april 7 mike senyo
TRANSCRIPT
Hal Hargrave
4/7/15 Mike Senyo
Sports
3343 Words
Coaching others and making an impact on others life’s is always sweeter than being
coached. For, Claremont Mudd Scripps athletics program strength and conditioning
coach, Mike Senyo, this could not be more true.
His coaching style is unique, direct and effective. He prides himself on his motto amongst
athletes and expects nothing less; “Hustle until you no longer have to introduce
yourself.’”
Hustling is what Senyo has done to make his impact known at CMS and he no longer has
to introduce himself to anybody because they are well aware of what he is all about.
Good transition.
Senyo's mindset was not always assertive and direct. But a regimented upbringing in
Blairsville, Pa through his parents guidance, Scott and Sue, has made him the man who
he is today.
Senyo, born in the Bronx, was an active teenage kid in Blairsville, PA, a small city
outside of Pittsburgh.
“I was a three-sport athlete as a kid, but back east, the sports were played based on the
seasons,” Senyo said. “So baseball wasn't played until the summer because snow was on
the ground throughout the year. I played basketball, football and baseball.”
But, right before he was about to start high school his family made the move out to the
Southern California area, near Echo Park in L.A.. Senyo spent his teenage years going to
Dodgers games, but was an avid Pirates fan.
Senyo went to John Marshall High School where he immediately was a star on the
baseball team, while trying to emulate his favorite childhood athlete, Derek Jeter.
“I joined the baseball team right when I moved out here, but I tore the anterior ligaments
in my shoulder and could never throw the ball the same after that,” Senyo said. “So, I
stopped playing baseball my junior year and when I got into football, baseball then
became extremely boring to me.”
Senyo then dedicated his work ethic towards football, as he had done anything else in life
that meant that much to him.
“I was a very aggressive kid, and I still am very aggressive,” Senyo said. “That's the
knock on me with my job now is people say I'm too aggressive. But, I don't have time to
waste and I will just call things how they are. So, as a kid it was easier for me to channel
my energy towards football because it was nice to channel my energy towards lighting
somebody up on the field.”
He developed into a fairly good defensive player, as an undersized defensive lineman and
beast of a linebacker delivering hard hits to his opponents.
“The hardest hit I ever delivered, was my sophomore year,” Senyo said. “The safety
came up to make a tackle on a receiver and I came across and hit him with my helmet. I
broke his elbow right in half, but it turns out it was my own safety not the receiver.”
His high school coach, Andy Moran, was a huge mentor of Senyo’s, and somebody that
he would keep a part of his life for years to come, even during the college application
process.
“I applied to all the Cal States, and even to a school back in Pennsylvania but I did not
want to go back to the snow,” Senyo said. “I thought I would go to San Diego State and
party, and walk onto the football team.”
But after a long talk with Moran, Moran reminded Senyo that he would just be a tackling
dummy at San Diego State, and he should consider being a standout player at the
Division III level.
Moran played football at La Verne and was elected to the La Verne Hall of Fame, so he
was somebody who Senyo respected.
Moran took Senyo to the University of La Verne to give him a tour and Senyo's life
changed. He was immediately drawn towards the La Verne way and saw himself fitting
in nicely as a Leopard.
“I went home that night and told my parents I was going to La Verne,” Senyo said.
“There is something to be said about La Verne. Even though La Verne is a small school
and everybody knows your business, it feels so great to walk around campus and
everybody says hi to you. It just fit me.”
Senyo thrived in his years at La Verne, as a football player and student and developed a
great relationship with strength and conditioning coach, Matt Durant.
“I always had a good relationship with Mike, while he was here and thought that he
worked his ass off as a player,” Durant said. “I liked his mindset a lot and I liked the way
that he went about doing everything, because he was a flat-out worker.”
Durant was somebody that Senyo looked up to and aspired to be someday.
“Durant had a motto that I still live my life by, ‘Do not just talk about it, be about it’,"
Senyo said.
Senyo had gotten married out of college, but would tell you now to not do such a thing at
that age, and was trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life, in
the summer of 2007.
Senyo opted to reach out to a friend, Matt Paulson, and an old teacher at La Verne, Brian
Robin. Paulson and Robin were both employed at a PR firm, Brener Zwikel and
Associates. So, Senyo sent over his resume to them not knowing what would ever come
of it.
“For every job that I've gotten, I have realize it's not about what you know but merely to
you know,” Senyo said. “Oddly enough, my first interview was on my trip of my
bachelor party to Vegas. Matt gave me a call and told me to come over to the Wynn
hotel, because the VP was there and wanting to meet me.”
Senyo went to the Wynn, had the meeting, and left the meeting thinking he had a good
shot at getting the job.
He ended up getting the job days later at BZA.
Senyo thrived early on at BZA, and his favorite client was Santa Anita Park. Which, his
friend and former college professor, Robin, eventually took over from him.
Senyo worked at BZA for a few years until 2012, but began to reflect upon football and
how he was starting to miss it even after getting burned out for playing it for so many
years.
But, in Oct. 2011, Senyo’s high school coach, Moran, had got back in touch with him
saying that he needed his help and advice back on the football field for his struggling
defense. Senyo agreed to go check out one of the team’s practices at John Marshall and
realized he had a new love for coaching.
Senyo reached an agreement with the PR firm to be able to both coach and work on call
at the same time.
Senyo had an incredible time coaching that season, and to this day says that the best
football game that he was a part of was not as a player, but merely as a coach at John
Marshall.
“We were playing Granada Hills in the CIF semi final and were supposed to get
steamrolled,” Senyo said. “The kids from Granada Hills were very pompous, and I come
from LAUSD where we did not have the best of anything and we made due of it. After
we came from behind that game, we drove the length of the field to get in the field-goal
range, where we had not kicked a field goal in the past two seasons. But we kicked the
field goal to win it, and it was so great because I got to coach football for another week.”
Eventually Senyo had a change of heart and did not want to be involved at the PR firm
anymore.
Senyo during this time, in 2012, kept in touch with Coach Durant, at La Verne, and kept
asking him questions about strength and conditioning.
“When things started changing in his life and he started coaching, I put it into his mind
that he should start thinking about being a different type of coach, a strength coach,”
Durant said.
“It wasn't until 2011 when I started coaching that it peaked my interest in football again,”
Senyo said. “I had heard that Durant's graduate assistant was leaving and I inquired about
the assistant strength and conditioning position.”
Durant didn't understand why Senyo would want to leave the sports publicity world, but
did like the fact that Senyo was somebody he could trust and had passion for coaching.
“I was at a point my life where I needed a change,” Senyo said. “When you are sick and
tired of your favorite client, then it is time for a change, and that was me. I told Durant
that I would do whatever it takes, and he told me that I would do all the grunt work and
all the stuff that he didn't like to do.”
Durant agreed to give Senyo the grad assistant position and Senyo’s dad was all for the
idea. Senyo's dad was a priest who coached people on life, so he thought Senyo coaching
athletes would be a great service to society as well.
Senyo’s impact at La Verne as a grad assistant was almost immediate as he received
much respect from both the students and athletes that he coached.
“Mike was a motivator for our team when we had to go through Durant’s lifting
programs,” former La Verne baseball player Matt Ashby said. “He knew how to kick us
in the butts when we needed to work hard, but also told us good jokes when we needed a
good laugh after a tough loss. He always showed up on his bicycle when we had early
morning lifts at 7 a.m. (tired and hung over from the night before).”
Senyo still speaks very highly of the players and baseball team at the University of La
Verne, saying that they are the hardest working team around and that he would love to
work with.
Senyo was known amongst all the athletes as a good storyteller and somebody who is
good at playing jokes on all the athletes. Senyo’s joke-telling and storytelling would not
stop just at school, but would also continue at home with reciting lines from Seinfeld.
Senyo is an absolute fanatic of Seinfeld.
Even as a jokester, Senyo has a side to him that was all business and about the
preparation of his players that he coaches.
To this day he would argue that the best team that he was ever around was the girls
volleyball team at La Verne in 2012, a team that went to regionals.
“The team that year just got it and understood it,” Senyo said. “I would show and
demonstrate a workout and they would never have questions to ask after the fact, they
would just do it. Everybody was accountable and if somebody screwed up and got called
out by somebody nobody got upset, they just got it done.”
Catie Logan, a former volleyball player from the 2012 regional team, still regards Senyo
as one of the best strength coaches she has been around.
“As leaders of the team our senior year we always stressed that ‘You get what you put
in’,” Logan said. “Trying to get back to national prominence started in the summer of
2012 with summer workouts with Coach Durant and Coach Senyo. That summer Senyo
did an awesome job of reiterating the enforcement that Durant instilled in us, but also
keeping the morale light. Having your athletes want to come into a weight room and get
their ass kicked every day is a hard feat to conquer, but Senyo helped make that a reality
for us during summer workouts. Ultimately it helped us to get that much better during the
offseason because we wanted to get in the weight room and get better every day."
Senyo learned a lot from Coach Durant, and has maintained some of those philosophies
still today with his current job.
“The biggest thing that I learned from Coach Durant was knowing and understanding
what your standard is, then keeping and maintaining that standard,” Senyo said.
While, Senyo’s standards are high for the athletes that he coaches, he equally holds
himself to a high standard. Which, was why he was up for the challenge, in September
2013, of taking on a job at, University of La Verne's archrival, CMS in Claremont.
“I took the Claremont job knowing that I was basically starting at zero,” Senyo said. “I
have in my head that I want to be there for at least five to seven years so I can really
leave my mark on the program, and went I leave they can look back and say, ‘Wow he
was good’.”
Senyo has gained a lot of responsibility of being in charge of 16 collegiate teams under
his coaching guidance.
“Mike was thrown into a very tough and interesting situation at Claremont, working with
coaches who have never had a strength coach around their players,” Durant said. “The
coaches have a hard time relinquishing control to a strength coach without knowing truly
what he does to benefit the players.”
Senyo doesn't get ahead of himself thinking of where this job might lead, he simply lives
in the now.
“The next job and getting a Division 1 job is not what I think about, but the job that I
have now is what I think about and how I can better my athletes,” Senyo said.
When Senyo says that he worries about his athletes now and not the future, he is
absolutely telling the truth. He believes that his teams on-field performance and
character, is a reflection of their head coach and himself.
Senyo regards the CMS women's volleyball team a model for what all of his athletes and
teams should strive to be when entering into the weight room.
“As last year’s West Regional champs, I wish all of my other teams would watch how my
girls volleyball team comes in, gets their foam rolling done, and gets their stuff done,”
Senyo said.
The volleyball team, carries themselves the way that they do simply because, Senyo
holds them to a high standard. Even though the volleyball team seems to get it, there still
are plenty of things that Senyo would like to get all of his players to understand and
realize before his time is done with them.
“I want my players to know and understand that they can always work harder,” Senyo
said. “There is always room to improve.”
Senyo believes that learning how to lose and fail is not taught in today's society because
we fear competition.
“I also want them to learn how to fail and bounce back, because I don't think that that is
taught in too many places anymore,” Senyo said. “It's important to know our strengths
and weaknesses, so we can find our weaknesses before our opponents can and correct
them.”
Senyo still does have a tough time coaching against his alma mater, La Verne, and
winning against them is bittersweet.
“There is nothing adversarial about Mike coaching over at Claremont even considering
the rivalry,” Durant said. “But, I will say the one time a year that I tell him not to come
into our weight room and work out is the week that we play Claremont in football.” Nice!
Senyo understands how hard the athletes work at La Verne for his mentor, Durant.
“I am always pulling for La Verne, even as a strength coach at Claremont,” Senyo said.
“I would've told you this year that La Verne would've killed the Claremont football team,
because I know they work harder at La Verne. I have only 16 players in the off-season, at
CMS, working out out of 42 kids and they are not dedicated. It's always hard to coach
against a rival and my alma mater.”
Senyo’s philosophies and training style is effective at the collegiate level. But, even
professional caliber strength coaches have started to recognize the prominence that Senyo
has and want his input now, as well.
Senyo assists, Anaheim Ducks strength and conditioning coach Sean Skahan, with off-
season workout programs for current NHL players, minor-league and prep hockey
players.
“I have 16 teams over at Claremont, but not one of them are hockey,” Senyo said. “So I
thought to learn about a new sport that I did not know anything about, would be
beneficial to me. I have learned things about the hip and how hockey players use it, and
have applied it towards my basketball players and other teams.”
Senyo has found his time working with hockey players to be easy, simply because he
believes they are the best players to coach, by a long shot. The reason being is they
started at the bottom in junior hockey and had to work their way up to the professional
level.
“They understand how the hierarchy works and it's already ingrained into them,” Senyo
said. “They police themselves and they have great discipline. Pro hockey players carry
themselves like professionals at all times.”
Putting all professionalism, rivalries and coaching aside, Senyo still has a life outside of
the sports world, at home.
His hobby might not be one that you would expect, but is something that is very
important to him.
“I'm on marriage number two, so when I have free time, it goes to my wife and spending
time with her,” Senyo said.
Senyo met his wife, Trisha McCormick, in college at La Verne, while she was playing
softball. Ironically enough, she was a good friend with Senyo’s first wife when she was
in college.
“I think Mike and his wife have a very cool dynamic of him being a coach and her being
a softball coach, because they both get the grind,” Durant said. “Inevitably, they will end
up going in life were either she gets a good job and he gets a job as a strength coach
around there, or vice versa.”
McCormick is currently an assistant softball coach at the collegiate level.
While sports do remain a huge aspect of both Senyo’s and McCormick's life and
marriage, they both do plan on having kids together someday. However, Senyo does not
want his kids to specialize in just one sport.
“When I have kids, I hope they play multiple sports but I hope they don't play soccer,”
Senyo said. “I want them to play soccer when they are younger but I hope they don't
gravitate towards it in high school. To me soccer is the softest sport. I want them to play
multiple sports as a kid, because specializing is terrible as a kid and your rate of injury
goes up exponentially. Soccer will help them with their feet and coordination, and give
them a rest from throwing a baseball.”
Surprisingly, Senyo does not want his kids playing his favorite sport, football, until at
least junior high if not high school in fear of them getting burnt out at a young age.
In many ways, Senyo’s time spent working in the PR world has tainted his vision of
professional sports altogether.
“Working in PR has made me not get star struck or have any favorite professional
athletes anymore. I do not get impressed anymore, and you put them on a pedestal, and
then when you get to meet them they wreck that impression. Now that I have worked in
PR for about five years, I have come to realize that Vin Scully is the greatest man ever to
call any game of sports.”
Senyo makes this statement of Scully because even though Scully talks about the game of
baseball, his actions speak louder than words because of his preparation and dedication.
Senyo no longer has to hustle to introduce himself, because he impresses all who meet
him. His actions continue to speak louder then his yelling words, at his athletes in the
weight room, as a damn good strength coach, mentor, husband and someday father.
Sources
1. Mike Senyo, CMS Strength and Conditioning coach,
2. Matt Durant, strength and conditioning coach University of La Verne,
3. Matt Ashby, Ex University of La Verne baseball player,
4. Catie Logan, Ex University of La Verne volleyball player,