And so they did.
Happy to see the post for The Director of Nutrition for football. But, the requirements of that post, IMO, are going to require an assistant(s)/staff to the Director. Keeping track of just one of the requirements...
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This individual will perform dietary assessments and counseling for all football student-athletes, create nutrition programs specific to each athlete, and track the outcomes of the goals set in place."
The above alone entails keeping detailed records to keep on each player 85 - 100 of them and review them with each player to determine if their plan is benefiting each one. No way one person is handling that. The job description contiues:
The Director of Performance Nutrition will work closely with the coaching staff, strength & conditioning staff, sports medicine staff, and performance chefs to ensure alignment of objectives on all nutrition and recovery matters. This individual will provide direction in planning all team meals during the playing season, offseason, and for all team travel. He/she will develop educational materials, provide nutrition education discussions, cooking demonstrations, and one-on-one guidance, for all football student-athletes.
With the other requirements of planning each meal daily/weekly ordering the food from suppliers seeing that players are getting great, balanced meals that are nutritionally beneficial from the right sources, I think that is too much for one person. You need a Director and a staff - how many is a question. I've added below what the University of Georgia is doing, Jen Ketterly can't handle it all.
The link above is about this topic and how Georgia and others in the SEC are handling their football program. I am going to post just a bit of it that speaks to what I'm concerned about.
>>>Free safety Connor Norman didn't think about nutrition when he played football before transferring to Georgia.
"It wasn't something you really thought of in high school when you prepare for a game," he said.
The Georgia football program changed all that.
"I didn't really have any knowledge on nutrition," Norman said. "What you fuel your body with and what you put in your body has a big deal with how you perform."
Having access to Georgia's nutrition staff has helped educate him on the importance of eating to sustain energy, he said. So much so that he decided to pursue a degree in exercise science.
Nutrition directors are a relatively new addition to the brain trust that grooms elite athletes for collegiate competition. Most teams have had nutrition and diet experts on staff four years or less.
Now nutrition is in the spotlight for athletes, as it is for everyone else.
"Look at our obesity rates - it's obviously a struggle," said Jen Ketterly, director of sports nutrition at the University of Georgia.
"There are over 100 people on the football team and there is just one of me," Ketterly said. "I wouldn't say that right now I have the luxury of giving each individual a specialized meal plan."
She counsels as many players as possible, especially if they are changing positions or trying to reach a personal weight goal.
When it comes to football, playing position determines portion control, said Jamie Meeks, the sports nutritionist for the LSU Tigers.
"The linemen's calorie (intake) needs are a lot higher, not because they're more active but because they're bigger guys," Meeks said.
The linemen need those extra calories to help maintain their weight and build throughout the season.
The rule of thumb on game day is for players to eat heartily three and four hours before they hit the field. Pastas, bread, grains and potatoes are the mainstays of an athlete's diet during the season.
"Carbohydrates are always going to be our base energy supplier," Ketterly said.
"I want to make sure I have several options of carbohydrates for the players to eat," said Tara Gidus, who works with athletes at the University of Central Florida.
Although the school is outside of the SEC, the previously unranked football team sky-rocketed to No. 21 in the Week 8 Associated Press polls after it's surprising win against Louisville, which was ranked eighth before that game. They are now ranked seventeenth, losing only one game this season.
At LSU, Meeks pays close attention to body composition and what the individual's position requires in terms of energy output and sheer size. These needs change during the school year.
"During the offseason, they're going to focus more on proteins and vegetables and reaching their goal weight," said Meeks.
Food is not the whole story for elite athletes. Hydration is key for sports nutritionists because adequate water intake keeps players healthy and helps to prevent cramping during games.
"I've been having them drink as much as possible," Gidus said, "they're drinking before and after practice, they're drinking during practice, they're drinking all the time." The prevailing advice for players is to 'drink until they're peeing clear.'
Nutrition directors in the SEC are mostly women and they are new additions to a world dominated by men. They've developed a sense of camaraderie and communicate often about issues and struggles they face on the job. Their arrival has forced college athletes to focus more on what they are putting into their bodies, and to consider how proper nutrition can advance their own goals.
Bragg, Alabama's director of sports nutrition, said she knows a thing or two about helping players achieve goals: The Crimson Tide have won three of the last four national titles.
"Athletic and coaching talent win championships," Bragg says. "Nutrition helps both players and coaches perform optimally."
