Chad Bohling will not be at Grand Canyon University’s Oct. 14 commencement ceremony for College of Doctoral Studies students. But he has a good reason.
He is the senior director of organizational performance for the New York Yankees, which started their playoff run toward a potential 28th World Series title this week. And if the Yankees are eliminated before the commencement ceremony, Bohling will shift his responsibilities to the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys and the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.
“There aren’t many (free) days available,” Bohling said of his busy schedule, even after successfully defending his dissertation in the spring and earning his doctorate in general psychology.
Bohling’s reputation as a mental skills expert is impressive.
He is completing his 22nd season with the Yankees, assisting players in getting in an effective frame of mind while playing in one of the most scrutinized markets. He also meets with prospective Yankees draft picks. One of those draft picks was Major League Baseball All-Star slugger Aaron Judge before the 2013 draft.
Bohling's job also requires an extremely high level of trust with every player he works with, and he is reluctant to talk about himself because of his commitment to them and his work.
“I feel I’m mentally tough and strong, and nothing really gets to me in terms of the output of my result of each start,” said Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler, the prohibitive favorite to win the 2026 American League Cy Young Award as the league’s top pitcher. “But I realize just talking to him once a week before (each start), there’s a different message, and it’s a different way to lock in and take it into that start.
“He does that for a lot of guys, whether it’s a hitter or a pitcher. He works very hard to accommodate us. He’s just a great guy, and we have a good connection. I can talk to him about anything and remain confident it’s going to stay just between us.”
Manager Aaron Boone has made similar comments about Bohling.
“He has tremendous relationships with everyone in the room, and everyone in the room kind of uses them to different degrees. Some not a lot, some every day with a routine-type thing. Sometimes guys are going through something; they got to lean on him. But he's just got a great bedside manner and presence to him, and he's a real important part of our room.”
Bohling, whose dissertation is titled "Organizational Culture and Performance in Major League Baseball," would have pursued a doctorate sooner, after earning his master’s degree from San Diego State University, but he was hired immediately by IMG Academy in 1997. Then the Yankees hired him in 2005.
“I was developing my career and loved what I was doing,” Bohling said of his time at IMG. “Ultimately, years later, (pursuing a doctorate) was something in the back of my mind I wanted. It was a little bit of a challenge to finish that goal I had years ago.”
Bohling is the latest in a growing number of current or former major league mental skills or performance directors who have earned doctorates from GCU. Those doctoral alumni include: Carl Kochan, director of performance for the St. Louis Cardinals; Kellen Lee, mental skills coach for the Seattle Mariners; and Laz Gutierrez, former mental skills coordinator for the Boston Red Sox and currently the pitching and mental skills coach at the University of Miami.
In addition, Justin Su’a, a consultant with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a doctoral student.
Bohling said he was always interested in organizational culture and how it impacts performance, a subject he thought would be enhanced by his access to Major League Baseball. He also wanted to challenge himself by pursuing a doctorate while continuing to improve in his field.
“Even years before the words ‘organizational culture’ got really big, it was on my mind back then because I’m living it every day, understanding of the culture and how it does impact individuals of teams and organizations from a performance standpoint as well,” Bohling said. “Combining that all together worked out very well.”
Bohling credited College of Doctoral Studies assistant dean Dr. Nicholas Markette, his chair, for his strong involvement and interest in organizational culture; Dr. Melissa Singer Pressman, director of the college's Institutional Review Board; and Dr. Charles Maher, senior advisor to the president and general manager, sport and performance psychology, for the Cleveland Guardians, who has served as a mentor.
Bohling started his doctoral program in 2019, encountering some speed bumps because of his work obligations, adding that he was grateful for the support of his wife and son through the process.
This meant staying up long hours and studying on off days during the 162-game, six-month regular season.
“I don’t think anyone really knows the schedule I was on, so I think sometimes it was difficult for even them to understand the schedule I was on,” Bohling said. “They were very patient with me during the process. It was a good combination of patient, yet challenging me to push it.
“(Markette and Singer Pressman) were the key support systems.”
Singer Pressman said Bohling has been one of her favorite students to work with, adding that she was impressed that he never relied on his experience as a substitute for rigorous scholarship.
“In many ways, having that depth of expertise makes doctoral research more challenging because you have to be willing to examine assumptions developed over an entire career and allow the evidence to guide your conclusions,” Singer Pressman said. “Chad was able to do that exceptionally well. His work demonstrated both a sophisticated understanding of the professional sports environment and the intellectual discipline necessary to study it systematically.
"That combination of deep practitioner expertise and rigorous doctoral scholarship made his work especially meaningful and interesting.”
Furthermore, “what stood out to me was that he never treated being busy as an excuse for lowering the standard of his work. He simply figured out how to get it done, and to get it done well.”
Fittingly, Bohling was part of a conference call with Markette from Sloan Park, spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, before the Yankees’ final exhibition game of the season on March 24. He successfully defended his doctoral dissertation two days later in his San Francisco hotel room on a day off.
“I challenged him like he challenges athletes – to overcome obstacles,” Markette said. “His obstacle was time. Chad, Dr. Singer Pressman and I teamed up to overcome these obstacles.
“The findings from his (dissertation) came down to the universal truth. It's about people. This showed to be particularly true in baseball.”
Schlittler, meanwhile, was quick to not take all the credit for his breakout sophomore season, which includes a league-leading 1.95 earned run average in 33 starts.
“(Bohling) deserves all the credit,” Schlittler said. “I know he doesn’t like the credit, but he’s been special, and he means a lot to this organization and this team.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
***
Related content:
GCU News: GCU provides mental edge for MLB coaches
GCU News: Former Olympian clears hurdles to earn GCU doctorate
