For many coaches, there comes a point when coaching can become less about proving yourself and more about serving others. Loren Landow, Director of Football Performance at the University of Notre Dame, shares how that shift informs his approach to training, hiring, and leading in elite football. Landow distinguishes workouts from training; every block has a targeted goal, and every off-season is a chance to build brotherhood, uphold standards, and compete in everything they do. Landow also reflects on his path from cardiopulmonary rehabilitation to the private sector, the National Football League (NFL), and the University of Notre Dame. For him, when you can “weather the storm,” no career step is wasted. On the technical side, he argues that movement is his largest key performance indicator (KPI). Landow explains that deceleration is trainable, and athletes need movement literacy before reactive work. Listen to help solidify your standards, coach movement with intent, and adapt a service-first lens to last in the profession.
Connect with Loren on Instagram: @lorenlandow or by email: LLandow@nd.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs
Join the NSCA Football Special Interest Group (SIG) on LinkedIn to connect with other coaches and stay current on football strength and conditioning best practices.
Show Notes“I make sure that I check all my references and make sure that this person is going to be great rowing in the boat with us. I like it and goes back to some of those values being on time. No excuses that you hold players accountable for. It carries over to staff as well, and they obviously have to set that pace for their position groups, their teams and all the way across the board. And I need to have people that understand it's about service, it's about serving. And that's probably one of the more important qualities I look for and I pay attention to in an interview. Does that word come up? Do you understand that your job is to serve?” 9:20
“There's not one part of my path where I thought, man, that was a wasted two years. That was a wasted three years. Everything has led me to this point now where I take all my collective wisdom or experience past failures, and I use those to fuel my direction and ask better questions and ultimately use it to help, you know, serve my student athletes here at Notre Dame.” 13:00
“One of my coaches at my facility reached out to me not too long ago and asked me the question, what would Loren olderself tell Loren's younger self? And I said two things. Patience. Have patience in the process. But weather the storm. Weather the storm in this field because it's going to get hard. It's going to get bumpy, it's going to get choppy. It's not going to be smooth sailing. But if you can weather the storm and you can really decide what it is that you're trying to do.” 14:35