Part 3 Why Our Titles Need to Be Strength and Conditioning Coach

This blog is coming off the news from Buffalo, NY where the Bills have parted ways with long time S&C Coach Eric Ciano (1). Eric was named NFL S&C Coach of the year in 2020 and had been with the team since 2010 (2). I knew one of the coaches on Eric's staff and when I talked with him in 2019 he helped me individualize the training of the guy at Towson. I was able to do this at Towson because I applied what he told me they were doing at Buffalo. Although I have never been to see the Bills train in person, based on what this coach told me, and seeing how healthy the Bills were this year makes it surprising Eric was let go.



(3)

As you see from this image at Over The Cap.com the Bills were literally the healthiest team in the NFL this year. They had the least amount of money on the IR or PUP. That means their best players were playing on gameday.

Now, I do not have the data on 2023-2024 NFL health nor do I have the data on years past. I can look it up if I chose. However, unless the Bills were routinely at the top of this chart from OTC.com then this move from Buffalo further shows why S&C coaches need to be labeled S&C coaches and not sports performance coaches.

If you aren't aware there are part 1 of this convo and part 2 where I explain other financial reasons for this move as well as the NSCA getting the job "strength and conditioning coach" as a scheduled job with the government. This move from Buffalo cements my call.

Buffalo's season ended in the AFC Divisional round Jan 26, 2025 with KC winning 32-29. Now just over 2 weeks later the S&C staff was let go. Listen folks, no matter how great relationship Eric had with the other departments, someone in the front office wanted him gone. So the HC did what the HC had to do (or wanted to do) and let Eric go. For those not familiar, Buffalo has long been on the cusp of beating KC and playing in the Super Bowl.

My guess, is they Eric was the one to "had to take the fall" for the lack of winning Super Bowl. But, when you look at the numbers and how little money was on IR or PUP, Eric and his staff was better than anyone else in the league at giving the front office and coaching staff the best players on game day. Which is all our job is. The strength and conditioning staff got the players strong and in condition to play football and were robust to the demands of the game.

But, at the end of the day the people who write the checks wanted them gone. Ok, the NFL and sport is a business (make sure you know this) so things happen. Fine, just make sure that you have the title of S&C coach and have a contract like the sport coaches. Get paid to not work since they fired you without cause. In this way it helps you take care of your family for a period of time while the organization pays you the remainder of your contract not to work. In the NFL having the title of S&C coach means 95%+ of the time you will be under a sport coach and therefore have a sport coach contract that allows you to be paid the remainder of your contract, as well as be let go during the hiring cycle (4).

Although it is not ideal, at least the Bills S&C staff was let go in Feb (yes it's late in the cycle) but it is better than being let go in June when they would have to wait even longer. Prayers to this staff and their families. Never fun to go through this. Other S&C coaches from the outside looking in, understand if this type of volatility is for you. You can take high risk and get high reward, or you can take little risk and little reward. But understand that this is the reality of our jobs.

Sure, maybe you don't work in the NFL, but is your family able to see you at work? Do you know you have security in your job that if you do your job well your kids will grow up where you currently are? These things are worth their weight in gold. They come down to the 4 P's - pay, personal life, career progression, and sense of greater purpose. If you haven't heard about these and want more help with looking at your current job through the lens of the 4 P's then take this 60 second survey for SCN to help you.

Remember, our job is to serve athletes and coaches. Athletes first if it came down to it - sports cannot be played without athletes. As the S&C coach you can pour into the athletes more when you know you are financially compensated to pay your bills and take care of you/your family needs. This title and contract structure can help that.

Sources:

(1) https://buffalowdown.com/buffalo-bills-cut-ties-with-a-former-strength-and-conditioning-coach-of-the-year-01jm0hbk5e05

(2) https://www.buffalobills.com/news/eric-ciano-named-the-nfl-s-strength-and-conditioning-coach-of-the-year

(3) https://overthecap.com/apy-on-injured-reserve

(4) https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/blog/Title-2