☕️ S&C Daily — I'd Rather Be the Bad Guy

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Ole Miss coach Pete Golding thinks college football now sits somewhere between two worlds - "I don't think it's old school college and it's not all the way to the NFL." His answer was to bring the NFL side into the weight room: he hired Paul Constantine, who trained athletes at Alabama and with the Atlanta Falcons, and is switching the Rebels to a velocity-based training model - "speed of the bar," in Golding's words.

The job is bigger than the racks - Golding wants Constantine's stamp on the whole offseason, from strength and conditioning to the football-school piece and the spring model.

In a new Big Think piece, psychiatrist Nicholas Fabiano argues exercise should be treated as a legitimate medical intervention for depression, not an afterthought.

Hundreds of trials show it reduces symptoms about as well as medication or therapy for mild-to-moderate cases, and even half the recommended activity is linked to an 18% lower risk of developing depression. Yet 92% of mental health professionals receive no training in recommending it, and 41% never do. His fix: dose it like a drug using the FITT framework - "brisk walking three times a week for 20-30 minutes at an intensity where you can still talk" - instead of "just go work out."

With fall camp opening next week, Hawaii strength and conditioning coach Bobby Thomas - a former Falcons assistant entering his second year - says the summer was about building resilience, not just strength:

"When I hand them over to the coaches, I want to make sure I'm giving them the best possible product." His style is demanding by design, and year two comes with trust: "These guys trust me now. I'd rather be the bad guy. Let me push you to the brink. Let me be the one who challenges you so you don't have to do that to each other." The standard he's protecting: "Toughness is an attitude. It's a mindset from the older generations of Hawaii football."

An FDA advisory panel voted 8-6 to let compounding pharmacies produce BPC-157 - a peptide marketed for healing injuries and reducing inflammation, and one of the most in-demand therapies in the recovery space. Patients would need a doctor's prescription for a specific medical condition, and the vote is not full FDA approval. It's the first decision in a two-day review of seven peptides, as demand for the therapies keeps climbing.

Derek Owings is back in the news. The Tennessee strength coach posted the summer's headline number on Instagram Wednesday: the Vols went from 12 players running 20+ mph to 47. Owings hands the team over to the coaching staff when fall camp opens August 5.

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