NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 15: Jay DeMayo

Jay DeMayo, strength and conditioning coach at the University of Richmond, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about training within a system but having flexibly, empowering athletes to make decisions in workouts, staying at one institution for 15+ years, books every coach should read, and knowing your role within the team setting.

Jay DeMayo is in his 15th year as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Richmond, and his eighth year working with the men’s basketball team. DeMayo is directly responsible for the strength training, conditioning, and flexibility development of the men and women’s basketball teams. He also educates the student-athletes on the proper nutrition to make sure their bodies are performing to their full potential. DeMayo has presented at numerous seminars and clinics in five different states and has coached and lectured for a month at Ningbo University in China. He came to Richmond from Indiana State, where he was a graduate assistant during the 2002 – 2003 academic year. 

Follow Jay on Instagram and Twitter: @cvasps | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfield

“It’s kind of time to stop fighting and bickering about exercise and this and that and start talking about principles and results and performance and things that we can do to make sure we’re doing things better for the people we work for—and that’s the athlete.” 9:21

“We tend to look at people (coaches) differently because they’re American.” 11:11

“I have no problem with an athlete saying ‘I don’t want to deadlift, I want trap bar deadlift or sumo deadlift’ because until you can show me research that shows if you deadlift X amount of bodyweight, then you’ll go to the NBA, then who cares? It’s general exercise, keep getting strong at it until you’re stuck.” 14:55

“You have to own the position… If you want your kids to hit squat depth or whatever it is but you don’t teach them how to be in that bottom position, I think you’re asking for problems.” 21:53

“The principle behind everything is to get a little better each time.” 24:41

Suggested reading:
Conscious Coaching by Brett Bartholomew 29:24
1 x 20 by Michael Yessis 30:02
Supertraining by Mel Siff 30:11
Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe 31:50

“I think if you’re starting… the one thing you have to be willing to do, and a lot of us have done wrong, is that we don’t have the ability to say no.” 32:41

“Shut up and listen.” 33:39

“There’s nothing like a Buddy Morris rant.” 34:46

“The Rock said it best; ‘sometimes you just have to know your role and shut your mouth’”. 35:39

“It’s years of work to just understand what you’re doing.” 36:57

“What we do is really important but what we do does not trump what the sport coach does or what the athletes do.” 38:12

“When there’s a job that’s posted that means that other people are working more because it’s open so calling and emailing isn’t probably your best bet to inquire about it.” 42:35

“There’s got to be something better we can do than use exercise as punishment.” 45:46

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