Sam Acho: Welcome back to the Sam Acho podcast featuring Clif Marshall.
And as usual, we have a very, very, very special guest.
And Cliff, I'd love for you to introduce our guest.
Clif Marshall: Absolutely, Sam.
I'm super excited today because we have Jeff Friday on the show.
Uh, Jeff has been a colleague of mine, a great friend of mine for many
years, and he has over 30 years of coaching high performing athletes.
He spent 21 seasons in the National Football League where
he won a Super Bowl championship.
As the head strength coach for the Baltimore Ravens, he's coached more than
40 players who were voted to the Pro Bowl.
12 of those players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He has a wealth of knowledge on mind, body, and spirit.
Jeff, thank you so much for being on our show today.
Jeff Friday: Yeah, thanks for having me.
I'm looking forward to the conversation.
Clif Marshall: For sure.
Well, I just wanted to start with, you know, kind of what
you've got going on today.
Obviously I introduced you and I know you've been training
athletes in the NFL for many years.
Um, what are you doing now and who are you training these days?
Jeff Friday: So what I'm doing right now, since my pro career has
ended, I've moved into ministry.
with a sports organization called Athletes in Action, my last NFL
team was the Cincinnati Bengal.
So we were able to say, stay in the Cincinnati area because a i a or Athletes
in Actions World Headquarters is about a 45 minute drive from my, from my house.
It's a 200 acre campus complete with football fields, soccer fields,
baseball fields, a brand new $20 million state-of-the-art basketball facility, 300
dorm beds, a sports performance center.
And so have a, a post-secondary prep.
Academy that I train, I am in charge of their physical training.
And, uh, so these would be kids who are taking a gap year from college.
Either they had a scholarship that they weren't satisfied or, or
looking for a scholarship offer.
I got my start in basketball, in college basketball when I started my, my,
my strength and conditioning career.
So basketball has always been a, a, a passion.
So I work with them, uh, six months out of the year because they're residential.
And so a day would include me coming, uh, to campus to work with our
academies, which would be college, soccer in the summer, college,
baseball in the summer as well.
And, uh, I tell you, cliff, it's um, you know, ministry has been really good for me
because that spiritual block is heightened for me as I've grown older in wisdom.
And what I mean by that is just.
You know, how I use my time now is really, really important.
You know, we only have, we have, we all have finite amount of
time, and so I really want that time to matter, like we all do.
I just feel that right now what I'm doing really aligns
well with the mission of life.
And so for me, it's a 45 minute drive coming up to the, the headquarters here.
And so it's really, it's, it's a spiritual morning as far as when I
wake up and I hop in the car, I don't listen to any podcast or any talk radio.
It's, it's a, the drive up here is, is the Holy Spirit speaking to me.
What does the Holy Spirit want me to articulate to these athletes today?
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: uh, cliff, you know, we had a really good mentor with, with
Chip Morton, with the Cincinnati Bengals and, and how you give a message on, on
the whiteboard before, before a lifting session, well, it's the same here.
What's the Holy Spirit saying to me that I can build into these athletes physically?
socially, and more importantly spiritually.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: so, uh, so that's what I'm doing right now, working with those
athletes and, uh, you know, the NFL was awesome, a great schedule, but the
reality cliff, and, and you know, this, Sam, is that in the course of a, of a
season, which lasts five months or so, it's really, it's really two days off.
It's the bye weekend.
Other than that, I mean, we're in the facility every day, either training
athletes or going to meetings.
And so the, the, the time, the free time is, is really something
that I look forward to, to keep building into myself and, and,
and others as far as development.
Clif Marshall: Well, part of that free time, Jeff, I know you
were able to write a book and I wanted to get right into that.
As a matter of fact, I've got it right behind me here, and
it's called Built for Winning.
It's actually setting right next to.
Sam Acho book called, uh, let the World See You.
Right?
And here we got the Jeff Friday Built for Winning book.
And, um, this is something that I know you've worked many, many years on.
So can you, uh, describe for us a little bit about this book and if someone
chooses to read it, what they would learn?
Jeff Friday: Yeah, so the, the book, the, the genesis of the idea of the book
came in 2003 when I gave a talk, uh, to, uh, a church group, a group of men, and,
uh, it was about physical fitness and, and, and cliff, you know, a as a coach.
as a coach, we always try to give the why, you know, why is it important
for, for you the athlete, why is this important, uh, for the team?
How is it gonna make you better?
And, and so I.
Looking for my why I came across a scripture it was Luke 2:52 how Jesus grew.
Jesus
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: in wisdom, in favor with God and man.
So Jesus grew physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
So I went into that, that talk, and let the men in that room know that,
you know what, the physical, physical fitness is one of four blocks, and
so you gotta pay attention to it.
And so when I gave that talk, I mean that, that concept stayed in
my mind of just about holistic.
Total person development.
And then, uh, when it finally got to, uh, the Cincinnati Bengal, seven years later,
I had three great encouragers that really inspired me to, to help me grow my message
or encouraged me to grow my message.
One was the pastor of the Cincinnati Bengals, Ken Moyer, former NFL player,
and he helped me with a PowerPoint presentation in building these four areas.
And so for me it's like, okay, this, this person believes what I'm saying.
That Okay.
That, that's great.
Another one was, um, Ron Ry, uh, who was with us at the Bengals for, for one year.
And, and Ron has a decorated career as a college strength coach, and he has a, a
book called the, the CEO Strength Coach.
So his mind is always thinking about all these areas outside of the weight
room, and he's like, man, coach.
You know, your message is great and, and you need to put that in writing, you
know, and so that was a, oh wow, I'm okay.
This, this college coach, you know, believes in the message.
And another, another one was, was Cliff.
Was, was you, because you were doing speed certifications and you always included
me in your certifications with my talk.
And so without those three encouragers, the book would've never came to being.
So for all those in the audience, man, encouragement is a huge, powerful tool
that you can use to spur somebody on.
And so the book I, I started doing an email series and eventually
that turned into to a book.
And basically it's, it's, it's really about those four blocks and how
those four blocks can really help you reach fulfillment and your potential.
And I, I share principles that you can use for immediate results.
And I blend stories with my NFL coaching career into it to really
drive home, drive home the points.
Sam Acho: co coach Friday.
I'm gonna hop in real quick and I know we didn't have this question planned,
but I'm listening to you guys and hearing about a relationship and take
me back to that moment of encouragement.
Were encouraged by Coach Cliff on this call and what it did for you.
Jeff Friday: so just to have someone believe in you and a message that
maybe we're working on, but we really are unsure of the impact.
To have someone like Cliff year after year, it wasn't a one time deal.
It was maybe, you know, three or four years, however long they were
running this, this certification.
He, he took me giving a total person outlook into a speed certification.
So it just showed how much he valued the total person.
But in, for me, it's like, man, that really spurred me on that.
You know what?
This message is bigger than myself.
Clif Marshall: I wanna stay there for, yes.
I wanna stay there for a moment, Jeff and, and and Sam, and think of
the four blocks that you mentioned, spiritual, physical, mental, and social.
And I want to know, coach Friday, if there's an athlete that you've
trained over your 30 years as a strength and conditioning
coach that had all four of those
Jeff Friday: Well, yes, we, we all do.
Clif Marshall: right.
Jeff Friday: do.
But we all waver, we all waiver in the amount of tension, uh, amount of attention
we give to those, those four blocks.
And sometimes it's seasons of life.
we always want to go back to be a whole or complete person in our life, and that's
gonna give us the best chance of success.
And so if I, if I had to, to just.
name a, an athlete, one athlete that would come to mind would be a
player by the name of Vincent Ray, who was with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Uh, and Vincent Ray came out of Duke University.
And when you looked at all the, all the reports of him coming out, uh,
too small to play, wasn't fast enough.
It's, you know, we all have a rap sheet, right?
Well, he had a rap sheet, and so he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as a,
as a undrafted free agent, which means that the NFL draft is seven rounds long.
And he was unpicked.
So the Cincinnati Bengals signed him.
He went through the summer, then he was cut after the last preseason game, but he
joined what's called our practice squad.
And so the practice squad back then, this was 2010, was comprised of eight
players that did everything that the active RO roster guys did, except
the game and collect that big check.
So, so, so as a result.
group of players would come and get an extra lift in the weight room.
So it was a Friday morning during the season, and on this big grease board,
I, I drew this, it's this this, this bell shaped curve where it's low on one
end, it increases, and then it goes, you know, flatlined on the other end.
And it's, you know, usually with academia, academia you see the
grades, the A's on one side, F's on the other, and a C'S in the middle
where the most of the population.
And I, and I, I drew it on this real big grease board, all eight, eight players.
And I said, Hey, what?
There's minimal these guys are here.
You know, give, give 'em the truth.
You guys are on the far left end of this curve, you know, on the
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: But I said, you know what?
There's minimal separation between you guys and the guys getting paid
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: minimal separation.
It's a tweak.
It's a tweak in your game.
It's a tweak in your life.
And so there, the strategy was you got these four blocks, how
can you tweak the physical.
How can you tweak the mental, how can you tweak the social, how
can you tweak the spiritual to help you move along the curve?
And in this instance, the curve was with making a national
football lead team roster.
I.
And so in that room we had two players.
One player, Jeremy Miles, played five years in the league.
Vincent Ray played nine years in the NFL three contracts.
And so what that would look like as an example, so if we're talking about
the physical block, we're talking about, um, anything that does with
a, anything dealing with the body.
So it's like physical fitness, it's nutrition, it's resting, it's our
practice Habits do practice hard, you know, what kind of grade do you give
yourself in the field after practice?
And so, you know, with Vincent Ray, the practice squad,
they always got extra lifts.
And so he was building his body.
Remember the rap coming out was that he wasn't big enough or
strong enough to play on a defense.
He's a middle linebacker.
So he kept building his body up physically what that looked like mentally, is that,
uh, so, so if I go back to the physical playing nine years, he missed two games.
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Jeff Friday: Games.
And one year, I think he was like 12th in the league, in, in tackle.
So he, you know, this guy built his body up and you know, I, I talked to him years
later after, after retiring, and he is like, coach, I, I really don't lift much
anymore, you know, but, but it shows that, and Sam can relate to this, it
shows that what do you need to do that you may not enjoy doing to get that benefit?
You know?
And so he worked really hard in the weight room.
And then mentally, if I would go to the mental block, the way that would manifest
itself is that then he said that he would always go to meetings early, and he
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: he went to a meeting early.
He always found that the coach was always talking to whoever was in the room
and kind of going over the game plan.
And then when the meeting started.
They would go ahead and talk about the game plan in front of the whole team.
Well, Vinny said he was able to hear that message twice mentally, and
so that allowed him to play five different positions on the field.
And so he became a really valuable commodity on the field.
And so that's that, that's that mental block and that mental block
is, is your education, what I just talked about with Vinny, it's how do
you use your education wisdom wise?
It's, it's your self-talk, you know?
What do you say to yourself?
When you're in between plays in a game or whatever sport you're
playing or in relationship and how does it manifest itself to others?
And then even emotion, we control our emotion with our thoughts.
It all starts with thought.
So that would be an example of the, of the mental block.
And then, uh, the social block is that, that's relational.
And, and, and Vinny said that what he would do, he would make
a concentrated effort to really spend time with his teammates.
It, it was going bowling, doing things together.
Uh, he just, you know, Sam, and you can relate to this on the field, it's a.
It, you build that trust and that real, it's, it's intentional.
You, you, you do those things out of enjoyment for another human being,
but the result is that when you come together in a, in a team setting or
a football game, there's a, there's a comradery or a trust that's been built.
And so, um, he, he did that.
What, what that allowed him to do is, but he was voted team captain,
I think five years in a row.
I mean, the players really respected him.
And that, that's team captain that's voted by your peers.
And so that's how that social block manifests itself.
And then the spiritual block is just, um, you know, it's a connection with God.
it's the most important block.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: they're all inter interdependent, but, but the reason the
spiritual is the most important because that determines where we go and we die.
And that's eternity.
And it gives us purpose and it helps decipher right from wrong.
So while they're all important, it's that spiritual block.
And so, you know, then you would go to, you know, the
Bible studies and, and the NFL.
Is a spiritual sport.
It's a spiritual culture.
I mean, the NFL football player, if you look at a Jobs Almanac of 250
of a of of occupations, 250 of 'em, A NFL football player is the sixth
highest as far as injuries and the fifth highest as far as stress.
So you're dealing in a situation.
That you're, you're, you're typically injured or not feeling great and,
and you're under, under duress.
And so I think, uh, the culture of football lends
itself to a spiritual realm.
And what that looks like in a setting is that during, during
the week, you have a, a pastor or a chaplains assigned to a team.
So you have player bible studies or couples bible studies.
And then when you get to the weekend of game day, you have a voluntary chapel.
And then on game day you have, you know, all kinds of prayer going on.
It's like, it's like a, you know, it's like players and coaches really trying
to plug their, plug their cell phone into the outlet to get power, that
spiritual power that they may, may not, you know, can't provide for themself.
And so, you know, Vinny would go to these bible studies and just, you
know, he would take bible verses.
To the field with him.
And I write about this in my book where, you know, he's a
young player in training camp.
And this is the old days now this is, you know, well old days of 2010.
This is a while ago.
And you know, you, you got, you practice, you got the pads, you're a rookie.
It's, it's a training camp.
It's, you know, it could be 90 degrees.
And, you know, the veterans, the veterans want to take a playoff 'cause
they, they have the team made, you know, they're guaranteed a spot maybe.
And they wanna take a playoff, self preservation.
you know, Vinny says, you know, when he was a young player as a veteran's,
like, Hey man, you go take my rep rookie.
you know, as a, as a young player, you, you got two options you.
I'm not gonna do this rep.
Or you take the rep and get better.
And Vinny said, man, he had to go to a bible verse, he had a Bible
refer verse that, that he recited in his mind, kind of like a self-talk.
So he used the Bible as a weapon for good, for
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: good to, to do the rep to get better.
And if you add all those examples up, that's how you get a, a nine year
career, three contracts, you know, from someone who, you know, the press clipping
said, man, this guy ain't, this guy ain't, this guy ain't gonna survive.
So.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
It's interesting 'cause Cliff, as you asked that question, coach
Friday, you've won a Super Bowl, you've coached for 30 years.
And I'm thinking, okay, he's gonna say, you know, who's the Hall of Fame player?
Who's the biggest, fastest, strongest?
And I, I know Vinny, right?
I, I think Vinny still now is actually now the team chaplain
for the Cincinnati Bengals.
I saw him a couple weeks ago at an event.
It's like, and I have like.
It seems as if one of the ways to quote win at more than just
sports and more than just football.
It's not necessarily about how big, fast, strong, or athletic you are,
but it's about being a comprehensive human being and that's that.
That's what I'm hearing and it's, it's just interest.
Interesting that the name you would mention was a guy, you
mentioned practice squad undrafted.
Yet he did all those little things.
Well, he took those opportunities to make a big difference in his life.
Jeff Friday: Yeah, no, you're right.
And I think that every player, every person has these
unique gifts and qualities.
We have it in us, but sometimes our potential can get thwarted.
It we don't maybe pay, pay attention to some of those areas, and those, the
four big blocks are just big nuggets of ways to clarify things to identify.
But yeah, you're, you're, you're right, Sam.
I think that, you know, everybody's got these unique skill sets and
talents that are unique to them.
yeah, Vinny is one person that I just recognized, you know, from
knowing him, that had those four, four qualities or four blocks.
Clif Marshall: Jeff, one question and that is so much, uh, great knowledge,
great wisdom that I hope that our listeners will grab a hold of.
Um, but we're talking built for winning, the four foundations, the mental, the
physical, the social and the spiritual, and how it related to an NFL player
becoming the best version of himself.
Could you also see this book or this concept, uh, helping a CEO
of a company or just a normal guy working a nine to five job?
Jeff Friday: Yeah, cliff, because the genesis of the book
is a, is a scripture on Jesus.
Jesus is the ultimate.
CEO,
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Jeff Friday: he's the ultimate coach.
He's the role model.
And so that scripture, Luke 2:52 was about him.
Jesus grew in wisdom.
He was, I think it's 46 times in the New Testament.
They called him teacher.
He's wise, he's got wisdom.
He knew scripture.
He used scripture.
You know, so he, he, he was wise mentally.
Uh, Jesus.
It's estimated He, he walked over 3000 miles in his three and a half years
or three years of public ministry.
It's
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: miles a day.
The dude's in shape.
Clif Marshall: Yes.
Jeff Friday: He's, he ain't drinking coffee and bonbons He, he's eating the
fruit of land and he's, he's working
Clif Marshall: Yes.
Jeff Friday: good shape.
That's physical.
And those are just examples.
And then, you know, relationally, you know, he had 12 disciples.
It's, it's been said where I, I read where, you know, you're,
you're or eight closest people to, you spend 60% of your time with,
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: of energy.
And he had three disciples that he were really close to him.
One he loved, he had 70 people with him.
So he is building into people socially.
It's not just about him.
And then, you know, at the busiest day of his life, he gets up early and he prays,
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: you know, he's got, he had that connection with the father.
So, I mean, yeah.
Cliff, um, the book is for anybody looking to.
You know, improve their life and get high performance in their life
because that is the role model.
I just try to help define it and make it applicable to your life.
Sam Acho: Jeff, you, you talk about defining it and how Jesus,
Jesus is the ultimate role model.
do you live it out in your daily life?
I mean, listen to you talk about the car rides and the notes.
I remember, cliff, when you and I used to train, you'd have
these notes on the whiteboard.
I would every day look forward okay, what is the message of
the day that Cliff would write?
I didn't know necessarily where it came from.
Now I'm getting some insight, but Jeff, how do you live it
out on a day-to-day basis?
Jeff Friday: Yeah.
It's a, it's a checklist that is ingrained in my mind of knowing
that I have to hit these four areas either daily or every couple of days.
And so it's, it can be intentional.
Or it can just be a habit.
It's been said that 40% of, uh, our, what we do is, is habitual.
It's a habit.
And the reason that habits are good habits can be good or bad.
The reason we like habits is because it conserves energy in the brain.
That's why you, Sam, as a, as a pro athlete, you had these habits or routines
that you did, because what that would ultimately do is it conserves energy
for you, that you can use the field versus wasting it somewhere else.
And so I think it's, it's up to us to develop positive habits or routines
and try to address these areas.
So for me, it could be.
You know, do I read the Bible on a daily basis or a devotional?
Simple as that.
Do I start my day with that?
Do I do some type of exercise?
It could be walking, it could, you know, it could be strength training.
Do I get that every day I'm married?
Do I connect with my wife?
Do I make an attempt to connect my wife?
Do I, when there's a argument with my wife, do I work to settle the
argument and offer forgiveness to make sure it's behind us?
Or do I let that creep in my heart and that becomes bitterness?
And that's a conscious decision that we all have to make.
That's relational.
That's just a, an example that I think can happen every day with,
with a wife or whoever it is.
We're always in a forgiveness mode sometimes, and, and then,
um, mentally is, you know, am I.
Am I staying sharp in my craft or, you know, with this book or
just whatever it is in my life, am I, it's called best practices.
That's a business term best practices.
You just keep on improving and learning your craft, not out of selfish ambition,
but then to, to use that to help others.
So mentally, am I, I studying things?
And, that's, that's, uh, that's kind of how, what I do, you know,
my own, in my own mind to, to get that, to get those four blocks in.
Clif Marshall: Uh, Jeff and Sam a note.
Um.
You know, uh, for all of us really.
Um, I was encouraged so much last week, I had a conversation with a
great friend of mine, colleague.
I would sit him a mentor.
His name is John Seroni, and I know Jeff, you know him as well.
But we were talking about this concept of training the mind, the
body, the spirit, and Jeff as being a strength and conditioning coach
for many years, just as I have.
We often talk to our athletes about getting 1% better every day.
And as I was sharing that with him, he said, cliff, what if you took that
mindset and you said you wanted to get 1% better in your faith every day?
And he said, do you realize that in a 24 hour day, 1% of that
is 14 minutes and 24 seconds?
And he said, would you commit to growing in your faith?
1% every day by spending 14 minutes and 24 seconds with the Lord.
And that's reading the Bible, that's praying, meditating,
listening to worship music.
And that really hit me hard.
And I've thought about it a lot ever since.
And I actually shared it with my wife and kids this week.
And I was, uh, reminding my daughter this morning right after
she finished her devotional.
Now the devotional took you about four minutes.
You still got 10 minutes and 24 seconds left.
So she's like, okay, I'll turn on some worship music while I get ready.
But that's so impactful.
I mean, can we commit 1% of our day to growing in our faith?
And, um, you know, I, I think for all of us, that could be,
that could be an encouragement.
Sam Acho: Yeah.
And even, I mean, just to that point, even in the business world too, we,
we, it's, it's easy to break things down to small bites and small chunks.
Everyone says 1% better, even in football, 1% better in sports and 1% better.
Okay, how do I actually do that?
That's what I love about your, the, your book we're talking about, Jeff.
It's like, hey, here's the pillars, but even that 1%, okay, it's 14
minutes 24 seconds can you commit?
Which I mean, you think about, it's actually not that long.
I was on a, a business meeting the other day and, and somebody's
like, Hey, okay, you know, business opportunity will be once a month.
And my first thought was like once a month and I don't have that much time.
It's like, dude, that's, that's literally 12 hours, right?
If an hour meeting that's 12 hours, can you commit to 12 hours?
He commits a 14 minutes and 24 seconds.
You wanna get 1% better?
Here are the actual steps to do it.
Jeff Friday: That's
Clif Marshall: That's great stuff.
And um, you know, Jeff, we like to say as iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
And that's exactly what we're getting outta your conversation today.
So again, thank you for your time and specifically on the four foundations
and the Built for Winning model built.
But I did wanna talk to you a little bit about your journey as
a strength and conditioning coach.
Can you kind of walk us through how you got to the NFL and then once
you got there right, how you ended up becoming a part of a Super Bowl
winning team in the Baltimore Ravens?
Jeff Friday: Yeah, so a strength and conditioning coach is really,
I believe, someone who has a passion for fitness and sport.
And so for me, um, uh, the fitness passion came I think from a deep
wound where I had a family member just make a comment when I was young,
you know, Jeff, you got a flat chest.
It's like, you know, so, but you know, it, it, it, it was, it was a harmless.
Comment, it wasn't meant to be, um, anything more than just an
observation, but that I think maybe went into my subconscious.
And so what that did then, as I got a little bit older, uh, in high school
and college, man, I, I, I hit the weight room and building my body to increase
my self-confidence, my self-esteem.
so it came, it became, you know, my fitness became a weapon
almost for, you know, for harm.
To be totally honest with you, it wasn't sometimes the right reasons.
So that's, that's how I came into the fitness profession.
so, but that love of both of those, I started, uh, volunteering.
I knew I wanted to coach at a young age, so I, I volunteered in different settings.
Uh, one of 'em was, um, with A-N-A-I-A women's college basketball
team in, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I went to my undergrad.
Yeah, because I knew I wanted to coach.
Uh, and then, and then my undergrad degree was in physical education,
which is coaching and teaching.
And then I went to graduate school I got my master's degree.
And so, uh, after my master's degree, there was a job at
Northwestern big 10 School.
was a basketball job.
Uh, and uh, back then, this is, uh, back in 1992.
And so the strength profession back then is not what it is now.
Nowadays you got like five strength coaches for football.
And, you know, at, at that, at that time it was one strength coach and
the whole university, and it would be me as an assistant, you know,
basketball actually gave, they eliminated a secretarial position.
have a budget for a, a strength coach.
And so I go into this interview with a men's basketball coach named Bill Foster.
He used to coach at Duke University at the end of his career.
And he's looking through my, my resume and he said, Hey, hey, Jeff.
You know, me about, uh, Cardinal Stretch College, this women's
basketball program NAI program.
Now, mind you, this is before Title ix.
this is, this is, this is long time ago when women's basketball
is not what it is today.
And so I, I'm like, man, this, that's kind of, I'm thinking to
myself, coach, that's really odd.
Ask me about women's basketball.
You know, this is, this is, this is Big 10, you know, basketball, come on, man.
And, uh, so anyway, what happened was I found out that
was 120 applicants for this job.
They brought in four of us.
what separated me from all the other applicants was that the
basketball coach at Cardinal Stretch College, the woman's team.
Okay.
You got that coach, you got a coach, bill Foster from Northwestern.
a mutual best friend by the name of Rick Majerus, who was really
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Jeff Friday: basketball circles.
Clif Marshall: Right.
Jeff Friday: That connection me, it separated me from everyone
else and got me my first job.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: So I, I don't know, you know, cliff, I think, I think
the message there is that for the, the pe young people out there, know,
every, it's relational, I think, um, you gotta, you gotta put yourself
in, in position and get out there.
I I, and I'd like to think that my heart was good as far as, you know, I did
things, uh, for the purity and that just, just happened to get the job that way.
And so I met Northwestern and.
You know, I go to Bill Foster, I say, coach, do you mind if I
travel with the basketball team?
You know, I wanna be the guys, help out all that.
You know, he's said, Hmm, yeah, you, you can travel.
So, you know, whatever, whatever city I went to, I always try to
meet a strength coach just to learn and, and take in information.
so we go play the Minnesota Golden Gophers and we, I had just, I just happened to
have a buddy in town and he had a car.
So I called the Minnesota Viking Strength Coach.
The, the facility was in Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis.
So the game's on a Saturday night, my buddy and me go visit the strength
coach for an hour on a Saturday, the end of the visit I said, this
strength coach guy named Steve Wetzel.
I go, Hey Steve, would you mind if I come back during, during
training camp watch you train guys?
So Chicago to Minneapolis is a five hour drive.
You go, yeah, sure.
So that's what I did, you know, training camp.
I go up there.
Back in the old days training camp was at the local colleges.
Nowadays it's at the facilities of the, of the teams NFL teams.
But back then they, they took the show with them and back then what they would
do for the weight room is they would put up a, a tent next to the practice
field and you bring your own equipment.
That's just what they did back in the day.
And so I go to, I go to Mankato State, I got my cup of coffee, it's about noon.
That's what time the strength coach told me to get there.
uh, the strength coach had a system where he would have two players
come to the tent every five minutes.
And so Coach Dennis Green, the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
got, he eliminated a second practice in the afternoon just so guys could lift.
This is before all those rules.
This is, this is, this is prehistoric.
So this is back in the day where there was very few rules and you know, coaches were
really beating the heck outta players.
And so it was a four hour training block because two players would come,
you'd go down this assembly line and you had a coach at every other exercise.
So it was beautiful.
It was like supervision.
You get a workout card, adjust the seat height, put the weight on.
It was great.
So the young guys were the ones that came in first because the veteran
guys could take a nap, rest up, come in later in the afternoon, and that
bleeds into dinner and evening meetings.
And so the part-time help that day they, they didn't show up.
all of a sudden, Hey Jeff, I need your help.
And I'm like, oh, you know, so I'm, you know, end up coaching.
So I'm doing this, I'm, I'm in this, this four hour block doing my thing,
and the last guy to walk in is a guy by the name of Chris Carter Hall of
Fame wide receiver that Chris Carter.
because he was the last guy to come in, I ended up spending half the workout
with him because everybody else is done.
I'm just doing my thing.
He leaves the tent, he's walking outta the tent, and he yells at the head
strength coach Steve Wetzel goes, Hey Wetzel, you gotta hire that guy.
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Jeff Friday: So, hey, two years later, two years later, Wetzel
calls me, he said, Friday, he said, you're number two on my list.
The first guy's at Michigan.
But he's not gonna take the job because his wife has a good job.
If he turns it down, it's your job.
I got the job,
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Jeff Friday: got the job.
I became assistant strength coach in the Minnesota Vikings in 1996.
And when I was with the Minnesota Vikings, we went to the
playoffs three years in a row.
1998, we draft a wide receiver by of Randy Moss.
You got Randy Moss on one side.
You got Carter on the other side.
You got two Hall of Famers.
got a running back in the back field by name, Robert Smith, Ohio State
Kid, who was a track and field guy who could score from anywhere on the field.
You got three first round picks in the old line, and your
quarterback is a strong arm.
Older.
Randall Cunningham, deep Ball Randall Cunningham.
So 1998, we score the most points in the history the National Football League.
We go 15 in one.
We win by an average margin of 17 and a half points by a game or per,
you know, I think by by per game.
And we go to the NFC championship game.
We're playing the NFC Championship game against the 14 and two
Dirty Bird Atlanta Falcons.
Fox Sports says it's the second most exciting SE championship game in
the history of the National Football League, and we lose in overtime.
And so our head coach, Brian Bill, excuse me, our offensive coordinator,
Brian Bill, the orchestrated the offense that night after the game.
He goes and interviews with a Cleveland Brown, Cleveland
Browns in downtown Minneapolis.
don't seal the deal.
The next day he goes to Baltimore, he gets the job.
Two days later, this is before cell phones.
Two days later, I call his home.
I talk to his wife, you know, Hey, if, if, if Brian's looking for a strength
coach, I'm, you know, I'm interested.
And she's like, well, he's at the Senior Bowl.
I'm sure he'd like to talk to you.
Seven o'clock the next morning, I get the call from Brian Billick, basically
offered me the job, so I become the head strength coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
Two years later, we win the Super Bowl that year, we give up the fewest points
in the history of the National Football League, a record that still stands and
probably won't be broken because of rule changes, 10 po, 10 points per game.
So all these adjectives of this great defense, strong,
powerful, you know, tough.
was basically the same strength program from Minnesota.
Adjectives of speed, explosiveness, quickness with the Baltimore
Ravens and different adjectives, but different beautiful human
beings with different capabilities.
And so, you know, we won that Super Bowl through adversity, a lot of adversity.
But we won.
And then, um, that kind of propelled, propelled me in my, my
NFL journey, which lasted 21 seasons.
Sam Acho: Such a great story.
Coach.
I just want to cliff, before you hop in.
Uh, to me it's like, oh man, you know, we won.
We won, we won.
What was the adversity like that season for you?
Jeff Friday: Yeah.
Well, if I can speak on the team's behalf, we had a historic defense, so
you knew that you can't waste that.
Because that's histor.
It's, it's not gonna happen again.
And we went five games the middle of the season without
scoring offensive touchdown.
That's adversity.
We won, I believe we won three of 'em because of our defense
and our special teams, but it, it, it could not have gone on.
So in those moments, I didn't hear boom from players.
That team, we had 20 players that were 30 years or older.
So we had veteran players who knew their job and knew their role and
were unified despite what happened between the offense and the defense.
And the head coach, man, he, he made a quarterback change,
so he inserted the backup.
Who was Trent Dilfer.
Trent Dilfer went to Fresno State, was the sixth pick in the draft.
When he came out gr really good quarterback.
He was with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, and his contract ran out
and they didn't extend him, so he signed the Ravens as a backup for,
back then it was a million bucks.
Headlines, Trent doer signs back up a million bucks.
So his his first start as the starting quarterback.
We lose at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, nine to six.
Same old, same old.
But he was a guy who was a team first guy players loved him.
He, he wore his, he wore his heart sleeve
and we'd go and win 11th straight with him as our starting quarter.
He was the perfect quarterback for that team all the way to the Super Bowl.
So that's adversity.
During the season and we overcame that.
Clif Marshall: Jeff, I wanted to ask you, um, in addition to the adversity
you felt your coaching journey, what sticks out to me is there's two.
Opportunities that you had to volunteer and work for free.
The first was with the N-A-N-A-I-A women's basketball program.
That got you that job at Northwestern.
And the second was a five hour drive to the Minnesota Vikings training
camp where you volunteered basically to help out in the weight room.
There's a sermon in that, I believe there's a lesson in that.
Can you share with our, uh, audience about what it means, not necessarily to pay your
dues, but just in other words, you know, get out and hit the road and try to make,
um, you know, opportunities for yourself.
'cause you created those opportunities.
Jeff Friday: Yeah, I think, um, what I would like to
stress to the audience is that.
It wasn't outta selfish ambition.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: It wasn't, um, I was trying to get something, uh, I was
really just trying to serve and learn and bring in the case of the
Viking, just bring information back.
I never thought I'd be a strength coach in the National Football League.
I thought that.
And so would, I would tell people, the sermon to me would just be,
you know, be authentic, real.
Uh, but be intentional about developing relationships because relationships
is how things travel through.
I mean, if you look at the gospel message that travels through
people, that's relational.
And so just, just check your heart when you do things and, and put.
Put the work in and be intentional about growth, be intentional
about growth, so that, those are some things that come to mind.
Cliff,
Clif Marshall: Good stuff.
I gotta ask you, what was it like training Ray Lewis in the weight room
and did he bench press more than I do?
Jeff Friday: where do you bench press Cliff?
Clif Marshall: Not near as much as I used to coach.
Jeff Friday: Um, yeah, so, you know, the, at the intro there you
mentioned 12 Hall of Fame players.
And so I came in the Baltimore Ravens in 1999 and Ray Lewis
I think was drafted in 96.
And so I think that was his fourth year in the league.
And, um, the year we won the Super Bowl, we had.
A veteran by the name of Shannon Sharp who was in the Hall of Fame.
We had another veteran by the name of Rod Woodson who was in the Hall of Fame.
And those three guys were together a lot.
And, and what I mean by that is that, you know, Ray, who was younger,
still still a great leader, but he was under their leadership learning
they were building into him.
And even when, after a Super Bowl run, we had Randall Cunningham, who I mentioned,
he came to the Ravens, Randall's, he's doing bible studies with, with those guys.
So Ray is being built into as a young player.
So that's, that's what I remember.
But then as his career escalated, you know, Ray, to me, he drew people in.
leadership.
So what that meant was that it didn't matter.
From my vantage point, it didn't matter if you're a rookie, you're
a free agent, it didn't matter who you are, he's gonna draw you in.
And so I remember in the, in the Ravens weight room, we had this really big mat
on the floor where we did core work.
And Ray had this, this ab routine that he would, once in a while, do,
you know, a list of 20 different exercises, whatever it was.
And you know, he would, Hey, come on, do do this with me.
Do you know, do this with me.
You see all, you know, 10, 15, 20 guy, whatever it was, you
know, doing this ab routine.
And the rookie, I'd say, I'd say, if a rookie goes, I say, Hey, just so you know,
you're gonna probably get some soreness.
So just be, just, just so you know.
But he brought, he drew people in as a leader.
And so from, from our, from the time I was with him, I think we had six defensive
coaches become head coaches in the NFL.
Okay, so he took your team and he elevated it by his passion and
drive and work ethic and standard.
So that's what I saw.
And from a fiscal standpoint, Sam, you can relate to this man, tough.
Tufts University, they did a, they did a study and they equaled a hit the National
Football League to that of standing on top of the crossbar of a goalpost.
And that crossbar is, is 10 feet high and doing a swan dive into the turf
with no pads standing and getting hit by a car moving six miles per hour.
So that's what a hit by a 240 pound linebacker feels like in the NFL.
And that's what Ray Lewis did for a living.
And he did it for 17 years.
And Ray Lewis' stats is he has over 2000 combined tackles and 1,500 solo tackles.
So you add it all up and that's like almost 4,000 hits.
So when you think about the physical sustainability what he did to take care
of his body, of not only participating in the weight training program, but finding,
you know, avenues outside of the program.
Kickboxing.
You know, back in the early days, in the early days, we had a 16 week off
season program and it was a paid program.
Players got paid to train.
And so because of the length of the program, a lot of those veterans,
they don't want to, they don't wanna start running in March or April.
Back in the day, they started running later the off season as it got closer
to the season to conserve the joints.
so with Ray, you know, he liked to bike and so there's, it's called
spin cycle, the heavy flywheel.
I brought a spin cycle instructor and bikes into the facility for
him and for other veteran guys.
So they would do that as part of the routine.
And so, but you add up all these layers to the routine, you're always tweaking
and that just gives you sustainability.
And that's what I think about Ray, I think of his leadership and the
fact that he played 17 years at a high level, won two Super Bowls.
That's what I think about it.
And, and, and that national Football League's been in
existence over a hundred years.
And he's your star in linebacker on your a hundred year anniversary team.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: Hmm,
Jeff Friday: player, good player.
Sam Acho: coach, I want to go back real quickly and I know we're coming
to a close, but I did want to get back to a point that you made in a
story you told when you were younger.
I.
You said a comment was made and somebody said, okay, I got a, you
have a flat chest, and you started working out and training and getting
in the weight room, but you said you started to use that for evil.
How did you begin change that to good.
Jeff Friday: Self-awareness.
I heard people, I heard a friend.
So my senior year in high school, a buddy of mine led the student
congregation in a, an assembly.
He organized it the whole school, it's the whole student body.
He organized it in the gymnasium.
I wasn't there.
I was in the basement lifting weights.
I hurt my friend.
So that's, that's an example of using it for harm.
It supersedes other blocks being there for my friend and just over
time learning how to place it in the context of the other blocks.
And so we get mi we get mixed messages.
I think about importance of things and even at church I went to is like, man,
if you, if you wanna be a high achiever, you gotta devote your whole life to this
one thing at this time in your life.
And I'm not so sure about that.
I think you can achieve all your dreams by having a full,
abundant life in all these areas.
And so that's, that's what I would preach.
there might be seasons of life where, you know, you may have to shore up a
relationship or shore up a physical activity routine or just whatever it is.
But the more you can combine all four in or.
Basis, I think the more fruitful you will be as a human being.
Clif Marshall: That's really good, coach.
Really good.
I had one more question for you.
Um, I want to know as I sit here in my office and I've got so much
memorabilia and uh, championship balls.
I got championship rings, conference championship rings.
I don't have a Super Bowl championship ring.
Uh, but like you do.
But I want to know, did that Super Bowl, did that championship ring,
did it bring you fulfillment?
Jeff Friday: The championship ring was just a, a symbol, just
a symbol of an accomplishment.
That's all it was.
We, um, the, the championship ring was from the 2000 season and in 2020, I.
The Baltimore Ravens wanted to bring us back to Baltimore to celebrate,
but because of Covid, we, couldn't.
So they did a Zoom call and so on the Zoom call and hearing the life stories
of all the guys that were on that team, you just realized how special the
human beings were that just happened to be together in that one moment of
time, playing the sport of football.
That's all it was.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: That's all it was.
Special human beings together.
Clif Marshall: well you've mentioned earlier, you know, in, in our
podcast, you know, it's, it's more than just the physical, right?
And one of my favorite bible verses actually a Bible verse that changed
my coaching philosophy is from one Timothy four eight and it says, for
physical training is of some value.
But godliness has value for all things holding promise for the
present life and the life to come.
And you talked about eternity, right?
And I think that the rings are a sign of achievement to your point.
But a friend of mine said, cliff, don't chase rings as a
coach, chase eternal crowns.
And I think what that means is the relationships, like you talked about,
uh, that we develop with athletes, with coworkers, with colleagues.
Those are things that will remain forever.
I say it all the time.
Results are temporary.
Relationships are eternal.
So my cliff note today is don't chase the temporary ring.
Chase the eternal crown.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
That's so good.
And, and I, you know, cliff usually give the cliff notes.
This is, I don't if it's Sam know, I don't know what we call it, but,
but man, Jeff, after listening to you, I hear a message of
Like, I hear this message of, okay, if there's some stuff
that you've been holding in.
It'd be wise to address it before it hurt somebody.
You didn't physically, because of your strength or size hurt someone.
But you talked about that emotional piece of not being there for your
friend because of something else that was totally not related to
your friend, but related to you.
And just the reminder is to heal, like take the time to heal.
You talk about those 45 minute drives.
You're not listening to music or podcasts or whatever.
You're just praying.
allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you.
You're, you're, you're spending time with Jesus.
You're not afraid of like, I gotta go all through all these things.
No, I, God, what do you have for me today?
letting that permeate into your mind, your body, your soul, and all of a sudden
it can direct your past and direct your day and have different conversations
that you wouldn't have had earlier about volunteer opportunities took.
I mean, that's how those doors opened.
You didn't go there saying, okay, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna train Chris car.
You go, Hey, I just, I wanna observe, you're observing, someone calls you in.
You do a good job.
You don't, you're not trying to go at, you just do your job.
You, you give it your all and all of a sudden one of the best players on
the team is like, let's hire this guy.
And notice it wasn't like two weeks later you got hired.
It was two years.
Clif Marshall: Wow.
Sam Acho: so for me, just as a thank you for me to you, thank you for
taking the time to go and heal from a comment that was made, right?
I wrote about this in, in, in the book you showed earlier, cliff,
let the world see you, man.
Like those things that we hide, there's healing that, that needs to happen
for us to not just grow for ourselves, but grow for the people around us.
So, so, so Jeff, thank you so much for not just doing the hard work of healing,
but sharing the hard work of healing.
Jeff Friday: Yeah.
If I could just piggyback off that, that's a great point.
And, and I, I do wanna make the point that there's this, there's a phrase
or saying off the field, on the field.
And I just wanna make a point that I, I feel that's a manmade line.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: There is no off or on the field, and it's your
point, Sam, when we step on that field, we take everything with us.
Very few players can compartmentalize, compartmentalize their life.
And so what I mean by that is that one of the teams I was with, we had a
second round draft pick, very talented player, but he had trouble stringing
together consistent performance.
And so I was talking with our sports psychologist and I said,
uh, you know, why, why is it this, this player's so talented?
He's, but he's up and down, up and down.
This is a sports psychologist now this is science.
He said, you know, coach, he goes, it's really hard to stay focused
for a sixty minute, three hour game.
So there's moments when.
Your mind takes to who you are off the field.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: And so if your life is in shambles, maybe it's alcohol or maybe
it's you're a single dad, whatever the situation is that comes into your mind
and everything we do is for emotion.
The act of making a tackle or scoring a touchdown, it's an
act, but you get emotion from it.
Well, this player, this board psychologist was saying, you know this, the player
just has a hard time emotionally getting joy because he just keeps
on coming back to, is off the field.
And so to your point, Sam, there's the more things that we can heal
and address, the more free we will be to really reach our potential.
Sam Acho: Oh.
That's
Clif Marshall: Jeff,
Jeff, one one.
One more.
One more thing as, as you're talking about that you shared this wisdom
with me when we were working together on the Bengal Strength staff.
You told me, you said, cliff, all problems in life are spiritual,
all problems in life are spiritual.
And, um, as you, as you talk about that, you know, um, drug addiction,
alcoholism, adultery, infidelity problems in the workplace, um, it's
all because there's spiritual warfare that we're dealing with each and every
day within our marriage raising kids.
And I think, um, the common denominator in that is that we all
deal with it and we all know there's evil and we also know there's good.
And so I just want to reiterate the, this book built for winning, the, the,
the spiritual component, you said is the most important component in the book.
That we would all continue to fight the good fight of faith because we
are certainly every day when our feet hit the ground in a spiritual battle.
Evil with Satan.
He comes to steal, kill, and destroy as it says in John 10 10.
But it goes on to say that Jesus comes to give us life and life to the fool.
So for our listeners out there, uh, Pete fighting the good fight and um, you
know, we can win this battle together.
Jeff Friday: Can I add something?
Sam Acho: Yes.
Jeff Friday: um, and I write about this in, in the book, um, but from being
in a, in a, the a FC North with the Ravens and the Bengals, we would face
the Pittsburgh Steelers twice a year.
And one of their players, uh, on the field was a safety by the name of Troy
Polamalu, who is a Hall of Fame player.
And, um, one thing I noticed, you know, being on the sideline is
that he would, he would make the sign of a cross between plays.
This, this is a generational player.
He is all fan player.
And so as I did my research, I found out that he accompanied that
sign of the cross with a prayer.
And it wasn't a prayer like, oh Lord, you know, why did I miss that tackle?
It was, you know, Lord, thank you for this opportunity to play the game.
And so in an NFL football game, roughly, on average, about 65 plays per game.
So this player, this player saying a lot of prayer, and it cliffed
to what you said, he viewed the sport as a spiritual battle,
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: a physical battle.
So
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Jeff Friday: I, I would like your listeners to know that they can take
prayer with them anywhere they go.
And I think, cliff, you said it, God's God's, anywhere everywhere, pray anywhere.
Clif Marshall: Mm-hmm.
Amen.
Jeff Friday: the green light to do that in your life.
In any circumstance you are in, whether you're on the football
field, on the basketball court, at the dinner table, boardroom,
bring, bring, bring Jesus with you.
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: Hmm.
That's so good.
Well, coach Friday, thank you so much.
Not only for sharing.
This message, but also sharing your book Built for Winning.
We'll have all the information, Fred, anyone wants to learn more.
Uh, it'll be on the podcast.
We'll have it in the show notes as well.
Go to sam macho.com
and all the information will be there on the podcast.
Coach Cliff as well, thank you for sharing not just the Cliff notes,
but also these relationships.
I mean, I'm just listening.
It's like, man, cliff, you said you, uh, coach Friday said you
were a big encouragement to him
Clif Marshall: Hmm.
Sam Acho: a time he needed it most.
You've been that for me.
You've been that for countless of other players, and so thank y'all so
much for listening to the Sam Macho podcast, featuring Cliff Marshall.
Thank you Jeff Friday for being our guest and for writing your book.
Everybody go make sure, check out Bill for winning.
It'll be all over the podcast as well, and we'll see you next time.