If you know me personally, you know I tend to go off from time to time about the hypocrisy in the fitness industry — in terms of who gets “credit” for the way certain athletes perform. Yes, I know it’s a business, and yes, I know people need to market themselves and make money, but sometimes things get a little out of hand.
A perfect example is a guy I coached with for a few years at the high school. This guy came to us with very little experience, and our AD basically gave him a job because he was enthusiastic had some decent playing experience, and looked like a guy we could work with. He left after a year and went to coach at a college, which didn’t end well for him, so he came back — and was allowed to come back on our staff.
Then, after another year, he left again, this time for another college job. This morning, I was dicking around on the computer and looked to see how he was doing. On his team’s website, they have bios for all the coaches, and on his, I read that he’s claiming to have done MY job. Literally.
Now, I’ve been the head strength and conditioning coach at this school for nearly ten years. For ZERO PAY, because I was not a teacher at the school and was a volunteer with a “real” job. I installed all the programming, I taught the kids how to lift, I requisitioned and ordered most of the equipment for the weight room, and I still consult with our guys who play in college (which basically entails them coming to me on Facebook at 3 in the morning asking for programs).
This guy is a little 5’7″ pud who, whenever I wasn’t there, made a room full of kids do wide-leg reverse curls (sorry…hang cleans) while yelling “EXPLODE!!!” at the top of his lungs, and yet I’m now led to believe that he somehow used ten years of MY work to help him land a college job, and yes, I’m pretty pissed about it.
If anyone has any experience with this type of thing — people bullshitting on resumes or taking credit for other people’s work — I’d love to hear about it, because it seems to be a f-ing epidemic in this business.
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The Angry Coach is the strength coach, and also a positional coach, for a successful high school football program. Since 2001, an impressive number of his players have gone on to play college football, including several at the Division I and I-AA levels and two who have played professionally in the NFL. The Angry Coach has also worked with athletes at the college and professional levels in a variety of disciplines, including football, track and field, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, rowing and mixed martial arts (MMA). For professional reasons, the Angry Coach will not be using his real identity.
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Wow, that sucks. It is evident in many industries though. The next best thing is people who get away with doing absolutely nothing all day long.
call him out! he showed no respect, so let’s see what he’s got to say in front of everyone
It’s called karma. He’ll get what he deserves!
No, if you call him out, here’s the argument that would take place:
Dipshit: “He’s a liar! I did a lot of the work there!”
Angry: “No, you didn’t”
Dipshit: “Yes, I did!”
People that know him will believe him and people that know you will believe you. You don’t have a job to gain from him losing one, so there’s no point. I doubt you’d call him out anyway, under the same logic.
It sucks that this type of stuff happens though, there’s really no way around it unless you stalk everyone you’ve worked with.
I agree. Call him out.
It happens all the time man…. I wouldn’t even worry about it, guys like that are insecure and “job whores” that always want the next job without even doing their job. Just keep working hard, coaching better, and the kids you coach will give you all the credit you deserve. We all have to stay humble, obviously the guy who took your credit just will never get it.
A little different, but same theme. I work at a 24 hour fitness. I noticed on my managers desk the other day a few resumes and interview questions. I’m the only one here in the morning, so I can snoop around to see how screwy a corporation is run. Anyways, I am glancing thru the resumes when something pops out at me. One of the people applying for a training position had on his resume that he not only had a bachelors degree from a liberal arts school out east, but that he also was in grad school for his masters here at the univ. of washington. Now while I claim no degrees of my own, I come from an academic family that also runs it’s own business. I know what highly educated people put down, and I have seen a fair amount of resumes.
Now, this guy specified neither degree, which seemed odd, and is what led me to believe that he was lying both about having a degree as well as being in school for his masters. I dont believe that anybody with these qualifications would leave them as generic listings. You would list that your bach. was in kinesiology or some such and you were currently getting your masters in exercise science. I got a kick that not only would he lie so blatantly on his resume, but that he hadnt even managed to lie well. Ridiculous. He is the front runner for the psoition though, shows you how much my manager pays attention
This is similar to when Wendler stole my 5/3/2 program!
That sucks man, I might not call him publicly because there’d be no result from that, but I would at least put a call in to the AD at his college and let him know.
I too am a “volunteer” high school strength coach. Before I showed up the strength programs here were nothing more than the kids doing what they wanted. I have put the same time and effort into this program as you did. I hate to see someone take credit when it is not theirs to take.
All we can do is stay focused on why we do what we do. Its becuase we LOVE IT.
He has no love for the game.
Can I get the Ebook for the 5/3/2 program. It sounds as though there may be some merit to that rep scheme.
It’s not just your business. I deal with this all day long, literally. I’m a fireman, and this crap runs rampant in the industry. People taking credit for your work, and when confronted with the truth about it, they end up promoted over you for being a better liar. Most have the image of a fireman as a big, strong, reliable and trustworthy guy, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth most of the time. It’s usually the fat, paper-pushing, ass-kissers that end up with the job. What ever happened to working hard for a living?
The real tragedy lies in the folks who stand to suffer at the hands of these unqualified frauds.
We see it all the time. A fraud will only have to pass scrutiny one time to get their license -or certification or whatever it is that offers them credibility. After that -they have it made. The plaque is on the wall and no one will ever question their qualifications again.
Then come the victims….suffocated dreams -unrealized potential and wasted talent -all to make a buck or two.
Damn shame…
Makes a fella really, really angry.
It’s kinda like when this Jason guy stole my 6/4/2 program
Anyway he got ripped off too, so it all worked out, sorta…Anyone heard of this Wendler guy ? I want to sue him…
Put your faith in the Peter principle:
“Eventually, everyone rises to the level of their own incompetence.”
I have a feeling he’s already there and will be job hunting again really soon.This time with a job history that looks like a game of ping pong. That raises eyeborws and questions.
I didn’t realize this log post was going to put on the articles section, but I’m glad it was.
To answer the “call him out or not” question, it won’t make a difference if I call him out, because he was, technically, the “weight room supervisor” for the school, meaning he was the teacher they paid to sit in there because I wasn’t employed by the school. What actually happened was that I said, “Go spot that kid,” and he ran over and spotted, or maybe I asked him to help out with a disciplinary issue or something like that. Never once did he write a program or show a kid how to do anything, and I’m 100% sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that not a single one of our college players has ever called asking for his advice — because he never had any to give in the first place.
But calling him out is useless, because he can point to the fact that he was paid to be there and then I’d have to call in other people to “testify” against him. Who has time for that shit?
I love getting programs of the teams we are playing/scouting and reading their coaching bios. They list their list their high school stats, how many sports they lettered in etc. Who cares. You are a hisghscool coach who should be there for the kids.
I just love that you called him a pud…Nice! Oldschool
I use to live in VA Beach and there was a ‘Karate for Christ’ type gym where the website had one of the instructors for Brazilian Jiujitsu listed as an 8th degree blackbelt. For those of you not in the know, there have been maybe less than (10) 8th degrees EVER in BJJ and nobody had ever heard of this guy. I rolled in to the class pretending to be a wrestler looking for jits (kind of true except I had been doing jits for 4 years by then), I beat the crap out of his berst students (who wore their Karate blackbelts to the BJJ class?), but when I asked the ’8th degree’ to roll with me, he started the Bible study portion of the class. Hurr hurr. After class I asked him about his training and he said he was at a purple belt and had trained with the Gracie’s in Brazil.
This type of BS is not unique in martial arts as there are tons of old fat white dudes claiming to have deadly skills and some belt they bought online to prove it. Personal Trainers seem to have the same issue, too
Depends on how far you wanna take it. I’d call the AD and call the dude out. It is the constant bastardizing and lack of respect in this industry that make me sick. Usually these types get into this field because it’s “cool, easy, and I can steal other peoples shite and call it my own.” They are usually the types that sniff the ass of someone on a higher level, who usually takes them on because they’ve become lazy, but are part of the “it’s who you know, not what you know crowd”. I deal with it regularly, especially with sports coaches because “I’ve been doing it this way for year or this is how I learned to do it growing up from my Coach or Daddy, yaddayadda.” In fact, last year I was on the sidelines of a H.S. football playoff game and the Head Coach was interviewed before kickoff and claimed he has a highly conditioned team because of the training program he implements. Last I checked I handled the Phys. Prep of not just his, but all varsity sports. My wife heard the comment as it was broadcast on T.V. and called me on the sideline to tell me his quote. I’m far from an egomaniac, but be respectful and give us some credit. I’ll take the moral victory though, because his players know and respect what I do for them and that he was out of line. It’s the nature of society right now. Some people are struggling but still attempt to keep their morals in tact. Yet some will do without morals. This guy sounds like he’s in the latter.
call the uni as well as have the people at your school do so, get him canned. Post it all over the place so if he tries to get another job he’s screwed. Then track him down & play kick the pud… I mean kick the can for a while with him!
The guy is a lying POS, but the real fault is with the AD where he was hired or the AD at your school. A lot of companies hire without doing ANY due diligence on the resumes they receive.
If the school who hired him didn’t call to verify, they got what they deserve.
If they did and the AD at your school verified his experience, at least you know the type of person you work for.
If I was the AD or the Head Strength Coach at the university he is employed with, I would want to know what kind of putz we had working for us. It could be that they are looking for a good reason to get rid of him anyway. Don’t rat him out for revenge, rat him out becasue it is the right thing to do. If we complain about it but don’t do anything to stop it, it will continue to occur and we will continue to get pissed off about it. Put an end to his cycle.
I have been training athletes full time for the past 15 years. My wife and i have owned 2 gyms, a Powerhouse and our own concept gym built from the ground up. i laugh at how many D-bags Bulls**t credentials. I have 2 degrees, one in exercise science, one in applied biology, and am 4 classes away from a 3rd degree in nutrition. I never mention any of this anywhere because it is irrelevant to me doing my job. I have had the luxury of spending a lot of time with Ian King and Charlie Francis. Talk about 2 guys who have had people not only flat out steal their work, but also claim to have trained their athletes. A very famous strength coach made a claim to have been Ben Johnson’s strength coach. Charlie just laughed. Another famous coach talked at length with Charlie on the phone, then came out with a system remarkably similar to Charlie Vertical Integration. If it happens on that level, I damn sure know people on my level are doing the same. One of my kids plays in the NFL and I have heard 4 or 5 coaches around town say they were his coach. He and I just laugh about it. It’s been done to me too many times to count. Maybe that’s why I am going to Physicians Assistant program when I finish my current degree. Stay Angry!
Enjoyed your post…have a segway for that. I had someone sometime ask me to add a high level…worldwide phenomenon athlete to my resume.’ Actually the 3rd baseman for the New York yankees–A-Rod. I was a wrestling and part time strength coach at Westminister in South Miami Alex’s sophomore thru senior year in high school. He was an amazing kid and the first time I ever laid eyes on him I said to myself…Major League…He is the ONE. As a coach you see maybe one of these types of athletes in your life one time.
Long story short, Alex and I had a good relationship, he was a HARD worker…NEVER missed the weight room…he was a machine. My exposure was peripheral…Coach Rich had all the baseball players on a special program he created..period. No one else on staff got in the middle of his plan…ever. So my extent with Alex amounted to spotting him on the bench once in awhile. Could I claim that I help train the highest paid athlete in the world…yes, but that would be intellectually and professionally dishonest because spotting some future all worlder…doesn’t make his trainer and certainly doesn’t mean I had ANYTHING to do with his success.
Hope this adds to the Discussion.
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Angry Coach
Posted November 9, 2010 at 11:19 PM
To answer the “call him out or not” question, it won’t make a difference if I call him out, because he was, technically, the “weight room supervisor” for the school, meaning he was the teacher they paid to sit in there because I wasn’t employed by the school. What actually happened was that I said, “Go spot that kid,” and he ran over and spotted, or maybe I asked him to help out with a disciplinary issue or something like that. Never once did he write a program or show a kid how to do anything, and I’m 100% sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that not a single one of our college players has ever called asking for his advice — because he never had any to give in the first place.
But calling him out is useless, because he can point to the fact that he was paid to be there and then I’d have to call in other people to “testify” against him. Who has time for that shit?
/ Unquote
Yup. Happens all the time everywhere. I went through a similar experience at my job as an animator, where despite being someo0ne who was allotted some of the most difficult scenes to work on, I was passed over for some of my Teal Leads favorite guys for personal reasons.
So whats the solution to this? Keep your personal and work $$ life separate? We can all argue about doing something cause of our love for it (which is why I got into animation) , but when is it time to call it quits? After my bad experience, I could no longer work as hard as I used to… the quality of my work went down.. in fact I bought it down deliberately to the level they are paying me at.
When the final product is done and we watch the output before delivering it to the client it hurts me to see a lot of shit where I could’ve done better. But then I just remind myself that I’m being paid to do a certain amount of work at a certain level..and whatever I wanna do- I should be doing it in my own time.
I’m even contemplating a career change, something which would pay me a lot more. And I’ll continue animating as a hobby.
Maybe YOU too could do the same. Work for money and whatever you wanna do, do it outside the realm of paid work. Break off all ties with the d-bag. Inform the school formally without pointing any fingers about how you’ve been helping their students. If the school still wants your services, they should create a formal position for you. If they don’t, tough luck for them. If any of their students want to continue with you, they’ll have to come to you. You don’t go to them.
I am interested in your thoughts on this.