Being More Than A Coach
I've had a lot of coaches in my lifetime, but very few difference makers. The people that go out of their way to change your life in a positive way are the ones you'll always remember. I'm excited to present about the main difference of being a coach vs. being a true difference maker in your program. Because we all have the best platform to make this topic a reality.
With 12 years of experience and having previously served as the head strength and conditioning coach for three different NCAA Division I FBS programs, Lewis Caralla is in his second season as head football strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Tech.
Prior to Tech, Caralla spent the 2018 season as the head strength and conditioning coach at Buffalo, where he was named Football Scoop’s Strength Coach of the Year. In his lone season at Buffalo, Caralla helped turn around a team that went 8-16 over the previous two years into a squad that won the MAC East Division championship and earned the program’s first bowl berth since 2013 (and third all-time).
Before his one season at Buffalo, Caralla was director of strength and conditioning at Louisiana-Lafayette (2016-17) and North Texas (2015). His career also includes stints as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Michigan (2012-14), Mississippi State (2011) and Georgia Tech (2010-11), a graduate assistant at Mississippi State (2009-10) and an intern at Virginia (2008) and South Florida (2007). During his one season as a full-time assistant at Mississippi State in 2011, he worked on the Bulldogs’ football staff with Collins, who was MSU’s co-defensive coordinator.
Originally from Tarpon Springs, Fla., Caralla was a two-time all-conference running back at Defiance (Ohio) College, where he also earned academic all-conference accolades twice and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wellness and corporate fitness in 2008. He earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from Mississippi State in 2010.
Caralla and his wife, Lori, have three children: Marshall, Ali and Ava.
