Working for the Weekend: In-season Return to Performance Methods
Cullen Carroll enters his second season working for Coach Brent Brennan as the Head Coach of Football Athletic Performance at San José State University in 2024. Carroll oversees all aspects of the comprehensive student-athlete development efforts for the Spartan football program, with a philosophy centered around injury prevention, athletic performance enhancement and mental discipline training. In 2023, Carroll was responsible for spearheading the implementation of Sport Science Initiatives with the football program that worked in conjunction with his return to performance protocols. This approach led to dramatic impacts on player health and availability, contributing to a late season 6-game winning streak, culminating in a share of the MWC regular season title, and an appearance in the 2023 Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl. Prior to his arrival to South Campus, Carroll served as the Director of Football Sports Performance at Stanford University for four seasons (2019 — 2022) and was a member of Coach David Shaw's Football staff with the Cardinal for nine seasons overall, starting in 2014. During his time as Director of Football Sports Performance at Stanford, Carroll was directly responsible for the comprehensive student athlete development of the Cardinal football program. In the past four NFL Drafts, Carroll saw 13 of his athletes selected by NFL organizations. Overall, Carroll has seen 35 of his athletes selected in the NFL draft, including 4 in the first round. Prior to being named Director in 2019, Carroll served as the Assistant Director of Football Sports Performance from 2017 to 2019 under the guidance of his mentor, Shannon Turley. During that span the program won the Pac-12 North, earned a berth in the Pac-12 title game, along with an Alamo Bowl appearance in 2017 and a Sun Bowl Championship in 2018. As an Assistant Football Sports Performance Coach at Stanford from 2014-2016, Carroll contributed to the Cardinal winning a Foster Farms Bowl Championship in 2014, a Pac-12 Conference Championship in 2015, a Rose Bowl Game Championship in 2016 and the Sun Bowl Championship in 2017. Carroll began his time with the Cardinal as an intern in 2014 and was quickly elevated to an assistant football sports performance coach during the 2014 Off-season. Carroll also previously served as the Sports Performance Coach for both the Stanford men’s swimming and men’s gymnastics programs, while assisting with the wrestling program. The men's swimming program earned back-to-back Pac-12 titles under Carroll's direction in 2016 and 2017. Before coming to Stanford, Carroll assisted with all aspects of football sports performance at Wake Forest University in 2013. A native of Petaluma Calif., Carroll holds a master's degree in Kinesiology from San José State University, and a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Willamette University, where he was an All-Northwest Conference linebacker. Carroll began his collegiate coaching career as a student assistant serving as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Willamette football program. He is certified SCCC through the CSCCa, CSCS through the NSCA, and is CPR/AED/First Aid certified through the American Heart Association. He and his wife, Kylie Carroll (Mulligan), live in Campbell with their son, Joseph.
