“Ready!” Clap. “Ready ready!” Two claps. “Give me three!”. Three claps and whatever team is in the weight room locks in, waiting for instruction from Coach Daniel Eason. Coach Eason took over Legacy’s strength and conditioning program in March after the departure of the former strength and conditioning coach.
“We went like six weeks without one, and I could really tell a difference because we were going back to doing it the old way,” Athletic Director Jeff Hulme said. “When you get a strength coach, that’s all he does and that’s all he studies. That’s all he talks about. That’s all he worries about, is strength and conditioning for the athletes. And so I’m looking forward to that. I’m looking forward to his knowledge and learning from him as much as I can.”
Coach Eason enters Legacy with 27 years of experience, five being at the high school level. Prior to Legacy, Eason coached at Tyler High School, Stephen F. Austin University, University of Central Florida, University of Tennessee and Chowan College. Seventeen of Eason’s 27 years came as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Stephen F. Austin. After coaching changes at Tyler High School and news of Legacy’s opening spread via word of mouth, Eason applied for Legacy’s job.
“The really good jobs are the ones you aren’t looking for,” Coach Eason said. “I had been through several coaching changes in my career, and as a coach you experience a lot of adversity going through this process. You learn not to react, but you need to respond instinctively and intelligently at the same time.”
In high school, Eason strove to be the best athlete he could be and taught himself how to train and diet. Despite being undersized, his work ethic granted Eason the opportunity to play collegiate football.
“I was not the biggest, strongest or the fastest, and definitely not the most athletic, but I could overcome these deficiencies by training in the weight room and I was not going to be outworked,” Coach Eason said. “I realized it wasn’t really about being a starter or the best player on the team, it was about not giving up, or quitting, but to keep fighting and leading by example and being a good teammate.
After college, Eason decided to make his passion into a career, starting at Chowan College. Over the years, his dedication to strength and conditioning allowed Eason to influence the lives of student athletes on and off the field.
“I really felt that I could have a greater impact on athletes as a strength coach,” Coach Eason said. “The longer I have coached, I realize now that I would also have an impact on my athletes lives as well, maybe not all of them, but a few and that’s worth a lot to me.”
Coach Eason will enact a technique based program for all sports, adaptable to each individual athlete’s needs. This includes in-depth performance tracking, nutritional intervention and body composition assessments to ensure diet does not hinder the performance of athletes but rather enhance it.
“[My goal is] to implement a consistent program that is productive, efficient and sustainable to meet the needs of every sport and will allow our athletes to perform at their highest level, and ultimately compete for state championships,” Coach Eason said. “To do this we must first develop an attitude and work ethic that’s consistent with winning championships with tough minded people willing to do tough things. This is a process that takes both patience and time, and the athletes will have to learn to trust the process and know that they will have to put in the work to get the results they need to achieve to be successful.”
Eason is leading the change in Legacy athletic culture by emphasizing a shift from working out to training. The biggest difference Coach Eason describes between the two is that training is never conditional. Although it will require athletes to get out of their comfort zone, they will train with intensity and get better regardless of how they feel under Eason’s program.
“[Athletes] are motivated for the most part, but that expires and must evolve into discipline. To truly commit to the process you don’t have a lot of choices, if you want to be great. You have to be disciplined,” Coach Eason said. “They need to allow themselves to be coached hard and understand its not personal. We can’t be friends, I have to be consistent every day, it’s non-negotiable.”
Coach Hulme and four other people including Girls’ Athletic Director Michelle Morris and Principal Dr. Stephanie Bonneau made up the search committee for a strength coach. After a tedious process consisting of paper screenings and interviews, they hired Coach Eason. Eason has used the first weeks of his Legacy career identifying where athletes are at and what needs they have.
“After I had been given an interview, I felt like this was a place with really good people that cared about and were committed to the success of their student athletes,” Coach Eason said. “I felt like they valued my knowledge and experience as a Strength and Conditioning Coach, and I knew I would be able to make a difference at Legacy High School.”
