E57 | Stephanie Mock: Building a Rockstar Staff

[00:00:00] Donnie Maib: Welcome to the team behind the team podcast. I am your host, Donnie Mae. This is the monthly show focused on building conversations around the team based model approach to athletic performance, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, sports science, mental health and wellness, and sports nutrition.

Hello, and welcome back to the team behind the team podcast. I’m your host Donnie Mae, and Hey, we are in May. Summer is around the corner. I got Joe Krawczyk, co host in the house. Big Joe, what’s popping Joe? What’s

[00:00:37] Joe Krawczyk: going on? Summer’s around the corner. It is extremely hot in Texas and coach, you know, this, it’s like a cycle.

You know me, I’m a Northern boy and I, I, uh, I prefer the fall, but I’m ready for it. I’m ready. Any, any big plans for the summer? Vacay,

[00:00:56] Donnie Maib: fam.

[00:00:56] Joe Krawczyk: What you got a little bit of family time. Uh, wife is expecting at the end of the summer. So we’ll be getting ready for that. Oh, yeah, you’re going to be nesting. I know what you’re going to be doing.

Yeah. Number two. So a little bit of experience, but, uh, coach, you could probably talk better this with four. Um, it only gets harder. I’m sure.

[00:01:16] Donnie Maib: Coach don’t call me. I got no help for you. So you’re on your own, baby. You’re on your own. So, well, Hey, welcome back. We are so excited about our guests today. I could not.

Uh, think of a better guest to take us into the summer, uh, right now as an assistant, or not assistant, assistant AD at the University of Pittsburgh, coach Stephanie Mock. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:39] Stephanie Mock: Guys. Thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited. Yes. You know, being in the north, we’re excited for the summer because we haven’t seen the sun in a very long time.

Joe could understand this. So, very excited about the warm weather.

[00:01:52] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah, at least, at least it’s gradual in the north though. Here, it’s like 70, 110.

[00:01:58] Donnie Maib: It just jumps, Coach, thanks for making time. I know just a little bit to our audience, uh, our listeners, uh, first time I ever met coach Stephanie Ma, she, I think she was at Clemson.

It was at the CSCCA conference. And there was just something that just stood about out about you. Obviously you’re very, you have this glow about you, a presence of positivity. And you just tell you love people and you love your job. And so as far back as I can remember, coach, you’ve obviously done a great job at Pittsburgh and then at Mississippi state, you’re at Clemson.

And then you, I think West Virginia and where else were you at coach? You’re one more spot.

[00:02:35] Stephanie Mock: I was at Pitt two times, got me interned and then came back at the top. So smart,

[00:02:42] Donnie Maib: but again, just over the years, it’s nothing but respect, uh, what you’re doing there at Pitt changing the game and the success you’ve had.

So again, Coach Stephanie Mock on the show. Coach, first, I’m going to kick it off today on the show. What’s been going on? Catch us up. What are you doing at Pittsburgh? What are you, like, really excited about right now?

[00:03:01] Stephanie Mock: Oh, man. It’s been a lot of planning the whole spring for a lot of conferences, which has been super exciting, because one thing I really love is continuing education, you know, professional development.

That’s something I push. With our staff heavily, you know, to continue to evolve and grow and bringing one big, big event to the Berg, uh, partnered with sportsman. So Rob Pacey, uh, it’s going to be a speed conference. So we thought this would be unique. And, um, it started out. I went over to the UK. Last year, um, to the speed conference at Leeds Beckett university.

And that was the first time I read, met Rob Pacey in person. Clearly I’ve listened to his podcast for a very long time. I’m sure you guys may be dialed into a couple episodes. And it was funny because I met Rob and he was way taller than I expected. I was like, Oh my gosh, you see him on the podcast. He’s always sitting down and he is extremely tall.

So that was the first thing I told him. And then also the speed conference was fantastic. Um, I was able to visit a couple of spots while I was over there for continuing education and see how they do things, but I sat there with Rob and we talked about it. We’re like, man, like, how could we bring this to the States?

You know, could we pull it off? And long story short, June 1st and 2nd, we are bringing the speed conference to the Berg with a lot of great professionals. It’s going to be a very large event. There’ll be vendors there. Um, it’ll be around 350 people. So, um, as coach said, fellowship is important. So we’re going to try to have a little bit of fun after all of the speakers as well.

But yeah, June 1st and 2nd, the speed conference coming to the States. We really tried, we wanted to make something unique, you know, that people have never gotten before here. Um, so I think it’s going to be really special and hopefully you guys or someone from the staff can join us as well.

[00:04:42] Donnie Maib: No, I’m low key jealous.

I love. I love going to conferences and clinics, but I love hosting them because you just see a different side of people and to your point, you get them in there and you get them for a couple of days and you get them to relax. You just get to learn a lot more that way, because I think, you know, to your point, there’s a lot more transfer and life change and just content.

Right? And so it’s going to be that chemistry you’re going to bring to Pittsburgh. So congrats on that. And, uh, We’ll make sure our listeners get the links on that. So good stuff.

[00:05:17] Stephanie Mock: Definitely. Yeah. It’ll be exciting. Sorry, Jim.

[00:05:20] Joe Krawczyk: And it sounds incredible. And it sounds like, you know, with conferences, you’re always building yourself up and kind of having those tools to advocate for yourself.

And I wanted to ask you, uh, we just spoke about this on our last month’s podcast, Advocating for Yourself. In what ways have you maybe had to advocate for your staff? Or maybe even develop them to advocate for themselves, uh, growing up in your career.

[00:05:44] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, I think, um, I’ve always, when I came up in the field and now that I’m, I’m in a leadership position that I’m super grateful for, I was always taught to, to make sure I’m not a one trick pony, you know, like you want to be a Swiss army knife as a performance coach.

So I think when you’re advocating for yourself, It’s not just about like, can I add weight on trap or deadlift? You know, it’s about, Hey, do I understand the sport? You know, and Donnie and I both work with volleyball, love volleyball. And I played it in college, but like, do I understand the performance DNA that makes a really, really talented libero or outside hitter or middle or setter, um, but really just understanding the sport, understanding the KPIs of each position, speaking that language and really bridging the gap between what’s happening on the court or the pitch.

The field to what’s happening in the weight room and that skill acquisition between the 2. so I’ve really tried to 1. I think I’m probably biased coming up in the field, but I’ve worked with over, let’s say, 15 different sports, you know, and I’ve been able to pick up whether it’s working with field sports, energy system development, you know, whether it’s.

Working with rotational sport athletes like a volleyball or golf or a tennis or baseball or softball, but being able to be exposed to so many different types of sports, you know, and building out that toolbox or skill set, I think that allows you to really advocate for yourself as you’re sitting at different tables in different positions of sometimes for me, one of my baseball strength coach may be on the road and I have to cover for a wrestling recruit, you know, am I able to talk with that recruit, speak the language, talk with the head coach?

Yeah. Yeah. And then also just having those high level conversations with nutrition, um, sports med, you know, mental health, uh, sports science. But I think when you’re advocating for yourself, just taking time, you know, to, to dive just deep enough into all the different realms to sit down and have a conversation with them that really shows that you should have a seat at the table.

You know, I can give input. I do care about your area and how it can influence mine. So I’ve always been taught to really like Be dangerous in all areas, you know, no, just enough to, to really bring something to the table. And, um, at the end of the day, you want to add value, you know, to, to what’s going on at your university.

So

[00:07:58] Donnie Maib: that I like that because you made me think of, uh, a guy that’s had a big influence on me, coach Steph, his damn path. I was able to work with him for a few years here in Texas. And one thing Dan said, I mean, years ago, and he was, and I saw him at a conference not too long ago and he kind of reiterated it, but you need to have like this broad range of approach that you can only, you know, not only think philosophically in your training modalities you use, but also just talking to different sports too, and training, uh, regimens.

And I think sometimes, you know, to your point, coach. You’re not careful. If you only work with football, if you only work with, you know, soccer, whatever, you tend to just think in that range and not have this broad spectrum. But to your point, the broader spectrum that you can speak and add value to, it only increases your value, not just for your position, but within your department and with that athletic.

So that’s that is I couldn’t agree more spot on. It’s huge.

[00:09:00] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, and I think just education, you know, because 1 thing that I’ve seen coming into my role at Pitt that’s different when I was a director at Mississippi State is I’m over our sports science department and our strength conditioning department.

And when I got tasked, I got hired our 80s, like, Hey, we’re going to hire our 1st ever director of sports science. Um, clearly it’s a whole entire new department, you know, and me taking the time. To sit down and educate every single performance head to be like, Hey, this is what the rule is. This is what’s going to bring to the table.

What questions do you have? Like, what, what questions do you need answered from your area? How can we help? You know, it’s not like I’m forcing this area on you. You must use it. These are all the tests that you have to do. It’s like, Hey, how can this area make your job easier? But I think advocating for your area and just, Purely just education and seeing how you can help others because that’s, that’s why we’re in this business.

You know, one to help the student athlete, to help the sport coach, but then cohesively working with those other performance groups to, to find the common goal of winning a lot of games.

[00:10:02] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah, I love how you asked a lot of questions of other departments first, because, uh, kind of going back to when we talked to John Daly about advocating for yourself, he said, it’s not the idea that gets you in trouble.

It’s the follow on questions when people want to question your idea. And so I feel like you’re doing your homework ahead of time probably really helped you when kind of, you know, bringing that role in.

[00:10:26] Stephanie Mock: Yeah. I think, uh, just trying on the front end, like even when we were hiring the position, like, Hey, we’re adding a director of sports science and some of our head coaches, like some have been at, uh, whether it’s pro teams or other power five schools that they did have that role.

And some head coaches hadn’t. So even setting up the interview process, I had to be strategic of. All right, when we have our head coaches roundtable, um, instead of me, just putting that candidate in front of the room and expecting them to just grill them with questions. Kind of like when I came on my interview for S and C, it’s like, hey, they know exactly what they want in their strength coach because they’ve always had a strength coach for the past 10 years.

You know, this role, not the case. So, instead I had them do a presentation for the head coaches to kind of help supplement and create it. Some thought, um, really some feedback. And then at the end, it’s like, hey, this is thought provoking. Now I have questions to ask based off of what you presented on, you know, so I think we gave them a data set.

Like, hey, here’s a data set. Deidentified names catapult. My expectation is for you. Let’s say it’s lacrosse. You have 8 weeks until ACCs, what are you going to do periodization wise to get them peaking at the right time? It’s like, oh, like, this really got the room going, some energy going and allowed us to really be successful with the interview process.

So, I think it’s just our job to have sight, you know, and vision into what we want to set up to make that situation successful for for both parties at the end of the day.

[00:11:53] Donnie Maib: No, I like that. I think, you know, to piggyback off that one thing I keep hearing you say, you’re kind of talking about your staff, you know, and you’re in a leadership role and you’ve done this long enough.

Now. I have to like, you’re only as good as your people. And so 1 question I would like to hear you to speak into is like, can I, as you build your staff and it grows over time. Uh, individuals can kind of grow out of their current position or become candidates for higher roles. Uh, how do you manage your staff, their professional growths, keep them engaged at the same time, uh, in a lower position until they can get promoted.

So how do you kind of work through some of that coach?

[00:12:38] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, whenever I came into this position at Pitt, kind of my second leadership role, one, I learned a lot from my first leadership role. So that was great. Um, and then two, first question I asked all of the people that were currently on staff was like, Hey, do you have aspirations of being a director, you know, or a head strength coach?

It was really insightful information to hear, like some people like, no, you know what I don’t want to step into that role. It’s a lot of stress. I kind of see what that head person goes through. Not for me, but like, I always want to be like, Hey, the right hand man, you know, what can I do to help? Like, what can I do to supplement?

But that’s just not for me. And then others like, yes, my aspiration is to be it. Head strength coach. And that was always my aspiration. Whenever I was like, even interning at Clemson under Rick Franspa, I was like, this is what I want to do. And he’s like, all right, I’m going to put you through the ringer to prepare you for those steps to get you to that point.

So when you get it. You are successful with a little bit of guidance along the way. But, um, one thing for my staff is I am, like, my staff is not the oldest staff by any means. We’re kind of all floating in the same age range, like the full timers, which makes it exciting. Right? We’re all kind of like, still trying to figure it out.

Still trying to grow, learn, evolve as a unit. Um, I always frame things as like, Okay. It’s our program, you know, it’s not just mine. Like at the end of the day, if something bad happens, yes, I’m going to have to answer for it 100%, but I’m always telling them like from our paid interns, our unpaid interns, my full timers to myself, like the leadership staff, uh, like it’s our program and everyone gets a certain percentage of it up, like of the program.

So interns bring ideas, challenge thought processes, and. We always come up with like a staff mantra for each semester. So, um, the spring was keep it real. So if you see something happening within the program, keep it real. Come to me. Hey, Coach Mock, I’m seeing the weight rooms not recruit ready behind the treadmills.

There’s dust like keep it real. I’m going to address it and staff meeting on Monday, you know, um, Or if you have a big idea that you think is going to make better for recruiting, like let’s throw it out there, but, um, just having like holistic ownership of the staff from unpaid to paid, I think is super important and allows.

That table for everyone to come and bring ideas. But getting back to your point, Donnie of whenever I hire staff, I first asked them, like, do you want to be a director? And if so, I’m like, Hey, it’s my job to prepare you for that step. So if you have been in the program, let’s say for three years. Full time and, um, working with me and, uh, a leadership position opens up and I know you want to be a head person.

Let’s talk about is that the right head position? You know, if it is, let’s go and get it. You know, it’s my job to help push you along the way if you’re ready for it and things like that. But but on the flip side, like, of course, I want to push out and create future leaders. But also, I always tell my staff.

I’m like, and I was always told this coming up in the field. If you’re at a place and you feel like. There’s no more room to grow, you know, or you’re not continuing to learn or you’re not continuing to be challenged. Like, it’s okay to say it might be time for me to go, you know, like, that’s an okay conversation.

I really try to have an open door policy of, like, I’m meeting with my staff very frequently already, just organic conversations. But we’re meeting at the end of each semester and kind of having like our coffee catch up. Um, I asked them, like, are you being fulfilled? Are you being challenged? Like, do you feel like you’re continuing to grow?

And yeah, I was always told, like. If I’m at a place and I feel like I’m not being challenged, I’m not continuing to grow like it may be time, you know, for me to take that next step, whether it’s like, hey, I only have golf and tennis when I was at Clemson as a G. A. I want to have a bigger team where I have on field conditioning speed training responsibilities like.

It’s time for me to make that next step and, and have further responsibilities that challenged me to grow and in different areas, um, or it is maybe more working with like a head coach. That’s more sports science dominant, like a men’s soccer, let’s say. And now I got to marry the catapult data with the weight room data.

So I think asking yourself those questions, like, do I want to be a head person? Do I feel like my current role is fulfilling and challenging me? Um, and if you can answer both of those and have open conversations with your with your director or head person, I think that’s always super powerful. But but yeah, those are really my thoughts around it.

Um, in that regard,

[00:16:57] Donnie Maib: um, one of my favorite things john Maxwell talks about coach is. You know, when you start talking about leadership specifically, um, at the end of the day, when you, if you have a problem, people are the answer, typically you go higher, you’d find somebody, but if you have a problem, usually people are the problem, right?

So at the end of the day, you got to deal with people. So with that being said, um, have you ever had a time that you’ve had to address a bad staff? And do you know, maybe you had to help them move on or let them go again. Don’t want specifics, but how have you handled? I know my most stressful seasons and time is when, whether it’s an employee that’s not happy, they’re not engaged.

Or if it’s, if it’s a performance issue, like I’ve done it where I try to ignore it, that makes it worse than I’d use at some point, you got to confront it. Give us speaking to that a little bit that I know that’s a difficult topic, but love to hear your thoughts.

[00:18:01] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, I think I also heard a quote as well.

It’s like, there’s no bad teams. There’s only bad leaders, you know, so just like, like every leadership rule I’ve taken on, I try to keep that in the back of my mind of like, how can I cultivate and create a situation where I can lead this group of people no matter where I’m at, you know, whether it is on the floor, coaching my volleyball group or working with my SNC staff or my sports science staff.

So just keeping that in the back of my mind. As I’ve come into. New programs to take over. I think it’s been interesting because Mississippi State, when I took over that program, I had one set of difficulties and different things to triumph over versus Pitt. When I came in to take over, I had a different set of, of different issues to kind of triumph and figure out.

So coming into Mississippi State, it was my first director role, you know, um, never been in a leadership role other than just like being the head straight coach for my teams. And. I knew going into that role. Um, and luckily I had a really good mentor at the time. He’s like, Steph, this is going to be extremely hard for like the first year, not like the first couple of weeks, um, the first year to your point, Donnie, of just coming in and you gotta, you gotta set the foundation, you know, you gotta set your standards.

You gotta communicate with administration. You gotta let them know what your policies and procedures are. Um, and when I got to Mississippi state, it was like a, a younger staff of GAs. So I had left the staff of like a lot of full timers, older staff to maybe a little more immature group. So you had to be that much more, uh, drop the hammer with standards and expectations.

And there was one GA that I had to part ways with because I met with them whenever the standards and expectations with the whole staff and within the summer, you know, if me being there, that person already, the three strike policy that I put in place for discipline, he already got his third strike. So.

That was a point in time as me as a leader, I had to reflect, all right, like I just laid out the staff expectations to everyone. If I let this one person slide, what kind of leader am I? You know? And, um, I did have to part ways with that person and he’s thankful for it now, you know, in the moment, not so much as we all know.

So I think as a leader, you just have to be prepared that whenever I went from assistant director, um, at Clemson to director, you went from like, Kind of being that person that was always trying to support the head person, right? All the time, like, kind of their thoughts, their journey, like their mission of what they want to push, you’re usually the person that people come to is like, it’s like you have the parents.

Then you have like the cool aunt or uncle. Like, I was the cool aunt or uncle. And then I went to being the parent and I was like, oh, man, now I’m in charge of having, you know, like, All the hard conversations, you know, um, my phone’s always turned on, ready to answer at any point in time. So I think when I made that flip to being director and being the person that had to have all the hard conversations, I think organically, that’s not something that came natural to me to be completely honest, because I am always upbeat and positive.

So making that jump, I knew it was going to be tough, but I was honest with myself. But I think anytime you’re taking over a leadership role, um, at a new spot, same thing when I came to Pitt, it really took a full year to like, Get things up and going and I remember having a conversation with Brett Bartholomew about just like character and people, you know, and I love his art of coaching podcast and and him just talking about like it really takes like 6 months to see like who someone really is, you know, because when you come in as the new director, everyone’s like trying to be super nice work really hard, but like how long does that actually last?

And it really takes truly like six months to really develop and figure out who people are on your staff. So first it was like taking on a lot of GAs. And then when I got to Pitt, it was taking on a different level of staff, right? And it was a different role of being assistant AD and being over more full timers and just understanding they had been there for a while working with their teams.

Then I had to come in, meet with all of them. And then And have open and honest conversations of like, I was brought in for a job, you know, to like level up this program and always being grateful for the person that was the leader before Tyler Carpenter did a lights out job at Pitt and left it way better than he found it.

So, um, it was my job to bring in another level up. So I had to meet with that staff, have some very keep it real conversations. And I think just as a leader, you have to be prepared for those, you know, it’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows, especially the first year. It’s like, It’s definitely really tough, and that’s when it’s important to have those really strong mentors that have your back that you can call.

[00:22:40] Donnie Maib: I know, uh, one thing here, Joe, I want to, I think I would have heard her say, and I don’t, I don’t know where I got this from, but when you start talking about this staff piece and good employee, you know, maybe not so good employee, there is a thing, it took me a while to learn it, coach, and you just said something about it.

Then they call it like. Are they a good culture fit, right? Meaning there are staff that may have all the requirements to, they got the resume, they got the experience, they got the certifications, they got the right mentors, but when they get to your, your, your site culturally, just, it doesn’t fit, you know, now you can try to kind of get through some of that in the, the interview process, but really until somebody gets here and starts working with your, your support coaches.

Your administrators, your other support staff, sports meds, sports science. You really don’t know until they get to like a Pittsburgh or a Texas, if they’re the right cultural fit. So I’ve had situations where it wasn’t that the person was a bad person. They weren’t doing a necessarily a bad job. They just, it wasn’t a great fit.

And we had to move forward and make a decision that was not fun. But that’s a part of the job. I think that kind of what you’re saying, the art of coaching, it takes time to develop that. And you’ve got to learn those lessons. And sometimes like to your point, there are different lessons at different place you learn and get that experience that makes you a better leader.

So well said coach.

[00:24:07] Stephanie Mock: No, definitely. I knew, uh, it was interesting when I went to Mississippi state, um, a lot less Olympic sports, right. It was like eight or nine, you know? And that’s why. Talking with my mentor at the time, he’s like, Steph, I think this could be a really good like first head opportunity, you know, first director spot of you’re not going to a Texas or an Ohio State or like a school that has like 30 Olympic teams, you know, because that’s 30 head coaches that you have to manage.

Hey, you’re going to a spot, let’s say it’s nine head coaches. You have to manage a smaller staff, you know, and you’re setting yourself up for success. So I think when you’re really looking for that first head position, you want to look for different things. One, am I going to have resources like I was in sec school?

So I knew building a new weight room, like building out a bigger staff and more full timers. That was going to be something I’d be supported in. Um, but then also, is it something that’s manageable for my first head job that I’m not going to be like a sink or swim. I’m setting myself up to kind of sink.

Um, but that led me into, I came into to pit and now I’m over 19 sports, you know, like that gave me a small taste and I was able to learn not under, um, a complete scrutiny, right? Like I wasn’t at like, like a Texas, you know, for my first head job or a Florida or a Michigan, it was like, Hey, I can kind of make a couple of mistakes, you know, and learn from it and then continue to grow to now I’m in a position where I can’t really afford to make mistakes.

To be honest, you know, it’s just. It’s a higher up role, but I’ve been prepared for it. You’re over full timers and being over more seasoned people is a new challenge in many ways, even like developing a young staff of G. A. S. versus developing people that have been full time for over 6 years. Like the expectation is going to be higher and you have to be able to answer questions, push people and tell them what you’re really about.

And they’re gonna be able to see through. If you don’t know what you don’t know type thing, they’re gonna be able to figure it out. So I think I’m grateful that I had a good kind of stepping stone process, and I had good membership. And that’s what I think working for people like being out of Texas and doing an internship or when I was at Clemson or now we tried to really build an internship program at Pitt.

When you’re picking these internships along the way, make sure you’re finding places that will project you and you look at like, hey, look at all the people that interned at Texas and where they’ve all gone. And that’s where Aaron Duvall’s on my staff. He interned at Texas and he helped run our internship at Mississippi State and and so on and so forth.

So I think just. Young professionals need to be extremely strategic and do their homework when they’re picking where they’re going across their path for sure.

[00:26:42] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah, I thought it was interesting how you mentioned it. So I want to kind of go back to this. You said like the hardest part wasn’t just the, you know, getting the position, but that first year, you know, in a year is not a short amount of time.

Um, You know, and I could see, you know, in the first couple of months, it might be a little easier to set those expectations, excitement. There’s new staff. It’s a lot to do, but the hard part probably comes in, you know, the fatigue sets in, you have to maintain those expectations or some strategies used to kind of combat that, that fatigue and like the dog days, like nine, 10 months in making sure that those expectations you set six months ago are still, you know, what they were.

[00:27:22] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, I think it was important for me. And even when I came on my interview at, well, there was Mississippi State and at Pitt, I came up with a plan, right? Because administrators want to know, like, hey, what is your plan? And for me at Pitt, it was like a three to five year plan because I knew I was expected to hire a director of sports science, um, we’re building a new facility that opens 2025.

They gave me the square footage. They had me design a whole new weight room and present on it, you know, why I set up the weight room flow I did and, and all that, but you have to have a plan of how you’re going to go about staffing facility expectations standards. And when it came on the interview, I brought like a packet with me of like one, what’s my, why, you know, like, why did I get in the field?

Um, of course you’ve got to include your resume because when you’re going on this interview, like. You’re going through meetings and it’s rapid fire. You know, like you’re with somebody for 45 minutes, 30 minutes, 20 minutes, and you want to leave something with whether it’s a head coach administrator that they can look at after you leave and get to know you at a deeper level.

And that’s what I did. I put what’s my why. And especially coming to Pittsburgh, I’m from the area. So that was part of my, why, along with a lot of other things. Um, what’s my idea for building out, like, and being a leader from an organizational standpoint, um, and then also performance related vision. And then another one I had, cause they always ask you like, all right, what’s your plan for the first 30, 60, 90 days?

Um, I’ve gotten asked this question at Mississippi state when I was the director or interviewing for the director and same with Pitt, and I have an exact plan of like first 90 days. These are all the boxes I need to check. And I got it from a book, uh, checklist, uh, manifesto that I read. Um, because my brain works very well in checklists.

I’m left handed. So I love it goes into that, which is really funny. Our AD is also left handed. She loves the lefties of the world, but, um, checklist manifesto was really helpful. So I made, I had that within the packet as well. First 90 days, what I was going to do, um, actually have the list out in front of me.

Cause I was like, Hey, let’s think back to what I did. And I think every time that I’ve prepared an assistant. For going on to the next step, I gave them that list and they’re like, man, like moving into this role is exactly what I needed, you know, and a few of the things on it is, hey, communication with administration.

What’s the staff expectations with the staff policy? What are the weight room rules going into meeting with HR? You know, what is like travel and business look like? Surplusing equipment, um, so like budget requirements. What does that look like? How much money do I have in the budget? Discipline policy, like I said, that’s a big one, not only for your staff, but for your student athletes, of course, and making sure that’s consistent across the board, um, meeting with the S and C staff to go over Philly meeting individually about skill sets, um, asking them what they love, what do you think you’re good at the set and the other, um, communication with sport coaches is a massive one.

So when I got to Mississippi state and at Pitt. Sitting down with every single head sport coach getting to know them because it’s our job to match clearly personnel with their team and their expectations if they want someone that’s a big personality, let’s say, like me, you know, working with their team, um, and you hire an introvert to be their straight coach.

That’s probably not going to go that well. So personality and then also like skill set as an SNC practitioner is going to be important. But, um, long story short, those are all the things that I would have to say that I’ve like really reflected on is as a director, it’s your job to like put the plan in place and then carry out that plan.

And you need to show that you’re able to do that, whether it’s through the interview process, but then also execution through the is going to be important too. And then years to come as well.

[00:31:06] Donnie Maib: Quick caveat on that, because you, I love talking, interviewing stuff, just for a quick second. Um, what do you do if you’re interviewing?

Like, how do you obviously you had, you were very detailed plan. And what is your top one or two strategies? How do you stand out on an in person interview when you’re in front of people and you’re meeting, you’re going rapid fire, 30, 20, 30 minute, just throwing questions like, how do you stand out and be that, that, that candidate?

[00:31:35] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, I would say something that I’ve seen super helpful for me personally is interviews are so quick, like I said, and I know for for head positions, it’s a lot of roundtables, right? So it’s like all the performance team, and you’ll sit down with 80s dietitians, let’s say like any academic folks that are involved team physicians pts.

And they’re just asking you questions. It was usually a theater setting for me, but, um, I brought my master playbook with me and actually have it right here. It’s all pulled it up. I brought this on my, I brought three copies of this. My interview and it’s quite thick, right? Um, but having this master playbook for the performance team round table and then also the head coach round table, um, I had three copies and as I was answering questions, I passed these out so they could look through my body of work, right?

So the tabs that are included are here, are like our ground zero program, you know, for bringing onboarding freshmen. Our SNC like language and vocabulary we use for progressions and regressions. Conditioning, speed, agility, assessment, technology, just all these different tabs broken down and usually you see people in the audience like flipping to a certain area that they have interest in and then they can slowly look through, ask questions and even when I had like a meeting, let’s say with the AD, you know, and she asked me a specific question.

I have something to actually use. That’s tangible. Like, let me turn to that page and talk you through it because a lot of us are visual learners, right? They want to see it actually applied. Thank you. So I think bringing these like separate playbook binders to hand out for some of the more roundtable or if you’re meeting with multiple head coaches like sitting at a roundtable to for them to kind of hone in their questions and see your body of work at a deeper level has really helped me.

One, um, kind of take the stress off of like just trying to pull stuff from my brain. ’cause you know, the day’s gonna be crazy, but, um, really have them understand and feel like they’re making a, a specific connection with you.

[00:33:34] Donnie Maib: Yeah, I did see that, that if that’s the book you brought, I always like when a candidate puts some color in there of the school, you wanna work out.

’cause you’re almost showing the, the people that’s interviewing you visually, that you’re already working there, they can kind of connect it. So that’s, that’s pro tip right there. Big time. Thanks coach.

[00:33:56] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah, this isn’t really a question, but, uh, coach, you and I are definitely both binder people. Like I, I learned that in college. My, my roommate was like, he was awesome. He he’d make these like big binders and it’s like, That way the next person who takes over for what I did, like they’re, they’re going to have the whole playbook right here.

Like they don’t have to do anything. I did all the work and I, I kind of stole that from him. And then, um, I had another good friend who did the same thing. And every time we go on like a big, not necessarily deployment, but being stationed in Hawaii, we had to go to other places to train and I would take these thick binders with me.

With every piece of training information I could possibly have that I had that way, if there’s anything that came up, it’s just, it’s right there. I have it. I don’t have to make a new template, you know, in the middle of the desert on a laptop or something like it’s just, it’s good to go. So, um, yeah, I can appreciate the binder game.

[00:34:47] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, no, just, I mean, the biggest thing, especially from an administration standpoint, they just want to know that. You have a vision for where you’re taking the program, you know, and you have goals and expectations and you’re always pushing the envelope and I’m not just thinking about the first 90 days, but I’m thinking about 5 years.

And to your point, Donnie, like, whether it’s the colors are just showing that you’re committed to that university. Just how people like move and take jobs all the time. Nowadays. It’s like. No, this is my three year plan that like I’m so happy. This person’s committed to really seeing the job through and pushing us forward.

And so I think as a leader, like when you’re taking assistant job roles, it’s one thing, right? But when you’re in charge of a department, being there for one year, you’re not going to, you’re Really show your body of work and change in just one year. Like you’re probably just going to get the people in or on your bus that like are going to help you cultivate.

So like that’s your one and just get everything in line. And then year two, it’s like, Hey, I’m starting to build momentum, push that flywheel forward. Then year three, like good to great model. Like I got that thing rolling, going, and I can really show because I’m in year three right now, and I finally feel like I got the right people in.

We got systems in place. And now we’re rolling. I’m not at all as close as you guys, because you’ve had this fine, uh, oiled machine going for a minute, Dottie, the interleadership role, but I’m just, I’m just trying to get the wheel going and, um, make us better every day for sure.

[00:36:11] Donnie Maib: You’re crushing it. You’re crushing it, coach.

No question. So. Kind of a little different, uh, kind of along those lines, different question, coach, you’ve done this successfully. What goes into developing or building a high performance model to speak into that again, maybe a 50, 000 foot view.

[00:36:33] Stephanie Mock: Yeah. So, um, I’ve been extremely grateful to be kind of in charge of our, our larger performance team subcommittee group that we have.

So like at Pitt, all of our like sports science director, clearly me over SNC and sports science. Uh, head dietitian, head of sports med, um, and then our holistic like oversight. We have a group that we meet once a month and we have like a common mission, right? Like, hey, let’s, what can we do to make the student athlete experience the highest level experience in the country?

Um, we talk about different topics and really this group, uh, I think 1st, we started off year 1 when I took over just talking about, like, each group presenting and saying, like, what’s important for my department, you know, and I know people don’t like to talk about silos, but like, hey, what’s important for my area?

What goals do I have for this upcoming year and just kind of hearing and learning more about that area in particular, and you learn a lot of like, hey, I know S and C is trying to work on this or sport science, and then we can help supplement. Each area, if I hear about, like, uh, whether it’s a conference or a research article, and I’m like, hey, I know our dietitians, like, interested in college, and I just saw this article, let me shoot it to them.

And then you start to really branch these these areas together. So that was. You’re one just learning about each other and like what their singular goals are and how can that go to the collective and then here to we started to bring in special guests, um, which has been really cool of like, Hey, like, we just were onboarding smarter base.

So we brought in our smarter base rep, and he spoke to the group about how each area can integrate and put their data in and all that jazz. So. Um, or we bring in a high performance director from somewhere else, you know, like Tina Murray, she was with the penguins. She came in, she spoke to the group on what she thought, uh, made really Louisville successful, the Kings, but I think bringing in outside experiences or thought processes help like your group push forward and take some ideas.

But. I think really having no ego, you know, as you sit around that table with all these different groups and like, we’re putting on the speed conference, right. With sports myth, um, inviting these other groups to come and learn, you know, from some of these professionals, especially whether it’s PT or some type of like return to play groups and, and things like that, but no ego willingness to learn, um, and really just like in your group meetings, putting everything out there, you know, and, and how can we make the holistic group, the best versions, I think.

Like first director stuff was more like competitive of like, how can I make strength conditioning look like the most important group, you know, like we’re doing the coolest stuff and it’s like, wait, like, it’s not just about my group. Like, as I’ve come to pit, I’m like, it’s about how can we holistically work together with all the other groups to make us the best version of what we are.

And I think that’s where sports science, like, we can collect data from every single area, whether it’s body weights, whether it’s, you know, Um, like rehab information and you’re putting in return to play things and smarter base, but I think just finding a way To really unify that group through whether it is like data informed decision making.

Um, but yeah, I know Donnie, you probably have something to add to this because you have a lot of experience in

[00:39:46] Donnie Maib: this. Yeah, you got me thinking there’s a book. I don’t know if you’ve ever read it. Our listeners highly recommend this book. It’s called Creativity Inc. And it’s basically it’s a book about how Disney accrued or acquired Pixar.

And you know, if you know, I have four daughters, so I love Pixar films and Disney films. And, um, in that book, they go into pretty depth and I forget all the names of the individuals, but they go into pretty depth about how they made those movies. They were struggling there for a long time. And they ended up, the, the, the main director of Pixar ended up creating this kind of what you’re calling right now.

He calls it a brain trust group. And what they do, once they make these movies, they take these movies into this brain trust and they go. over all the characters, the storyline, the, the style of cartoon and images and all the pieces and they put this together and everybody in that group, they’re responsible for like, hey, what is not good?

Like, is, is this storyline, is this character good? And man, they really are allowed to push back without fear of consequence because they want to be successful and You know, to your point, when you bring in what I hear you saying, you got to bring in these fresh eyes because if not, you become such a, uh, your own bias.

So like, oh, we’re, we’re patting ourself on the back. We’re really good. So there’s gotta be this layer and level of like brain trust to kind of keep leveling up if you want to be great at what you do. So yeah, it’s, you’re, you’re, it’s so good. Spot on.

[00:41:21] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, no, it’s been, it’s been really exciting. And I think sometimes bringing in like an outside person, like.

Really allows people to speak freely, you know, because sometimes you’re scared to say something about another area. They may take it the wrong way, but when you bring in kind of this outside person, like a special guest, we like to call it. Um, it allows people to kind of open up a little bit more and speak their mind and learn more about them.

So, yeah, it’s pretty cool. And I wrote down Creativity Inc. I am going. I love it. Donnie, good summer read while you’re just out at the beach, you know.

[00:41:55] Donnie Maib: Great read. You’ll enjoy it. So good. And your book, of course.

[00:42:01] Joe Krawczyk: Yes. Well, as we kind of get near the end coach, um, we always ask everybody, what is your go to for professional development?

It could be book, podcast, conference course with what’s, uh, could be your favorite right now. What, what, what are you working on?

[00:42:17] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, no, this is a great one. Cause I, I love all of these, you know, I’m always trying to push the envelope. So. I’d say books, a couple I’ve just invested in, um, and the first one may sound a little wonky, but surrounded by idiots, I don’t know if you guys have heard about this book, but yes, I saw it on, I think break point, uh, the Netflix series, one of the pro tennis players, she really told it up and I was like, this looks interesting.

Donnie, have you read it? You got, you perked

[00:42:44] Donnie Maib: up. No, I’ve heard of it. So now I’m going to get it. Cause you, that’s usually I hear it a couple of times. You’re reading. It’s good. I’m I’m here. I got it.

[00:42:52] Stephanie Mock: No, I’ve been into tennis. I wish we had tennis at a pit. We sadly don’t, but I was watching the series on Netflix and one of the, a lot of the girls held it up and I was like, Ooh, this could be really good.

It talks about four types of human behavior and just affects on communication. So I was interested in that. And then another one that our ad brought up the other day in our all pit meeting was the grit factor. Okay. So clearly there’s like grit, the book, but the grip factor, and just talking about like, what’s your, why, and can you give five different reasons why you do what you do?

And so those are a couple of books, um, courses that we’ve worked through as a staff that I’ve, I’ve really enjoyed as a Matt Jordan’s horse with like the JSEP course. So talking about bridging the gap between sports med performance with science. So he talks a lot about really like force plates and, and all that jazz with Matt Jordan’s awesome.

Um, Um, and then just speaking of sports myth, coming to the Berg sports premium. I think Rob’s done a really good job. We’ve been watching as a staff, like the presentations that he puts on there. Um, it’s almost like you’re going to a conference without going to a conference. So that’s been that’s been really cool.

We’ve enjoyed it. Tom DeSantis is ACL presentation. Alan Murdoch’s and speed work, so I really enjoyed that and then a podcast that Dan Fisher, our head volleyball coach, he listens to a good bit and sends me some good, good listening because I live a little bit from the university from the big city is the learner lab.

Um, they have like some articles, but then also some podcasts. episodes that, uh, I’ve really enjoyed and we kind of talk about as a staff or a team. So the learner lab has been pretty cool as well. So yeah, I know I just said a bunch, but I’m all about it.

[00:44:36] Donnie Maib: I love it. I love it. You got the gross mindset coach.

I love it. Eat that up. So good stuff.

[00:44:42] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah, so surrounded by 80. It sounds good. Donnie. Donnie might not have read it, but that’s probably what he’s thinking during our little staff meetings. I’m kidding. I’m kidding. No, sir. No, sir.

[00:44:56] Stephanie Mock: I was like, this book may sound really bad, but yeah, Donnie, I was like this set, I’m intrigued.

Good summer read.

[00:45:03] Joe Krawczyk: So no, that one does. It sounds awesome. Well, coach, if, if our listeners want to find you, to follow you, where can they find you?

[00:45:12] Stephanie Mock: Yeah, um, I’m sure I can share my email with you guys. So we’ll roll with that. But at on Twitter and Instagram at coach Steph mock, pretty easy. Um, try to keep it consistent.

And then, um, Instagram too, if you just want to follow like our program as a whole at Pitt sports performance. I kind of we show a little sports science, a little strength and conditioning action. But, um, but yeah, I think we use social media probably as a program more from like a recruiting tactic for our sports science master’s students and instead interns, because we really go with the whole grassroots approach of we have good interns.

We try to move them to paid interns and then hire them on once they learn the system. So, so yeah, no, but thank you guys so much for having me on.

[00:45:55] Donnie Maib: No, it’s been a pleasure. Uh, Appreciate you making time. This is, this was a treat. I know our listeners will, we’ll get a lot out of this. So thank you for, for making time.

[00:46:04] Joe Krawczyk: Yeah. Thank you for beer. And that’s, that was great. We’ve got a whole different perspective. I don’t think we’ve ever really talked about the director role as much before. And I, you know, that’s, that’s a realistic position for a lot of strength coaches in the field. So that, that, you know, further down the line for them.

So it’s, it’s been awesome. Thank you.

[00:46:20] Stephanie Mock: Awesome. Thank you guys.

[00:46:22] Donnie Maib: You got it. Well, Hey, that’s it. Uh, from the team behind the team podcast, coach Stephanie mock. Thank you again, Aaron Duvall coach there. He’s awesome at Pittsburgh. We love you guys. Y’all keep killing it. And you guys are definitely raising the bar, making us all better.

So that’s it. We’ll catch you next time on the team, behind the team. Hook em. Hook em. Thanks so much for tuning in and listening to this episode of the team behind the team podcast. For future episodes, go to iTunes, Spotify, Google podcast, or Stitcher. We definitely want to keep having great guests on the show and great content.

So if you have a moment, please go to iTunes, leave a rating and review and let us know how we’re doing. I’m Donnie Mae and thanks so much for tuning in.