The Strength In Numbers Podcast

Hunter Eisenhower, CEO of The Force System, co-creator of Force IQ, and co-host of the Move the Needle podcast, joins the show to talk about losing his dream job and what he had already built to absorb it. Hunter spent three years as the Associate Head Coach for Sports Performance with Men's Basketball at Arizona State before getting the call earlier this year that he wouldn't be returning.

Hunter is elite in all things sports performance, but this conversation goes almost nowhere near the X's and O's.

We dive into the day he found out, the perspective his three-year-old daughter gave him that same night, why he started building something outside the program at ASU, and the advice he has for coaches who want to build anti-fragility into their own careers before they need it. 

We also explore his learning process and why he describes it as obsession, the shift from hoarding information to creating with it, why he prioritizes refinement over new input, how he filters which opportunities to say yes to, and how he's intentionally approached social media.

Hunter also breaks down what he and Jared Wilson built with Force IQ and the athletic quality he's now convinced is the most important in sports performance.

🔗Check out more from Hunter👇

Instagram: @huntereis_tfs @mtn_perform

Website: Move The Needle / Hunter Eisenhower @ Force System 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

04:33 The Call From the Athletic Director

05:46 How His Daughter Reframed His Mindset

07:53 Preparing for the Hot Seat Years in Advance

11:05 Getting Your Dream Job at 28

12:17 The Everest Problem and Moving the Goalpost

17:41 Building Anti-Fragility Into Your Career

20:06 Finding a Niche Beyond Selling Programs

24:00 Information Hoarding vs Creating

27:13 Why the Force System Was Born

29:35 Putting Your Own Ideas Out There

32:05 Inside Force IQ

42:45 Filtering New Opportunities

48:48 Refinement Over New Information

59:26 Nurturing vs Selling

01:03:52 Deceleration and What He's Obsessed With Now

Richard Burnett, Director of Athletic Development at Triple F Elite Sports Training in Knoxville, creator of the Plyomat, and founder of the Building Assessment Systems Coaches Cohort, returns to the show to break down how AI has completely rebuilt his player profiling system. Rich built the most elite profiling system in the country out of Google Sheets, and in a matter of months he rebuilt the entire thing into a live system with its own app, database, and automated reporting. 

We dive into the three phases of his system (intake, intel, and insight), how he now delivers a four page report to a parent's inbox before they leave the assessment, and how a system like this lets you get real value out of your data without drowning in the time it takes to process it.

Rich also breaks down what to think about when choosing your tests, why you need to think about the "chaseability" of a test, why he pulled force plate metrics out of his scoring system, and how to build standards and tiers with your data.

We also get into when to go deep versus when to stay shallow, building different assessments for different age groups, why you have to own the rubric instead of letting AI make those calls for you, and exactly where to start if you are feeling overwhelmed by all of it.

🔗Check out more from Rich 👇

Instagram: @richardburnett @triplefknoxville @plyomat_att

Building Assessment Systems Coaches Cohort (next cohort starts Friday, October 9): click here

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:58 Systems First, AI Second

05:45 Intake, Intel, and Insight

10:01 From Google Sheets to an AI Built System

13:41 Comparing Athletes Against Your Own Population

15:02 Delivering the Report Before They Leave the Building

19:52 Removing the Friction Between Data and Coaching

22:03 Assessment Data vs. Session Data

28:12 The Chaseability of a Test

30:59 Why Force Plate Metrics Left the Scoring System

36:03 When to Go Deep and When to Stay Shallow

39:42 Different Assessments for Different Ages

41:36 Building Standards With Limited Data

48:36 Owning the Rubric Instead of Handing It to AI

49:47 Where to Start If You Feel Overwhelmed

53:41 Athlete Data, Privacy, and Caution

56:08 Changes for the Next Cohort

Recorded live in Park City, Utah, our first ever in-person episode brings together Blair Orr (LEAD), Blake Burnard (Grindhaus), Chase Chapman (Grindhaus), and Brandon Corrasa (LEAD) right after the Business of Strength Gold Medal Standard Retreat.

We break down what was most impactful over the weekend, including how to create story-worthy moments for your clients, raising the standards you hold yourself, your staff, and your athletes to, knowing when to fire staff and how to hire to your values, and training your staff on communication standards.

We also dive into takeaways from Bobby Maximus's talk on social media and content, the inflection points that helped their gyms turn pro, the mindset it takes to weather the storm of entrepreneurship when everything feels like it's falling apart, and how to attract members who align with your culture and handle the ones who don't.

Stick around after the end credits for a good word we shared once the mics were off.

🔗Check out more from the crew 👇

Blair Orr: @lead.blair @leadperformance

Blake Bernard: @blakeburnardcoaching @grindhaus_sc

Chase Chapman: @chase_chapman15

Brandon Corrasa: @brandon_corrasa

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

00:00 Intro

02:55 Biggest Takeaways From the Retreat

05:44 Professionalism and Follow-Through

08:23 Training Staff on Communication Standards

11:58 Holding the Standard Every Time

21:11 Enforcing Standards and Knowing When to Fire

22:50 Attracting Members Who Fit Your Culture

28:37 Handling Members Who Don't Fit

35:11 Creating Story-Worthy Moments

41:59 Bobby Maximus on Social Media and Content

46:41 Inflection Points That Helped Them Turn Pro

53:51 Weathering the Storm of Entrepreneurship

01:05:55 Delegation and Leading With Clarity

01:17:23 Bonus: Faith and Business

Henry Barrera, Strength and Conditioning Coach for Men's Basketball at the University of Alabama, joins the show for a conversation on learning, communication, failure, and purpose. Henry has been part of multiple SEC championships, an Elite Eight run, and the program's first-ever trip to the Final Four, and before Alabama he spent seven years at Liberty winning three conference championships and the school's first NCAA Tournament victory.

But this conversation is less about training and more about how Henry thinks. He may be the most curious coach in the profession, and he takes the best notes and journals in the country.

We dive deep into his system for actionable learning, how he uses filters and frameworks to cut through information overload, his process for "journal diving" and returning to what he wrote, the power of sticky language, and how coaches develop the ability to command a room.

We also get into why creating opportunities for failure matters and how he builds that into the weight room, his vision for a Director of Learning and Development role on a staff, and the "Soul of Performance" idea he's writing about right now: why gifted athletes make it or don't, and what the rest of us can learn from them.

🔗Check out more from Henry👇

Instagram: @HoopDiaries

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:51 Born Curious: What Drives His Learning

05:08 Serving Athletes as the Engine for Curiosity

07:06 Filters, Frameworks, and Information Overload

08:27 Journal Diving and the Analog-Digital System

12:48 Learning to Love Reading

16:17 The Director of Learning and Development Role

19:17 Communication as the Biggest Limiter

20:25 What Teaching Taught Him About Coaching

22:35 Sticky Language and the Deaf Man and the Blind Man

24:21 Building the Ability to Command a Room

28:48 Bandwidth, Drip Feed, and When to Use Your Voice

29:43 Creating Opportunities for Failure

37:11 Data, Feedback, and Pushing Into AI

40:29 Perspective Through Loss

42:55 Lessons From Fatherhood

47:58 What His Own Playing Career Taught Him

49:52 The Soul of Performance

Sean Hayes, Director of Athletic Performance for Volleyball, Men’s Tennis, and Men’s Swimming at the University of Georgia, joins the show in his 17th season with the Bulldogs. Coach Hayes spent more than a decade with Men’s Basketball at Georgia, and his path also includes stops with the Buffalo Bills, Clemson, Harvard, and Tulsa.

We dive into what he learned running 41 teams by himself as the first Director at Harvard, the wake-up call Mike Boyle delivered to him as an intern, how he kickstarts his own self-discipline after 30 years in the field, and why he set a goal to back squat 315 before his daughter graduated.

Coach Hayes also breaks down how he has stayed at Georgia for seventeen years and why he has chosen to stay, what he learned adapting to a coaching change, the importance of letting career progression happen organically, and why you should work to make yourself irreplaceable wherever you are.

We also get into laser focused prioritization, why he leans on his staff instead of trying to have all the answers, the changes he has made to his volleyball team's training this season with post-practice lifting, and the honest reflection on what he sacrificed with his oldest daughter along the way.

🔗Check out more from Coach Hayes👇

Instagram: @coachshayes

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:57 Seventeen Years at Georgia and the Path There

04:20 Running 41 Sports Solo at Harvard

09:38 Building a Program From Scratch

12:32 What Hard Early Years Teach You

13:53 The Mike Boyle Wake-Up Call

16:54 Kickstarting Your Own Self-Discipline

18:45 Setting a Back Squat Goal at 52

20:41 Finding a Second Mountain

23:59 Why He Has Stayed at Georgia

25:34 Not Tying Your Identity to the Sport You Work With

26:50 Ingraining Yourself in the Department

28:52 Keeping Ego Out of Career Decisions

31:23 Adapting to a Coaching Change

36:24 Turning Defensiveness Into Growth

39:18 Career Advice for Young Coaches in Today's Landscape

44:42 Make Yourself Irreplaceable

46:09 Goal Setting and Laser Focused Prioritization

49:18 Changing Volleyball Training to Post-Practice Lifting

52:02 Reflection, Vulnerability, and Leaning on Staff

54:41 Isometrics, Plyos, and Getting Uncomfortable

59:59 What Helped His Career but Cost Him at Home

01:03:52 When He Is Closest to His Purpose

Tony Rossi, Assistant AD of Health, Wellness, and Performance at Oral Roberts University, joins the show to break down his move into an admin role after serving as the Director of Sports Medicine.

We dive into how he elevated into the admin role, the biggest adjustments and new skills he's had to learn, and how he manages and leads a staff in a setting that carries a high turnover rate at the low major level. Tony also explains how he approached the initial conversations with the sports performance staff and why one of his goals is to detach performance coaches from their sport coaches when it comes to job security.

We also get into Tony's own training, including how he started competing in marathons and triathlons, the mental performance benefits that come from truly committing to training for something rather than just training to train, and why every coach needs a second mountain to climb beyond their career.

🔗Check out more from Tony👇

Instagram: @tonyjrossi 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

05:47 Elevating Into the Assistant AD Role

07:55 The Athletics Healthcare Administrator Role

10:46 Leading a Staff With High Turnover

13:01 Detaching Strength Coaches From Sport Coaches

15:22 When a New Head Coach Wants Their Own Guy

19:04 Earning Buy-In From the Sports Performance Staff

24:25 Biggest Adjustments and Skills to Build

26:23 SOPs, Roles, and Needs Assessments

29:43 Hiring and Evaluating the Right Fit

34:16 A Game Plan for Getting Into Administration

37:28 From Two-Mile Runs to Triathlons

41:52 Why You Need a Second Mountain

45:12 Treating Your Own Body Like an Experiment

49:24 Not Every Ache Is a Red Flag

In this episode, I run a thought experiment: “If you knew what you know now back when you were an athlete, what would you do differently? And does that inform your decision making for your athletes now in any way?”

I dive into the 8 things I’d change when thinking about this question.

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Doug Crandall, VP and Head of Teaching at the Referent Group, joins the show to break down the ideas behind his newest book, Building or Diminishing. Doug previously taught leadership at West Point, where he won the Excellence in Teaching Award, and has co-authored four books before this one.

We dive into the core premise of the book, that with every action we're either building or diminishing the people around us, and unpack Doug's four leadership archetypes: builder, driver, cheerleader, and belittler. We explore what separates a driver or cheerleader from a true builder, and why holding a high standard and pouring into your people aren't opposing forces, they're both required.

We also talk about the authenticity and vulnerability it takes to lead this way, and why this conversation is one that can genuinely shift how you show up in your day-to-day interactions with the people you lead.

You can grab a copy of Doug’s new book right here: https://a.co/d/05tz2oRR

🔗Check out more from Doug 👇 Building or Diminishing | Doug Crandall 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:26 Doug's Path from West Point to the Referent Group

05:36 Breaking Down the Four Leadership Archetypes

09:00 Holding a High Standard While Building People Up

14:39 What Pulls Builders Back Toward Driver or Cheerleader

21:02 Concrete Steps for Moving from Driver to Builder

25:54 Keeping Athletes in the Moment vs. Pulling Them Forward

28:52 Leaders Cast a Larger Shadow Than They Realize

35:22 Leadership as an Accumulation of Small Moments

41:09 The "Never Met a Bad Cadet" Story

45:03 The Pygmalion Effect and the Danger of Judging Intent

49:51 Building a Builder Culture Across a Team or Program

52:08 Balancing Vulnerability as a Leader

58:10 The One Lesson Doug Hopes His Kids Take From the Book

01:01:35 When Doug Feels Closest to His Purpose 

Erika Lambert, Head Women's Basketball Coach at the University of North Florida entering her fourth season, joins the show to reflect on what she's learned making the jump from a 15-year assistant career into leading her own program.

We dive into why she builds in non-negotiable time to think and plan each week, how she's learned to delegate recruiting and other responsibilities she used to own herself, and why "the people are the job" has become her filter for a to-do list that never actually ends.

Coach Lambert also breaks down how she built a weekly hour into her limited practice-time budget to make her program's five core values a living part of the culture rather than words on a wall, and walks through why her hardest leadership decisions have come through roster management.

We also get into the balancing act of coaching and parenting and trying to find how much to push your kids in their sports. 

🔗Check out more from Coach Lambert 👇

Instagram:

@OspreysWBB

@Coach_lambert

@Momsincoaching

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:02 Assistant to Head Coach: What Actually Changes

05:35 Building In Time to Think Amid the Chaos

08:52 "The People Are The Job"

12:54 Learning to Delegate as a Head Coach

16:04 Showing Your Staff What You Want, Not Just Telling Them

18:42 Recruiting for Character and Fit

20:57 Turning Core Values Into a Living Culture

30:44 The Hardest Decision: Rebuilding the Roster the Right Way

38:51 Coaching, Parenting, and Knowing How Hard to Push

51:14 The Sleeping Bags at the Track

53:16 Closest to Purpose: Coaching as Ministry 

Leddy French, Director of Athletic Development at Elite Performance in Frisco, Texas, joins the show to break down how he builds athletes at every level. After starting his career at APEC and launching his own training company, Leddy reunited with Mason Hays (EP 54) to help build Elite Performance's large-scale operation inside The Star.

We dive into his variability model for training and how he balances high-output work with variable stimuli to build physical outputs and the ability to express them. Leddy also breaks down how to actually overload change of direction drills and create a real training adaptation. 

Leddy gets into why the warm-up is so important for him, how he defines “sensory motor capacity” as a trainable skill, and his approach to youth training.

We also talk about how to drive people to want to train with you in the private sector, the lessons he took from Bobby Stroupe at APEC, and how to balance giving clients what they want with what they need.

🔗Check out more from Leddy 👇

Instagram: @lf2performance 

This podcast evolved from my book, Strength In Numbers — the ultimate mentorship guide for coaches.

Featuring insights from 100+ ELITE coaches across every level and sport, it’s an encyclopedia of coaching wisdom built to help you grow your career, navigate failure, and find long-term coaching success.

👉 Grab your copy of Strength In Numbers [by clicking here].

Chapters

01:21 Influence of APEC and early experiences in performance training

07:18 Adapting training when starting own facility

09:45 Creative resourcefulness with minimal equipment

11:25 Balancing perception and training effectiveness

16:27 Stable vs. variable training stimuli

18:14 Expression of physical capacities through dynamic tasks

20:46 Using variability to enhance change of direction

23:38 Training youth athletes and building sensory motor capacity

25:40 Warm-up strategies and engagement

33:46 Change of direction drills as expression of ability

37:43 Adding external load and velocity to training

42:51 Ensuring training stimulates true adaptation

52:32 The importance of training perception and challenge

01:00:03 Balancing training complexity and athlete engagement

01:07:35 Optimizing short-term athlete development

01:15:40 Commanding attention from the start