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Traditional examinations of coaching philosophies consider the perspective of sport coaches (e.g., soccer, cricket, rugby). The focus on sport coaches’ coaching philosophy has advanced the study of coaching effectiveness while simultaneously omitting strength and conditioning coaches from the larger body of literature on coaching philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how award winning strength and conditioning coaches shape and use their coaching philosophy. The participants include four renowned strength and conditioning coaches, one at the high school, one at the college, and two at the professional level. A summary is provided at the end that examines commonalities (e.g., all the respondents expressed the need to have a specific coaching philosophy) and differences (e.g., how discipline factors into their coaching philosophy) across the respondents’ views and connects their viewpoints to the broader literature on sport coaching.

Strength and conditioning coaches are routinely considered key members of the team working to prepare athletes for sport competitions. This has led to substantial confusion over the roles of strength and conditioning coaches and their working relationship with sport coaches. For example, when detailing their job tasks strength and conditioning coaches have described ineffective and stressful relationships with the sport coaches with whom they work. The purpose of this paper is to present information from college strength and conditioning coaches specific to their working relationship with sport coaches. Fulltime strength and conditioning coaches representing all National Collegiate Athletic Association divisions in the United States responded to a series of 10 questions. The respondents provided a variety of examples detailing their experiences working with sport coaches and provided advice both for strength and conditioning and sport coaches to improve the working relationship for the betterment of the athletes.