NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 26: Kevin Cronin

Kevin Cronin, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Colorado College, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about his career path, sources of quality information on social media, and the realities of working at a college that has both Division I and Division III sports.

Kevin Cronin, MS, CSCS,*D, has been the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Colorado College since 2012, where he oversees the strength and conditioning programs for all 17 varsity sports and 330 student athletes. Previously, Cronin served as the Assistant Strength Coach, Performance Center Coordinator, and Education Coordinator for the NSCA along with stints at Western Washington University, Stanford University, and the University of Texas.

Find Kevin on Twitter: @KJCroni ‏ | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfield

“My time at the NSCA was great—I think it really set me up to kind of slide into that role [at Colorado College].” 1:55

“You walk into a room and you don’t know the kids, you really don’t know their training background, you don’t have any help.” 4:16

“It wasn’t super hard to get the programming going right away, it was hard to get the kids in the door.” 5:29

“We had a track lift at 6:30 pm, and there were nights we’d get one or two kids, and now… the groups of two or three turned into groups of twenty and thirty.” 6:10

“We have five [sport] coaches in our building that are CSCS.” 8:30

“We’ve done a pretty good job of saying ‘hey you’re not the University of Texas Men’s Basketball—we don’t need to be doing what they’re doing, our kids are different.’” 10:06

“Everybody says ‘you don’t want to take an internship where you’re just going to clean and fill fridges,’ but for me you’ve got to be able to clean and fill fridges.” 12:18

“I had a CSCS, a USAW, and a Master’s degree—and I don’t think I got a call back for a single job.” 13:38

“Bryan Mann said it on Facebook the other day… ‘Don’t worry about famous… worry about being effective.’” 15:30

“Even now, if kids that come in and intern with us spend the first 15 minutes in the room just kind of standing there and not helping set up… or not asking us what we need, automatically get dinged.” 15:55

“I think some of the conversations you and I have had, or anybody that was here when I was at the NSCA—that’s the kind of stuff you can’t forget about.” 19:00

“One of the main things we see is… kids’ inability to generate pertinent conversation about training.” 20:50

“There’s so much content out there that sometimes kids are like, ‘Oh I know what that is,’ but they don’t ask questions.” 22:00

“Ryan Horn always has these great little knowledge bombs he throws out [on Twitter]… I think Tim Pelot posts some pretty cool stuff every now and again.” 28:44

“We test a decent amount. We look at verticals, we look at 5-10-5s, we looks at 10-meters, we look at front squat, we look at reactive strength index.” 33:12

“Winning…. injuries, and if you’re actually improving performance.” 33:58

“When I took my job, there was a very large disconnect… you could feel the rift between the Division I sports and the Division III sports.” 35:43

“The cool part about the Division III kids is they’re not on a scholarship, so they show up because they want to show up.” 37:48

“I think they all now respect each other a little bit more because they all go through the same things.” 38:27

“We’ve taken that pseudo quadrennial approach and are saying, ‘Hey by the time these kids are seniors, we’re going to be doing some really fun stuff.’” 39:38

“The kids are what draws me to [collegiate strength and conditioning].” 40:10

“The process of being a strength and conditioning coach can be hard.” 44:40

“You apply to all these internships and you get denied, or you apply to all these jobs, you get denied—you know it’s a ding to the ego.” 44:45

“You apply to fifty jobs, you don’t hear back from any of them, and you’re like, ‘Do I really do this?’” 44:52

“If you don’t have a network that has a connection to a job, it might not even be worth applying for.” 45:00

“There’s some sacrifices that people gotta make—and if you’re not willing to make them, it can be a hard business.” 45:40

“Andrew Altoff said something like… ‘If you’re going to say hello to someone at a conference and not follow up with them, don’t even say hello to them.’” 46:17

“I don’t think we should really put anything down unless people are hurting kids.” 52:00

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