Jill Costanza | Exploring the “Wild West” of Sport Science

The path to the top is not always linear. For Jill Costanza, it included returning to school and stops in collegiate and military performance before becoming Director of Sport Science and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach with the National Football League (NFL) Detroit Lions. Costanza describes today’s sport science landscape as a “Wild West,” where definitions differ by perspective. Her focus centers on assessing the athlete and program effectiveness against the demands of the game to identify holistic interventions. She outlines how intentional systems, a clear communication funnel, and data visualizations help athletes and stakeholders understand the “why,” build buy-in, and tap into competitiveness. Addressing common misconceptions, Costanza clarifies that elite athletes can still have foundational qualities that need rewiring. She emphasizes movement quality, proprioception, and breathing while adapting for individual needs and neurological fatigue. Learn how to build sport science systems, turn insights into action, and keep progressing on your professional path.

Reach out to Jill by email at: jill.costanza@lions.nfl.net | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs  

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“For me personally, my philosophy is educating the athlete and giving them the why. It's their body. It's their processes that they're having to go through. So we can get buy in from the athlete, and they understand, even when they're away from us, how to take care of themselves, how to lead a healthy lifestyle, that buy in from them where they care and they're asking questions, it definitely makes the process much smoother, and they become proactive.” 12:00

“There are certain qualities that still need to be built that can sometimes be overlooked at this level because you just assume, well, they're the best of the best. They're the elite. But sometimes, we really have to regress and go back to basic motor learning, motor control, and reingrain and rewire some of these foundational movement patterns.” 14:30

“I connected with myself. I think that was probably the biggest lesson. I began to learn who I am and really formed a comfortable relationship with myself and trust in myself. I was guided by my intuition. I didn't chase after opportunities. I just focused on what I needed to do to continue to grow as a person, as a coach, and just trusted that the right people would come into my path at the right time with the right opportunity.” 22:30

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[00:00:02.80] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, Season 9, Episode 17.
[00:00:08.32] For me personally, my philosophy is educating the athlete and giving them the why. It's their body. It's their processes that they're having to go through. So we can get buy in from the athlete, and they understand, even when they're away from us, how to take care of themselves, how to lead a healthy lifestyle. That buy in from them where they care, and they're asking questions, it definitely makes the process much smoother, and they become proactive.
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[00:00:48.04] This is the NSCA's Coaching Podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to know but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning, and then there's everything else.
[00:00:58.64] This is the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon. Today, we're learning about coaching in the NFL with Director of Sports Science and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Detroit Lions, Jill Costanza. Jill, welcome.
[00:01:12.78] Hey, E. I have to give you a proper Detroit welcome. What up, doe?
[00:01:17.86] Yeah, I love it. Yeah. No, this is good. Football season in full swing. We're getting it going here. We connected over some certification things.
[00:01:28.05] Yes.
[00:01:29.10] Just been talking over the years about strength and conditioning, sports science in the NFL, and it's exciting to have you on here. So to begin, I see you have that strength and conditioning background. How'd you get started in the field?
[00:01:42.18] Yeah, E. So I was a high school girls basketball coach down in Houston, and my girls kept going down with ACL injuries. I'm just innately a very curious person, so I started delving deeper in trying to find some answers of why that was happening. And not just they tear it once, they come back and tear it again. And I know ACLs are prominent in female sports.
[00:02:19.12] So I didn't even know strength and conditioning was a profession and found the NSCA and was coaching, doing summer basketball camps at University of Texas, and met up with their Head Strength Coach for women's basketball at the time, Shaun McPherson, so shout out to Coach Mac. He was pivotal in being a mentor for me as I was thinking about making a transition into collegiate strength and conditioning, and he invited me out.
[00:02:51.60] I woke up at 3:00 AM from Houston, drove to Austin to be there for 5:00 AM workouts, and spent the whole day with him and the team. And I fell in love with it and decided I wanted-- that was my passion and my purpose. So I applied for grad school at the University of Miami. They had a program specific for strength and conditioning, not just general exercise physiology.
[00:03:16.42] And I went back to school, ended up going back to University of Texas and working with their athletic performance intern program, which is phenomenal, by the way. If you are a young strength coach looking to get in the business and wanting some experience, that is a great internship program. And got to work with Coach Mac again with the women's basketball program, along with some Olympic sports.
[00:03:42.66] From there, my career kind of took me in a lot of different places. Very grateful for those experiences. Like I said, I was an intern at University of Texas. At this time, I was about 35, 36 years old, so pushing 40. It was time to get a job, a paying one. So I had applied to other college programs and saw openings with the military as they're trying to adopt this human performance model.
[00:04:19.80] The Army Wellness Center at Fort Hood, they were the first people to call, and they had great leadership there. So I took that position, spent three years with the army and two years with the Air Force Special Warfare program and transitioned kind of back into a high performance setting.
[00:04:44.08] And that is where I met Coach Clark, Mike Clark, one of the founding fathers of strength and conditioning here in the states-- fantastic man, even better human being, great mentor. And he was Coach Campbell's strength coach at Texas A&M, so they had a really close relationship.
[00:05:10.70] So when Coach Campbell got this job as the head coach, he hit up Mike Clark, who I was working with down in San Antonio with the Special Warfare program, and he asked me if I'd come up and be an assistant strength coach and run the sports science department. So that's how we got here.
[00:05:30.42] That's awesome.
[00:05:31.58] Tried to make that story as brief as possible, because I know I bounced around a lot.
[00:05:37.90] No, but that's really interesting. And I was curious about what roles had led you into that hybrid sports science coaching position that you have. Having a diverse set of positions leading up to the NFL, do you feel like that's helped you in your sports science role now?
[00:05:57.34] Yeah, absolutely. Going back to my time at University of Texas and one of my other mentors, Sandy Abney. She was phenomenal. She sat me down.
[00:06:08.72] And she's like, Jill, as a female in this profession, what will set you apart is if you can learn the sports science side, if you understand the technology, what it's assessing, the data to take from it so that you can better improve your training programs, get information to the coaching staff so that they can better prepare the athletes in practice leading up to the games, you're going to set yourself apart from everyone else.
[00:06:39.96] So kudos to her for providing that wisdom to me. And again, Coach Mac. We didn't have a sports scientist dedicated to women's basketball or basketball in general, so it was one of the assistant strength and conditioning coaches, which was myself. I took over managing our GPS monitors, our force plate technology, and he gave me that role and responsibility, which I'm very grateful for. So that allowed me to actually put into practice the things that I was learning.
[00:07:14.70] It's interesting you mentioned Sandy Abney in an important mentorship role for you.
[00:07:22.42] Yes.
[00:07:22.90] She was able to really tell you maybe where the field was headed--
[00:07:27.26] Yes.
[00:07:27.94] --and give you the cliff notes of the things you would need to do to be successful and lead you into a really cool hybrid role now. What does the landscape of sports science look like for you right now?
[00:07:45.86] For me, E, like I said, you can ask 10 different people what sports science is and what their roles and responsibilities are, and you'll get 10 different answers. It's kind of been the wild, wild west a little bit, people doing different things, and having different perspectives on what sports science is.
[00:08:10.06] So just speaking for myself personally, I would say I'm a strength and conditioning coach first, and then I utilize the sports science side. And whether it's GPS, force plates, 1080 data, looking at kinematics with view motion, some of the different technologies that are out there, really, what I'm trying to do is assess the current state of the athlete.
[00:08:39.72] What are they really good at? Where are their deficiencies, particularly when looking at the demands of the sport? What do they need to have? What qualities do they need to have? Where are they lacking?
[00:08:54.88] And being able to provide some objective information to the rest of our strength staff, our medical staff, nutrition staff, really pulling in that holistic approach so that we can assess the effectiveness of our training program and make sure our athletes are-- the human body is a complex biological system. You'll never have it fully figured out.
[00:09:21.58] But we do as much as we possibly can to identify those potential risks of injury. Where are they lagging? And how can we improve those qualities?
[00:09:37.62] You talked about how vast sports science is and how complex the human body is, and I think that's one of the areas that sports science is so challenging. Where do you start? So from your perspective, how do you make insights that you're getting from data, information that's collected, actionable on a given day with a given athlete? What's your starting point to do that?
[00:10:01.48] Yeah. Well, it starts with understanding the demands of the game by position, by offense, defense, special teams, because it's vastly different. So that helps you work backwards in setting up your systems. What metrics matter, and why are these important?
[00:10:24.48] So instead of just throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks or trying to hunt for something wrong, I'm very intentional with the metrics I look at and why, setting up that system, being particular with the assessments I choose for the athlete. And then on the back side of that, what is our communication funnel?
[00:10:55.36] So whether that is meetings, chain of command. I communicate that to our head strength coach, Josh Schuler, and he goes and communicates that to the medical staff so that we can get the athlete both from a prehab setting as well as in a performance setting before or after they come from practice.
[00:11:19.26] So I'd say that is where I start. Assess the demands of the game, the positional demands. Pick very specific qualities I'm looking at with the technology that I have. And then the flip side of that, what is our system in place to communicate that and disseminate the information?
[00:11:44.70] On the communication funnel, I think that's an important concept for us to dig into just a little bit. Do you feel like sports science information as a whole is being translated well to athletes today, to position coaches, to the head coach? What's your thoughts on that process?
[00:12:03.60] Yeah. For me personally, my philosophy is educating the athlete and giving them the why. It's their body. It's their processes that they're having to go through. So we can get buy in from the athlete, and they understand, even when they're away from us, how to take care of themselves, how to lead a healthy lifestyle, that buy in from them where they care and they're asking questions, it definitely makes the process much smoother, and they become proactive in the approaches that we're trying to provide.
[00:12:48.64] So being able to give them the visual as well and me creating data reports, graphs-- it's easier for them to see sometimes than just hear me dictating to them what they need to do. What if I can show them? And these are competitive athletes. They love competition.
[00:13:11.86] So if they see-- trying to drive that competition, when we do force plate jumps, they all want to know how high they jumped, and they all want to know that they beat their teammate. So if I can provide that context to them and-- look, we're here to help you to make things better or make you better, it definitely helps with buy in.
[00:13:39.54] I think this will be a really interesting question for you having worked with so many different populations. A lot of times, we view the NFL or professional sports as the pinnacle of the industry, and we have maybe a thought about what that's like. For you, what's the biggest misconception about training athletes and working with those elite athletes in the NFL?
[00:14:06.00] Yeah. These guys, over the course of their career, they have been beat up-- and a lot of heavy strength movements but maybe lacking some of the stability. There's some proprioceptive deficits.
[00:14:29.20] So there are certain qualities that still need to be built that can sometimes be overlooked at this level because you just assume, well, they're the best of the best. They're the elite. But sometimes, we really have to regress and go back to basic motor learning, motor control, and reingrain and rewire some of these foundational movement patterns.
[00:14:53.08] Yeah. I think that's a great insight to share. Really, at every level, we're starting at the beginning and building players up to success. And at every level, those players get tested in a new way, get challenged, and maybe they're not the best of the best anymore, or they don't feel like that, right?
[00:15:12.94] Right. And when you're at this level, and it's 10 times faster than it was at the previous level, and everyone's more on a kind of a similar playing field now-- to make it here, you're so elite. OK. Where are those little tidbits of performance that we can improve upon?
[00:15:39.86] Whether it's the sensory system, enhancing the vestibular system for balance. Balance is so key in a three dimensional movement sport. And it's little things like that sometimes get overlooked. Your breathing patterns, your rib cage and pelvic alignment so that you can actually use your diaphragm to breathe better so you can sleep and recover and utilize oxygen better.
[00:16:08.71] Those little things, but they make such a huge impact. Proprioception. I do a lot of water bag work. Perturbations, really challenge proprioception and your kinesthetic awareness and space, body control. Maybe at this level, people may think that that's not needed, but it absolutely, absolutely is.
[00:16:38.24] To dive deeper into maybe what the demands are for these players, what does a typical in-season week in the NFL look like from a strength and conditioning standpoint?
[00:16:51.36] So we'll have a recovery workout for them a day after a game, and then we'll lift on-- if we, let's say, play on a Sunday, we'll lift twice a week, Wednesday and Thursday. Our practice squad lifts a little different. But yeah, we're still getting them at least twice a week throughout the season.
[00:17:17.94] And then we're kind of just microdosing, because most of the players come in after practice, so they're already neurologically fatigued. So maybe some of those power training is difficult to achieve, because obviously, you train for adaptation, but if the functional reserves aren't there to adapt, well, how can we still get this in? And we'll do some microdosing before practice and get them on the indoor field before they head out.
[00:17:48.42] Yeah. That's interesting. I liked how you explained the neurological deficits and fatigue that happens. And I think we've all been in scenarios where, hey, the only time we can get a lift in is after practice. Well, we know they're already warmed up. They're ready to go.
[00:18:04.44] But what else does that mean in terms of training outcomes and how we might adapt the program, what movements we can get in there? I will ask, how important are the big rock movements, the squats, the deadlifts, to maintain strength at that level? Obviously, you have some big, strong guys in the NFL.
[00:18:27.88] Yeah. And again, it goes back to trying to individualize the program as much as possible. Not every guy can-- even though he has been putting a heavy barbell on his back, but he's flaring his rib cage and his hips and all that force goes to the low back and lumbar spine. So how can we put an athlete in better position so they're still getting a squat movement, but it's just more conducive to the positions and the mobility that they actually have access to so that their movement quality is still good?
[00:19:06.74] Yeah, I like that. And especially while those in-season demands are high, you have to pick and choose. You don't have a full arsenal of resources to work with, and whatever level of preparation and health and fatigue that players coming in with in a given day, you really have to be dynamic as a professional to thrive in that situation, recognize, what's needed in this moment to be successful? That comes through loud and clear in your approach. I really appreciate that. Jill, what do you love about this profession?
[00:19:41.70] E, the people. It always goes back to the people. I'm an energy person. Working with Dan Campbell-- you talk about energy and presence. I mean, it's infectious. And it's helping these guys and helping the team win gives me purpose and passion. We have so many different personalities on the team and within the organization. It's the whole ecosystem here that-- it's just fantastic. And I love working with Josh, our head strength coach. I mean, he's become like my best friend, and it is the people.
[00:20:26.88] Yeah, I love that. Now, you mentioned earlier you got a late start on your current path. You were 35 looking for your first full time job in the space, and you're maybe struggling a little bit financially, all these different things that I think strength coaches can connect with. Would you take that back if you could get rid of that phase? Do you feel like that was a necessary learning milestone for you? How would you like to see that improve, maybe that early career progression?
[00:21:04.62] E, I wouldn't change anything. I mean, I know when I said I was going to go back to school, start over, at the time, I was 30 when I first initially had the idea. And when you're 30, and all of your classmates in grad school are 10 years younger than you, you feel ancient.
[00:21:29.74] Looking back on it at 45 now, 30 was still a baby. But all of the different experiences I had, I wouldn't change it for the world because it made me who I am. It made me the coach that I am. It made me a better communicator. It instilled confidence in myself and my abilities.
[00:21:57.78] I like that.
[00:21:59.34] The people, the relationships I built along the way. It was definitely tough going back to school and having a career and stability and retirement and insurance. You give it all up, and you move away to Miami from Houston by myself with just me and my dog. And what an incredible learning experience.
[00:22:29.36] I connected with myself. I think that was probably the biggest lesson. I began to learn who I am and really formed a comfortable relationship with myself and trust in myself. I was guided by my intuition. I didn't chase after opportunities. I just focused on what I needed to do to continue to grow as a person, as a coach, and just trusted that the right people would come into my path at the right time with the right opportunity.
[00:23:04.50] And it kind of went on this zig zag path between college sports, the military, special forces military, into the NFL. And I just have such a broad experience that I can fall back on. So it's definitely made me better.
[00:23:22.38] I love that powerful words right there from Jill Costanza. For everyone listening, I know they're going to want to reach out. What's the best way for them to do that?
[00:23:31.78] I am on the socials, Facebook. Probably just look me up by name, Jill Costanza. I'm on Instagram. I don't post much in terms of human performance on my socials. It's more about me and who I am as a person. So if you're looking for training tips and ideas, you probably won't get much. But I'm on LinkedIn. Shoot me an email, jill.costanza@lions.nfl.net.
[00:24:02.92] Absolutely. We'll add some of those to the show notes for everyone to reach out. Thank you, Jill, for sharing with us today.
[00:24:09.76] Thank you, E. I appreciate you guys so much.
[00:24:12.14] We'll add your info to the podcast notes for our listeners. Thanks to everyone for tuning in today. And a shout out to Sorinex Exercise Equipment, our sponsor. We appreciate their support.
[00:24:23.54] Thanks for listening to another episode of the NSCA Coaching Podcast. We value you as a listener, just as we value your input as a member of the NSCA community. To take action and get involved, check out volunteer leadership opportunities under membership at nsca.com.
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[00:24:42.46] This was the NSCA's Coaching Podcast. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978 by strength and conditioning coaches to share information, resources, and help advance the profession. Serving coaches for over 40 years, the NSCA is the trusted source for strength and conditioning professionals. Be sure to join us next time.
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