You more or less summed up what I was trying to say rather nicely. I have told my kids all along that at this point in their careers, just about any structured training will help them improve performance. As the ability rises, stress has to be more precise. Most D1 football players are in that class. Do I agree with Barwis? On some things. I just think he fails when it comes to managing the amounts of stress he puts on athletes. The only reason I am happy to see U of M is because many of my athletes are affected greatly by the way Michigan does things. This is becuase the coaching staff at a major program here in Detroit that I work with is closely tied to the Michigan program. Therefore, they are subjected to some of what I consider overboard methods. I am not a university coach, but I have been in athletic prep for 15 yrs and have a pretty good resume of players I have worked with. This by no means makes me an expert at anything. Sure, I have helped to develop some pretty explosive football players. When I see a situation where somebody needs more help than I feel comfortable giving, I refer them out. I did with Charlie. I had a sprinter who ran in the 200 and 2004 Olympics for Ghana. I sent him to Charlie cause I felt like I could do little to help him, and perhaps more to hurt him. It different taking a guy from 10.9 hundred meters to 10.7 than to go 10.2 to 10.0. I was like “I could do one thing that may help you, but another 9 that could be detrimental.” I am not unconfident in my abilities, but I wanted this kid to get the best. Who better than Charlie? Not to be an ass, but maybe Barwis should attend some seminars of other people instead of giving them. Maybe it’s not all Barwis fault that this situation has gotten so big, but he did nothing to refute the calls from local that he was the “cutting edge” of strength and conditioning. Bear Bryant used that philosophy at A&M. Where did that get them?
Speedcoach I couldnt agree more to what you said. Granted I hated michigan eversince I moved to the state also being a msu sparton so I’m estatic about them struggling. Personal feelings aside, I had some kids that I train visit there since the new staff got there and before I even started training them the kids and the kids and their parents said they didnt like there attitude, the way they were handling things, just all around they got a bad vibe about. Speedcoach is right though, everyone thinks that u of m is gods gift to athletics in the state of mich but when people get educated by the 1s that know what they are doing aka safety 1st it makes them think again.
Raspy Barwis voice: “We’re bigger, we’re faster, we’re the best conditioned and prepared team out there” we’re going to be 4-8…
You needed 6 or 7 f bombs strewn through that quote to make it official Barwis speak. I think he is the only who can use f**k as a verb, a noun, an adverb, and perhaps more. Funny though.
LOL, after the 2nd game of the season I thought the writing was on the wall on Michigan football for 2008.
I bet a buddy LUNCH that UM wouldn’t win 8 games this season. He thought it was like taking candy from a baby (so did I of course), and jumped at it.
Just commenting on their season every few days (and his moan of disgust) is worth more than the meal, LOL
John
watching U of M fans reaching for excuses. I loved Michigan football when Bo was there and less so since. I get a little sick and tired of the constant State bashing. Not really a fan of either program, but its funny to see the arrogance of the Michigan faithful as they search for excuses as to why they stink this year. I also get a good deal of pleasure from seeing Barwis’ training methodology being shown to be full of holes. He took a good D line and made them worse by over training them.
I think the reason the d-line has not very effective during much of the year is due either RR or Shafer going with that incredibly stupid 3 man front-I believe now that it was actually RR’s idea since Shafer did not run much of that in his past. They consistently took one player off the field for much of a number of games from the position group that is likely the deepest and most talented on the defense. Against an, admittedly, overrated Minnesota team they finally put up a nice defensive showing.
I don’t disagree that are most probably an overtrained team.
As a UM fan, I can see some aspects getting better for the future but this year did not need to be this bad-esp. defensively.
front is stupid. I respectfully disagree about the training. They may not be completely over trained, but can you tell me Barwis made them better? I believe his training tends to make players less explosive. He is a walking contradiction. He talks a good game with fast twitch fibers, myotatic stretch reflex, proprioceptors, and on ad nauseum. The press thinks he is GOD in Michigan. All one needs to do is look at his gut busting conditioning of all out 110 yd sprints with about 30-60 secs recovery to realize he is undoing any potential good he does by using Olympic movements. To use a Charlie analogy, I would rather have guys who can jump once 36" than ones who can jump 27" 20 times in a row. I think they need to look at the program from top to bottom and make the necessary changes. WVU never impressed me defensively while RR was there. There offensive was mediocre at best without Pat White. I think they struggle again next season. Who is QB? Some freshman who needs to adjust to college ball. The receivers are serviceable. They d loses a lot next season. I could be wrong, but I see another tough season ahead.
I don’t think we really disagree I just don’t know if Barwis’ over-training made as big difference(if it were a big issue?) as the poor strategy. I’m not disagreeing that he probably did not help in some issues. I do think TT has looked a little better, Graham has as well(much better actually) though I think that was just maturity.
I think next year should be some better but like you said the d loses some key people.
I am in complete agreement that there is way too much hype and questionable results?
How about some actual speed work? It’s probably not hard core enough if you rest more than 20 seconds, I guess.
Some aspects of the team, though, do seem improved, I think many player do look quicker/faster but this staff has so screwed up people with their strategies it’s hard to tell regarding some conditioning aspects.
We agree on key components. I think the upside for U of M is good. It’s tough to transition to the spread after running pro style. When was the last Michigan QB who wasn’t a lumbering oaf(Henson). Threet and Sheridan are ok. If Pryor had come here, you might see different results. I hope Michigan gets a QB who can run it properly or RR needs to tweak the offense to fit the personnel better. These guys have been too rigid in their approach. I agree Schaefer has hurt these guys by getting Taylor doubled and tripled. Graham can be a monster whenever he wants. The Barwis thing annoys me because suddenly I have to defend my way of doing things to coaches who don’t know any better. Most coaches think if their players look ragged, they must be out of shape so lets run em some more. We have a solid track record of putting out All state football players from our facility. Last year we had 3 D1 and 2 D2 scholly’s. Pisses me off when these coaches try to wreck these boys. I just want more of the people I deal with to understand that the run em till they spew method left years ago when it comes to intelligent training.
Again I find really nothing to disagree with there.
Of course you can mostly blame the media for publicizing his perform till you drop mindset and that his program is the end-all (not that MB himself has, apparently, ever turned down an interview request).
I can understand the frustration at having to explain yourself and your program to people who don’t know a good program from a bad one-the public and the media(who seemingly only know hype).
On the fatigue thing I’ve been there too at the high school I coached at. The basketball coach would run the piss out of the players 2 days before and at times the day before a game. Then in warm-ups and naturally throughout the game guys were dragging. The coach would take that as the guys “just are not in shape” so he’d run the piss out of them the next day and the day after that since that would certainly “fix” everything-naturally the end result is the previously tired guys were now completely fried. With football (that I coached along with track) there was resistance to doing anything alactic since it did not jive with their traditional understanding of sprint training and fb. The jv coach was notorious for crushing his guys with non-stop sprints with minimal rests. Of course the only one that probably came close to a decent speed was the first rep and everything went to hell after that.
I do believe that Shafer was acting upon RR’s orders, though, since his history was not really with three man lines and lb is the most in-experienced position group on the defense. I guess SS would have liked to have gone with a 4-2-5 as they did most of the last game using Harrison as walked up safety/extra lb.
I try to do 2 full speed days 72 hrs apart and 4 days of tempo. Maybe toward the season I Will run Albion 300’s. 25 yds there touch the line 25 yds back. I might do those for a week or 2 before season because I know the coaches will run the hell out of the kids. The one program in particular loves running 4 corners with pushups and sit ups at each corner. They do it till the kids are smashed. I try to understand the positional demand then set out the training regimen. Hopefully Michigan will smarten up on D and enjoy a better year next year.
1st off I must admit I am getting GREAT PLEASURE watching U of M struggle and listening to their quote on quote DIE HARD fans come up with excuses. 1, the arrogance of U of M students, fans, people in general is absolutely through the roof! Some of the U of M people think that they are the best thing to happen to any sport or the world in general. Not all of the fans or students are like that cause I have some friends that are fans and students and we can joke around about it without someone getting upset and ready to fight. Those of you who live in michigan know exactly what I’m talking about. But I will admit they will be better next year than they will be this year. But guys I do agree that turning your D1 or D2 kids loose on certain football or track programs makes you so frustrated cause they end up getting injured or come back slower than what you taught them.
It’s frustrating to see kids leave high school running 4.5 forties then come back the next summer running 4.7. I just get so irritated. Kids atrophying, getting weaker and slower. It’s mind boggling. If you are at a university with a exercise science curriculum, there should be a pool of viable candidates for S&C job. I sometimes am shocked at what my athletes tell me they get put through. 1200 rep leg workouts.That wasn’t a typo. What the hell is that? Thats a month of volume in one day. Talk about smoking a kid for the next month. Some of these coaches happened to come from WVU staff so you may be able to figure that out. To give an example, one of my kids left to school last June. He was 6’2" 235 lbs. His vert was 36". Forty 4.5 Bench 285 Squat 525 Deadlift 525. Now he weighs 220 and said he did 225 for 5 on bench. He said I can run all day but I feel weak. So we take all the explosiveness away to add endurance. Mind you, he is red shirted and runs on scout team.
Is this at UM or would you rather not say where this kid is in school?
I can honestly say the only program any of my kids play at that I think does well is GVSU. They do more power based lifts. Cleans, Bench, Squat. Running is almost all short sprint type work. Some of these guys treat football like it is an aerobic based sport.
Could be the reason why they win Championships! 
I couldnt agree more with you speedcoach. Again I work out with some guys from college and also train them and when they show me their strength and conditioning programs I’ll admit sometimes I kinda cringe cause of all of the running that they do. I’m not talking good short sprints I’m talking something ridiculous like 26 "100"s with maybe 30 sec rest. Thats just nuts.