NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 119: Dan Dalrymple

Hear from 2022 NSCA Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, Dan Dalrymple. Dalrymple shares insight, advice, and comparisons on working with players at the college and professional levels. He also mentions his special career connection with 2022 NSCA College Strength and Conditioning Coach, Liane Blyn. Tune in as Dalrymple talks to NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about professional development for coaches, and how the NSCA played a valuable role throughout his career development. 

Connect with Dan on Instagram: @dan_dalrymple | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

“I always liken it to like NASCAR where the assistant coaches, and strength conditioning coaches, and everyone else is kind of the pit crew. And we're keeping the product on the road. And so that's a different mentality of realizing that it's not all about you as a coach. And it's all about the athlete.” 13:05

“The beauty of being a strength coach is a lot of times the player will come down and come in and sit in my office and vent. Right? And you want them to have that ability. But you also don't want to be a sounding board for them to just complain about their coach, or complain about their contract, or complain about all these different things.” 24:40

“I also think it's important for young coaches, and I try to express this to my staff and to anyone I talk to, understand the history of your profession, and become an expert in that. And see who the giants are that we're all standing on their shoulders.” 28:38

“The best thing for me for football was starting to work with ice hockey because I never played competitive ice hockey. I had to learn the sport, and learn how to evaluate it, and learn what they're doing. And then I took that coach's eye and approached it with football, and it made my programming for football a lot better. So those kind of opportunities are just so valuable.” 32:23

[00:00:00.66] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. Episode 119.

[00:00:05.22] I also think it's important for young coaches-- and I try to express this to my staff and to anyone I talk to understand the history of your profession, and become an expert in that. And see where who the giants are that we're all standing on their shoulders.

[00:00:23.44] 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.

[00:00:34.39] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon. Today, we're joined by longtime NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach of the New Orleans Saints, Dan Dalrymple. Dan, welcome.

[00:00:45.84] Well, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. The only thing that will be better is if I couldn't be here because I'm still working. But since I'm not working, this next best thing.

[00:00:54.67] Yeah. No. You guys have had such great success with the Saints over the years. And you've been a part of that for such a long time. That brings about the recent recognition you got as the 2022 and NSCA Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award for the NSCA. I was digging back through some records. And actually saw you were a finalist for the NSCA College Coach of the Year before your time in the NFL. I thought that was so cool. That kind of went into full circle. And yeah. So if you would, kick this thing off in usual podcast fashion. Just tell us your story, your path in the field, and bring us up to today.

[00:01:39.99] So all right. So we'll go way back since we've already determined them a long time NFL strength coach, and a long time strength coach in general. My pathway goes way back to my high school days when I first started really lifting weights to be a better athlete. And weightlifting and working out became a way for me as a young high school kid to kind of become accepted. And it's exactly all the things that we push as strength conditioning professionals. I live that example in that I was kind of the fat nerdy kid trying to play sports, and not having a lot of great success at it. But plugging along. Plugging along. And not really sure of my way in life, and who I was, and all that.

[00:02:38.54] And I kind of stumbled into our high school weight room, and started working out. And that was my first athletic success. I ended up breaking a bench press record when I was a sophomore. I was 15 years old. Bench pressed 305 pounds to break our high school bench press record. And that started really a love affair with strength conditioning for me. And really not knowing what I didn't know, I moved on. And when I had an opportunity to go to college as a college football player at Miami University trying to determine a major, I was the first member of my family to attend college. Then obviously the first member to graduate. But I didn't know what I wanted to major in. I was in typical college prep courses in high school, but no real direction. But I thought I wanted to do something with working out.

[00:03:36.63] And so, initially, I kind of found athletic training. And I thought that was where I would go with it. And so I went to Miami, and I was going to major in sports medicine. Actually, at that time, it actually worked out well for me because they had just a major in physical education. And then the athletic training program was within that. But everybody had a major in phys ed. And so I majored in that. And I ended up playing starting as a true freshman. And the head trainer came to me at one point and said, listen, you're going to have a hard time taping your own ankles. So you're going to have a harder time getting the clinical hours to be an athletic trainer.

[00:04:19.35] So I stayed in physical education. I took all the athletic training classes, exercise science classes, as they came along. But I was going to be a football coach. I had an opportunity after I got done playing in college to have a short cup of coffee with the Seattle Seahawks. Didn't make the final roster. Went back to school. Finished my degree. I had an opportunity to become a graduate assistant and I was coaching football. And just because of the fact that I was always a weight room junkie, I kind of got pushed into the weight room. And as an offensive line coach, I was hired. My first full time job was offensive line coach. And I was the strength coach for football at Miami University. And that lasted for one year. Our staff was let go. Randy Walker came in, and he wanted a full time strength and conditioning coach. And I was able to fill that role. And I was off to the races. That was December of 1989 when I was first named strength conditioning coordinator-- the first ever at Miami University.

[00:05:28.01] And a real quick aside from that, this is a little bit of a funny story. When I was hired, the athletic director at the time called me in and said, listen, we're going to hire you as a strength and conditioning coach. But this was a position that Coach Walker wanted. And so you're working with football. I know we have to hire you departmentally for NCAA rules and that. But you're a football guy, and I want you working with football. And all that. And so I'm like, OK, great. Yes, sir. We go out to the staff-- full staff meeting-- to introduce. Well it was just a regular full staff meeting. But at that meeting, they are introducing me as a strength coach and the new position that I've been hired. And of course, the last thing he says, now, he's a football guy. You know him as a football player. And he's been on the football coaching staff. But he is not the football strength coach. He is the strength and conditioning coach for all sports. So I expect you to use him.

[00:06:17.76] So here I am, 24 years old, my first full time job. And right after the meeting, all the coaches come up and they want to start talking about strength conditioning. And so I was thrown into it. And I mentioned this in my speech at the conference accepting the award. But I obviously had a strange path as a strength and conditioning coach. A unique path in that I never had a mentor. I never worked under anyone. And so I mentioned this-- and I really truly believe it. That's why the NSCA became so important for my career development. The National Strength and Conditioning Association became my coaching mentor. I learned so much. When I joined, initially joined, it was like the world was opened to me. And through the journals, and the research, and then scraping together money at first to go to the conferences-- it was the first conference I ever attended.

[00:07:26.36] National conference was in St. Louis. We drove from Oxford, Ohio over there-- a good friend of mine. And we drove over. And we scraped up enough money. I think we got a gas card to drive a car over there. And then we scraped money to get a hotel room. And we lived off supplements in the exhibit hall for breakfast and lunch. And then we would go to find a happy hour and eat chicken wings, and nurse a pitcher of whatever that we had to buy. And that's kind of how we did. And we just soaked up all the knowledge we could get. And it was fantastic. And from that point onward, the NSCA has been just a very important part-- it's my go to for scientific basis for some of the things we're doing, and for looking at new ideas and ways to do things. And a lot of friendships through the association. And lifelong really friendships that have developed as we went to conferences and met other coaches, and researchers, and other people. So it's just been fantastic.

[00:08:31.49] And so the cherry on top was being named Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. This means a lot to me because it's like I said, it's an association that has been so important to me. And to be recognized by the NSCA is just extra special. And then, obviously, for Liane to be at a college, and I had the opportunity to kind of-- a student trainer at Miami. And was kind of in love of the weight room the same way my career path kind of the same way. And so we so I said, well, come on over here. Join the cool kids, and let's be strength coaches. And we went in there. And then she went on and learned under Joe Kenn and big house. And so that all done. And she's where she is right now. So I'm more proud of her than I'm excited for me in that development.

[00:09:25.11] Yeah, Liane Blyn at Arizona State. It's funny, when I talked to Liane, I almost forget Arizona State has a hockey team just because when I was there it was always 90, 100 degrees getting ready for spring training. And connecting with her and both of you won your respective awards this year. And just such a cool story that you guys go all the way back to the beginning. And she credits you with giving her that first nudge into the weight room. And just winning that award the same year I know that meant a lot to her as well. So talk about your transition from Miami from working in college into the NFL. What did that look like?

[00:10:07.76] Well, it was really interesting. So the way it happened, I went on after initially starting there. Was a head strength and conditioning coach for 16 years. Changed my title quite a few times. Ended up as Assistant Athletic Director. Throughout that time, you go through a bunch of different head coaches and assistant coaches in football. And one of those assistant coaches in the mid 90s, 1994, with Sean Payton, who was our quarterback coach. And we formed a relationship. A friendship and a respect for each other as young coaches back then. And he went on and moved through various stops. And I stayed at Miami. And he got his first opportunity to be a head coach at any level, really was here in New Orleans.

[00:10:52.01] And again, the NSCA ties into that real quick because the NSCA Conference in 2006 and the NSCA Coaches Conference was in Dallas. And so we set up a plan to go attend that, and go to the AFCA. And we were going to stay with the Paytons beforehand. And we went back and forth because they were in the situation we were in this year whether or not they're going to make the playoffs. And they ended up not making the playoffs. And then he started doing some interviews. Had some opportunities to become a head coach. And he gets hired. And long story short, he brings me along with him. And I make the transition. And people would always ask us, what's the difference between college and the pros? Well, a lot.

[00:11:46.86] NFL or the pros, and what my experience was in college. I make that jump from dealing with our athletes there at Miami University and now I'm in the NFL. The first big difference is age group. Instead of dealing with people from 18 to 22, 23 years old, I'm picking up at 22, 23 years old and moving on to sometimes dealing with guys in their 40s. Drew Brees and I were together for 15 years. And so you're moving, you're adjusting, to dealing with older guys who are professionals. They have wives, and kids, and families. And it's their job so they're different. They also have a lot more experience in terms of their training. And therefore, they have some more opinions of what they should be doing. So you're working with that. You also find out that I believe at the college level the strength and conditioning profession has moved to the point where most of the time in football you're kind of the right hand man to the head coach. And you're taking at that level of importance in the program.

[00:12:59.79] You get to the NFL level, and you find out right away that the players are the show. And so the assistant coaches, I always liken it to like NASCAR where the assistant coaches, and strength conditioning coaches, and everyone else is kind of the pit crew. And we're keeping the product on the road. And so that's a different mentality of realizing that it's not all about you as a coach. And it's all about the athlete. And so you're working with them a little bit differently than you would. It's not just saying, hey, do this just because I say to do it, you really have to become a little bit more of a salesman. And you have to have all your information.

[00:13:38.62] I was told actually before I became an NFL coach by some friends who had NFL coaches if the players are going to listen to you as long as they feel like you have valuable information. And so as long as you're staying ahead of the game, and you can help them reach their goals, they're going to keep listening. But the minute they feel like you don't have anything else to offer, it's over and they're going to find somebody else. And so that keeps you on your toes. It's a great challenge that way.

[00:14:06.13] The other challenge that you have comparatively is in college. The season ends. And you might have a few days off, or weeks off, or whatever. And then you pick up with the athletes. And then you have them basically full time for the most part until the next season starts. In the NFL, you lose, or win, or you get knocked out of the playoffs, or whatever it is on Sunday. And you have an exit meeting on Monday or Tuesday. And basically, you go from being full go, full go, full go to by the end of the day or that exit meeting, there's no one there. They go back to their hometowns. And you have a few people that are maybe around doing rehab. You may have a couple of guys that are local. And they may drop in and out. But you don't have access to them. And it may be months again-- it might be April before I get to see them again. Or it might be 2020 and we don't have it offseason. Or 2021, and we have a real limited off season.

[00:15:03.48] And so it really becomes a bigger challenge in terms of making long term changes through strength and conditioning methods. So it's a big adaptation. But it also has a lot of are real fun parts to it. And real exciting. And like I said, because you are with an athlete for longer than the four or five years you have when you're dealing with college athletes you do form some personal relationships that are different. And it's more of a colleague relationship than a even player coach in some respects. Because you do feel like I'm getting back to the whole NASCAR analogy. You feel like you're kind of on the same page to keep this guy going. And so it's exciting. And people ask me which you like better. I say I like both for different reasons.

[00:15:58.68] Oh, that's a good perspective to have. And it's interesting that in professional sports the time you have the most access to the players is when you're in your competitive season. You're practicing. You have games every week. And then the time that you would typically think of as strength and conditioning time in the off season, well at the professional level, like you said they're at home. They're with their families. And they have a little bit more invested in what their offseason training might look like. Other than being just a quality resource, that's one of the real challenges of professional sports that maybe you don't see in the college game. I want to ask you, you've done this at multiple levels for a number of years. What are some of the biggest changes that you've seen in the strength and conditioning profession throughout your career?

[00:16:53.20] I think there's a number of changes. I think if you go into the college level, I think the number of positions that are available now in terms of the size of staffing, and then the adjunct staff as well. You've got the whole sports science departments in some cases. At least you have people in place that are going to add some other information for you. Back when I was going for most of my time 16 years ago in college, if I was going to do some sports science stuff, I was going to go across campus to the exercise science department and maybe form a relationship with professors there. And get some ideas and things. And now I think there's people available.

[00:17:41.85] I know at the NFL level there definitely is. And I think in college you have some actual sports scientists who are dealing with it. Maybe even on staff they're in charge of that. The player tracking and all that information. So I think the amount of information available to the college strength and conditioning coach and the pro strength and conditioning coach has never been higher. I think obviously the money. And now there's a bunch of people coaching. A lot of places are going to say, what are you talking about the money's better? Well, the money's a lot better than it used to be. My first job I was hired for $13,500. As a head strength and conditioning coach, I made $20,000. So I make than obviously making a move into the NFL helps that. But I know that the guys that replaced me at Miami make more.

[00:18:33.57] And when I left Miami we had myself. And I had James Carr who was my full time assistant. And I had a couple-- I was just lucky enough to have two GAs at that time. Matt, Katie, and Colleen Day. And then when I left, now they've got I don't know how many coaches. They're working with different sports. And I did football, men's and women's basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, and women's soccer by myself. Women's soccer kind of went on and off, but the revenue so to speak sports were all by myself. And then James kind of did everybody else. And we bring in the GAs to help a little bit. And now they've got a different person doing basketball, a different person doing football, a different person doing hockey and women's basketball, and volleyball and that. So I think that's changed. And that's just at Miami University. Roles have changed. Gone in and on in terms of contact. So that changes obviously equipment. It's amazing the differences in equipment that is available, and how that is all changed. And just walk around the exhibit hall, and you see the different companies. And you see all the stuff that's out there.

[00:19:53.61] And just different methodologies. We use velocity based training information in our program. I think that's becoming very common. And so the way that you can do that used to be just to have [INAUDIBLE]. And now there are so many different camera systems, and various other ways of doing that. And it's just exciting. And it's something else to keep on top of. Obviously, managing the technology end of it is something I never had to deal with when I was coaching in college. And now just making sure we're up to date on our different technological pieces that we have in place, and our testing, and all that. So there have been tremendous-- And getting back to how the profession is viewed.

[00:20:40.05] Now I think if you were in a college level, and you didn't have a strength and conditioning department, the players would be like, what are you talking about? Our dietitian, Jamie Meeks, and I go over and talk about how all the players that are coming out are just experienced. Expecting certain things from sports nutrition standpoint. They're expecting certain things from a strength and conditioning standpoint because that's just what they've been brought up in. So it has changed remarkably over the space of 30 some years that I've been doing this.

[00:21:16.50] I'm really interested in that collaboration aspect. We've all seen staffs grow. Whether you're at small colleges, all the way up to the NFL. And that includes all the sports medicine staff, sports science as you mentioned, a number of assistant coaches. There's definitely more assistant roles now in the field than ever before. There's also mental health. Mental performance. And all just all the intangible specific areas we work to help our athletes with now. How has the role changed in terms of your communication with other professionals on the staff just in that staffs are a lot bigger today?

[00:22:02.19] Well, I think it's important. I think you do become more of a manager in terms of if you are in a position of leadership. And your ability to collaborate with the different departments to make sure they work together. It's interesting because unfortunately, I think a lot of times-- and Jamie and I talk about this. I talk about it with our sports medicine people. A lot of times you get the strength conditioning area, the sports medicine area, the sports nutrition area end up sometimes stepping on each other's toes. Because in some ways a lot of us come from backgrounds if we've been doing it long enough where we kind of had to handle those different areas. And now we don't. I used to have to worry a lot more about the supplementation piece and that. And now we have a full time dietitian. So she handles all that stuff. And so I don't have to do that.

[00:22:53.88] The trainers have the same thing. But sometimes you kind of forget that. And it's easy to step on each other's toes. It's easy for me as a strength and conditioning coach to accidentally step in and think that I have a better way of maybe doing a rehab training program. Where does that handoff from sports medicine into performance-- where are we overlapping and where we're handing it off? And when should I step back and say, no, that's for the trainer to worry about. Or for the PT worry about, and vise versa.

[00:23:25.29] And I think sometimes that's our number one challenge to do that. And then the other side of it, a player comes up to me and asks about creatinine supplementation or whatever. And it's important for me to say, well, I know something about that. But I'm going to point you over to Jamie and make sure she handles that. And we'll do vise versa if they ask her training stuff. Because I think our players for sure will bounce ideas off all the different professionals. And it's almost in some ways, it's like I'm going to ask mom a question. I'm going to ask dad a question. And we'll see whose answer I like the best. Or see if they're actually talking to each other.

[00:24:10.36] But that happens again. And so that's where it's important. And I can't say I'm perfect with it because I fall victim to it as well. But I have to make sure that my staff is like, hey, let's make sure we don't meddle. And tend your own garden. It's a big enough. We've got enough weeds in our garden. We don't have to worry about anybody else's garden. Let them deal with that.

[00:24:33.44] And the most important thing is that the athlete sees an united front. Because they will divide and conquer if they can. And so you don't want to get in that. And it's just important professionally. Same thing in some respects-- the beauty of being a strength coach is a lot of times the player will come down and come in and sit in my office and vent. Right. And you want them to have that ability. But you also don't want to be a sounding board for them to just complain about their coach, or complain about their contract, or complain about all these different things. And feel like that all you're doing instead of being just there to be supportive of them, you're joining in the chorus. Because you definitely don't want to do that because that's again unprofessional. And can just create some issues you don't want to have to deal with. And I know one thing. I don't know everything.

[00:25:30.59] And so there are other professionals who know a lot more of what's going on in terms of how a guy's contract is, or how much playing time he's going to get, or what type of treatment he needs for a certain injury, or what type of rehabilitation he needs, or what his nutritional needs are. And so it's important to get that collaboration, and just let them know that, hey, we're maybe five fingers. But we were formed together as a fist. And we're best when we do that. So we're four fingers and a thumb I guess. I'd be the thumb. I'd be the chubbier one.

[00:26:06.46] That's awesome. You talked about how early in your career you were really thrown into the fire in the front of the room, and all the coaches were coming and asking for programs. And you had to figure it out on the fly. Now you're in a position of leadership where you get to be a mentor that maybe you never had. What's your approach to working with young coaches in the field, and providing that mentorship?

[00:26:31.75] Well, I try to do the best I can when I'm contacted by a young coach who's interested. And obviously, we get a lot of people-- Coach, I want to start. I want to be an NFL strength and conditioning coach. And they're just getting out of college or whatever. And that's great. I don't know that that's necessarily the best thing jumping right in for your overall development as a coach. I think I try to tell people this. And I think it's important that you get an opportunity to go coach. And so sometimes I would suggest to a young coach just starting out, if they have an opportunity to be say a GA at a program that doesn't necessarily have the resources versus a program like these power fives that have all these assistant coaches, and all these GA or intern positions, or however it works now. Because I know there's some differences in NCAA rules and stuff like that.

[00:27:33.56] But if you have this opportunity, look for an opportunity. Because I had an assistant or I had a GA at Miami back in the 90s, that person was going to coach because I didn't have enough people. And so I would try to coach them up to make sure they're coaching what I want them to coach. But they're going to have an opportunity. They weren't just stocking coolers, and organizing the weight room, and making sure the right weights were on the bar or whatever. They're actually coaching. And so that's a great opportunity for you. And my opportunity of learning on the fly is just so valuable because I have some knowledge of things that most-- even my assistants having gone through a different path don't have. How to fix things. Have you ever had to break down an Olympic bar because it's all locked in place. And I find this bar back in a storage. I was like, oh, it's one more bar I could have. I don't have a budget, so I'm going to get this thing to work again. Well, I know how to do that. And it sounds silly, but that's something you know how to do.

[00:28:38.16] And I also think it's important for young coaches-- and I try to express this to my staff and to anyone I talk to-- understand the history of your profession. And become an expert in that. And see who the giants are that we're all standing on their shoulders. That's important. And I think in general in a lot of ways because I talked to coaches of other sports and other areas, and a lot of times the younger people coming out don't take enough time to learn that stuff. And you're like, well, what does that matter? Well, the failure to know history makes you doomed to repeat it. One. So maybe learn a little bit. Some reason why we do some things that we do. That might set that up. Some of these programs that were developed, why and how they were developed. And you know I think one of the best parts of my job if I was able to have Al Miller-- and I would challenge any young coach that doesn't know who Al Miller is, go find out who it is. I was able to have Al Miller come in and sat in my office, and lectured me on what became his book the system several years before it came out. And that was awesome.

[00:30:01.66] And I look back at when I was at Miami University. I would be in my weight room, and Weeb Ewbank-- if you're a football person and don't know who Weeb Ewbank is, I would say look that up as well-- come into my office and talk about coaching the Jets, and the Colts, and all that stuff. And I don't care. That's just cool. I don't care if you don't learn any new stuff. It's just an opportunity. And so I have that. And I have had opportunities to sit down with Johnny Parker as a strength coach. And some of these just giants. And you learn so much from them. Because they've forgotten more than I know.

[00:30:43.66] So I try to learn that. And I hope that someday I'll still be coaching when I get to their age. And maybe someone will think that maybe I have something to offer. But I think it's important to-- don't speed up your career either. Sometimes we worry so much about where we want to get to that we don't take the time to really experience where we are. I know this.

[00:31:19.31] Some of the best strength conditioning coaches are working in high schools, and are working with young kids. And that really is much more important than what I do. I may be better compensated, and it may seem a lot cooler to do my job. But those people that are working with young kids and teaching them the love of strength and conditioning that I have, that I get to learned on my own from dealing with my phys ed teachers in high school, the people that are doing that, that's way more important than what we're doing. And that's fulfilling. And so everybody wants to get to the end result. And that's cool. But if you're working at a small college, and you're running the whole show, and you're working with multiple athletes, best experience for me was dealing with athletes of sports that I had never played because it taught me how to look at the sports that I did play. And really instead of just doing things from this is a way it's always been done, and this is what I experienced, I had to look at it and go, is this the right way to do it?

[00:32:23.39] The best thing for me for football was starting to work with ice hockey because I never played competitive ice hockey. And I had to learn the sport, and learn how to evaluate it, and learn what they're doing. And then I took that coach's eye and approached it with football. And it made my programming for football a lot better. So those kind of opportunities are just so valuable.

[00:32:47.03] Dan, that's such a powerful message. And I had about 10 things I wanted to run off on, and just ask you a ton more questions here related to that. But one thing that really stood out for me is just connecting with the history of the profession. If you're dedicating yourself to the strength and conditioning profession, if you want this to be your career over the long haul, there's so much value in looking back to who got this field started. Who are some of the key voices, and names, and stories that really were the foundation of a lot what we're working through and dealing with today.

[00:33:26.04] And I think back when I first got into the field. And I went to a small liberal arts college. Division III football player. And I was a biology major. We didn't have an exercise science program, but I had this interest in pursuing the field. And one thing that really stood out for me was when I would look up- and the internet was pretty new. But you could look people up. And you look up these bios of strength coaches. Or you get the NSCA journals , and see you the column editor was. And read their bio. And that was so powerful for me just to see what their story was. Oh, I was a GA, and then I got my first full time assistant job. Or I had to intern here. Taught me these opportunities exist. It taught me the progression of things.

[00:34:15.72] And when you were saying that, it just really resonated with the history I had just coming from a small area of the country without a lot of strength and conditioning. And it speaks to the high resource programs and the low resource programs out there. Working at the high school level. It really doesn't matter where you're from. There's so much information out there that can get you connected with this profession and this field. And I think the way you share information-- and we've always been able to talk a lot about just these conversations in the field. Our field is-- we're an open book. And we have so much to share and give to future generations. And Dan, I'm just really happy you are with us today.

[00:35:01.56] Well, it's great to be here. And I could tell stories. Here's the one thing too that I would mention. The tougher situations you put yourself in, the cooler the stories are going to be later on in life. So if you're always in something where no one can believe-- I can tell stories of getting started at Miami University and that. I could tell stories from just when we got down here to right after Katrina. Right now nobody believes some of the stuff that was going on and that you go through. If nothing else, if you're in a tough situation, you're a coach, and you don't have enough and you're doing all this crazy stuff to get your program going, just keep in mind someday you're going to be talking to people. And you're going to tell these unbelievable stories, and you're going to blow their minds. So at least you got that going for you.

[00:35:50.06] Yeah. That's so cool. Dan, thanks so much. That was 2022 NCAA Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, Dan Dalrymple of the New Orleans Saints. Little teaser for what's coming up this July at our national conference in New Orleans. Dan will be one of the speakers there. So that's another great way to connect with Dan. Dan, thanks again for being with us. We'd also like to thank Sorinex Exercise Equipment. We appreciate their support.

[00:36:18.90] From the NSCA, thank you for listening to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. We serve you, the coaching community. So follow, subscribe, and download for future episodes. We look forward to connecting with you again soon. And hope you'll join us at an upcoming NSCA event, or in one of our special interest groups. For more information, go to nsca.com.

[00:36:41.06] This was the NSCA's 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 to join us next time.

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