What does it take to lead a strength and conditioning staff while giving every team a strong athlete experience? Claire Quebedeaux joins Connor to reflect on her journey through athletic training and strength coaching to her director role at Ohio State University.
Claire discusses hiring with intention, helping coaches learn from one another, and creating a supportive staff culture. She also explains why leadership requires actions that match your words, especially when priorities shift or challenges arise. For young coaches, she offers a reminder that an internship is an opportunity to show how you work, learn, and build relationships.
Key Takeaways
- Treat internships as opportunities to earn trust and demonstrate your approach to coaching.
- Set high standards across teams so athletes receive a consistent experience.
- Build relationships and a staff environment where people can learn from one another.
- Match leadership decisions and daily actions to the standards you communicate.
- Pay attention to facility details that affect athletes and staff.
- Keep adapting as your responsibilities and organization change.
Clare Quebedeaux:
I’ve just kind of taken a role on helping them learn what they want to learn. and if I don’t have the answer, we’re gonna go and try and find it, you know, together. but the also the director side of me also says like they also need to learn maybe.
what they don’t necessarily want to learn. Making sure that, you know, we’re filling gaps as well.
Connor:
What’s going on, Samson, Strength Coach, Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have Director of Strength and Conditioning at Ohio State University, Claire Quibado. Claire, thank you so much for coming on.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Thank you so much for having me.
Connor:
Well, I’m I’m really excited to have you on the podcast. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of guests from Ohio State on previously. I think you would be the fourth Ohio State you’d be the third Ohio State official strength coach. You’d be the fourth Ohio State affiliate and former athlete, you know, obviously with Bailey. It’s almost like I’ve kind of was thinking about it before I got on the show. I was like, All right, I’ve leveled up. Like I’m like, you know, I’m making my way through the
Clare Quebedeaux:
No.
Connor:
ranks and
This is like the the boss battle, obviously in a positive way, but I’m excited to speak with you. I’ve heard so so much amazing stuff about you. So thank you for your time.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Thank you so much. Yeah, I think we have Bailey to blame for this for this happening, so
Connor:
Yes,
absolutely, a hundred percent. And I I greatly appreciate Bailey for giving me some positive feedback. I’m glad she enjoyed it, ’cause it always it always helps out to get some extra guests on. So well again, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. I just wanted to kind of go through your background, kind of your history and strength and conditioning, and then what led you to Ohio State.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, so came from a athletic family, trained with my dad all through high school and continued through college. my dad had ALS, so the human body to me was fascinating. and why I was a fairly still am fairly mediocre athlete. but I love to train. love to see kind of like how hard I could push myself, how hard my teammates and I could push each other and
to really see then how it transferred onto the track for us. And and I think why I stay a big reason another reason why I stay in strength and conditioning is is because of the the way that I was brought up and the experiences that I had to see kind of, you know, we have we have no idea what the human body is capable of. and so to really kind of push the athletes to to enhance their performance I think is a is a big reason why I I stay in it and why I love it still.
and so I was a D three athlete. I went to the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. and I wanted because I was a D three athlete, I wanted to go as big as possible for my internship. We we had to do a 12 credit internship in order to graduate. And so it was I also received great advice when I was at lacrosse, was they were really pushing us to go for those that wanted to go to grad school.
they
were like go do your internship where you wanna go to grad school or or a place that you would consider going to grad school. just because like then the coaches know you, it makes it a little bit easier. They know how you work. and people like to hire people that they know already and that’s kind of like that known entity. So it I was either I want to go to Yukon, I wanna go to Baylor or I was gonna go to Tennessee. like I said
go as go as big as possible. I loved women’s basketball, so Tennessee then became the place for me. And it was it was way more than I thought it was gonna be. I mean that’s when you really see like strength and conditioning in its fullest capacity. you know you’re seeing the staff
creating this incredible environment while also holding a really high standard. And not only the staff holding a high standard, but the athletes hold the same standard. And there’s that, you can say there’s a high standard, but then it’s like the level of consistency that it was upheld. And for a young professional like just learning how, you know, a Division I college athletics works,
it really can be hard for young professionals to hold athletes accountable. And that environment they created just made it so much easier for me to like really feel like I was coaching and coaching at a high level. and that’s what the athletes expected from me. and so like just to be able to see that and have that be one of my first real experiences was incredible and obviously then kind of shaped the rest of my career as I’ve gone through and now at Ohio State. but
Also, the coaches there, you know, Heather and Holly, Heather Mason and Holly France, they really spent time with us. You know, it wasn’t just like setting up lifts and breaking down and cleaning the weight room. I mean, like they really poured into us, they made us program, got to program is probably the better way to say that. and spent hours, hours pouring into us. And it really was set up in like a I do you watch, I do you help.
you do I wa I watch I help and then you do I watch. And so it really like the amount of time that that takes, and I’m so grateful for it that they were willing to spend that much time. Just and I that was just a summer internship. but the amount that I learned just during that short period of time. And then it made that decision after I went to Tennessee. I went to the University of Hartford and I was there for nine months knowing that I wanted to go back to Tennessee for grad school. and
At
Hartford, I was there for a short period of time, but it was probably one of the most impactful like nine months of my career. because I could really see how a staff could like become a family. And in that short period of time, like the the relationships that I gained with Dave Hauser and Ryan Carr when when we were there, both are out of the field now, but doing incredible things. and
It was a still division one, but not a lot of resources. So then I really had to learn how to like be creative with teams. And I did have my own teams and working with sport coaches and athletic trainers. So it was a really impactful experience because I didn’t have a lot of experience, but you’re kind of like thrown into the fire a little bit with you know, Dave as the head strength coach really supporting me in that role. and
We also is probably like the hardest training I’ve ever done in my entire life. we used to absolutely beat the crap out of each other. and so then I went back to Tennessee for grad school and that like balancing school and balancing basically a full time job. I had swim and dive when I was there. When I first started swim and dive in women’s soccer, and then the athletic department merged. It was separate, it was men’s and women’s for a period of time.
And then they merged. so then I picked up the whole swim and dive team. but I would say that time was probably the most challenging two years of my career for a lot of different reasons. But what did happen, it was very challenging, but I think what it really did was it expanded. I didn’t have a lot of years of experience, right? up until that point, but it really expanded like the experience in my years.
and so like there was just a ton of growth and really seeing different sides of athletic departments that probably like a typical graduate assistant position doesn’t really get to see. so that was that was incredible, but extremely challenging, like I said. After after my GA it was time for that full time job. so I did have a fairly typical like journey where it was internship and then
part-time position and then GA and then full time. but I went to Temple and was there for about three years. learned a lot about myself as as a coach. having again having my own teams and living in North Philly is not easy. but and the athletes like the athletes were tough as nails and because they had to be like Temple Temple and Philly are it’s a tough town.
And so I think really growing as that assistant was a big part of my my time at at Temple. and then after Temple, I went to Southeastern Louisiana University and was an assistant there. that was my first exposure working with football. before that it was purely Olympic sports. and I think it was also like a very small staff, again, not a lot of resources that were my time at Hartford really
came
into play of like how to be creative, how to maximize your resources when you don’t have a lot. But just like Hartford, like the school and the athletic department had a lot of heart. so it was easy. Like you wanted to work hard for the people that were there. after a little bit of time after football season, the director left. So I applied for the director position. and they told me well the director needs to have football. And I was like, okay, great. Sounds good.
but that that was not gonna happen for who I was and and you know what they thought I brought to the table, whether it was a the female piece or or I was also told I didn’t play football so therefore I couldn’t train the football team. And my response back to them was like, Well, I also didn’t play volleyball, but that doesn’t seem to bother you all as I was training volleyball, women’s soccer and track and field and
all those sports. I ran track. That was the only that was the only sport that I did, you know, in college. So,
So they hired another person, and then that person didn’t work out, so the job was open again. I applied again, and I I the the football coach was on board. Like Coach Roberts was all for me taking the job and running the football team. and so I went to the A D and I said, Who do we have to convince? Let’s just invite to the weight room. They can watch a workout and they can see like
There’s still work happening. There’s still like whatever the question is, let’s just answer it for them. and so they came, they came to a workout, no flash and flare. It was just kind of a standard strength training session. and then we ran and then did practice and it was a wrap. And that was kind of all the information that they needed. So then I became the director at Southeastern. and that’s when, like, you know, you’re managing sports staff, we built a nutrition station. It was really just trying to get
that facility and that department kind of up to the standard that I thought the athletes and the university and the athletic department deserved. and it was also when I went through my first hiring process and getting to kind of see like and identify like what I needed, what the department needed, and really trying to take a deep dive and hire the right person for that for that role. As I went through, you know,
having
football and working with the rest of the sports and making sure that everybody had what they needed while also attending, you know, administrative meetings and I decided that, you know, I didn’t like the feeling of the different sports. Like we had haves and have nots, you know, and it just didn’t feel right, especially ’cause I I have so much I don’t I don’t have a passion for one sport. And it’s about
wanting to create a great experience for all athletes and all sports. So I made the decision to hire somebody to run football and baseball. And then me and the GA would basically like split the rest of the teams for the most part. I had the most sports. so I hired Jerry Pissetti to do football and baseball and then I had men’s and women’s basketball, softball, soccer, track, the spirit squad, and then I was able to then
kind of take care of all the administrative tasks that I that I thought were necessary and I could spend a little bit more time on. Still assisting with football, being the best assistant that I could be for Jerry to make sure those guys had what they needed. And by that time, the department was in a really good spot. We renovated the room and got the equipment to a safe where it was actually safe and again build a nutrition station.
got some things donated so that the athletes had access to a little bit more. I was married, living in my husband’s hometown, you know, thinking this is where gonna where we’re gonna be for, you know, the next 10, 15 years of our life, of of our career. and then Heather and Coach Marathi called and told me kind of what they what they were going to build and build something really special.
At Ohio State. and so I’ve been here ever since October ninth, twenty seventeen.
Connor:
That’s so awesome. I mean, it’s a it’s a great story. We have a lot of connections, you know, that I didn’t I somehow
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
missed temple in your bio. So I don’t know how I missed that, but I went to temple for undergrad. So but you know yeah,
Clare Quebedeaux:
So you know.
Connor:
I know you said you mentioned North Philly. I was like, Yeah, a hundred percent. And it’s funny going to other universities where like they have like, you know, alerts for like hey, somebody stole a purse.
you know, or something like that. And I’m like, all right, we we had a lot of different alerts at at Temple. you know, it was a it was a tough spot for sure. Yeah, exactly,
Clare Quebedeaux:
That’s a that’s a whole different podcast of those stories.
Connor:
exactly. but I just, you know, I say this almost every time, but it’s just such a it’s just a fun experience for me to hear every strength coach’s story. and just hear about the background that goes into what they were and kind of what made them you know, into the person they are now. I what I’m curious about is can you just take me back to the time at southeastern Louisiana?
when, you know, it’s right after the time period where you were not hired for the director’s roles the first time. You know, I think a lot of people I think a lot of people face challenges right in their career. and a lot of people can just say, well, you know, I’m not gonna drop off of my quality of work, right? But I am gonna start looking for other jobs. or if that opportunity comes up again like it did in your case, it almost comes from a place of, you know,
guarding and not being vulnerable to say, hey, I would like to apply for this position again. You know, how how did you go through that process? How did you end up deciding to apply for it again? You know, I just think it’s a unique situation. So I’m just curious what your thoughts were during it.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, I I mean, it really came down to I had a heart for the place. and knowing knowing those athletes and knowing what they put in to their craft every day and kind of like how hard we were pushing them to and they were great people in the athletic department. So I I wanted to continue to work hard and and serve the department. and
I think whether that was, you know, I obviously stayed on as an assistant after not getting the director position, but because like I still wanted to be there and serve in whatever capacity that I could. and my family was there. So being able to be close to family at that period of time was important. and so
it was it was easy to stay and then I always just told myself like the person that came in after it’s not like it’s not their fault they got the job over me, you know. So to then still, you know, be the be the best assistant I could be for that person. And how can I make
Connor:
Yeah.
Clare Quebedeaux:
the job easier and continue to drive the department forward.
Connor:
I mean, that’s a very real statement. Like, you know, it’s not that person’s fault that they got hired, right? And so, but it’s he it’s human emotion. You know, you don’t go to work and you’re just a robot all day. Like obviously there’s gonna be you know, some you know, maybe subconscious resentment, whatever it may be, unless you actively make the decision, hey, it’s not this person’s fault, so I need to be the best assistant possible. So I think that’s a very admirable stance for you to take. I’m curious about this as well. You manage a a large staff now.
I’ve I’ve been able to come out and see Ohio State. you know, and you have quite amazing facilities and a lot of staff members and it can be quite a lot to manage. You know, you sent something earlier in the podcast where you said when you’re at Hartford, that’s where you found out that, you know, staff is really a family. so ultimately managing a staff can be very tough, you know, but how do you try to create that family atmosphere with your staff as well?
Clare Quebedeaux:
I think we I it all starts to me like developing that staff relationship and that that close knit experience. It does come it begins at the hiring process. people really do matter in terms of what environment you’re creating, not only for the athletes but but for the staff. And when we do when we do go through the hiring process, like we take that into consideration of what
Yes,
what the athletes need and what the sport needs and those types of things, but also what does the staff need? What what environment do we want to continue to create and cultivate for them? and we do like when we’re hiring, we look for people that that wanna learn and and wanna be poured into and the leaders that we have on staff. and that’s just not it’s not limited to just Coach Marathi, Heather, you know, myself, Tyler, Carpenter,
It’s it’s everybody, you know. I I see all of our our entire staff as as leaders and mentors to each other. And I think we all do want to learn learn from one another. I’m very blessed where I any room I walk into, here, I feel like I’m the dumbest person in the room. So I feel like I’m in the right room. so I mean I’m extremely grateful and thankful for our staff and we do genuinely care about each other, you know, if people need coverage for whatever.
reason, you know, people people have lives. We’ve had people get married. We’ve had people have kids. We’ve had, you know, people that, hey, you actually get to take a vacation. So, you know, let me let me help out and take your team for you so you can kind of recharge. And I think you just kind of show care in in different ways. and we do make our best attempt to do that while also knowing that, you know, we we are gonna work hard. this job is challenging. so to have
to have support from from everybody is is huge.
Connor:
Yeah, I it’s just it’s such such a fun environment, you know, to hear about, right? Because ultimately it’s about getting better and it’s about genuine care for each other, which I think are just kind of two of the essential needs of strength and conditioning. you know, when I speak with guests on the podcast, it’s always about, well, I’d like to get better and I’d like for, you know, to actually like my job and like the people I work with. and so it sounds like you guys have certainly cultivated that environment from the learning aspect, you know, what goes into kind of staff development or continuing education? What are the things that you really try to push at Ohio State?
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, well like it like you said, we we do have a large staff. We have 20 strength coaches and and then sports scientists as well. So total, there’s twenty-five of us. and and so just within our own walls, like we always say, like it’s like a small clinic every single day. so many different people to learn from. and I think the way that we’ve structured our staff too kind of leans into
professional development and upward mobility. so like as you get more responsibility or as you move up, you get more responsibility to kind of learn what that next step could look like for you. You know, if you want to be a director, you know, then you need to learn about budgets and you need to learn about facilities, you need to learn about managing people. so making sure that that’s it’s all kind of built into our staff. And I think as leadership,
And that comes from like it obviously comes from the top down and knowing that, you know, Coach Marati and and Heather Mason make themselves available to anybody that that is willing and and wants to learn. their doors are always open and that gets trickled down to my myself and and Tyler and Kenny Parker as and Dave Richardson as directors. so I think taking the time to understand like what people want to learn and what they want their career to look like.
and to help them get there, you know, where we really do believe in that servant leadership. that takes time, attention, care. and so, you know, we implement that in our coaching sessions, performance reviews. we do give like formal presentations to each other, so that, you know, we don’t always get to go to all the clinics that we want to. So, you know, use the knowledge that’s within the our four walls and and optimize it.
That way, best we can.
Connor:
Yeah, I I mean, one of the coolest things I can imagine of how having a staff of twenty five people is that like you said, you can give each other essentially mini clinics, right? and and people can interact with each other and and really learn from each other the best. you know, do you have a favorite clinic that’s come up recently or one that you really sticks out to you? or a staff presentation.
Clare Quebedeaux:
gosh. anytime you can get to hear Anthony Schlegel speak, it’s it’s electric. So he gave
Connor:
It’s awesome.
Clare Quebedeaux:
he gave one on basically his like entrepreneurial spirit, he gave a presentation on that. And it was great. Just the way that I mean, he’s he’s brilliant. but then also the way that he presents is very engaging.
Connor:
Yeah, what well that’s all I mean, I would imagine if you’re giving a talk on entrepreneurial spirit, you’re probably gonna have a pretty engaging talk. I can say for myself too, it is a little daunting that we’re now on number four Ohio State staff member and I’ve gotta make my way through twenty-one others for podcast episodes to
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
complete the the circle. it it okay, so I this is a little bit of a selfish question, right? Because I always kind of viewed being a director.
and you mentioned some of the job duties that come with it, right? But I almost kind of viewed it as like, okay, it’s like a strength coach plus, right? Like you become a director and then there’s probably a couple, like and this is in my mind at a time, like there’s probably a couple extra things that I have to consider, you know, like probably a budget, maybe some hiring here and there. And then I actually got a director position and I was like, wow, I’m spending probably sixty to seventy percent of my time right now in the first year of being a director.
on the director duties and the rest of it’s now being a strength coach because I just you have no clue really how much goes into it until you’re a director, right? And you have to experience that. So, you know, for you personally, obviously you’re big on development. How have you grown as a director over the your multiple years of having director experience?
Clare Quebedeaux:
Well, still growing, that’s for sure. but the positions have been so different. you know, when I was at Southeastern, it was it was really about getting everything up to the level that the athletes deserve. So it’s very like task oriented. and they’re it was still building, you know, I that’s what I enjoy, as an ad like someone in an administrative role. I do I do like to build things. and
And so I’ve I think at Southeastern that that role was very, very different for this role. And also at Southeastern, I was like the sole decision maker for the strength conditioning department. You know, it was I was going to meetings with the athletic director and the the board of directors and things like that. So i the the access to even the administrative leadership was closer.
but
obviously at a you know FCS level athletic department and then we get to Southeastern or excuse me Ohio State and every every year’s been different, you know, in what my role has looked at like and and what I’ve been asked and charged to do. the first two years again was was a lot of building. You know, we we were building, changing, establishing
diff like you know, a different culture and a a different way of going about things. and then the last couple of years it’s been working to maintain that standard while hiring new people and continuing to to enhance facilities and grow the current staff. while yes also being a strength coach and taking care of my teams. But your teams
I would say like as a director, as you move up, your teams do need to be, you know, they’re still like our priority. The student athlete is always gonna be number one. but then I also see the staff as like my other team. And not that, you know, I have five direct reports now, and so I see them as kind of my my second team that also need time care and investment of me.
And so these last couple of years I have been able to focus on the on the staff and and their development as well, which has been a lot of fun, really challenging. People said people say I’ve I’ve softened up since having kids. I don’t I don’t necessarily know if that’s true. I think it’s just that we have great people here. and so it makes, you know, people that that lead with like love and intention and
They have a ton of passion and energy for what they do and and how they do it. it’s truly a unique environment, and I’m extremely grateful for our staff. and so really I’ve just kind of taken a role on helping them learn what they want to learn. and if I don’t have the answer, we’re gonna go and try and find it, you know, together. but the also the director side of me also says like they also need to learn maybe.
what they don’t necessarily want to learn. Making sure that, you know, we’re filling gaps as well. So
Connor:
Yeah, I I really like your approach to it to kind of having two teams, right? You know, with your direct reports and then your actual sport team. it’s it’s great advice for me, right? ‘Cause I just think back to you know, my first year of actually being a director and going through that process was like, okay, I kinda was looking at it still from a sport team basis, right? And so, you know, if women’s soccer had an issue that needed to be addressed, I’d think about it from women’s soccer, right?
you know, it was like kind of like the sport coach focus, I would say. I I guess that’s how kind of what I’m trying to get at. And then understanding at some point, like, no, I really need to be on top of my team with the strength coaches on staff. And I need to be there for them as much as I possibly can. And it’s not even, you know, like there was no like if an issue occurred, I’d go to the staff member and be Why are you doing the X, Y, and Z? I’d always have a conversation with them, right? but you know, just understanding like, okay, I’m not, you know, I’m not the captain of
the sport coaches team. You know, I’m the captain
Clare Quebedeaux:
Mm-hmm.
Connor:
of strength and conditioning and I need to be here to support my staff as much as possible. So I really appreciate your advice because it’s something that I really it took me a year to kind of really realize. And as you said, you’re always continuously growing. So I’m sure I’ll look back on this podcast in another year and there’s another point that you said that I’ll be like, yes, that’s a hundred percent what I identify with. Right. but it’s, you know, it’s just I appreciate your your viewpoint on that.
w you you mentioned a little bit earlier with southeastern Louisiana that, you know, you see in area of the haves and have nots. And I think a lot of strength coaches can identify with that, you know, and it’s kinda like this unspoken thing in the athlete departments I’ve been at where, you know, ultimately they’ll say, No, every team’s on an equal level and we just know that’s not true. Right. or meetings that I’ve had where they’ve said, Okay, well these are the top five sports we really have to carry about and then you you know
you really kind of like work your way down, you find out here’s the teams that we don’t care about, you know, and it’s just a reality of the situation. How did you push to kind of change that dynamic? What were the things that you did to really try to make it a high quality student athlete experience for every team?
Clare Quebedeaux:
The beginning was to identify that we did we did have teams, two teams that the university and the athletic department really needed to do well and and to make sure that they were taken care of, and that was football and baseball. Baseball had been really successful in the recent years. and so they wanted to make sure that team was taken care of, and then obviously football was what was keeping the lights on, so that needed to be taken care of as well at a high level. so understanding that.
you
know, it wasn’t that it was hard because I wanted to be a, you know, be the female that was, you know, training football and and, you know, w working alongside in this, you know, male dominated field. but I had to really put my ego aside because you’ve got to remind yourself, like, this is not about me. it’s about the athletes. And so
I knew that if I could hire somebody with, you know, the football background, knowing that the athletes are going to be taken care of, and not even with the football background, but just like was gonna be a great coach and and care about the athletes. because again, I think the the sport doesn’t matter. I don’t think you need to have had to play or coached or anything like that. Anybody can learn any sport if you put the time and effort into it. I didn’t play Division One women’s basketball. so
think as long as you you are willing to to learn and grow in that way, like anybody can coach anybody. as long as you’re a great coach and you’re gonna take care of the athletes the way that they need to. So I think identifying those two teams and dedicating one strength coach to those two teams. not that he didn’t help out with other teams when he could, but I just told them like I need you to focus on these two, do it really, really well. I will support you in the ways that you need to or need to be
And then wanting to make sure that some those other teams were taken care of and that I was gonna take those on. again, it was kind of like putting my money where my mouth was of I’m gonna have the most teams, knowing that I I knew what kind of investment I was gonna give those teams. and had the the time and energy to do it for them, with them. and then we also had a GA.
that had a couple teams as well. And then so just making sure that he was supported in that way. but because what that allowed was that, you know, I didn’t have to be out at football practice the whole time anymore. And I could attend more meetings and I could train more teams. I didn’t feel comfortable with having interns having teams. I want to make sure that it was someone that was certified and and had gone through the steps to to get certified for that. So
I definitely could have. it just it wasn’t right for me. and same thing with baseball, not having to be at practice, not having to travel. I could be there on site where I felt I needed to be instead of on the road and and leaving the department.
Connor:
Yeah, I I really like you saying that you were gonna put your money where your mouth was, right? ‘Cause like i it’s I I’ve I’ve noticed as well, like you can just become part of the problem by echoing what everybody else says and saying, Well, we’re we are gonna take care of all these teams, right? You know, like in when you first get the job, whatever it may be, it’s like, no, no, no, no, I’m gonna you you start handing out promises, you know, like they’re like, you know, cards for everybody, you know, and then ultimately you find
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, right, right.
Connor:
out there’s a lot of challenges to it. So I respect you for going out there and and actually
taking that approach and and really being cognizant of that because it can kind of just perpetuate itself and then you know I’ve seen it myself, I’ve done it before, and I’ve seen it in others and good friends of mine who have recognized it too, where it’s kind of just like, wow, I am just saying the same thing and not really having the actions to back it up.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, I I just if you it it took saying, you know, if you do believe in that the student athlete is is first, and you do want everybody to have a good experience, like then, you know, make sure, like then be there and
make sure they’re being coached at a high level, that the programming is at a high level and and said the just the investment across the board. And then it just allows, you know, for more support from those head coaches as well. so like if I needed something for the department, I had those relationships with those coaches because I was their strength coach. And it made those asks a little bit easier if if we needed help or we needed a d donation for something. like I said, when I first got there, like the
the equipment wasn’t safe. And so there was a lot of work that needed to be done in order just to get the facility up to a spot where we could train safely and efficiently. and then, you know, eventually competitively. So
Connor:
Yeah, I I again I just I commend you on being able to do that. I think I remember there’s actually a couple different things, but when I first got to AppState, it was kind of taking over the Holmes weight room. And I remember the director at the time, Robbie Ormsby, told me, you can do whatever you want with it. and so I when you mentioned, okay, we got southeastern Louisiana to a place I really want it to be, you know, and and you felt comfortable and you felt like you really left your impact.
I also think to kind of like some of the small things that you do. You know, like I I think about my the fuel station that we implemented in the basketball weight room. Like that thing was like it I don’t know. I had some weird emotional attachment to it. Like I made sure it was constantly stocked. Like it had to like it had to always
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
look great because I was like, This is my like this was like the first thing I implemented. I was really proud of it. my wife was the dietitian. So I’m like, all right, I’ve gotta, you know, like really hold this up as much as I can.
Clare Quebedeaux:
There’s some ownership there.
Connor:
Yeah, exactly. Right. Like she can’t come in and then there are neutraine bars or the labels aren’t facing forward. You know, she wouldn’t care, but I would. you know, was there anything small or kinda a little bit odd like that that you were really proud of at your time at South Eastern?
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, at I put up a quote, we didn’t have any like logos or anything in the weight room. It was just like painted green, gold, and white. and so I put up the do or do n do or do not. There is no try up in the weight room. And it was just like a very strange like it’s the last thing I took a picture of when I left. And I was like, Why did you do that? Like it’s but that is definitely one of There’s one that like I always it like keeps me up at night. but we
We redid the floor at Southeastern and we used like this white S for the middle of the platform, of the inlay platforms and it was white and I think about it all the time of like, why did I do white? It’s just gonna get so dirty and they’re gonna that’s like the only thing they’re gonna have to clean. It’s gonna look terrible. So, no, hindsight’s twenty twenty.
Connor:
Yeah, you know what? That’s completely fair. And and for any listeners who are future directors, I mean, like, that’s the type of stuff you have to think about. So when I said, like, you know, hey, you just gotta do a couple things, you know, and then all of a sudden you remember that okay, I have to choose the logo and then it’s all your ownership of it. So then you’re like, I made the choice to have a white logo. I’ve done very, very similar things. Like you said, it keeps you up at night. so I appreciate your vulnerability with telling us that one.
You know, you gave a really, really good nugget of advice early on during your intro. you know, it’s just something small that I really like where you’re you I think you said your mentors mentioned this to you, or possibly a school. but you know, they said you should intern at a place that you eventually possibly want to go to grad school or you’d really like to go to grad school at. you know, because it’s just I I really like that advice, right? Because the easiest way to get hired as a GA, and I’ve said this a couple of times before on the podcast, is to know the people and do a really good job, and then they’re gonna want to hire you.
Right. Like that’s like the easiest in versus Strength Coach Job Network, which is a great resource, but obviously the face-to-face interactions a little bit better. what other advice do you have for young coaches? What are some things that, you know, for the young coaches who are listening, you feel like could make an impact?
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, to your point, I think we we get some slack for for hiring our interns. We I think we’ve got like thirteen or fourteen former interns on staff now. but I always say like an internship is the hardest interview you’ll ever have because there’s so much time involved in it. And so like if a you’re talking about a phone interview or an on campus interview, like it’s easy to be on for an hour.
you know, and and show your best self, but you’re talking about a a three, six, nine month, year long internship. I mean time exposes a lot. And so I think I think people need to give a little bit more grace on, you know, why we why we’ve wanted to hire a lot of our interns is like, you know, they they are who they were.
from the beginning to the end and they sprinted through the line for their their internship and continue to cultivate that relationship. So I always say like that that internship is gonna be the hardest interview you ever do. to be that same person that you are when you started and to show the same work ethic and and being true. So I think that’s a big deal. at for advice is, you know, be where your feet are and and do a great job. Work hard for great people.
Don’t chase a logo, don’t chase a paycheck, just just work really hard for great people. people that are gonna pour into you, do your research when when you’re looking for a job, for an internship, use your network. I think is all all great advice. I also think you know, don’t be afraid to to reach out and and seek out mentorship. I’ve had great mentors,
at every place that I’ve been that really spent time and effort on me. And and that’s why, you know, I we talked about this earlier of why you speaking just in general, but speaking on podcasts or at presentations is not a comfort zone of mine. but I do want to pay it forward to the field. so to be able to to do this and and hopefully
someone
takes one thing from it and and learns and gets better that way. But I think to seek seek mentorship and to be a be a student of your craft. just like we would anything else when we want to learn something. You know, if you want to get better at math, you do more math. if you want to be a better coach, you gotta coach more. So I think those would be a a couple nuggets of advice. I would also, last advice I would say is
You know, if you’re an assistant and you really like, you know, title is really important to you, like I want to be a director, enjoy being an assistant. Just enjoy it. And, you know, work on your craft and like I said, build your network and learn from different people. because once you do become a director or you move up in your career, things change. And and not that that’s a bad thing, I’m very blessed. but
I do wish I may have w had a little bit more time as an assistant.
Connor:
Yeah, I I re I really can identify with that last piece because I remember sitting in the Tennessee football office one day. and I remember we had a player get rabbed up, right? And it was a player that I was working with individually. Luck thank goodness. I did not change anything about the workout, anything like that, you know, like and it was it was off of calf raises. It was like the most random possible thing, right? So it’s a small muscle group, you know, something that could easily get fatigued. He was on a return to play, whatever. Perfect storm of all these things, right?
And I felt terrible about it, you know, and the head strength coach was like, he’s awesome. He’s a fantastic to work with. And he was like, dude, don’t worry about it. That was not your fault at all. That was my fault. I prescribed it. he was like, he I even came over and checked on the workout at one point. Like, you know, there was no indications at all that this would occur. And I was like, Yeah, I felt I felt really bad about it. And then it was done after that for me.
Like I did not have to talk to the head coach. I didn’t have to talk to the athletic trainer.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
I didn’t have to talk to an athletic director who was going to bring it up later because it’s a, you know, a star tight end or whatever it might be. Like it was done. And I did not appreciate that enough in the moment. I did not like say, like, thank, you know, that’s all this is awesome. I get to go home and not worry about this because as you said, like when you the further up you go, you know, or the more responsibility you take on, you are actually taking on more responsibility. It’s not just a a title change, it’s hey, I’m
I actually have to answer for these things now.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Right. And that’s you know, that is the that was the difference, but a big difference between my role here and and Southeastern. say another thing when you asked about my evolution as a director is, you know, my role is different here where you know I’m not the I’m not the final say. and I respect that a lot and understand like my role on staff, in a leadership role, but also know that I I answer to others and
and respect those people and want to continue to kind of enhance what they’ve what they’ve built and what we continue to to build. So that’s why that’s why I stay.
Connor:
How was that for you for that kind of initial transition? Like obviously going from a place where you have the final say to a place where it’s a lot more of a conversation.
Clare Quebedeaux:
at times it was challenging, but luckily my and Heather’s relationship is really strong. and so we can have those conversations, but me also just understanding like, okay, I’m going back to to being an assistant essentially, and owning that. but I have such a strong belief in what they were building, we were building, at the time. So
Even if I didn’t understand, like I also understood, you know, walking out that door, we all had to be on the same page, because I was gonna be a very big part of kind of the the enforcer, the the march the marching orders of the the department. so my I had to live and breathe it as we moved forward during the build.
Connor:
Yeah, but I I you know, it’s just from this conversation, I can tell that you’re somebody who can adapt and and can understand what’s the best way they can make an impact. So I can I can certainly see I d I think I would struggle with it a little bit, you know, to be transparent, like ’cause I’m probably the biggest control freak I that I know. You know, and that’s
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
like my my worst skill is delegation. you know, my I will tell you my wife does not like that about me. We she loves everything else, but the the fact that
when we’re doing something at home and I’m like, let me just do it. She does not love. So
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah. Well it’s
it’s challenging because well it’s challenging on both sides because you you spend a lot of your career kind of, you know, going off of someone else’s standard if you’re not the head of that department. so that can be challenging if you don’t agree with everything, which most likely you’re not going to. and then once you do become, you know, a head strength coach or a director, then you have to have an opinion on what thing like
what
the standard is supposed to be and and then give that out to everybody else and like your own belief and have to create your own opinion on that. So and then you have to live it too. Like you can’t just say it the words and actions have to match and consistently, right? So both are both are difficult.
Connor:
Yeah, putting your money where your mouth is. Like you said earlier, you have to act it out.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Exactly right.
Connor:
and you have to have reasoning for it too. That’s what I found, right? Like it can’t just be like well, ’cause I like it that way. You know, because
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah, no. Yeah.
Connor:
that’s not a very good response to things. So okay. Well, my final question for you might be the most important one that I ask. are you a Star Wars fan? based off your quote from Southeast? Yeah, okay.
Clare Quebedeaux:
absolutely. Yeah.
Connor:
What is who’s your favorite Star Wars character?
Clare Quebedeaux:
jeez. I mean Princess Leia’s gotta be the the number one. Big carry Fisher fan.
Connor:
Yeah. Understandable. Understandable.
of course, of course. I mean she absolutely did an absolutely phenomenal job. I’m a big Mace Windu guy myself, honestly. I can’t lie.
Clare Quebedeaux:
That’s a great one.
Connor:
yeah, I think I always like to have fun. with Mace Windu’s a a fun guy in my opinion. well, Claire, thank you so much, seriously, for for coming on. you know, and I think what you mentioned earlier about
Podcast not necessarily being within your comfort zone. first of all, obviously I don’t think any of our listeners could tell that whatsoever. I thought you did
Clare Quebedeaux:
Yeah.
Connor:
amazing job. but you know, I do appreciate it. when people who no don’t necessarily love the public speaking aspect come on and and help others learn. Cause I do think it’s really, really important. obviously I’m the host of the podcast. I’d have to think that’s important, or else I wouldn’t do this, right? So I really think everybody has unique experiences and unique advice. and I can tell you, you you hope you said you hope one person grew better from this then
I certainly learned some things that I can take away. So I just appreciate you taking the time with me.
Clare Quebedeaux:
Thank you so much.
Connor:
Yeah. Well, I appreciate it and have a great rest of your day.
Clare Quebedeaux:
You too, thank you.
