NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 50: Dr. Brian Schilling and Dr. Andy Galpin

Dr. Brian Shilling, Chair of the Kinesiology & Nutrition Sciences at UNLV and former President of NSCA Foundation, and Dr. Andy Galpin, Professor in the Center for Sport Performance in charge of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab  at  California State University, Fullerton talk to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about the University programs that they work for, their involvement in research, and the and process of grants for strength and conditioning coaches.

Follow Andy Galpin on Twitter: @DrAndyGalpin | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfield

Brian.schilling@unlv.edu

https://www.nsca.com/about-us/nsca-foundation/

agalpin@fullerton.edu

“People were very open and welcoming to the new guys.”  10:50

“The people that you meet those first couple conferences. I met Mark Stephenson as one of the first guys I met and we’re still friends to this day.”  12:54

“It’s [NSCA] a great origination to build relationships with because people are approachable.”           13:06

“You can impact those younger kids and it’s career changing.”       16:33

“You need to quantify the things you’re talking about. You can’t just say this is important show me why it’s important and how important it really is.”          22:00

“Thoughts disentangle when they pass thought the lips and the fingertips.” 22:30

Reporting Errors: To report errors in a podcast episode requiring correction or clarification, email the editor at publications@nsca.com or write to NSCA, attn: Publications Dept., 1885 Bob Johnson Dr., Colorado Springs, CO 80906. Your letter should be clearly marked as a letter of complaint. Please (a) identify in writing the precise factual errors in the published podcast episode (every false, factual assertion allegedly contained therein), (b) explain with specificity what the true facts are, and (c) include your full name and contact information.

This is the NSCA's coaching podcast, Episode 50.

You're really a lawyer making a case for us, so you need to quantify the things you're talking about? You can't just say, this is important. It's like, show me why it's important and how important it really is.

This is the NSCA's coaching podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to know, but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning, and then there's everything else.

Welcome to the NSCA coaching podcast. I am Scott Caulfield. With me today, chair of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences at UNLV. Also, past president of the NCAA Foundation, Dr. Brian Schilling.

Glad to be here.

At UNLV, I should say. We are here in Vegas. And my co-host today, from The Center of Sports Performance and— let's see if I can do it two times in a row— Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab at Cal State, Fullerton, Dr. Andy Galpin.

Well, you nailed that part, but you messed up the center. It's The Center for Sport Performance.

Sport Performance—

Lee Brown, he used to get so mad. It's not Sports Performance, it's Sport Performance.

So close. Man, I had it. Yeah, hopefully Doug Larson, Mike Bledsoe aren't listening, as I'm stealing you away as a co-host, but—

That's all right.

We're here out in Vegas at the UFC Performance Institute talking about combat sports and stuff like that. And you guys have had a little— a lot of different experiences in that. But why don't you guys first tell us a little bit about your roles in your current situation. So Dr. Schilling, tell us a little bit about what you're doing at UNLV and Andy can too.

Yeah, so I've been at UNLV now— I'm just starting my third academic year. And I came out here and came into the role as Chair. So it's a really exciting place to be right now. Obviously, one of the first things I got to do when I got here is talk to Forest and James about where they were headed with this Institute here. So it's fun to be here. It's a great place to be.

So right now, I'm the head of the department that has about 1,500 undergraduate students. I think we're at about 45 graduate students. We had like nine degree programs when I got here. I think we're down to seven. We're trying to get rid of some redundant ones. But it's a booming area.

UNLV is growing. We're up over 30,000 students now. So it's kind of an exciting place to be. We are the most diverse campus in the nation of large universities, which is kind of fun. A lot of first generation college students, which is really exciting. Really changing people's lives, we hope. And then obviously, being in the health and fitness area, you're hopefully that these people that we're generating as professionals are going out and going to change the world for the better too.

But it's great. It's nice having Andy just a few hours away here. Being in the Southwest is fun for me. I was in Memphis for 16 years. I miss my Memphis people, don't miss Memphis as a city that much. But it's great being out here and it's great with the performance of the Knights last year, with the Raiders coming.

Like I said, it's become kind of a destination, I guess, for sports performance and strength and conditioning. I hope we can keep going on that. And I'm just riding the coattails of the PI here, which is kind of fun.

That's super cool, yeah.

UNLV was kind of dead for a long time in this area. I know that— I don't know if this is their exact language, but I'll put words in their mouth for them. One of the reasons they brought you in was to really make this program work. And so you guys have PHE programs and master's programs. What are some of those programs?

Yes, so we have— we have a Bachelor's in Kinesiology and then we have an Athletic Training Bachelor's degree. We also have a Bachelor's in Nutrition. That's an accredited program. We also have a minor, which doesn't really count in there.

So those are our undergraduate programs. And then at the Master's Degree level, we had one in kinesiology and one in exercise physiology, which were actually redundant. So we're not admitting new students into the exercise physiology one, but they can get the same thing in the kinesiology degree, so it's just different by name.

We also have a new Master's in nutrition as well. So, that's kind of taken off now. The American Dietetic Association— or, I'm sorry— The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is going to a Master's degree in order to sit for the RD exam, over the next few years. So, we're already preparing for that.

And then at the PhD level, we had a program that was in kinesiology, a PhD program. And then we had an interdisciplinary program. And for the same reasons of redundancy, we got rid of the kinesiology one, and we're just doing the interdisciplinary ones, so that we can make sure we keep our numbers up. So it's good.

So you can get a PhD in interdiscipline?

Interdisciplinary Health Sciences.

Oh, OK.

Yeah that's a—

I'm like, that's a terrible PhD.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's funny, because we've talked about that a lot. Because I look at my wall. My certificate says, Doctor of Philosophy, that's it. It doesn't say what it's in really. So it is a doctorate. It's a doctorate in philosophy.

Wow.

But yeah, so it's challenging to have that many things going on with the degree programs, but it's also really neat for the undergraduates to get exposed to the research that we're doing at those levels. When I was an undergraduate, I went to a very small university that didn't have a Master's degree program, but ironically enough, had some people that were doing some research, so I got exposed to that. Otherwise, I might not have ever gotten into it.

So, I know you're undergraduates benefit huge from your huge Master's program. So you've got a lot of things going on, a lot of chances for the undergraduates to get involved, either as subjects or as participants.

Yeah, I mean, you guys are also really fortunate out here, because you have such a good relationship with the UFC, with the Knights, with the Raiders coming. You specifically, in your program, but even just you, Brian, you got everybody, Cirque du Soleil, like all this stuff.

So your kids— I mean, every time I come out here and I see a professional team, I'm like, well, there's Brian's intern.

Right.

These people that are in with all these teams, they're all your kids. So you're putting them places too, which is incredible. I can't even put our kids in as many places as you're putting kids.

Well, I'm glad you brought up Cirque, because our relationship with Cirque has been really, really good. They're a very unique model in how they do things, because they have all these different sites and these different shows. And the shows have different demands. International athletes— you want to talk about working with international athletes, I mean some of their people are from the most remote places you can imagine.

Right.

And obviously, like I said, UFC doesn't really need anything from us, but we're just happy that they're here. And I consider these guys friends and good colleagues. We don't have as much a relationship with the Knights. Some of our students go out there sometimes.

But those sports are even more difficult, even than the other ones. It's a pretty interesting place to be. It's just it's fun to see how much it's changed over the last couple of years. It's just kind of fun to be along for the ride.

Yeah, it's cool. I know you're— one of the strength and conditioning coaches, Jason Caba, a long time NSCA coach, and he's been there— gosh, I think he's been there almost 20 years now—

He has—

— so it's nice to see someone with that kind of tenure in a strength and conditioning coaching position. It's exciting.

Absolutely, and the guys that are in with football now are really good. We've got a great relationship with them. We share some— we don't share some space, we have some space that's adjacent to each other. So we get to talk to them and interact with them quite a bit, which is nice.

UNLV football is getting a brand new facility right now. They're in the process of building it. I don't know— I don't think it'll be done for next fall, but when they do that, that's really going to expand their capabilities.

Manny is the head strength coach for football. He's got NFL experience. So he's got really some good experience that he brings to it. So I think this new facility is going to put us over the top. The fact that they'll be playing in the Raider stadium, should really help with recruiting. And so, I think there's a bright future ahead there.

And how many students do you guys have in your exercise science kinesiology programs, like total students?

Yeah, total students, we're up over 1,500. As a matter of fact, I just did the math, because I had to— I had to figure out basically our accomplishments for last year. And we generated 25,000 credit hours last year.

Wow.

And we do that with about somewhere between 20 and 22 full-time faculty, depending on who's coming and going. And then we have— we have some part-time instructors. And obviously, our graduate assistants help with that too.

But actually, just recently, we just took over the anatomy and physiology for the entire UNLV, so instead of that being offered out of biology, it's going to be offered out of our department. So all those credit hours are going to go up a lot. Because I think that's probably about 4,000 credit hours a semester.

Jeez.

Wow. Wow. And I kind of forgot this— or just remembered it— but you guys crossed paths in your graduate degree program.

Well—

Is that where or was it before that?

No. No, I wouldn't say crossed paths. I would say, I followed Brian. So he was my thesis mentor.

Yeah, OK, so maybe one of you guys talk about that, because I think that leads us into a lot of other NSCA stuff that I'd love to hear about too from you guys.

Well, actually, before I get to that— it's sort of funny that you mentioned that about your PhD saying PhD, because you had quite a unique PhD as it was. So, at the time, Memphis didn't have a PhD program. It had a Master's program. And Brian got his PhD in Memphis under Andy Frye, but he had to do his PhD in biology.

So he's a PhD student in biology, but working with Andy Frye. And then got hired there is a faculty as soon as you graduated as a biomechinist.

Yeah kind of, a default biomechanistic, yeah.

OK.

Because I was willing to teach it. That was kind of how it worked.

Oh, OK.

Yeah, something there. But anyways, I got I got to Memphis, I remember actually— there's a longer version of this story, but I'll give you the very short one— is as an undergrad, I wasn't exposed to research or anything like that either. And so I had a friend basically say you gotta go to the NSCA National Conference.

It was here in Vegas. So I drove with my buddy, Doug, overnight, from Portland down here. I didn't know anybody. Didn't know anything, was walking around. And I walked by one of the poster sessions. And I saw Andy Frye, who just won a lifetime achievement award this year, standing by a poster. And he's doing biopsies, squatting with chains and stuff. And I was like, you can do research on this.

Because the only research I had saw was like epidemiology, and health science, and I was just not interested in that. And Doug and I stood there and asked him questions for hours and hours. And he told about the program.

I saw Brian's stuff, and I'm like, this is where I want to be. This guy's weightlifting, like, he's competing and weightlifting, and he's doing research. And so, I was like, what I got to do to get out there. So, I went out there and I was fortunate to study under Brian and Andy.

And then went on and get my PhD, because I was like this is the type of stuff I want to do. And I've just been following Brian around since then.

That's cool. I think, from talking to you guys too, it's a similar theme, that like— it was my experience too, when I came to the these NSCA conferences, like, people were very open and welcoming to the new guys, the new people. And to help you with like career advice.

I remember one of the first people I met was actually Doug Lentz and Mike Barnes, who was the education director at the time. And they remembered me at the second event that I went to. And they said, oh, you, need to come do this with us later that we're doing and invited me along.

And that was, that's kind of been my entire experience in the NSCA. It was always like people like Lee Brown telling me, no, you should do this and come visit us and do this. And it was like, oh, wow, because I didn't know anything that was going on.

When I talked to Andy Frye that time, legitimately an hour easy. I just sat there asking him. And I'm sure those questions were so stupid. Because I had no context. I didn't know what a PhD was. I knew that was important, but I didn't really know the difference between a Master's and a PhD. I mean, I was that green. I had no idea.

I was just probably asking him all kinds of training questions, and on and on. But he was so nice. And I just remember thinking like, this guy is so nice. And I met Avery Faigenbaum, and was like, whoa, this guy's a character, just like all the old— and Mike Stone and all this— but, yeah, everybody was super nice.

Yeah, and so you guys have been on committees. You've been president of committees. Maybe talk about, Brian, how the— I guess tell us about your involvement in the NSCA, but tell us about the foundation too, because I don't know how many people listening— I talk to people all the time that are somewhat aware of grants and scholarships. And I'll tell them about the assistantship that we've talked about.

Right.

And they're like I've never even heard of that.

So I'll go back. I've been involved— I think I've been certified for 22 years, something like that. I think probably in the late '90s, I was certified. So, I think the first conference I went to was probably '99. And I just showed up.

It was— it was really neat, though. Like you said, the people that you meet. Even those first couple conferences— I met Mark Stevenson is one of my— the first guys I met. And we're still friends to this day. Actually, he ironically enough, coaches one of the guys I go to church, with the Lions right now. So that's kind of fun.

But yeah, those people— it's a great organization to build relationships, because people are approachable and they love what they do, so they're willing to talk about it. And over the years, I got involved, and they were really good about letting students get involved early on, and getting exposure, and just kind of finding out what goes on behind the curtain in the land of Oz.

And that's been great. So, over the years— the foundation's been around for a lot longer than I've been on it. And I think Larry Wise was one of the original people on the foundation, and Joe Weir and Lee Brown. And those guys really set it up great for us. So now, the foundation itself has over $5 million in assets.

We hired our first full-time staff member a little over a year ago now. She's been fantastic about allowing us to just kind of expand our impact and making a difference for our members. So, the foundation itself, our mission is to support the mission of the NSCA through supporting our members.

So we support the NSCA members through, like you said, the scholarships, research grants. We have the assistantship program now. We also have some of these equipment grants that have come through Aliko. And I think that we're kind of at that tipping point, where more and more people are going to get involved in the philanthropic side, which should, again, allow us to hopefully impact our membership.

So we're always revising our grant procedures. And trying to make sure that we're doing what the industry standard is, making sure we're doing best practices in research, so that we can be above reproach on that. But we— the scholarships are also huge.

So one of the things that we did is move the scholarship deadline to the fall. So that everything wasn't going on in spring, because of abstract deadlines and everything like that. So hopefully, that will— it kind of sets the scholarships apart a little bit and lets people, hopefully, know about them. And so that we get more and more applicants.

We give away a ton of scholarships. There's scholarships for— I think it's minorities, and I think women might be a separate category.

Yep, there's two separate.

And we've got— that's one of the areas— and you find this on the academic side too, is that that's where people like to give money. They really like to give money for scholarships, because they know it's going to impact right away.

So it's really fun to be able to help people, maybe get a few extra bucks that would help them get certified or help them— maybe it's just, like you said, making a trip to a conference, where they meet somebody that becomes a lifelong friend, lifelong mentor, stuff like that. That stuff can be huge, because it's easy to be nameless and faceless in this industry. So getting out there and meeting people is pretty cool.

Right.

Absolutely.

Two things— one, they can find all that information just if they Google NSCA Foundation.

Yeah, so they foundation— the website's just been launched here recently. And the foundation web page is up there. All the information is set. We are in the middle of the scholarship cycle right now. So there is still time to apply right now. And then the grant deadline will be in the spring.

Yeah, so there's things for if you're a member or a student. There is things if you're a faculty— a young faculty. There are things for, like the equipment grant— correct me if I'm wrong here— but this is for like even high school coaches.

Yeah, I think the first round was definitely directed towards places with lack of resources, mostly towards the high school.

So, if you need 500 bucks to buy barbells or something, you can apply to this grant or something.

Yeah, Aliko was giving away lot of really neat equipment to help people set up a weight room. And you guys— I think if you've been in this industry long enough, you can impact those younger kids. Man, you can make—

Sure.

It's career changing for them to have exposure to just decent equipment and decent coaching, for that matter. So part of that— part of that equipment grant is going towards people who have coaching credentials. That can really help the youth.

Yeah, so the other thing would be— I mean, I remember in the last— I feel like the five or eight, maybe eight years— the foundation has really taken off, in what they're trying to do. And they're really expanding. And I feel like they actually do a really good job of listening to the actual people, as well as the industry in saying, what do you want.

So is there anything that you can share that the foundation is trying to get going, or anything that is coming, but it's not out yet? And I know we're not like certified behind the curtain here, but—

Right, right.

But anything that you can share with us, or something you're like, hey, we've been kicking this thing around that we think we're going to try to do, or we're listening, we just can't work on this, whatever.

You know, I think the main thing was the continuity that we've gained in having a full-time staff member now. So she keeps us on track and can help us with the organization. Because otherwise, we were meeting once a year. And then we'd kind of disappear for a while.

And a lot of people have outside demands. We do this as a volunteer basis. So that's one of the biggest things we've made. Moving a lot into helping people with estate planning. Do you want to give to the foundation as part of your estate, and stuff like that. So that that's been a big change for us.

Really the grants— the research grants is a very, very tough thing to deal with, because it's a lot of money. It's important, because it's actually in the mission statement of the NSCA, that we do the research and we support it. So that's a big thing. But it's hard to do.

It's hard to make sure that you're doing things where you can be, again, above reproach, and making sure that it's really— the money is having the biggest impact you can have. So, we're really working on procedures where the grant reviews will be— increasing consistency for the grant reviews as much as possible.

Because again, we— it's not just about giving away money. It's about making an impact and supporting the mission of the NSCA. And you don't have to be involved in graduate education to know that funding is a big deal. It's so hard to support research. And it's an expensive process. So I think our ability to do that will be getting better as we work on our procedures.

And we've got a great board right now. I'm on the board up until, I guess next July is when I'll rotate off, because I've been on for my six years now. But Matt Stock from The University of Central Florida is the president right now and is doing a great job. Former UNLV grad, by the way.

So we're in really, really good shape. We did expand the board. We had— we're up to seven members now, which because of all the different initiatives we have, it's good to have a larger board to be able to kind of divvy up the work and divvy up the responsibilities, and the board liaisons, and stuff like that. So pretty exciting time.

And Andy won grants or scholarships at some point in the past. And Brian, you have too. Is there some tips or secrets to writing a successful proposal? Filling out the application properly? I'm thinking of stuff I tell people about resumes, because I see so many of those that are so horrible.

So I'm just thinking if people are listening this, and they didn't— they're like, oh, man, I didn't get one, or I didn't even know, how about some tips or tricks for applying to give yourself a chance a fighting chance.

I'll let Brian mostly answer this, because I did receive the Master's student grant, but that's when I was working for Brian. And I have applied for probably the last nine years for these grants and not gotten it at all. So I don't I don't have good advice, because I can't seem to get one. But no, I say that honestly though, just to let people know, that even— it's not just like a good old boys club.

Yeah.

Because I'm involved heavily in the NSCA and I can't get one grant. So really, I think that actually speaks to— is above reproach. It's not just they're looking through and going, like, OK, we'll grab Andy, we'll grab one of Mike Stone's people. Like, it's not at all that way. I struggle every year to get one. So, I don't know if you can offer some— maybe, I'll listen. This is a good question. I don't know how to get one.

I mean, on the grant side, it's really tough. Because we have the— if you look at the— if you want to call strength and conditioning a discipline, which we can, we can study it, there's still so many sub disciplines that wrap up into it. So finding people that have the ability to review grants in this umbrella of strength and conditioning is relatively difficult.

And on the other hand— the other side of it, there's not a whole lot of people in strength and conditioning that have big-time grant experience. Typically there are not people that are getting grants from the National Institutes of Health or the DOD, or something like that. So, there's some different things that we do that aren't necessarily what you might find at that level.

I actually teach a scientific writing and communications class. And one of the things we talk about a lot with the grants processes is internal consistency. So, if you're talking about it in your introduction, it better be a method that goes along with what you made sound so important in your introduction.

But then, if it's in the methods, it also has to be in the budget or in the available resources. And a lot of people miss that internal consistency, because it's not a linear writing process from front to back. So, that's one of the main things. And I think the other thing is, what we tend to do as authors, is we get so intimate with what we're working on that we can understand it, but we can't put it on paper so that other people understand it.

So, I think the idea of— you're really a lawyer making a case for us, so you need to quantify the things you're talking about. You can't just say this is important. It's like show me why it's important and how important it really is. I think that's one of the big things.

But then again, it's just a highly competitive process too. It's just that there's a lot of applications, and we don't have that much money to give away. We turn over about 5% of our assets, is what we give away every year. So, yeah, it's a highly competitive process.

But even the process of writing it is a learning process. One of my favorite quotes is that thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and the fingertips. So when you put things on paper, you are learning it and understanding it. Or when you give your elevator speech to somebody about your project, or your thesis, or your dissertation, you are learning it and cementing it in your brain. So you can't have too much practice on those types of things.

Yeah, I would say focus also on the features versus the benefits. That's a major one that people don't understand. Like it has this— you can explain the features, but we need to see the benefits. What is this going to do from that level, and is that very, very clear.

Yeah, how's it going to impact the field. That's great, I think that's super helpful. How about talking about the NSCA again, involvement. Andy's been Conference Committee chair. You're president of the Foundation. What was the first thing you guys did, aside from going to a conference, like as a volunteer?

Because again, hopefully, everybody listening to this knows we are a volunteer organization. We're really run by the volunteers, the Board of Directors is entirely volunteer. Actually, Ron McKeefery, a good friend of mine, always says that too. He's like, don't just complain about stuff, unless you're willing to get off your butt and get involved. Because plenty of people are willing to complain about stuff, but not actually put their feet to the fire to do something about it.

And that's what I love about our organization, is that you have the opportunity to get involved. So maybe talk about what you guys— where you first got started.

I mean, I think I probably just got involved in what was going on in the research consortium early on, because that's kind of what I was doing as a student. But over the past— I'd have to look at what I've done, but I think I was a state director. I was a regional director. I was on the Research Committee.

And then I think, in the foundation, I think that's probably the main things I've been involved with. They let you get involved, at least as a student, to just figure out what's going on, which can be really, really helpful. And I think the regional— the state and regional program has really grown a ton since I was really involved in it. I'm pretty biased. I think our state director out here, Doug Shepherd, is pretty awesome.

That's great.

It's really fun to be able to go to theirs. We always have ours around Veterans Day. But then again, having Andy's people right down the road, we can get to Orange County pretty quickly. So we can go down there. We've got Southwest. ACSM is down here. So that's a really nice way to get involved, is at the regional level, if you can, for professional organizations.

I think that that's probably one of the ways to really get in, though, is to— even if you can apply to be a speaker at a regional event, cut your chops there, and then move on to some of these bigger ones, is a good way to get involved.

Yeah, I can echo that from both getting involved, as well as people that want to be a speaker at an event. Since I first got on the Conference Planning Committee to now, to chairing it, I don't even know what the numbers of applicants— but I feel like it's 10-fold.

Yeah.

We have so many people. And there's hundreds of applications we go through now for every event. And it's really, really difficult. So my advice for both of these is the same, which is, you probably need to start a lot smaller than you think. You need to start at that state level. If your first application for NSCA service is trying to be on the board—

Right.

Good luck.

Right.

Like, the first thing you apply for is you want to speak at National.

Yeah.

It's probably not going to— even if you have a PhD or you're a 20-year NFL strength coach, it's just really hard. I have been applying for some of these board positions and I can't get on either. They're very, very difficult. So you have to just keep trying. And you have to start smaller.

So I'm probably actually going to go back and try to get a state, being a state director. Because I need to work my way up. Because Brian didn't just jump on the board. Brian started at the state.

Everyone— I'm like, OK, I noticed everyone that is starting at the regional level two, well, I'm not above that. I have to go back now and do that too, even though I've been a chair of a major committee, if I want to get in, I just want more things to stack on my deck, I've got to get involved more. And so that probably means volunteering at the state clinics, volunteering at the regional stuff, until you can be a director there. And then move your way up that way.

Yeah.

And that's going to help you a lot.

Yeah, and as a former state director, I do see the—

Oh, yeah, you were a state director too.

—NSCA headquarters supporting the, like you said, the regionals a lot more. And I mean, we have some of the regional conferences have tipped close— the mid-Atlantic last year was like close to 500 people I think.

Wow.

These regional ones are really taking steam with a lot more support from the headquarters. But, yeah, as a former state director of easily one of the small states in Vermont, I would never have turned down somebody that would have wanted to volunteer with me to help run a clinic.

So that's one thing I tell people, is find out who your state director is, and see if you can help him out. Because I don't— I would have never turned someone down that wanted to help me run a clinic. If you don't mind checking names off a list, or going to grab lunch, or whatever it is, certainly.

So that was a big one for me. And yeah, I think, like you said, we've seen a lot of people kind of move up the ladder by starting in that state director level, regional director level. It's pretty cool to see.

Awesome, and this has been a great episode. I really appreciate you guys spending the time. How about if people have more questions about coming out to get their degree at UNLV or in general, Brian, how can you be reached? What's the best?

Yeah, my email is easy. It's Brian.Schilling@UNLV.edu. And yeah, send me an email if you have any questions about our degree programs. You can check out the website. And then we can talk about the stuff that's on there. And when it comes to NSCA things, again, check out the NSCA website. The new website is up. Check out our foundation website.

It's cool.

And see how you can get involved. And if you see me at a conference or anything like that, come up and say hi, and tell me what you do, and how you're doing it. And I'd be glad to hear your story.

Great, Andy, most people probably have already followed you on social media. But if they have been under a rock somewhere, let them know. How do they find you?

Hey, you can follow Brian on Instagram too.

It's true.

Are you private? I don't know.

Actually one thing I'll say before I answer that is, before you email Brian and before you email me about our grad program, please look at the website. Please, that's a quick way for me to delete your email.

That's great.

I'm not going to look up that. I'm not going to consider you as a grad student when I have 200 people applying to come work with me when you didn't even look up the right name. Like, you don't even know what classes we offer and you're asking what classes we offer.

That's great.

Don't do that. So, I'm very, very, very approachable. I know Brian is too. If you're prepared.

Yeah.

Yeah, you don't have to— it's not that much work. Just don't ask me a question that easily found on the website. That's not going to get you very well. But the same thing, my email is publicly available. You can find AGalpin@fullerton.edu.

I'm not very good at networking either. It's not a skill set that I possess. So I'm also that person at a conference— like, even now, I'm still like, oh, god, I want to go talk to Joe Kent. Ahh, no, I'm not gonna. But just go ahead and get it out there.

I'm the same way too. Like, if you want to meet at a conference, that's going to help your chances of getting in. No doubt, if I can remember, and go, oh, yeah, that was Scott. That's that kid that came up to me at the NSCA conference.

And now I see his application, that helps you tremendous. Because we're the same size, even bigger than Brian's program. So trying to go through— I think we had 250 kids apply for our Master's degree spots on strength and conditioning.

We're not close to that, that's amazing. Wow, man.

And we try to pick— I don't know— a few of those.

Right.

So it helps if I can go, oh, yeah, I remember that. That's going to give you a big advantage. It's easy to find our stuff, Fullerton.edu too.

Outstanding. Well, thanks guys. Appreciate you being on. And also for everybody listening in, we appreciate your support. If you get a chance, go and give us a review on iTunes or wherever you download this podcast from. Subscribe, like, all that good stuff. Follow us on social media, interact. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks again, guys, and appreciate it.

This was the NSCAs coaching podcast. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978 by strength and conditioning coaches to share information, resources, and help advance the profession. Serving coaches for over 40 years, the NSCA is the trusted source for strength and conditioning professionals. Be sure and join us next time.