March 7, 2025
Ava Staudt
As the confetti fell at the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship game, The Ohio State University Marching Band, affectionately known as The Best Damn Band in the Land (TBDBITL), played Carmen Ohio one last time for the 2024 season.
Matthew Brancaleone, PT, DPT, PhD, AT, clinical specialist in Sports Physical Therapy and clinical assistant professor of the Division of Athletic Training, took it all in, knowing the work and grit it took each of the 228 marching members to get there.
In addition to his teaching and research duties within The Ohio State University School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS), Dr. Brancaleone serves as the medical coordinator for the marching band, a position he’s held for the past 10 years.
The number of rehearsals the band participates in — 5 days a week during the football season — leaves them susceptible to overuse injuries just like any other athlete, Dr. Brancaleone says. Shin splits and plantar fasciitis are among the most common injuries. However, it can be difficult to get newcomers to see themselves as the athletes they truly are.
“I think it's getting that message across to the band members, that ‘you are an athlete at this point. I understand what you're going through, and it's not easy, and so we have to treat you like an athlete’,” he says.
Head Drum Major Clayton Callender sees this message in action on the field and attributes the band’s health and success to Dr. Brancaleone’s work.
“He’s always dealing with people’s knee injuries, ankle injuries and shin splits,” Callender says. “He’s an integral part of the whole operation. There are a lot of people who use his services.”
What Callender says impacts the band the most is the way that Dr. Brancaleone leads by example.
“He’s an athlete himself,” Callender says. “He’s a great example of how to take care of yourself. When we go on trips, he is always up at 6 a.m. before any of us, doing a 10-mile run. When we see that, our trainer pushing himself to his limits, we know we have to follow suit.”
As an educator, Dr. Brancaleone is always looking to lend a hand to his athletes in any way he can.
Luke Atkins, a sixth-year trumpet player in B row, says when he approached Dr. Brancaleone for help on a research project about the band, he says he received the medical coordinator’s help throughout the entire process.
“His guidance has really shown me how to be a mentor in the future,” says Atkins. “He’s a bright leader and a huge inspiration for future researchers.”
The season ended on what Callender refers to as the biggest stage for college marching bands – the College Football Playoff National Championship.
While the band had time off between the last game of the regular season and the start of the playoffs to rest before heading into the postseason in full force, preparing for practicing for the bitter cold of the game against Tennessee, to marching five and a half miles in the Rose Bowl Parade, required a huge focus on ensuring the health of all members.
“We learned a lot about prepping them both mentally and physically, from a nutrition standpoint,” Dr. Brancaleone says. “When are they eating? What are they eating? How are they getting water and hydration?”
The hours of sweat and care it took to make it to the confetti falling in Mercedez-Benz Stadium made it all worth the effort, Dr. Brancaleone says. Even more, he notes, he’s proud of what the band members accomplished.
“To see them so happy to go through that whole process, [including] the past four, five years of putting blood, sweat and tears into this band and to be able to finish on top like that in such a cool, unique way with the new playoff system, was really, really cool.”