe we can edit this part out.
Connor :
Happens more than you think. Yeah, we
can for sure.
Kevin Deitz :
Mm.
I want to change location.
Connor :
No worries.
Kevin Deitz :
Sorry about this.
Connor :
No, no, no, no worries at all. This is why it’s perfect. I’ll just write down a note and we can edit this piece out.
Kevin Deitz :
Over here.
Alright, sorry about that.
Connor :
No no no,
no worries. We can you can just restart right from the end of that question if you’d like. We and we can just edit straight into that.
Kevin Deitz :
All right.
do you mind saying the question again? Or no? What Okay, I remember. I remember. I’m good. Sorry.
Connor :
Yeah yeah yeah no problem at all. Okay,
perfect, on you.
Kevin Deitz :
All right. so I think that’s a tough question. I would like to say that we can be generalists, because I think it’s important to know a little bit about everything. And I think a lot of what we do in the weight room is very general, in the sense that we’re building these general physical qualities. but I feel like the way that sports and athletics are going, it’s kind of going more towards the specialty route and like having a niche.
that you’re trying to find. I think starting out, it’s good to be general so that you’re getting a lot more experience and a little bit of everything. And what you learn in one area can translate to another area. but I think as you go throughout your career, maybe you start finding something you’re a little bit more interested in, a little bit more passionate about, and following that. and then maybe you kind of become more of an expert in that area and might help you get certain opportunities in that area. but then also one door opens.
others close. So as you follow a niche route, now you can’t necessarily go back to someplace else. if you wanted to follow it. So you kind get stuck. so I’ve liked to say that we like as strength conditioning, staying general as possible so that you have all these different options to go down. But unfortunately I feel like just the way the world’s going nowadays, it’s kind of hard to do that.
Connor :
Yeah, I think that’s a fantastic response because I just don’t I agree with you. I don’t see really a way where you can avoid kind of the specialist piece. you know, ultimately it’s gonna be something where at some point people are gonna wanna know that if you apply for a basketball job, you have a lot of basketball experience or a soccer job that you have the soccer experience as well too. specifically sport coaches. That’s something that they really wanna see. So I think it’s tough to you know, ultimately say that you can avoid the specialization piece.
and so I I I appreciate your insight on that. And I know it was kinda like I said, off the cuff question, but I’m just curious about it nowadays because I know a lot of people give the advice of staying as general as possible, but it could be really tough to do so.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I mean you see it all the time where it’s like you apply for a job and it’s like, you had no experience, but then it’s like, How do I get experience without having experience? And then you have these people that are specialized in it now getting those positions and I don’t know, it’s just kind of like a cycle and never ending cycle of that same thing.
Connor :
Yeah, it can build upon itself for sure.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
Wow. Okay. Well, you know, just looking into soccer specifically, you know, a lot a big topic for today is load management or load monitoring. you know, when you look at especially with sports like soccer, which have such a high external load, and it’s just very interesting to see how many, you know, I’m what their total distance is, where all these different factors are that go into soccer, especially from a basketball strength coach who, you know, are
court can fit in the box for soccer, right? Which is always interesting to me. How do you approach load management? What are the things that you look for when you approach load management with your team?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, well to start, I want to say that I’m by no means an expert in this. we’ve just talked about generalism and then specifics. And I think this is an area that I am starting to go down and learn a lot more about, especially over the past year, but by no means am an expert. but what I found with the external metrics, finding some sort of intensity metric, some sort of volume metric, and then a density metric, and kind of tracking those.
trends over time or from session to session or based off your match data. So I’d say like for intensity, you know, like your sprint cow, high speed running, Excel’s D cells, for your volume, your distance, high speed running could even fall into that one as well. It’s kind of like a dual metric. And then your density could be like distance per minute. So using those kind of big key ones rather than getting overwhelmed with all these different metrics that you can look at.
and then I think in terms of like load management from session to session, week to week, taking the game and working backwards. So what like every team’s different. So if you have data on your specific team, I think that’s great. And then you can use that data and work backwards from there. if you don’t, then finding data of the same sports, maybe at the same level, and using that information to kind of guide you as a base and work backwards from there. So if you know,
Midfielders are going to cover eight miles a game, roughly. okay, well, then a harder session, maybe they’re getting four and a half miles as like their high day for volume. So picking specific metrics, kind of finding different percentages based on high, low, moderate days, and making your scheme around that.
Connor :
Interesting. And so how do you you say you’re going about a process of trying to learn more about load management? You know, what are the resources that you’re looking to you know, or you are spending your time learning in, right? Because I think it’s tough to find sometimes these continue education resources that can be high quality. You know, what have you turned to? What’s the process you’ve done to help learn more about it?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, that is something I have struggled with. because I’m someone that likes like very clear cut answers and like this is the way you do things, and there’s not a lot of that out there, especially when it comes to sports science, because it is so new and recent. I love courses because I think courses kind of like the lecture type base where it talks you through things and explains it. so complimentary training,
Has some courses on their website, a lot of articles on their website. So I turned to that. I think a big one for me is just people. So talking to different people. So we have a sports scientist here at University of Cincinnati, Jason Stone, talk to him a little bit. reaching out to other people in the field, so like other power for soccer strength coaches, sports scientists, talking to them. What are they doing? What resources do they use?
You know, any kind of books I can get a hold of, a lot of experimenting. so we use Smarterbase here. and that’s kind of how like we use Polar Team Pro, which, you know, not the best system, but it’s what we have, it’s better than nothing. So I take that, put it into Smarterbase, which is kind of like a athlete management system. and then a lot of that and the dashboards that I built off of there was just all trial and error and
YouTube videos and videos they had on their website. So in terms of learning and growing, it’s kind of a combination of everything, just anything I can get a hold of and combining it all together to make my own thing, I guess.
Connor :
Yeah, for sure, which is always kind of the fun process with continuing education is you’re trying to make your own thing at the end of the day. How have you been able to kind of decipher if it’s a high quality resource or not? you know, if it’s something that you can really get value from or it might be something that is more valuable for others who are looking for a different type of information.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. I think word of mouth is kind of one that I use where if a lot of people are talking about it, well then it’s probably pretty credible. so like complimentary training is one that I heard about from other people. Smortsmith is a good one, Science Direct, like all these websites that have different resources on there. and a lot of times what I’ll do is I’ll even look at people that like wrote the article and then maybe reach out to them via email or something.
But then other information, it’s being able to critically think about it. So like if you see a video online or something, it’s you you take in the information, it’s like, all right, let me think about this. Does this make sense? Does it follow what everything else I’ve learned? If not, well then I’m probably not gonna listen to it. Or if it’s some person that, you know, is a mechanical engineer and now they’re talking about, hey, this is what you need to do for your back squats, well then I know, like.
probably not the most credible source. so I think just a little bit of critical thinking and what other people are saying about it as well.
Connor :
Yeah, I think that’s a great barometer, right? Because again, like you said, if you hear a lot of people mention it, it’s probably a pretty high quality resource. and then I do like to be kind of one of the first guys to find something new and you know, help bring it into the circle a little bit and you know, try to seem like the smart one because I usually don’t have my moment in the sun very much with the the group of people I surround myself with.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, it’s always nice
when you it’s you can show your friends or coworkers like, hey, check this out. What I found I’m like, that’s really cool. I was like, Yes, I did it.
Connor :
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. It’s a little a little feather in the cap for sure. you know, you’ve mentioned a couple of times, like y you just said that you’ll reach out to the author of an article. you said that you’ll reach out to other strength coaches within your conference or at other power four institutions. How did you get comfortable with kind of the cold call process? Because it’s obviously something that can be very beneficial for strength and conditioning, but I know a lot of coaches can be uncomfortable with doing. So how did you go about that process and
What is that, you know, being comfortable with kind of cold calling, what has that done for you?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. I think the first thing is understanding the worst they can do is not respond. and the best they can do is respond instead of a meeting. so it’s like, what what harm does it do to reach out? I think the thing that has helped me when it comes to the actual conversations is planning out the questions in advance. Where if you just go on a call, like early on when I would go calls, I’ll just be like, Hey, like, what’s your background? What have you done? What teams do you work with? Like just kind of
know casual conversation, but as I go along, it’s like, no, I have these specific questions that I want answers to. So I’m gonna reach out to these people that might know them. And I think asking those specific questions kind of helps guide the conversation a little bit more. so like an example would be I recently got into Olympic weightlifting. I found a coach, Stuart Young at University of Kansas. He now works with the soccer team there. But reaching out to him is like, hey, I want to learn more about Olymp Olympic weightlifting
what resources do you know? Where did you start? why are we doing these different positions? But I think the more specific you can get with the questions, the better the conversation goes and the less, you know, nervous you might get.
Connor :
I really like that, especially just the whole process of planning out the questions, because I think to my own experience of kind of cold calling somebody or just reaching out, it’s usually ’cause I have about one question, maybe one, you know, burning one and then maybe one other small one I can think of. But actually taking the time to sit down and be really consistent and have multiple questions can obviously make the conversation flow smoother. But then also you have this resource and ultimately being able to maximize your time with them because you know.
The cold call piece is really fun. Sometimes you get some great relationships out of it. Sometimes I’ll talk to somebody and I’ll never talk to them again, you know, not because I don’t like them or anything, but just our, you know, our that’s where our kind of relationship ended up being. So I really like the process of planning out questions. Are there any specific, you know, consistent questions that you usually have when you first reach out to a coach? Is there anything that you really like to ask everybody to kind of get to know about?
Kevin Deitz :
not necessarily. when it comes to reaching out to other soccer strength coaches or sports scientists, it’s usually about like the load monitoring, data management, GPS stuff, and where I’m at in that process. So asking some sort of question around where I’m at. Whereas before, like starting out with that, it’s like, hey, where do I start? But now as I’ve learned more, it’s what do you do on match day minus two? What per
specific percentages of your matched like data do you use? What high speed running you’re looking for? Like I’m able to ask more in-depth questions there. but I won’t say there’s overall like a general question. but I think with all of them, like you end up kind of just the conversation at the end turns into a more casual, like, where are you from? How did you get into this? And I think that’s good to help build the relationship as well.
Connor :
Yeah,
absolutely. I agree. And and then again, those are some of the conversations where you can actually end up becoming friends afterwards, which is always pretty fun. Yeah. And so
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. Exactly. And then maybe repeat
calls later on as well.
Connor :
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And those are the ones that help you get the bet get better because then you can have more in depth conversations because you’ve already kind of broke the ice a little bit. So I’m just always curious about the cold call process because again, I feel like especially for a lot of our listeners who are younger, I’ll get some questions sometimes where they they don’t necessarily feel comfortable about reaching out. but I’ve had guests who have, you know, cold emailed me and asked, you know, if I they could be a guest on the show and there’s some of our best episodes. So again, I reiterate it probably every
four or five episodes. but you know, ultimately it’s a really good process. And so thank you for reinforcing that for us. I appreciate it. You know,
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, for like the message.
Connor :
yeah, okay, of course. one of the questions that I have for you, and I’ve just been big on kind of reevaluating my coaching philosophy and kind of looking through what my philosophy is. I remember, you know, when we I’m sure you did the same thing at some point during your career
Or at an internship or during a class where they ask you, okay, what are the pillars of your coaching philosophy? And you get asked the question the first time and you’re like, why do I really need to know this? Right. And then all of a sudden, as you grow as a coach and get older, you find out that you really do need to know it and you need to have some pretty solid answers to it. What are some of your core pillars or core principles as a as a coach?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. there’s a lot that I fall back on and I don’t necessarily always remember them off the top of my head, but like as I do them, I’m like, yeah, that’s something that I consistently do. but a few things that are very clear is intent. something I constantly preach. I’m sure the soccer team is tired of hearing that word. but having intent with not only like the speed work and power work that we do, like you need to have max intent with it.
But more so intention and purpose with what you do. So even if it’s like a stretching session, it’s like, hey, have intent with trying to relax. You’re not talking, you’re holding the stretch. have intent with the nutrition strategies that you’re following, have intent with putting your phone away before practice. just everything is done for a reason and there’s purpose and meaning behind it. And a lot of times I say is like be in the moment.
It’s like, hey, when you’re in the set, you’re in the set, you’re focusing on it, have intent with what you’re doing, feel how your body’s moving, have the focus. When you’re done with the set, okay, that’s when you can kinda check out a little bit, not too much because we’re still in the session. but maybe like mentally reset for the next thing. so that’s one of them. another one is accountability is huge for me. I’m not afraid to call people out, even if it gets me in trouble with sport coaches. but you know, if if someone’s not gonna do it, like I’ll do it. Like,
I think a player-led team is the best, but sometimes, you know, they’re working in the college level, they’re 18 to 22, there’s drama going on, maybe they don’t feel comfortable calling other people out. It’s like, all right, I’ll be the guy, like I’ll call it out. if they’re doing something wrong, I’ll let them know. and I’ll let them know in front of the whole team. And even like when we’re up in the circle, I’ll like look at them, point at them, say their name, and it’s like, yeah, this person did this. I want you all to know that so that they don’t do it again. If they see them doing it again.
Let them know that they’re doing it wrong. We’ve talked about it. and then same thing goes with me. It’s like I want someone to hold me accountable as well. So whether it’s my teammates or or the teams I work with, coworkers, boss, like I want them when I do something wrong to be like, hey, you did this wrong. That’s not the standard, do better. so I think accountability is big. And then last big one that I can actually like name is respect. can get into philosophy here, but you know, I think we’re all just
sacks of meat and skin living on a floating rock in space. So it’s like, why would we go out of our way to treat others poorly and negatively and not have respect for one another? It’s like no one’s better than the other person. So let’s all just, you know, make our lives the best that we can make it.
Connor :
Yeah, y I mean, you said we can dive into that philosophy a little bit, you know. I mean, can you explain that to me? Because I agree with you at the end of the day, right? You know, like no one person is is truly better than the other, right? but can you kind
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
of dive into that philosophy a little bit more for me?
Kevin Deitz :
man. I can talk about this for hours and a lot of it goes into like theology as well, but I just think that
You know, like we are living this life. We as humans have the conscious ability to feel feel emotions, whether it’s sadness, happiness, love, depression, whatever it may be, like we feel things. Whereas you have other animals that don’t necessarily feel those things, or may might not have like you think about like their purpose, like you know, a bunny rabbit is first animal, which I don’t know why that came to my mind, but a bunny rabbit’s like.
Their purpose is to wake up, nibble on some grass, run from predators, take care of their offspring, move on in life, right? Whereas we as humans, it’s like, okay, we’ve now developed into these creatures that now we have strength conditioning coaches, now we have computer scientists, finance, like whatever. Like we’re doing all these other things and we have the capacity to do that. Long story short, with all that, why not?
seek happiness because we can feel it and why not others try to find that as well? Like why are you gonna try to bring someone down when they’re just trying to do the same thing that you’re doing and that’s get by in life and find purpose in life, which to me is just finding happiness, whatever that looks like.
Connor :
Hmm. I I mean, I love the philosophy, right? Because I think at the end of the day, everybody just should be happy and enjoy their
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
life. You know, I I guess in a world now, especially within collegiate athletics, like I get asked about NIL all the time, and you know, my response previously was kind of just like, Yeah, you know, NIL exists, it’s not really a big deal, but now I’m really seeing it five years, six years down the line, however long it’s been.
it really is interfering with happiness because it’s really interfering with, like you said, the intent piece. It’s interfering with people being able to be present in the moment and just understanding that there’s a purpose behind what they do at that specific moment, and especially at the mid major level, a lot of people are trying to just worry about getting paid more or going to a better situation for themselves. So, in a very self serving world with college athletics and NIL, you know.
How do you kind of preach this mentality or preach this philosophy of people just trying to be happy and I guess being a little bit more present minded?
Kevin Deitz :
Wow, that’s tough. That’s loaded.
Connor :
It it is tough.
Kevin Deitz :
so for myself, I’ll speak for myself. I think there is more to life than work. And finding what that is for you is important. And maybe it is work. Like there are people out there that they live to work, and that’s okay. And if that’s the case, well then give everything you have to work. For me, I work to live. Like there are things outside of work that make life worth living and that I enjoy and that I’m gonna seek to do.
So with that, I think not letting work influence that and overwhelm me and getting away and unplugging when I can and enjoying the happiness that I can. so like with the frustrations of NIL and self-entitlement, whatever it is, leaving that at work and going doing my own thing. as a coach, trying to teach others and guide others, it’s a little bit more tricky because
Like I said earlier, like I I do yell at people sometimes and hold them accountable and that does get me in trouble. because you have NIL and kind of tailoring toward these athletes and like we are a service oriented industry, like we’re trying to provide the best experience possible. But I think it’s doing a disservice if you let them just float on by. and it’s like, yeah, okay, you’re getting paid more than I am. Yes, we value you and we want to keep you. But I think it’s an ultimate sign of respect to confront someone.
I think Nick Saban says something like that in a speech where it’s like it’s ultimate sign of respect if you confront someone. so being able to confront them is like, hey, I’m doing this because I care about you. I’m doing this because I want you to get better. And I think money aside, it’s like you’re a person at the end of the day. Here’s what my values are. Find your values and follow them. and I think also driving home the point that’s like we are a team, like this is not individual.
I think track and fuel can be different, you know, swim can be a little different. which is funny because those are actually some of the best people I work with are on the individual sports side. but trying to instill the values of like we are all in this together. sport is not the only thing in the world. Like find your identity outside of sports. I’m yeah, I’m just gonna I feel like I’m rambling now, so I’m just gonna stop talking, but
I’m driving all that. Yeah.
Connor :
No, no, no, no, no. I love it. I mean I s I
seriously do because, you know, I think it’s pretty refreshing to hear a strength coach say at the end of the day, like, you know, hey, I I like my job, I love my job, but it’s not my purpose, you know, like behind every single thing that I do. I think it’s I think it’s one, I commend you for saying that, right? Because I think in the in today’s day and age with training conditioning, it’s almost like
You’re an outcast if you say something like that, right? You know, like everybody has to say, like, well, you can only do this job if it’s your 100% purpose and passion. And you know, if I ask people about work life balance, a lot of the times just like, well, there isn’t any, you know, because I’ve just had to accept that I have to, you know, work and for for this job and everything has to be oriented around strength and conditioning. whereas you’re coming at it from an angle I really respect and appreciate, which is
You know, I am a straight and conditioning coach, but it doesn’t a hundred percent define who I am and there’s a a greater purpose behind it. I guess I have the same question for you then, like from a work life balance standpoint, how do you not get so ingrained in a career that has such a culture of being a hundred percent invested or kind of limiting your work life balance? How do you maintain what your ultimate purpose is, which is to be happy?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. it can be tricky at times. I think understanding how athletics works, you know, depending what your roles and responsibility are and where you are, you know when your busy season is. So, like for me right now, my busy seasons right now, because soccer’s in season, I go to every practice, I go to every game, I travel with them. so I understand that my life outside of work might not be what I want to be to the full extent. But then maximizing the time that I do have in the spring and summer and winter.
being able to step away when I can. thankfully I have a boss that is very big on like taking your time, get off when you can, take vacation when you can. so I appreciate that. But understanding like what time of year you’re in, being where your feet are. So like when you are in season, it’s like, okay, give everything you can. Cause like I do love this. Like you mentioned that, like, I love my career, but there’s more to it. and I think just understanding that is
tough sometimes, but once you understand that you you make it work. Like and then like you find your priorities. Like if your priority is your spouse, you’re gonna make time for them. If your priority is your job, you’re gonna make time for it. so finding what your prior priorities are and what you value is important.
Connor :
Yeah, absolutely. I I mean again, I just appreciate it and I I respect it. you know, because sometimes I feel like I can almost get caught up a little bit in the, you know, trying to you know, say that I don’t even know how the right way to put this, right? And as a podcast host, I should be better at it. But ultimately, like it can be a little pressurizing, I would say, or you can feel the pressure from other strength coaches to kind of live a mentality where it’s like has to be all about strength and conditioning all the time.
you know, whereas I love my wife, and I don’t love going home and talking about strength and conditioning twenty four seven. And, you know, I love when she wants to watch Love Island. You know, we can just do some stuff for fun on the side, or I can read a book that isn’t about self improvement. It’s just about enjoying a story, you know. So I appreciate your philosophy with that. I think it’s it’s refreshing.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, of course. And like I feel like you see this all the time where there’s these college strength coaches that get out of college because they recognize that. Like they realize there’s more than their job and they want more time to be with their family and whatever it is. so they get out of college. And I guess I’m trying to find a way to make it work in college. Like I like you’re right, there is a stigma, especially around college athletics, that
You have to work all the time. And I feel like that’s kind of unfair, especially for the salaries that we make.
Connor :
Yeah,
a hundred percent. I c I couldn’t agree more. I guess I’m just curious, what do you like to do outside of work?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. I love working out as cliche as that is.
Connor :
Yeah.
Kevin Deitz :
so I got into Olympic weightlifting and then been dealing with like some nerve impingement stuff. So I haven’t really been able to squat the past few months. so right now rehab is my big working out. doing a little bit of like CrossFit style, just because it’s like lower intensities, but I guess faster pace. So I feel like I’m doing something.
So working out is one, spending time with friends, with my girlfriend, doing things with them, you know, brewery, something active outside, going to sporting events, whatever that is. I love music, heavy metal music, like anything that really gets your head banging. So going to concerts, listening to new things. and then when I can, I like reading. I like reading like
older literature. So right I’m reading Dracula, which is kinda weird coming from a guy as young as I am, but I don’t know. It’s some they’re they’re classics for a reason. So why not read them?
Connor :
That’s awesome. How is Dracula? I’ve actually been curious about reading it.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, it’s it’s definitely like older literature. So if like if you’ve ever read like a fantasy story, I think they do a really good job of like keeping you engaged the whole time and like there’s always something going on. whereas like the older literature books are a little bit slower, but I don’t know, they’re like more elegant, like the way the way the words are and the way they’re written, and there’s more thought behind the sentences and how they flow together, I guess.
but it’s really good. It’s it’s not the story I was expecting. it it I almost wish I didn’t know anything about vampires going into it. because like there’s the there’s things in the book that if I didn’t know anything, it’d be like, Whoa, like this is crazy, like what’s going on? Like I don’t know what’s going on. but now that I know stuff about vampires growing up, it’s like, like this dude’s a vampire. Like I get I get what’s going on. So
Connor :
Yeah, that’s awesome. I I like every other, you know, male, I I assume we’re probably around pretty close to the same age. Everybody saw the Odyssey and I, of course, have decided to read the Odyssey now. and so
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, the gun.
Connor :
being very cliche. It’s great, man. I like it, honestly. I I used to be a big, big Greek mythology fan. you know, we
Kevin Deitz :
Did you read the
Percy Jackson books as a kid? Yeah, there it is.
Connor :
Yes, of course. Of course. A hundred percent. So good. Yeah,
yeah. Well, that’s always the running joke is, you know, a lot of strength and conditioning friends that I have are really big into Marvel or DC or just kind of comic books. And you know, we always talked about like how that almost inspired some of the my friends to be strength coaches was just, you know, like, Okay, this is a superhuman and you know, like you see these jacked guys or or women, like and it’s just something exciting for them. That’s kind of what
got them into lifting initially when they were younger. For me it was always Greek mythology. and so I always joke with people. It was like I was like a fat little, you know, teenager who had no friends and was just reading Greek mythology all the time and then figured out I can work out and not be weird when I talk to people and it worked out better. So I’m glad to get back to my roots though. The Odyssey’s been pretty good.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I love that. That’s awesome. You know, the w when was that? Like two years ago? Whereas like guys, all they think about is the Roman Empire. And I didn’t know that trend was going on.
Connor :
Yeah.
Kevin Deitz :
And one of my athletes asked me, It’s like, Kevin when was the last time you thought about the Roman Empire? I was like, honestly, probably like last week. Like I think about it pretty often.
Connor :
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that’s the I don’t know if you know the Red Rising series. We I just made my way through
Kevin Deitz :
I’ve heard of it.
Connor :
it. great fantasy series. I love it. but they it’s very Roman inspired. And so they asked that author, there was like, When’s the last time you thought about the Roman Empire? He’s like, Or what is your Roman Empire? He was like, Honestly, probably the Roman Empire. He’s like, I think about it all the time. I I can’t not. Well
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. That’s all I mean.
Connor :
I you know, I I again I just appreciate you kind of bringing the human aspect to strength and conditioning. you know, and obviously I think that’s really good advice for younger coaches who are listening is, you know, you can be a human being as a strength coach. You can enjoy life and you can do things outside of strength and conditioning and not just kind of fit yourself into this hole. You know, is there any other advice that you have for young coaches or any other coaches who might be listening?
Kevin Deitz :
Which I was told early on is networking’s everything. And I think that’s with any job. try to network as much as you can. I’m still not very good at it, so I’m constantly working on it. but as you do it more, you get more comfortable having conversations and a little small talk and building these relationships and you never know who knows someone or what information they know that can help you out. So networking’s huge. I think
Being the intern coordinator here, one thing I’m noticing is professionalism and how important that is. And a lot of kids nowadays don’t have that professionalism. So how can as a leader guide how can I guide them to be a little bit more professional? But I think as a young strength coach, if you’re able to show a level of professionalism, you almost gain a little bit more respect from it. And I I think that the big thing with like, especially our our entire profession is
trying to show sport coaches that hey, like we are a profession, we are professionals, we we know what we’re talking about, we’re not just these meat heads that pick things up and put them down. so trying to portray that, because sometimes perception is reality. And if you can go into a meeting well prepared with a presentation and you can answer questions clear and concise, and you know, yes, sirs, yes, ma’ams,
You’re organized, attention to detail.
Connor :
Yeah, I love that you bring up the professionalism piece because it’s always it’s a constant question I have in my head, right? Is it like, are we seeing a tr downward trend in professionalism? Or is it kind of like the situation where older strength coaches would probably say our generation was less professional? You know, it’s kind of a philosophical question I always have, but you know, when you say professionalism, I I have some things in my mind that I can think of that I’ve seen.
that lack a little bit in some of the younger strength coaches that are coming up or interns, you know, or people who are just trying to see if they are interested in training conditioning. What are the things that you see that you know, kind of cause you to say professionalism?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I think one is communication in the way they communicate. you know, like they use a lot of slang, they might curse a little bit more than they should. like the we can be a very relaxed environment as strength coaches. but getting them to understand that there’s a time and place for it. So like if we’re in the back office and we’re just, you know, joking around and you let an F-bomb drop, no big deal. But if you’re
If we’re in a professional intern meeting, well then you probably shouldn’t be cursing or talking and slang or when you’re texting, like, cause that is a big form of communication and like I’m okay with it because it’s like it’s faster than email, but not just saying, Yo, coach, it’s like, hey, coach deets, like be a little bit more professional or like even like DMs on Instagram, like if you’re gonna reach out to another coach, don’t just be like, yo, Kevin, love your stuff. Can we chat sometime? It’s like
Hey Coach Dietz, I was watching your reel, really liked what you said about this, would love to hop on a call one day. like I treat my DMs to a coach I’ve never talked to like a professional email. may maybe a little corny, but you know, better than I think not. I think other things and the way they behave as an intern, which I think is just things they probably don’t know yet. And I try to be very lenient with it ’cause like they just don’t know. but when they’re on the floor, like just being like super relaxed and like,
Hands in pocket, leaning on something, kind of like not really like in the session. taking their time to do something when they we ask them to do it. And it’s like, hey, like we’re working, we’re in it. Like you hands out your pocket, be attention attentive. when we ask you to do something, you’re jogging to do it. I think little little small things like that.
Connor :
Yeah, you know, I I one, I love your point about sending out DMs is essentially emails, right?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
because like you said, the you know, the worst response you can get is no s no response, right?
Kevin Deitz :
And
Connor :
but at the same time, it’s always it’s one of those things I’ve tried to communicate with interns a lot, which is if you’re a little bit more precautionary and you send it more professionally, then the like you’re saying with the worst response is no response.
The worst thing that could happen is somebody’s just kind of like, all right, this guy’s a little bit of a dweeb, right? But I’ll still answer. Versus, you know, the actual worst thing that could happen if you send a non professional email is they won’t answer, you know, or non professional DM. So, you know, it’s covering your bases a little bit. So I I’m very similar to you as well, too. you know, especially like even the intro text I send out and everything, it’s always, you know, I try to be very professional with those. even it’s funny because I might be a coach I’ve talked to a couple of times and they’re like, dude, I know you, you know, you don’t have to like
be so formal and it’s like, all I just want to make sure ’cause you never know, right? so I appreciate you saying that.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I always refer to them as like
Yeah, I always refer to them as coach. And it’s like you don’t have to call me coach. And it’s like, it’s just out of habit. Or like,
Connor :
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kevin Deitz :
I’ll actually call our coaching staff for soccer, like, yes, ma’am, yes, sir. And one of them was like, Can you stop calling me ma’am? And I was like, I’m sorry, it’s just, you know, me trying to show respect to you. I’m sorry.
Connor :
Yeah. Well, I you
know, what’s funny is when I was growing up in New York State, you know, like if you ma’am is an insult, you know, to anybody like like if you say ma’am, like you’re insinuating that they’re like an old woman, you know, and then I can’t
Kevin Deitz :
okay.
Connor :
I yeah, I moved down south and then ma’am is like obviously very respectful, you know. And
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
so I remember I called my mom ma’am one day, like she said asked something and and I was like, Yes, ma’am, and she was like
What the hell are you saying to me right now? You know, so I forgot. So sometimes context can be important too. but I I agree with you a hundred percent on the the relaxedness a little bit too. That’s something I’ve really seen where I don’t know, I I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing, right? That I was so tense all the time during my internships. I probably could have been more on the relaxed side. but you know, ultimately, like I just remember a lot of my experiences, I felt more tense and it was.
based off of what the coaches were teaching us, right? And how they’d interact with us. But I’ve noticed a trend now with a lot of interns that they’re very relaxed and they’re they get too comfortable too too quickly, you know, which can be a little bit concerning for me. and so it brings me back to my original question too. Like, do you do you think that this is, you know, kind of a product of the younger generation just being different and having, you know, kind of different cultural values? Or do you think that this is something where
older strength coaches are always gonna think that younger strength coaches are too relaxed or lazy or whatever it might be.
Kevin Deitz :
I don’t know the answer to that. yeah,
Connor :
Fair enough.
Kevin Deitz :
I was actually so I was talking to my dad last night, and we got a little bit into politics, and he was like, Man, this younger generation. And I was like, Dad, you know, every single generation says that. And he’s like, Yeah, you’re right, but like for real this time. Like, yeah, all right. but I think it could be a little bit like that. Like you think about like some of my mentors coming up.
Like they were very like shirt tucked in, shoes are always tied, hat off when you’re inside. and I think like now with like people my age, it’s like, okay, like your shirt can be untucked, but like you’re still behaving in a right way. I still try to take my hat off sometimes, but like you know, sometimes like bad hair day, I’ll put a hat on. so I think that maybe it’s a little bit of both, and it’s like older generations are always gonna think.
The younger generations are, you know, a little bit crazy. but then maybe they’re we are getting a little bit too relaxed. yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Connor :
It’s
gonna be this is gonna be a question we’ll have to check back in in like fifteen years on a on another
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah.
Connor :
podcast episode and then we’ll we can confirm or deny what we think about it.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. What do you think it is?
Connor :
I I don’t know. I think I think that they’re because I don’t how old are you?
Kevin Deitz :
prefer not to say online.
Connor :
Okay, fair enough. That’s totally fair. you know, I will say I grew up at a time where you still couldn’t really text everybody all the time, right? Or I remember having to pay for text. and so when you were paying by the text, you obviously didn’t communicate that much with everybody. and so I think I still kind of grew up in a time where there is a lot of I guess what I’m trying to say with this is younger coaches who are coming up now.
have always been available to everybody else and there’s always been a casualness around how they treat electronic communication or how they communicate with others. and so I think the the use of the internet and the actual access to electronics and all these different things throughout an entire coach’s like or young life, like I think it can affect and change how people interact with each other. and so, you know, like I think back to
social media, like I didn’t I wasn’t really big on social media, I didn’t really use Instagram until college, you know. And so having something like that where people can kind of have a little bit more parasocial relationships, I think kind of changes the dynamics of generations as well. Too. So I would say it’d be both, in my opinion, right? You know, where you know, some younger coaches just grew up in a different time where they have access to social media that everybody has access to each other all the time.
and so it can just lead to a little bit of cultural differences. But then also too, like, you know, I always think that it’s really nice and romantic for coaches to think that they’re the tough ones, right? And they’re the ones who had to go through be battle tested and do all these hard things and just the younger generation won’t understand it. So I’d be kind of in line with you. I’d think it’d be a little bit of both.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, with this is kind of off topic a little bit. but you mentioned you have a wife. I don’t know if you guys have any kids or are planning to. but seeing this, and I feel like this is a common question nowadays, but like seeing this and how kids are acting nowadays, especially like post COVID and all this access to tech technology, what do you think are some ways that as we get older through life,
Teaching the younger generation like these interpersonal skills? Because you see the issue with like people are always glued in their phones and like they’re not talking to the person next to them and they’re next to each other for a three-hour flight and they don’t say a single word. how do you think people who were there before all this access technology can kind of help guide the younger generation to still have that interpersonal relationships?
Connor :
Yeah. I think that’s a great question. And honestly, like I think that’s a an issue I’ve seen with strength and conditioning, just you know, from a standpoint of the actual athletes that I work with. Like if we have a team dinner, a lot of people are going to be on their phones, right? to the point where we had to make a team rule, like you can’t be on your phones at team dinners, right? and we don’t have kids. We’re hoping to have kids very soon. you know, but like we’ve talked about this and I’ve thought about it, I get them out. Would be I think one is just, you know.
leading by example, right? And not being on your phone twenty four seven. and you know, the trend is stupid, but like what I’ve seen, like, you know, and it this language is gonna be a little bit choice, but like raw dogging flights, you know, like where people just like l look at the screen. Like I think actually practicing and and having moments where you’re okay with being bored, are really, really high quality moments. and I think that people can kind of over or underestimate what they can do for you.
I can’t remember what book it was. I’m gonna have to go back and like write this into the show notes. it wasn’t deep work, but it was another book about focus. And they actually talked about how being bored helps you solve problems a lot more than you think. because when you’re bored, you can actually start to go through a problem problem solving process and everything. So you know, I’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole before where I can be addicted to my phone and so.
I’ve literally turned the color grade off on my phone so everything’s grayscale. you know, deleted all the social media apps for my phone. So I think one leading by example. but then two, I think, you know, if I if we were to have kids or if I’ve talked to our athletes before about not being on their phone as much or you know, developing these social skills, like is is really like, okay, let’s intentionally put our phones away. Let’s be in this present moment and then like let’s talk about it afterwards and say like, hey, wasn’t that more enjoyable than us just sitting here and like
showing each other a TikTok every two minutes, you know, like it was fun to actually connect with each other and learn something else about each other and we can have a deeper and more meaningful relationship. What about you? Now I gotta flip the question back on you.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, I really like what you said. having deep, meaningful time together, putting the phones away. one thing I like to do is like when I’m out with friends or on a date with my girlfriend, it’s like I’m gonna try to be off my phone as much as possible. Like I’m I’m not a very good multitasker to begin with. and I understand that. So it’s very hard for me to respond to a text while having a conversation. so I just put the phone down, put it away, and I’m I’m in the moment. and I
I think like you said, leading by example, I think is good. But then also telling people like I instilled the rule with our team now. It’s like, hey, when you show up for practice, phones are off and away. I think it kind of messes with your vision a little bit. Like you can be so glued in and soccer so like peripheral. so that can kind of get skewed a little bit, but then also like the social interactive action piece is like, Hey, it’s early. I know that, I know you’re tired, but you’re here with your teammates. Now’s a good time to kind of
Build that chemistry a little bit, talk to your friends. I it I don’t know. I I I think just trying to be intentful in finding ways to get the social media and technology out of situations is kind of the best thing we can do, I guess.
Connor :
Yeah, I would agree a hundred percent. I think it it just makes life more enjoyable, right? You know, like in and that’s what I’ve talked about this a lot with other people and and especially other guests on the show, but just like comparison is the thief of joy and you know, people are only gonna post their highlights on social media, people are only gonna put out the stuff. Like I’m not, you know, like when I get in a fight with my wife about something, I’m not like going on Twitter afterwards and being like, just follow the wife, you know, like but I am gonna post like
You know, hey, happy eight year anniversary. You know, like and so I think it’s just, you know, obviously people are only gonna put out the positives and the highlights and everything. And so it can make people really like you said, it can make them have a lot of feelings, you know, about a lot of different things that they don’t necessarily need to feel because it’s not the reality of situations and it’s this very weird parasocial type of d I don’t know. I could that you could talk about, you know, having a greater purpose of just trying to be happy for hours. I could talk about this for hours.
Kevin Deitz :
I appreciate you sharing. It was I enjoyed it.
Connor :
Of course. Well, okay, so now I mean we’re at the end of the episode and I’m about to put my foot in my mouth and ask the the worst question you can possibly ask after having this conversation. If somebody wants to reach out or follow you on Instagram, what would be the best way to do that?
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. on Instagram it’s coach Dietz, Dietz spelled D E I T Z. that’s pretty much it. Yeah, if you wanna e email me, go bearcats.com staff directory, you can find me email on there. Other than that, I don’t really have any other social media.
Connor :
Fair enough. I I respect it. And, you know, Kevin, I really appreciate you. Seriously. These are some of my favorite podcasts where we can kind of dive into the, you know, topics that don’t necessarily relate to strength and conditioning a ton, but absolutely tie back into it. So thank you. I appreciate you.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, of course. I appreciate you having me on. It was a pleasure.
Connor :
A hundred percent and then we’ll follow up in fifteen years, like I said, and we’ll have a a full marker of our follow up thoughts. All right,
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna hold you to it. Yeah.
Connor :
that’s a deal. We’ll be back here in fifteen years. But thank you, Kevin. I appreciate you.
Kevin Deitz :
Yeah, of course. Thank you.
