Inside Dallas’ strength and conditioning staff

It was during a strength and conditioning meeting at last year’s NFL scouting combine when Kendall Smith noticed.

Smith, along with Harold Nash Jr. and Cedric Smith, felt the room shift. It wasn’t a negative vibe from the room full of peers, but something else.

The three men represented not only the Dallas Cowboys — they constituted the only all-black strength and conditioning staff in the NFL and still do.

A sense of pride came over them, not so much because of their race, which was important, but because the staff was formed organically.

In a sport in which African Americans make up 58% of the players on the field but less than 40% of people on the sidelines, having people of color in an important position such as strength and conditioning is vital.

“When Harold insisted on me going [to the meeting], obviously, you got an all-black staff and we walk through the building, and it’s something you notice that’s different,” Kendall Smith said. “We try our best not to make it such a huge deal. We will do our best to be professional about it. But also it’s a respect factor. It’s not because it’s a charity case or anything but these guys know what they’re doing.”

This journey started with former Cowboys strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik, who mentored Markus Paul at Syracuse. Woicik also was close to veteran NFL strength coach Tom Shaw, who mentored Nash and Kendall Smith after their playing careers.

Woicik hired Kendall Smith in Dallas. After Woicik retired, Paul took over in 2018. In 2020, Paul hired Nash. Paul knew Nash came from a good teacher in Woicik, whom Paul worked under in New England for several years.

Nash spent 11 seasons in New England, taking over as the head strength and conditioning coach in 2011. He is the only Black strength and conditioning coach with a Super Bowl ring.

Cedric Smith was the 2012 NFL’S Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year when he worked in Houston. He was hired by the Cowboys in 2021.

Relationships are big in NFL coaching circles. In the case of the Cowboys’ strength and conditioning staff, it means everything.

After Paul tragically died during the 2020 season, it pushed the Cowboys strength staffers into recovery mode. They worked together with the players to make sure weightlifting programs were maintained, and to just be there for each other emotionally.

Nash was promoted to Paul’s position; Kendall Smith and Cedric Smith also moved up.

“The intention was not to be an all-black staff,” Nash said. “But you always want to get the best guy for the job. But Cedric was already a head guy two times and I had a professional relationship with Cedric.