Dr Dillon Caswell
Episode 363
19 JAN 2026
He grew up a four-sport athlete, including having been a highly recruited football player out of high school. Present day, he continues to train and compete across multiple sports. He is a Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist who has worked with elite performers across a wide spectrum: from semi-professional rugby players and Division I collegiate athletes to former NFL players and nationally ranked senior Olympians. A convert to the Catholic faith, he leads Hope Not Nope’s human performance initiatives, serving military special operators, elite athletes, and driven entrepreneurs. Plus, he has also authored a book by the same name, Hope Not Nope.
Notable guest quotes:
“We went to a couple Easter, Christmas Masses here and there, and never really understood what was going on. And we always had this belief in a higher power, but we weren’t really having conversations about faith or where to direct it.”
“I grew up playing four sports. They were football, basketball, wrestling, and baseball.”
“Out of high school, when people asked me, ‘Hey, what’s your plan?’ to me, my plan was, I’m going to go play college football. That’s the path… And I just remember being recruited for six to seven months and having conversations with all these coaches, and all these things happening.”
“I always had a belief in God. But it was the first time that I realized that His plan is greater than our plan, even when we don’t know why it’s happening or why we’re going through this particular thing.”
“That’s when I started to find the love of helping athletes reach their highest potential through human performance. And the avenue that I was doing that through was starting to study to become a physical therapist, which then continued to grow and grow and grow and … really kind of marked my faith journey of getting serious about seeking the Lord and what this all means and where to direct that to.”
“The scripture that kind of anchors what I get to do is Romans 5:35 and it helps us show us what true hope is and it kind of gets into a little bit of sports science as well.”
“When it was put on my heart to start the business and write the book, Hope Not Nope, my initial mission at that time that I shared was, I wanted to end suffering because my family was going through it, I was going through it, and I knew how much it, it’s a struggle, it’s hard, it’s a challenge to go through that adversity. And thankfully that perspective completely shifts because it’s not necessarily about ending suffering. We have to go through some of the suffering or some of the nopes that we face. It’s how we can turn that nope that we face into hope through that power and grace of the Lord.”
“It’s so amazing to just have this gift of the Catholic church and the tradition and the sacraments that are in it. It was everything that I was looking for.”
“We were told we have to have the golden ticket. So, we spent about 12 hours at the Vatican searching, trying to get this golden ticket. And we finally got it and then we ended up not needing it, whatsoever.”
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