Do you have mind strength? WSU record setter Luke Falk returns to Pullman to promote his literal playbook for it

Luke Falk has always been the kind of athlete who prioritized having a mental edge.

“That was one of the really neat aspects about Luke – far beyond kind of some of the normal guys,” said one of his former athletic trainers, Dylan Schmick. “He needed a different edge, because he wasn’t the biggest, strongest, fastest guy out there. But he found a way to utilize the best of what he had and become a pretty good player.”

Washington State University is no stranger to quality quarterbacks, but few have etched their names in the Cougar history books to the extent Falk did during his 2014-17 tenure. A former walk-on who redshirted his first year, Falk remains the all-time WSU and Pac-12 Conference record holder in passing yards, total offense and touchdowns.

Falk’s since added NFL quarterback, collegiate coach, father and author to his long resume, and had a raucous return to the Palouse last weekend to share more about the latter with his longtime supporters.

Falk’s “The Mind Strength Playbook” is a guide to mastering the mental aspects of competition, while also including his own retrospectives on parenting, sports and his journey from walk-on to Pac-12 star.

While the book is tailored to coaches and players, there’s actionable wisdom inside for parents, leaders and anyone interested in fortifying their mind, Falk said in a Monday interview.

“Mind strength is the difference -maker,” he said. “It’s the thing that’s going to allow you to thrive in your arena, or really, you’ll unravel if you don’t have it.”

The book is intended to fill a niche growing ever more popular in sports, and more broadly, modern society, Falk said. The number of collegiate athletes reporting mental health concerns doubled post-pandemic, according to the NCAA Student-Athlete Well-Being study, conducted with nearly 10,000 athletes.

“Why don’t we train our minds to be able to handle the events in life that are going to happen?” Falk said. “That, to me, is what mind strength training is about.”

The mind is not unlike the body; practice makes perfect, Falk said. Improving your mental health and navigating adversity comes with repetition, not unlike an athlete building muscle in the weight room. Each chapter includes steps for players, coaches and parents, and is accompanied by digital materials and resources through what Falk dubbed “the virtual locker room.”

Falk is now a mental strength coach working with a variety of athletes and programs out of his hometown of Logan, Utah. The book is an extension of what he focuses on daily, while also representing a guide for his younger self. Like a lot of young athletes, he lacked confidence, and often found himself wishing for different talents, outcomes and circumstances.

“I worked so hard physically, like a lot of athletes do, and I never seemed to be able to move the needle,” Falk recalled. “I never seemed to be able to have consistent performances. I always continued to doubt myself. It always seemed like when the moment came, I couldn’t access everything I worked hard for, and allowed my nerves to take over this, that and the other.”

In his senior year of high school, Falk said his parents got him connected with a sports psychologist who would prove to be instrumental to his career, both as an athlete and an author. The book is the culmination of the lessons stretching back to that last prep season, with the bonus of it coming through someone with years of experience as a player and coach at multiple levels.

“The Mind Strength Playbook” contains lessons that will prove useful beyond the playing field, he said, and for years to come.

“Having these skills to be able to handle life is pretty damn important,” Falk said. “It’s about the ability to master your inner world so you can handle anything that the external world throws at you. There’s a lot of stuff that we can’t control, but if you can really learn how to master your response towards things, the story you tell yourself, and the way that you can respond, oh, you’ve got such a leg up in life over your quote, unquote competition.”

Authoring the book was a natural extension of Falk’s playing and coaching career, Schmick said.

Whether it was a whiff of frankincense essential oil before a drive or running through affirmations in pregame, Falk’s clear intention to prepare himself mentally stuck with Schmick even after he left WSU to join the training team at Boise State University as a graduate student.

Schmick, now a police officer in Walla Walla, worked a lot with quarterbacks while at Boise, including current Indianapolis Colts backup and former Shadle High School standout Brett Rypien.

“Luke’s got a lot to share,” Schmick said. “I took some of the things I learned from him down there, and Luke has only expanded upon that in his career.”

On Saturday, Falk and his fellow 2015 Sun Bowl Championship teammates returned to Pullman for their notable season, which included a 9-4 record and a snowy bowl win over the Miami Hurricanes.

The group raised the Ol’ Crimson flag at the start of the game to thunderous applause and beamed with smiles as they were introduced on field during a stoppage of play – shortly before a few thousand shirtless fans gathered in the northwest corner to cheer on the Cougs while whipping their shirts above their heads.

It was great to be back, Falk said. He hadn’t caught a home football game since 2022, and it was his first time reconnecting with some of those teammates since the last time they took the field together a year ago.

“It was great catching up with them and then being able to just share and reminisce on the stories that we had,” Falk said. “That was probably the most fun for me, being able to see my teammates that were just so important in my life.”

The fans came out in force, as well.

A couple hundred poured into the Palouse Ridge Golf Club Friday night for a book signing and fundraiser for the Cougar Collective, an NIL group supporting players. That was followed by another well-attended signing at the WSU bookstore immediately after WSU’s win over Toledo on Saturday.

Falk greeted fans with a smile, exchanged “Go Cougs” and basked in the glory of being back in “those rolling hills.”

WSU graduate Taylor Goodman, now a pharmacist in Oregon, was one of the fans who stumbled out of the rain and into The Bookie to meet Falk. Goodman said he was in town to see old classmates as part of a 10-year reunion of the inaugural class of the College of Pharmacy, part of WSU Spokane’s health campus.

It was only fitting to connect with the quarterback of his graduation year, Goodman said, who was celebrating his own reunion.

Goodman grabbed a signed copy for himself and his father, a longtime Cougars fan.

“I’ve been a Cougar fan since the ’80s,” Goodman said. “And, really, he’s one of the most prolific quarterbacks that came through our program.”

There were more than a hundred university programs that “didn’t bat an eye” at Falk as a high school prospect, he said.

That was until the late coach Mike Leach took a chance.

“They found me, gave me an opportunity, and really, for WSU, I identify wholeheartedly with them and our mentality of being the underdog,” Falk said. “I mean, I was a walk-on, for crying out loud.”

The Palouse has been a second home ever since, he said.

“I never saw my career going like that,” Falk said. “You always dream and hope of it going a certain way, but for it to actually turn out the way it did, and then for me to be part of such a great fan base and just such a great culture there…

“It was surreal.”