How This College Basketball Coach Stays Jacked at 56
FRED QUARTLEBAUM CAN'T contain his excitement. The longtime Kansas assistant coach is midway through a Zoom interview, and he’s just been asked about his meal prep plan for this year's NCAA Tournament, in which Kansas is a four-seed.
And boy, does he have a plan. First, he explains how he’ll keep carrying his gallon jug of water wherever the Jayhawks go. Last year, in an effort to get down to single-digit body fat (he’s currently at 9.5 percent), Quartlebaum, who serves as the Jayhawks’ director of basketball operations (a role that has him heavily focused on developing the team's culture), cut out his six-cups-of-coffee-a-day habit in favor of a gallon of water. He’s not about to quit now.
Then he grabs a black backpack filled with his meals for the day. He totes the bag to Kansas' practices, which are held six days a week during the season (on top of the two to three games they play per week). After showing you his typewritten order of six different meals and his apple cider vinegar and some fish oil pills too, he raves about Meal 3. “It’s cottage cheese pizza,” he says. “With mozzarella. Really great protein here.”
Even in the midst of NCAA Tournament, all of this matters to Fred Quartlebaum. To the 56-year-old, a longtime assistant who’s coached everywhere from Kansas to North Carolina to Notre Dame to St. John’s, prioritizing nutrition and fitness is a must, no matter how intense his hoops schedule may be. He knows his profession can have crushing effects on the mind and body alike. He’s seen it firsthand: Shortly before the 2023 tournament, Kansas head coach Bill Self needed surgery for a heart condition.
“The pressure to win, the pressure to succeed in this business—there are a lot of pressures,” says Quartlebaum, adding that coaches can sometimes work 100 hours in a week. “So where do you find time to take care of yourself?”
Here's how Quartlebaum gets that done.
His Fitness Start
Quartlebaum learned to take care of himself early on in his coaching career. It was 32 years ago, in 1992, when he took an assistant job with the U.S. Naval Academy basketball team, based in Annapolis, Maryland. The kicker: In addition to coaching the Midshipmen hoops team, he actually had to join the Navy. “You see all these fit midshipmen, from ensigns to generals,” he says. “That must be the fitness capital of the world. That piqued my curiosity in the importance of staying in shape.”
He’d spend the next two decades consistently lifting weights, pulling his workouts from everywhere. Sometimes, he’d ask a team strength coach, and sometimes he’d make up his own workouts. In recent years, he’s increasingly drawn workout ideas off of Instagram.
His commitment to the gym is always on his mind. On Selection Sunday, for example, Quartlebaum has a routine. As soon as the Jayhawks learn where they’ve been seeded in the NCAA Tournament, Quartlebaum makes a beeline for a quiet corner of the room. As players and other coaches celebrate, the Jayhawks assistant quickly calls the NCAA hotel at the Jayhawks’ first-round site.
“I ask them to send me pictures of the hotel gym,” he says. “If it works out, I’ll train there. If it’s not enough, I need to start calling surrounding health clubs. One way or another, I’ll know where I’m working out Sunday night, right after Selection Sunday.” (Spoiler alert: Most hotel gyms don’t meet his approval, so he almost always winds up at a health club.)
He has other habits, too. In 2021, when Self had Covid, Quartlebaum replaced him on the summer recruiting trail and attended a series of high school hoops tournaments to scout future Jayhawks. During every single game, he carried his backpack, which was loaded with several protein shakes and protein-rich beef jerky. “Other coaches would walk up to me,” he says. “They all wanted to know how I stayed in shape.”
Quartlebaum’s fitness focus does more than armor-plate his body, too. It helps him relate to players, especially when it comes to injuries. Eight years ago, Quartlebaum had a microfracture knee surgery. Four years ago, he tore his achilles, which he describes as “the worst lower-leg injury that you’d want.”
“The important thing with your players is building a healthy, strong relationship,” he says. “They’ve seen Coach Q tear his Achilles. They’ve seen that he continues to show up and he continues to help them learn and grow.”
The Coach Q Diet
Quartlebaum's backpack is always loaded with quality protein sources. To keep track of everything, he'll make himself a list of when he'll eat each day and what he'll aim to eat.
The exact meals vary slightly, but the general plan remains the same, and it's all mapped out on a sheet titled "Q's Meal Plan." Quartlebaum aims to pack in 200 grams of protein each day. Here's a look at the game plan:
7 a.m.: Protein coffee and rice cakes
9:30 a.m.: Post-workout protein shake
10:30 a.m.: Protein and oats breakfast
Noon: Tuna and an apple
2 p.m.: Protein, carbs, and vegetables
4:30 p.m.: Yogurt and almonds
7 p.m.: Protein, carbs, and vegetables
10:30 p.m.: Protein shake, healthy fats
The Coach Q Fitness Routine
Quartlebaum doesn't train as he did 20 years ago, or do the same workouts that his players do. Sure, he’s built serious strength, and two years ago, he deadlifted 405 pounds 10 times to celebrate his birthday. But he’s also adapted his workouts as he’s aged.
Years ago, he frequently did back squats. These days, he aims to do squats with a safety bar, which has been gentler on his balky lower back. “For all of us that are getting to 50 and up, find things that work well for you,” he says. “Don’t get injured. As we get a little older, that one week of injury recovery turns into two months.”
Quartlebaum also implements at least one rest day a week. Most weeks, he aims to employ a push-pull-legs split, working chest and triceps on Mondays and Thursdays, back and biceps on Tuesdays and Fridays, and legs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. But he starts each week with a “self-care Sunday” to let his body recover. Some Sundays, that means a massage. Others, it’s hot yoga. “I want to be doing something I enjoy for the hour-and-a-half I’d spend in the gym,” he says. “I’m working out smarter now. I’m preparing for the next chapter.”
He hopes other coaches will see his physique—and this story—and start doing the same. “I’m giving them the cheat code,” he says. “I’m sharing with them the game plan. Just apply it, and stay dedicated.”
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