Special Episode | Investing in What’s in Front of You

Sporting nine national championship rings, Coach Andrea Hudy stands as a titan in strength and conditioning. She joins co-hosts NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon and Gatorade Team Sports Manager Jon Jost to reflect on her journey, including pursuing her PhD and the impact of lifelong learning. Together, they discuss the changing collegiate landscape, now resembling a professional environment with holistic, interdisciplinary collaboration. Hudy explains how early specialization may expedite later-career injuries, inspiring her to investigate gait mechanics. Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies also mean a “bigger pot” for athletes, extending collaboration to agents and scheduling. They theorize collegiate athletes may face more stressors than professional athletes due to their academic schedule, training, and promotional travel — making time management and investing in longevity essential. Hudy describes her philosophy of education, motivation, and communication, built upon a foundation of honesty and healthy relationships. The trio examine the evolving strength coach skill set, including sport science elements, before offering advice for aspiring professionals.

Reach out to Coach Hudy by email at andrea.hudy@uconn.edu or via social media on Instagram: @a_hudy, X/Twitter: @A_Hudy, or LinkedIn: @andrea-hudy.

Connect with Jon Jost at: jonathan.jost@pepsico.com. Follow up with Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs.

This special episode is brought to you in part by Gatorade Performance Partner. Learn more and join their community at GatoradePerformancePartner.com.

Don’t miss your chance to get involved as an NSCA Volunteer. Applications for most positions close soon on December 15. Find your role and apply now at NSCA.com/Volunteer.

“I have a biomedical engineer on my dissertation committee. I have an ACL specialist on my dissertation committee. I have a tendon specialist on my committee.  It's looking at the problems or solving issues that we have that have always been existent, I think, in sports — both men and women's sports. But to bring that group together, and myself as a sports performance person, and just take all these ideas and collaborate to find out what is the best practice for our athletes, I think, was super important.” 5:00

“I think you have to teach them that relationships are important. And it's not a one-way street. Relationships are a two-way street.” 13:25

“I think a better human makes a better basketball player and being present, being with them, having energy investing in what's in front of me, not what happened in the past, or what happens tomorrow, but what's happening right now and being very present for them.” 17:35

“So you're standing on the edge. And you're welcome to come in here, but just know that these are going to be 12-, 14-hour days. You're going to learn a lot, but you have to invest a lot in it.” 21:35

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[00:00:02.63] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, season 8, special episode.

[00:00:08.03] So you're standing on the edge. And you're welcome to come in here. But just know that these are going to be 12, 14 hour days. You're going to learn a lot, but you have to invest a lot in it.

[00:00:19.05] And we want you. What can you bring to our table to help us get better? And I said, are you going to jump and join us, or are you going to stand on the edge and maybe think about it? I want people that are willing to jump in.

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[00:00:35.33] This is the NSCA's Coaching Podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning, and then there's everything else.

[00:00:45.86] Hey, everyone. This is the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon, the NSCA coaching and sports science program manager. Today's episode is a collaboration with Gatorade Performance Partner, and our co-host is long-time strength and conditioning coach Jon Jost, the team sports manager at Gatorade. Coach Jost, welcome back.

[00:01:04.54] Thank you Eric, it's a pleasure to be here. I look forward to this discussion. This will be a lot of fun with Coach Hudy.

[00:01:12.46] We always have a good time when we do this, a couple times every season on the podcast. Our guest, Andrea Hudy at UConn. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:22.69] Thank you, guys. I appreciate you having me. It's always a pleasure to talk shop.

[00:01:28.15] Coach, I feel like you've been on the podcast before maybe with Scott Caulfield back in the day. I know you've presented countless times at NSCA events. You're a big part of the NSCA community. And you don't really need a whole lot of introduction to many of our listeners.

[00:01:46.01] You're at UConn now. You work with the women's basketball program. Obviously, women's basketball, getting a ton of attention right now, really positive attention. Things are going really good for the sport. How are things at UConn?

[00:01:59.38] Yeah, it's great. I was thinking about your question. And I think there's a really fine line, I think, between where we are in elite college women's basketball and where the WNBA is.

[00:02:15.81] And I think it's an exciting time. My career started at UConn in 1995 when-- I mean, we thought women's basketball was doing really well then and working with players like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Rebecca Lobo. It's about time.

[00:02:40.41] As you return to UConn, you're not just leading the women's basketball sports performance program, but you also decided to double dip and go back to school as a student. And I know that you have always been a lifelong learner.

[00:03:01.13] But there's no doubt that pursuing your PhD is a next-level commitment. That's a marathon. It is not an easy thing to accomplish. And so kudos to you for taking on that challenge. But what led you to pursuing your PhD?

[00:03:25.87] Looking at the research, when I came back-- I've always worked with women's basketball, but this was the first opportunity that I've had to work with one team as a coach at a university. So to be able to dive into each individual and see how individual responds to outside load and what we do, I think was pretty important.

[00:03:47.92] And I've always wanted to give people the best care that they could think of and have. And part of that was collaborating with other groups, doing the research on each individual athlete, and really providing resources to these athletes who I would consider to be professionals at this point.

[00:04:10.64] That's awesome. As a little bit of a follow-up question, I guess, not to put any pressure on you, but how's it going? And what's your timeline as far as when do you hope to defend your dissertation? And, yeah, how's it going?

[00:04:27.89] Yeah, I'm an official PhD candidate at this point, so I have my dissertation to write. I have three years of data, over 90,000 data points, which is pretty cool. One of the reasons of coming back was my dissertation committee consists of one of the top athletic trainers and research people with Doug Casa and the Korey Stringer Institute. I have a biomedical engineer on my dissertation committee. I have an ACL specialist on my dissertation committee.

[00:05:05.71] I have a tendon specialist on my committee. So it's like looking at the problems or solving issues that we have that have always been existent, I think, in sports, both men and women's sports. But to bring that group together and myself as a sports performance person and just take all these ideas and collaborate and find out what is the best practice for our athletes, I think, was super important and to have the input from our biomedical engineer on gait analysis.

[00:05:48.19] So, yeah, I think these athletes that we're getting today are really specialized. And they're coming in with injuries that you would normally see with an athlete later on in their career. So it's like we're trying to undo the injuries and the mechanics of what they've experienced early in their career.

[00:06:11.98] So to have her on my committee, I think, is pretty awesome. And then I've gotten into really looking at gait mechanics and how these people are walking. Imagine the walking mechanics, let alone the mechanics that are happening at high velocities.

[00:06:30.63] Yeah, a lot of times we think about the loads that happen maybe on the court or during practice or during the games, but think about how many steps these athletes are logging just in their basic daily gait and walking around, heading to class, whatever it may be. It is really interesting. And it sort of aligns with the more holistic approach we're taking towards athletic performance. What's it been like for you?

[00:06:55.67] Let's say your beginning was strength and conditioning, and now it's more this holistic sports science or this broader model that we're seeing across sport. How has that impacted your process with your athletes? It sounds like you have a lot of resources right now.

[00:07:13.21] Yeah, from nutritionists, athletic trainer, physical therapy, gait analysis. We're in the lab all the time. Our first week of this summer season, it was just we were testing and trying to get baseline measures on all of our athletes.

[00:07:31.70] And the fact that I had a week to do-- we're not going to squat test. We're not clean testing. We're not doing physical testing. We're actually doing biomechanical testing and joint isolation testing and systemic testing. I think that's where I've gotten to at this point. It has totally changed since I started.

[00:07:56.15] And on top of the sports science, there are so many other changes across college athletics from NIL to transfer portal. And you can go on and on. I know that it's not a sports science, strength and conditioning question, but I think it would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge where we are and just really curious how you view the current landscape of college athletics, both pros and cons. And you're at a very high-profile program that I'm sure you see it from a very clear lens. And just interested to get your perspective on the landscape of college athletics.

[00:08:50.54] Well, I think it is changing. Not sure if it's evolving, if we want to say that, but it is definitely changing. And I think with the money aspect of it-- the money-making aspect of it for individuals has changed it because these athletes are now-- they might be taking their nutrition more seriously or their recovery more seriously or their strength more seriously. Money has changed it because there's a bigger pot for each individual.

[00:09:26.53] Are they college students anymore? Yeah, they are. They have to go to class and do different things. And they have more stressors than a professional athlete does in a way because they have the academic schedule.

[00:09:37.17] So I think it's hard. It's a quick lesson in time management for sure. They have to be investing into who they are as an athlete, for sure, in every aspect of what it takes. And that includes nutrition. It includes sleep. It includes them getting involved in the data that we're actually capturing and them learning. Because if we're looking for longevity for these athletes, it should matter to them.

[00:10:08.43] Yeah, it's really interesting. In your comments there, you mentioned time management. And that's always been a challenge for college athletes. And now it is even more difficult. And I know this from a little bit of a different perspective in that Paige Bueckers was actually the very first collegiate NIL athlete or Gatorade athlete that obviously is one of your superstars for UConn.

[00:10:39.83] And she's not only training with you and practicing and going to class, but flying all over the country to shoot TV commercials and everything else. Fun to see, but there's no question that I'm sure it poses you additional challenges and for sure additional work and time management difficulties for the athletes for sure.

[00:11:10.39] Yeah. And we have certain restrictions the NCAA puts on us in terms of their time that I can schedule. So it actually needs to be on the athlete more and the athletes responsibility to initiate a lot of the things that we try to do because I can't have it count against their hours of strength and conditioning.

[00:11:34.82] So if they want to do extra, it has to be on them. I can't schedule it. They have to, which has been good because they're learning how to be a professional. And I think it's a great time for growth for sure for them as an individual.

[00:11:54.49] And then we're dealing with-- I don't know how many-- I couldn't deal with agents before. And now I talk to agents and I talk to teams of people that are taking care of these guys. And when I think of my career as a strength and conditioning coach to where it is now, boy, it is collaborative on so many fronts, not just within what we look at performance wise, but scheduling wise for these athletes.

[00:12:21.49] I was really interested when Jon was talking about some of the logistics and your athlete, Paige Bueckers, just some of the additional requirements, maybe stressors, as we like to think about it. This puts a added responsibility on the performance staff. And you touched on that a little bit.

[00:12:44.27] Communication is a huge topic in the field. It tends to always go back to communication, especially in the leadership type roles you've had at Kansas, Texas, and Yukon. What's your formula for communication, making connections with players so that you can help them deal with these stressors?

[00:13:05.09] I had a friend who told me-- and I think it's a quote from somewhere, and I don't know where it's from. But you cannot not communicate. So what's that mean? You're always communicating, whether it's verbal or body language. But I think you have to teach them that relationships are important. And it's not a one-way street. Relationships are a two-way street.

[00:13:29.61] And the one thing that I learned here is honesty is the most efficient policy when you're speaking to these athletes. Because if they do want to be professionals, we have to teach them how to be professionals. And it's like I have a responsibility to educate.

[00:13:51.51] I feel like my philosophy is education first, motivation. What's our intent behind what we're trying to communicate? And it has to be specific in some ways, but also general in a lot of ways.

[00:14:05.68] And like our athletes, they tell me they want to go to the WNBA or NBA if that was the case. And it's like, OK, well, are you doing the things that are required to get to where you're telling me you want to go? Because if that doesn't line up, we need to talk about it. And, again, I think communication starts with having a healthy relationship.

[00:14:31.41] Coach, there is no question that you have been a leader in this profession for a long time. And there are a lot of strength coaches that look up to you for what you have done for the profession, what you've done for your athletes, how you have advocated for the field, for strength conditioning coaches. You obviously have had an impact as a presenter.

[00:15:04.08] And It's interesting. When we get to this age, you start getting questions about your legacy. And you've accomplished a lot. And I think I will be remiss-- and I know I've said this before. And maybe it embarrasses you a little bit. I think you have more national championship rings than any other strength coach. And that is an incredible accomplishment.

[00:15:33.75] And that's definitely going to be part of your legacy. But as you look at your career and where you are now and getting your PhD, and someday when you decide that, OK, you're going to retire or move on to whatever your next chapter is, what do you want your legacy to be? What do you perceive or think people are going to say, yeah, Coach Hudy, here's her legacy?

[00:16:02.18] Well, one of the reasons, too, I wanted to pursue a PhD, I think-- I've been lucky to be a part of some pretty awesome teams and be a part of those national championships. But I think getting a PhD for who I am, the background that I come from, and what I've learned and the people who are my mentors, I think getting, hopefully-- keep your fingers crossed. I'm on mile 22 of my marathon of 26.

[00:16:35.09] But I think getting a PhD would actually be my own personal national championship in a way because it's been a long road. It's been 30 years of these collaborative approaches with academics. And I just have never truly formalized the learning and the data collection and everything that we've done through the 30 years. So that, I think, could be pretty solid, could walk away after that one. But I think lifelong learning would be part of that.

[00:17:13.67] You did say that it is embarrassing because you never know what people think of you. So I did a little bit of research. And I asked the athletes yesterday. I said, what would you consider-- when you think of me as a coach, what do you consider?

[00:17:29.67] And they said caring beyond the basketball court because I do. I think a better human makes a better basketball player and being present, being with them, having energy investing in what's in front of me, not what happened in the past, or what happens tomorrow, but what's happening right now and being very present for them.

[00:17:56.83] And I think long-term health is important and teaching and educating. Again, I guess education has been part of that legacy because I did start my career with Dr. Kramer, and Doug Casa, and Dr. Armstrong, and Dr. Maresh. And then when I went to Kansas, I collaborated with Dr. Fry. And then when I went to Texas, I looked up Dr. Coyle. So it has academic, very academic undertones to my career, which is lifelong learning.

[00:18:35.40] That's fantastic.

[00:18:37.17] There's a lot of lessons in there for young or aspiring coaches, people getting into the profession as well. It sounds like at every stage you were diligent about making connections with the people around you and positive connections.

[00:18:53.37] I really liked what you said, investing in what's in front of you. So I want to push that on to those aspiring coaches. What advice do you have for them? How can they invest in their future wherever they're at?

[00:19:05.86] They might be wanting to intern at a place like UConn, a big university. They might be coaching at a smaller program right now or in the private sector and just have goals and aspirations. How do you suggest these aspiring professionals take the first step or the next step in their career?

[00:19:26.37] Can I share a story with you then?

[00:19:28.83] Please. Yeah.

[00:19:30.12] Yeah, when I came to UConn, again, I lost a lot of connections that I had had from 25 years ago. So when I came back, I had an undergraduate student, freshmen. This is his first week of school. And he texted me, hey, I'm a data science major. That's what I want to major in. Do you need any help?

[00:19:53.00] And I was like, show up tomorrow, be here, and let's see what we can do. And then that has turned into-- I had one grad student from Sacred Heart. She would take the train three hours both ways on the daily. So it's like, I want people that want to be here and want to learn and want to educate me because, again, the generation is different.

[00:20:17.99] But the fact that I have a little learning lab going on here with data science, machine learning, what my hope is is to use some of our data with artificial intelligence and come up with an injury risk profile for our team. But could that help other teams, both men and women?

[00:20:45.02] We're doing data visualization. And then the fact that what we're doing here, I think, and how we're doing it with one group of people, it is a professional environment in that I just had one of our interns from last year-- she's now a sports scientist with the San Antonio Spurs, and they're paying for her PhD.

[00:21:08.27] I have another intern that's interviewing with another professional basketball team. And I feel like we're on the right path in terms of where college athletics is heading. And it's a professional environment.

[00:21:21.69] And, yeah, I had another athlete-- or it was a non-athlete show up this morning. And she's like, I'm not sure what I want to do as an aspiring strength coach. I go, do you want to be a strength coach or do you want to look at sports science? She said, I want to do both.

[00:21:35.37] I said, so you're standing on the edge. And you're welcome to come in here, but just know that these are going to be 12, 14 hour days. You're going to learn a lot, but you have to invest a lot in it.

[00:21:46.74] And we want you. What can you bring to our table to help us get better? And I said, are you going to jump and join us? Are you going to stand on the edge and maybe think about it? I want people that are willing to jump in.

[00:22:01.55] That's great advice. And you touch on a lot of these technical skill sets that have entered, going back to the sports science that we were talking about before. Do you feel like strength coaches today need to have a little bit more of this technical knowledge? You talk about data management, some of the things maybe we learned in grad school and got to forget for a few years after that, but now maybe we can't.

[00:22:25.07] Well, I think the profession is changing. Our job descriptions need to change because the skill sets that I have as a strength and conditioning coach 30 years ago are very different than the skill sets that I have now. Have I grown on them-- or have I learned from them and I have a good foundation in how are we building and what are we looking at?

[00:22:46.00] Yeah, so I think the whole thing needs to be analyzed. And yeah, strength and conditioning coach is very different than what I'm doing right now. But I have collected data throughout my whole career. And we are using data-driven decisions like-- I don't know. That's a tough question for me to answer.

[00:23:08.86] It's interesting. We had a guest on the podcast not too long ago. And I loved how the message came through that data is a part of every skill set, every discipline. And maybe we are a little bit-- maybe we align sports science and data management a little too closely, sometimes saying, oh, if you're managing data, you're doing sports science.

[00:23:32.83] Well, maybe there's a role for someone to help with data management within strength and conditioning, within sports medicine, within mental health and performance, all these different areas. And then the bigger picture of sports science is broader. So maybe we're not quite there yet.

[00:23:50.00] But I think a lot of coaches, probably myself included, I feel like we do get caught in the middle because if you have that growth mindset and you continue to see where the field's going and educate yourself, yeah, you learn a lot of these different disciplines and are able to apply these skills. And it is interesting that-- it sounds like this, what we'll call sports science, is what's really interesting to you right now.

[00:24:18.94] Yeah, it is tough because, again, is a sports scientist one to make decisions and influence what's happening on the field, on the court, in the weight room? I don't know. So can I make influence? Yeah. Do I do that based on some of the data or just talking to somebody on how they feel?

[00:24:41.06] There is no science behind that in terms of, hey, how are you feeling? The science might say this, but the athlete might say that. And I can't base a workout just solely on numbers.

[00:24:57.61] It's really interesting to me. We could go on and on on this topic. But what jumps out to me listening to Coach and the last few questions and comments by Eric is that if the athlete is your true north and you aren't worried about what label or box you're in as a practitioner, if you are a sports scientist, or a strength and conditioning coach, or an athletic trainer focused on rehab or prehab or return to play, you will work with a lot of data and a lot of different modalities that may or may not be traditionally done in the weight room.

[00:25:52.38] And that just goes to show you how much the strength and conditioning profession has grown. And really, Coach, again, listening to you, I feel like you have always pursued more knowledge because you're trying to help your athletes. And that's how you've evolved. And that's why you're doing your PhD. It's a tribute to you. And it really speaks volumes, I think, about where the profession is headed.

[00:26:28.34] Yeah, because I think the easiest thing is to get somebody strong. That's pretty easy if they're willing to work.

[00:26:36.35] For sure. For sure.

[00:26:38.13] It takes a lot more discipline in different areas to become a high-performing athlete.

[00:26:46.13] Yeah, that's for sure. With that being said, one last question, obviously, you have a lot of knowledge to share. And I know that you've always been very open and willing to help others. If our listeners want to connect with you after this episode, what's the best way for them to get in contact with you? How about after May 2025 they can connect with me.

[00:27:16.50] That's fair.

[00:27:19.53] Email's usually the best way. It's andrea.hudy@uconn.edu. And then if the conversation keeps going, then we usually share cell phones and move on from there. But, yeah, you never know-- social media wise, you never know if somebody truly has a question or they're just fishing. So I prefer an email and then maybe a phone number exchange. But, yeah, I'm pretty swamped right now. So May 2025.

[00:27:50.56] All right. That's very reasonable. Understood. So thanks for sharing.

[00:27:57.15] We'll add those into the show notes so people can reach out. One thing I really like about this episode that it's jumped out to me, coaching is a quest. You're not going to have it all figured out from the beginning. You have to connect. You have to learn from as many people as you can.

[00:28:12.20] And even this last segment that we were talking about, sports science, you still may not have it all figured out. And we're always continuing to grow and develop. And I love that transparency and just that honesty that you're able to share, Coach. And, Andrea, we love you at the NSCA. Thanks for everything you do for the profession. Thanks for being on today.

[00:28:33.73] Thank you.

[00:28:35.75] Also want to send a thank you to Gatorade Performance Partner for helping to fuel these important conversations. And thanks to Sorinex Exercise Equipment. We appreciate their support.

[00:28:47.62] I'm Ian Jeffreys, the NSCA president. You've just listened to an episode of the NSCA Coaching Podcast. Hopefully, it's generated some interest in strength and conditioning and the NSCA. If it has, get involved. Go on to the NSCA website, see what opportunities are available. And I hope to see you at one of our events where you can be the next leadership generation of the NSCA.

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[00:29:15.22] 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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