Good morning. Greg Goldin is back at LSU, the science behind why elite athletes pretend to be someone else, and a Cleveland Clinic study on fitness and mortality making the rounds again. Let's get into it.
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💪 Greg Goldin Returns to LSU as Chief of Staff and Director of Performance
Greg Goldin is heading back to Baton Rouge. LSU men's basketball announced Monday that Goldin has been named Chief of Staff and Director of Performance, reuniting him with head coach Will Wade — a pairing that spans stints at Chattanooga, VCU, and four seasons at LSU from 2017-21. Goldin comes most recently from NC State, where he held the same chief of staff title, and brings a résumé that includes two years as a human performance manager with U.S. Navy Special Operations and three seasons at Penn State men's basketball.
In his new role, he'll oversee strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, and mental performance while serving as the primary liaison between the program and athletics administration. Read More
🧠 The Science Behind Why Elite Athletes Use Alter Egos
A piece in The Athletic breaks down the psychology behind athlete alter egos — and why the research says it actually works. A study known as the "Batman Effect" found that children who took on a character identity outworked peers who reflected in first or third person. Researchers at McMaster University found that method-acting techniques produced measurable deactivations in brain regions tied to self-processing — essentially, a documented loss of self.
Athletes from Kobe Bryant (Black Mamba) to Brian Dawkins (Weapon X) to world triathlon champion Lesley Paterson have used the strategy to manage nerves and boost focus. The mechanism: changing your point of view reduces anxiety and unlocks a different performance ceiling. Read More
🏈 The Story Behind Utah's Steve Saunders Hire
The full picture on Steve Saunders is out. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the 2023 NFLPA report card rated the Baltimore Ravens' strength staff an F-minus and cited Saunders by name — but the Ravens jumped to a B the year after his exit.
First-year head coach Morgan Scalley elevated Saunders to director of football sports performance after Greg Argust resigned Monday following more than 20 years with the program. Saunders had joined Utah this offseason as an assistant behind Argust. Former Ute and Ravens safety Eric Weddle called him "the best strength coach I've ever had in my entire career" and said he "was the scapegoat for the COVID-19 nonsense that happened in Baltimore." Read More
🏃 A Treadmill Test Predicts Your Odds Better Than a Diabetes Diagnosis
A 2018 Cleveland Clinic study of 122,007 patients has been making the rounds again — and the numbers hit hard. Patients with elite cardiorespiratory fitness had 5x lower mortality than low performers over 8.4 years of follow-up. Low fitness was a stronger mortality predictor than smoking, diabetes, or coronary artery disease. No ceiling effect was found — the fitter the patient, the better the survival odds, all the way to the top of the curve. Read More
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