Leadership Lessons from Louisiana Tech’s Kinesiology Department

Major Jeremy Carter, United States Marine Corps
NSCA-CSCS*D; ACSM-CEP

Jeremy Carter graduated from Louisiana (LA) Tech University in 2011, with a dual concentration in Kinesiology (KINE)- Clinical Concentration and KINE Health & Fitness Concentration. During his undergraduate coursework, Jeremy did dual enrollment and completed one-third of his master’s with LA Tech’s KINE department as an undergraduate student. In 2012, he graduated with his master’s from LA Tech in Exercise Science. During his undergraduate and graduate curriculums at LA Tech, Jeremy earned numerous awards, accolades, and certifications. Since leaving LA Tech, Jeremy has earned a masters in Exercise Physiology (Texas A&M, 2015), a master’s in Military Studies- with a concentration in Irregular Warfare (American Military University, 2021), and will graduate with a master’s in Joint Warfare from the Air University in May 2026.

Jeremy is an active-duty United States Marine, with over 11 years of service. Additionally, Jeremy is the owner and president of True Performance Realization, a human performance consulting company. Jeremy has numerous certifications, to include the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA’s) Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists* With Distinction and the American College of Sports Medicine’s Certified Exercise Physiologist. He is a reviewer for the NSCA’s Strength and Conditioning Journal, an editor for the Journal of Sport and Human Performance, is the editor- in- chief for the True Performance Realization Applied Journal. He is approaching 100 total publications in various human performance and military outlets.

Jeremy credits LA Tech, especially the LA KINE Department, with instilling in him leadership principles, which he uses every day in and out of uniform. As a Marine officer, his primary and explicit task is to be a leader. Below are nine leadership lessons that Jeremy obtained while a student at LA Tech that he has applied to thousands of Marines.

Featured above is Jeremy Carter being recognized on 22 November 2025 at Joe Aillet Stadium as a 2025 Kinesiology Young Alumni Standout. Jeremy is accompanied by his wife, Sarah Carter, and their two kids, Clara and Andrew Carter.

Leadership Lesson 1- Leaders Make Time for Others: During my senior year of high school, I was committed to attending LA Tech, but I did not know what I wanted to major in at college. My sister, Jean, did her research and felt KINE was the field that I should pursue. Jean scheduled a meeting for me to meet with the department chair, Dr. Dornier. Dr. Dornier personally met with us, and Dr. Dornier discussed all the possibilities that the KINE field could facilitate. This is a critical concept of leadership; that leaders make time for others.

Dr. Dornier could have had one of her instructors or professors meet with us. As the department chair, she did not have to meet with a potential student. However, she personally took the meeting to discuss what the KINE program could provide. Today, whenever someone enters my office or workspace, I will stop what I am doing and make time for them. LA Tech’s KINE’s department showed me from that day that leaders are never too busy to lead.

Leadership Lesson 2- Leaders are Learners: During my first years of college, I was not fulfilled. I never enjoyed school, and accordingly, I did not enjoy college. It was not till after my sophomore year that I truly appreciated the need to be a life-long learner. Being surrounded by the faculty of LA Tech KINE’s department, I was shown the importance of truly knowing your profession, as well as adding to your profession’s field by publishing, speaking, and being involved in the field’s associations. 

Dr. Duckworth, in her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, displays that gritty (resilient) people have and are provided hope, interests, purpose, and passion. Daniel Pink, in his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, believes that driven people have and are provided with a purpose, autonomy, and the ability to achieve mastery. While an undergraduate student at LA Tech, the KINE faculty provided me with these critical ingredients and were the catalyst I needed to be a life-long learner. LA Tech’s KINE’s Department showed me that leaders must be learners.

Shown above is Jeremy Carter speaking at the 2025 National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Mississippi State Clinic on “The Next Generation Strength Coach: How Should we Evolve.”

Leadership Lesson 3- A True Teacher is a Leader; A True Leader is a Teacher: During my graduate program at LA Tech, I was fortunate to be allowed to teach KINE 326: Structural Anatomy. This was a unique course for the undergraduate students, as it was one of the last courses that was common to the various concentrations. Meaning the future physical education teachers, sport coaches, athletic trainers, physical and occupational therapists, physiologists, and strength coaches all had to take this course. While the future physical and occupational therapists enjoyed the course, as it was a detailed study on the structural anatomy of the human body, typically the future physical education teachers and sport coaches did not enjoy the course, as it required knowing the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems in great detail.

My first day of class I informed the students that if they did not care about the course, I did not care about them. Several students complained to the department chair, Dr. Dornier, who called my professor, Dr. Szymanski. Dr. Szymanski called me to his office and asked to hear the story. After I told him the story in full, (and after he stopped laughing because he told me I cannot talk like that, since “you do not have tenure!”), he told me that making good students good and poor students poor is not the standard. Dr. Szymanski let me know his standard for me was to make the poor students good, and the good students great.

If you are a leader, but you are not a teacher, you are hindering your ability to lead. If you are a teacher, but lack leadership, you are limiting your ability to teach. I have applied this critical leadership principle to thousands of United States Marines for over a decade. LA Tech showed me that a true teacher is a leader; a true leader is a teacher.

Leadership Lesson 4- Manager is not Synonymous with Leader: LA Tech, coupled with other life experiences, taught me that “There is a difference between a manager and a leader. A manager cares about an efficient process with an effective end-state. A leader cares about those variables as well. However, a leader also cares about the development of the individuals they have the privilege to serve.” A manager has employees. A manager has subordinates. A leader has followers.  

I have had the opportunity to work with several ‘big name’ individuals in the human performance field after graduating from LA Tech, where I quickly learned these individuals became ‘big names,’ not because they are a leader, but rather because they are a manager. As a manager, they ensured their subordinates fulfilled their roles, but these managers never cared about their subordinates and their respective goals. The employees’ purpose was to perform their duties, and ensure data was being published for the benefit of the manager (i.e., the ‘big names’). The KINE professors at LA Tech actually cared about my goals, not just their goals.

Leadership Lesson 5- Leaders Create Followers: In the book, the 5 Levels of Leadership, John Maxwell states there are five levels of leadership, with positional power being the lowest (i.e., manager, boss, etc.). The other four levels of leadership from lowest to highest according to Maxwell are permission, production, people development, and pinnacle. One of the noticeable differences between Level 1 Leaders and Level 2 – 5 Leaders is that the Level 1 Leaders do not have followers.

Followers are more committed, resilient, creative, empowered, autonomous, and productive. The Marine Corps cannot survive with managers in her ranks. Being the smallest Service, with the least amount of funding, but being tasked with being America’s 911 Force, we must have leaders; leaders who create followers. I was fortunate to see how powerful an impact leaders can have on others while attending LA Tech.

Leadership Lesson 6- Leaders Create Leaders: One trait of a leader is that leaders create leaders. The Marine Corps instills her leadership traits and principles into each civilian trying to earn the title Marine. The Marine Corps expects each Marine in their own right to be a leader from the day they graduate from Recruit Training or Officer Candidate Course. The Marine Corps expects those in higher positions to prepare those underneath them to be able to perform their job if injured or killed in combat. The expectation in the Marine Corps is that leaders create leaders.

I first learned this at LA Tech. During graduate school at LA Tech, I was provided autonomy, responsibility, and opportunities to fail, grow, succeed, experiment, and to become a leader. The faculty of the LA Tech KINE department allowed me to grow as a leader. The faculty provided me the opportunities, ingredients, and feedback to become a leader. Leaders create leaders.

Leadership Lesson 7- Leaders Create Opportunities: This fact is so powerful, yet so underutilized within organizations; leaders create opportunities. As a leader, for you to create an opportunity for a follower, peer, or superior, you must first know them. What are their goals? What are they passionate about? Where do they want to be in 10 years? Once you know someone, you can then create opportunities for them to succeed, grow into their ambition, and achieve their goals.

During my master’s program, I was highly interested in sports nutrition. I read books and articles on sports nutrition, but none of the professors specialized in sports nutrition, nor was their research focused on sports nutrition. However, my professors, specifically Dr. Kelly Brooks created an opportunity for me to pursue my passion.

In 2012, I conducted a research study that I designed to test ‘The Right Stuff,’ a rehydration mix used by astronauts prior to reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. Following an exhaustive literature review, I conducted my research study, where we took female LA Tech soccer athletes, dehydrated them using the sauna at the LA Tech gymnasium, rehydrated them either with water or the ‘The Right Stuff’ solution, then ran them to exhaustion in a heat chamber.

Above are two Marine Corps machine gunners who wanted to prove they could build an expedient “float” for snowy environments using readily available material for a machine gun tripod to be tested during live fire training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. Jeremy was taught from LA Tech that leaders create opportunities.

Leadership Lesson 8- Leaders Set the Standard: The professor I worked with the closest was Dr. Szymanski, who is now the Department Chair for the LA Tech’s KINE Department. Even before I took one of Dr. Szymanski’s classes, and even before I knew who he was, his reputation preceded him. Specifically, his high standard was notorious within the department.

The first day of the first class I took with Dr. Szymanski, he did not disappoint. His standard for the students, for himself, and for those who he worked with was known and held. Dr. Szymanski knew his profession, was always prepared, and was always pursuing the next objective.

In 2023, I earned the NSCA’s Editorial Excellence Award for the Strength and Conditioning Journal. When I received notification that I earned this award, I told my wife that I simply just review articles for the NSCA to the same standard that Dr. Szymanski graded every one of his students’ works. Leaders set the standard.

Shown above is Jeremy Carter (right) receiving the 2023 NSCA’s Editorial Excellence Award.

Dr. Szymanski showed Jeremy what the standard was for being a reviewer.

Leadership Lesson 9- Leaders Are Working When Nobody is Watching: As mentioned, Dr. Szymanski is the professor I worked with the most during my undergraduate and graduate curriculum. To honor Dr. Szymanski and his use of movies to teach complex topics in a relatable manner, he is my Yoda, and I am his young Jedi on my own journey for excellence. Dr. Szymanski is so accomplished because he is working when nobody is watching and he personally demonstrates this fact to me to this day; sixteen years after meeting him.

Shown above is Jeremy Carter working out days after being injured in Marine Corps training. This picture was taken prior to the MRI, which showed he completely ruptured two ligaments in his ankle, partially tore a third ligament, obtained a skeletal fracture, and damaged every synovial capsule in his ankle, which led to him being non-deployable for over a year.

To the Current, Future, and Potential LA Tech KINE Students: This blog was not written to talk about the my accomplishments. This was written to show that the LA Tech KINE program is what you make of it. If you go to class, study enough, and pass the tests, you will get the degree. However, if you engage with your professors, seek responsibility, and challenge yourself, the LA Tech KINE program can provide you lessons greater than the classroom; lessons in leadership.