ALL IN GRIT: The Culture Code & Elite Performance of UB Men's Basketball

ALL IN GRIT: The Culture Code & Elite Performance of UB Men's Basketball

In the most special edition of the Bulls Rise Podcast yet, Dr. Chris Perry sits down with the men who run UB Men's Basketball: Head Coach George Halcovage III, who helped lead Villanova to two national championships before becoming the 15th head coach in UB history , Director of Sports Performance Jon Mangel, Athletic Trainer Austin Herman, and Dr. Luke Pryor, exercise physiologist and performance consultant from UB's Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences. One program. One standard. One conversation about what becomes possible when a Division I basketball program and an exercise science department go all in together. In this conversation, you'll hear: 📊 "If you're not assessing, you're guessing" — why sports science is no longer optional at the D1 level 🤘 ALL IN GRIT — the nine-letter culture code broken down letter by letter 😈 "Make me the villain" — how Coach G uses data to push players without pushing them away 🔄 How the transfer portal compressed four years of development into one summer 💪 Myth-busting careers: athletic training, strength & conditioning, and the 12-month coaching job 🧠 Acute to chronic workload, energy systems, and what "available" really means 👨‍👦 The family culture that defines this program 🎵 The lightning round: documentary titles, season words, and walkout songs 🎙️ Bulls Rise is the official podcast of the University at Buffalo's Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences, hosted by Dr. Chris Perry — Clinical Assistant Professor and Executive Performance Coach. 🔗 CONNECT WITH BULLS RISE: 📸 Instagram: @UBuffaloENS 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes featuring researchers, clinicians, coaches, educators, and students shaping the future of exercise science, sports medicine, and human performance. #BullsRise #AllInGrit #UBHoops #CollegeBasketball #SportsScience #StrengthAndConditioning #AthleticTraining #ExerciseScience #UBENS #UniversityAtBuffalo #HornsUp #MACBasketball 00:00 — Cold Open: One Morning Inside the UB Basketball Facility 02:00 — Welcome & Meet the Staff: Coach G, Jon Mangel, Austin Herman, Dr. Pryor 04:00 — Jon Mangel's Origin: The Weight Room With Dad and Big Brother 06:00 — Austin Herman's Origin: Three-Sport Athlete Meets Sports Medicine 08:00 — Coach G's Origin: Injuries at Babson and the Mentor Who Changed Everything 11:00 — From Villanova Camp Worker to Two National Championships 13:30 — Dr. Pryor's Origin: The Utah Jazz Fan Who Became the Scientist 16:00 — The Three Energy Systems of Basketball 18:00 — Coach G on the Partnership: "Not Every Place Can Do This" 21:00 — How Testing Data Shapes Strength & Conditioning Programming 23:30 — Acute to Chronic Workload: Training Hard Enough to Be Ready 26:00 — The Art and the Science: Numbers Supplement, Never Replace 27:30 — "Make Me the Villain": Using Data to Coach the Mind 30:00 — "If You're Not Assessing, You're Guessing" 32:30 — The Transfer Portal Reality: Building Players in One Year 35:00 — ALL IN GRIT: The Full Letter-by-Letter Breakdown 41:00 — The George Raveling Tribute: Growth Mindset for Life 43:00 — Carrying the Culture Into the Weight Room and Training Room 45:30 — "Attitude. Next Play." — Handling Failure in Real Time 48:00 — What a Ready Athlete Looks Like: On Time, Hydrated, Available 50:30 — Dr. Pryor's Consistency Pyramid and the Tokyo Olympics Story 53:30 — Lightning Round: Career Documentary Titles 56:00 — One Word for This Season: Together. Championship. Relentless. Electric. 57:30 — Myth-Busting: Taping Ankles, Inflicting Pain, and Summers Off 01:00:00 — How to Handle a Loss: Grace, Class, and Staying Neutral 01:02:00 — Walkout Songs: Black Eyed Peas, The Who, the Bulls Intro, and Stone Cold 01:04:30 — How the Bulls Rise: Family First, Through Thick and Thin 01:08:00 — "Hey Daddy, Did We Lose?" — Coco and the Miami of Ohio Story 01:11:00 — Dr. Pryor: "You Don't Bring Your Kids Around Unless You Feel Safe" 01:13:00 — Closing: Show Up, Work Hard, Stay Together, Be Electric

The Invisible Stressor: What Construction Workers, Kidneys, and a 2:30 AM Roof Job Are Teaching Us About Heat ft. Dr. Fabiano Amorim

Heat kills more Americans than any other weather event — and most of those deaths never get recorded as heat at all. This week on Bulls Rise, Coach P welcomes Dr. Fabiano Amorim, an exercise and thermal physiologist, associate professor, and department chair at the University of New Mexico. Fabiano studies heat where it actually does its damage: on construction sites at 2:30 in the morning, in the sugarcane fields of Brazil, across 18-hour workdays on five hours of sleep. His question is deceptively simple — what is heat actually doing to the human body when nobody is looking? The answers are alarming. Heat is the deadliest weather event in the country, its true toll hidden behind cardiovascular miscoding. In the fields, workers sweat up to ten percent of their body weight a day, driving a silent kidney disease epidemic. But Fabiano also flips the script: used correctly, heat is one of the most underrated tools in exercise science — a hormetic stressor that supports recovery and even helps maintain muscle. Because physiology only makes sense in context. Heat is a killer and a medicine. He also models real scientific humility, openly sharing the idea he once dismissed that became his life's work, and offers some of the best advice a student will hear all year: there's a horse passing, and it's not coming back. Get out of your comfort zone and enjoy the ride. When asked what it means to rise, Fabiano kept it grounded: think about the journey, reevaluate, refocus on what matters, and spend less time on what doesn't. 🎙️ Bulls Rise is the official podcast of the University at Buffalo Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences. Hosted by Dr. Chris Perry, PhD, CSCS. #BullsRise #HeatStress #ThermalPhysiology #OccupationalHealth #ExerciseScience #SaunaTherapy #UBENS #UniversityAtBuffalo

The Future of Dietetics and Why Small Changes Beat Perfect Diets Every Single Time ft. Tiffany Rutecki

She's been asked to write a meal plan thousands of times. Here's why she almost always says no. This week on Bulls Rise, Coach P sits down with Tiffany Rutecki — registered dietitian, certified nutritionist, and clinical director of UB's Clinical Nutrition Master's Program. With more than a decade as a clinical dietitian and years of training future RDs, Tiffany brings one of the most grounded, no-nonsense perspectives on nutrition the show has ever featured. Her central message: it doesn't have to be that hard. Tiffany dismantles the meal plan myth, explains why small changes beat perfect diets every single time, calls out the over-processed health food industry, and walks through the high-protein advice that could actually be dangerous for certain people. She also makes the case that motivational interviewing, finding your why, and the add-not-restrict philosophy are just as essential as any clinical credential. And she talks about the Italian family table, stuffed shells from her grandfather, and why food is love before it's ever just fuel. When asked what it means to rise, Tiffany kept it simple: it's temporary, it's going to get better, and she's grateful for the challenges that keep her going. 🎙️ Bulls Rise is the official podcast of the University at Buffalo Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences. Hosted by Dr. Chris Perry, PhD, CSCS. #BullsRise #Nutrition #RegisteredDietitian #ClinicalNutrition #ExerciseScience #UBENS #UniversityAtBuffalo

Training an Athlete, Not a Player: The Next Generation of Female Coaches ft. Cassandra Vaccaro

Before Title IX, 90% of girls' sports teams were coached by women. Today it's 45%. The law that expanded girls' sports somehow cut the number of women coaching them in half. This week on Bulls Rise, our student edition, Coach P sits down with Cassandra Vaccaro, a USA Hockey Level 4 coach with bronze-level goaltending certification, a Zamboni driver for the Buffalo Sabres, and a full-time UB exercise science student heading into the graduate program. She started coaching at 19, she's frequently the only woman behind the bench, and she's on a mission to change that. Cass shares the staggering Title IX statistic, what it's like to be the first female coach most of her players have ever had, and why simply being visible changes what young girls believe is possible. She explains why early specialization may be the biggest detriment to youth athletes, shares the kid-friendly coaching cue that instantly fixed a young goalie, and walks through the serendipitous Canadian rink moment that combined her loves of coaching and research. She also offers honest, encouraging advice for any student feeling lost on their path. When asked what it means to rise, Cass said it best: be confident, forget the preconceived notions, know what you know, and don't be afraid to be wrong, because now you learn for next time. 🎙️ Bulls Rise is the official podcast of the University at Buffalo Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences. Hosted by Dr. Chris Perry, PhD, CSCS. #BullsRise #WomenInSports #Hockey #TitleIX #ExerciseScience #UBENS #UniversityAtBuffalo

The Coaching Skills that Translate to Every Career: A World Rugby Master Trainer on the Art of Coaching ft. Mike Hodgins

Picture two coaches. One yells instructions all practice. The other asks questions and lets his athletes figure it out. One builds better players under pressure — and it's not the one you'd expect. This week on Bulls Rise, Coach P sits down with Mike Hodgins — a World Rugby Master Trainer who works at the national governing body level for both USA Rugby and World Rugby, and who teaches the coaching minor at UB. With more than 25 years in the game, Mike brings one of the most refined and counterintuitive coaching philosophies the show has featured. Mike challenges nearly everything people assume about coaching. He explains why over-coaching is the number one mistake, why it's never really about the X's and O's, and why the best coaching happens when the coach doesn't have to coach. He breaks down the four pillars of coach development, why games beat drills, the aggregate of marginal gains, and the mentor who believed in him before he believed in himself. And he makes the case — repeatedly — that these coaching skills apply to every profession, not just sports. When asked what it means to rise, Mike kept it simple: just keep going. Every single time he's taken a shot, he's gotten back up. 🎙️ Bulls Rise is the official podcast of the University at Buffalo Department of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences. Hosted by Dr. Chris Perry, PhD, CSCS. #BullsRise #Coaching #Rugby #CoachingPhilosophy #ExerciseScience #UBENS #UniversityAtBuffalo