Culture, Buy-in and Stronger Athletes with Jeremy Carlson, Doug Larson, Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #840

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Mar 18, 2026

Jeremy Carlson, Head S&C coach at Centre College who built a department-wide training system for 600+ athletes. He recounts launching a scrappy program with limited space and staff. Learn about his mixed-group training model, building buy-in and leadership, simple scalable programming, and how culture and standards create stronger, more accountable athletes.

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ANECDOTE

Humble Start Built Into Big Program

Jeremy Carlson started Center College's S&C program at 24 with a $15,000 salary and minimal experience.
He learned CSCS from the book, ran a CrossFit gym, then accepted the job to build the program from scratch.

INSIGHT

Mixed Group Sessions Built Department Culture

Training all teams together in mixed-group sessions created department-wide standards and improved buy-in.
Athletes follow sport-specific programming inside shared sessions, which increased consistency, injury prevention, and culture.

INSIGHT

Facility Investment Requires Administrative Alignment

Strong administrative alignment and donor-funded facilities enabled scale; you can't outreach your leaders.
Center raised $70M in donor funding to add track, pool, indoor track, and a new weight room that transformed capacity.

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In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson, Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane sit down with Center College strength coach Jeremy Carlson to unpack how he built a high-functioning strength and conditioning culture at a small Division III school with limited staff, limited time, and one shared weight room. Jeremy explains how he went from being a former soccer player and CrossFit gym manager to launching Center's strength program at just 24 years old. What started as a scrappy operation with seven double-sided racks and hundreds of athletes eventually turned into one of the most organized and culture-driven systems in college strength and conditioning.

The conversation centers on Jeremy's unconventional model: instead of training athletes only by team, Center athletes train in mixed-group sessions across the day, with different sports sharing the same space while following sport-specific programming. That system not only solved a logistics problem, it helped create a true department-wide culture. Jeremy breaks down his three-part mission: prepare athletes for sport, build character, and give them the tools to become lifelong fitness enthusiasts. He also explains why simple programming still works incredibly well for most college athletes, especially when they are still relatively novice in the weight room. Rather than chasing complexity, he focuses on getting athletes stronger with basic lifts, teaching movement well, and making conditioning and change-of-direction work more specific to the sport.

The deeper takeaway from this episode is that great coaching is not just about sets and reps. Jeremy shares how consistency, standards, buy-in, and real human development matter more than flashy programming. He talks about teaching athletes to manage their own training, empowering upperclassmen to lead, and creating an environment where a golfer can confidently tell a lacrosse player to get off her assigned rack. The result is a system that develops stronger athletes, better habits, and more capable adults. If you care about coaching, leadership, culture building, or how to create excellence with constraints, this episode delivers a practical blueprint.

Links:

Doug Larson on Instagram Coach Travis Mash on Instagram