Yeah, I basically sai 3 years ago that whenever they lined up against power teams, they would get pushed all over the field. So far, I have been spot on. Not that it was hard to predict. Simple formula, overtrain, don’t respect recovery, and belittle your players too much and this is the end result. RB34 is correct, this is not your dads U of M. The crowds that watch practice need to ear muff their kid. Talk about cursing a blue streak.
I went to the gmac bowl last year an I heard HOW DID THEY LET YOU DOWN HERE? I looked over an it was lloyd carr with a smile on his face. I had on my msu sweatshirt and he was on the sidelines just doin some PR stuff. The camera shined on us and he told me this is against all he believes in, taken a picture with a spartan. But he was a good dude and he got a standing ovation.
Numnuts( rich rod) was there also an people were flicking him off and booing him. It was great!
Sorry to break it to you, when you have Rich Rod coaching resume then you can call out the man. This would be like you calling Tyson Gay coach lame because he don’t do the shit you like to do.
Trust me my man Im not hating. As much as I hate to say it they should have hired Les Miles like it was originally planned. At least with Moffit the guys wouldnt get injured so much and 40 some kids wouldnt have transfered.
They’ll get their shot at Les Miles and see how he sucks worse than RR. No more Saban players at LSU. Still got talent though and Les squanders it.
Really? I always thought he did somewhat well. They always seem to win 9+ games. Oh is it just talent winning the games?
How can you not win 9 at LSU. The guy is a moron. Clock management ring a bell…
Just listen to an interview.
Check the Ole Miss and Penn State games from last year.
How you know guys wouldn’t get injured under Moffit? The guys who left U of M were probably pussies, real players don’t leave when it get tough.
You played college ball, you know that it is a complete change of styles at Michigan. Not arguing but isn’t Justin Boren on Ohio State, starting? Wasn’t he the guy who was heavily criticized by Barwis and RR as being soft? He starts on a team that has been beating Michigan for the better part of 10 years. In sll honesty, I think people get sick of getting talked to the way they do. I know a team manager and he said it’s a little over the top. Personally, I don’t see the need to pound the daylights out of players with conditioning like they do. One of my former athletes plays for the KC Chiefs. He gave a talk at Macomb Dakota, a very successful local high school and when the coach asked them what they do for conditioning, and his response was “Not nearly as much as you do”. That struck me as odd that the local high school kills their kids, but yet an NFL football player in the hardest league in the world does so much less. The NFL understands the season is all about recovery. People like James Smith understand that and hopefully he will pave a path for a new breed of S&C coach and get away from the run til they puke then run em some more. That’s just my take, i could be wrong.
The modern S&C coach must be well versed in Recovery and Regeneration methods, as well as injury rehabilitation and soft-tissue work – particularly in football. Football coaches, unfortunately, do not want to hear from a S&C coach that is telling them to back off on the work-load. So, many times, a good S&C coach will back off on their loads, and spend a good portion of time working on R&R.
I would like to see more football coaches (I know - it’s a pipe dream) educate themselves on the actual role of the S&C coach, recognizing what is good training, and what is over-doing it. I always hear that the football coaches must run through each play as often as possible (more reps, more reps). But, as we know, there is an optimal, finite number of reps required for retention and adaptation.
I recently had a good discussion with Al Miller. We were discussing the idea that GM’s, AD’s and Head Coaches couldn’t spot a good strength coach if they hit them with a 45lb plate across the face. It is a real problem in the industry. Strength coaches are not being hired because they are qualified, competent and experienced. Coaches are hired because they don’t make waves, they blow smoke up the coach’s ass, and they talk out of their ass. Recommendations for hiring are made by people who have no clue. Coach Miller was disappointed that the S&C field, despite advances in research and science, was moving further away from good practices, with nonsense, incompetence, ignorance and ego dominating the landscape.
I recommended that Coach Miller and Coach Vermeil start a consulting group that advises Pro Teams/University Programs on hires for S&C. They agreed, but thought that the powers that be wouldn’t want to give up the control and still believe they know all they need to know. Sad but true.
Here we go, Buddy and James does a great job but how many NCAA or Conference titles has Pitt won in the past 20years? There’s more then one way to skin a cat, Univ of Florida pretty much follows a HIT program and they kick everyone’s ass in the country - guess they have a bad SC staff. 
Come join a major NCAA staff and let’s see you implement all these nice plans into action - your ass will be fired quickly or maybe you won’t even get a chance to showcase your talents…
It’s currently in the process of happening so I won’t mention names or specifics; however, a close associate of mine is on an NSCA board that is working on formalizing a qualification structure for physical preparation coaches at the collegiate level (I’m not sure about NFL).
the legislature will be branching out to athletic departments (AD’s and head sport coaches) and supplying them with the criteria necessary to actually conduct a ‘proper’ interview that will determine the true competency of the applicant.
I was told that within 5 years the US system will be similar to the system in the UK with respect to the emphasis on meaningful/pertinent research and that all coaches, and applicants, must be up to speed with it.
I was told that this will be very good for those of us who ‘know’.
Genetics trumps it all.
I bet we could cruise the streets of Fla and round up some punks who could give many D1 schools a run for their money.
Thanks for the compliment.
It always comes down to misinformation. I’ve long since made it clear that, in my judgment, incompetency far eclipses competency in this industry.
Whether it’s at the level of the Olympians, collegiate sports, high school sports, and on down to grade school PE, I know that the majority of preparatory training is misinformed and often reckless and damaging to the athletes.
Our monstrously varied and rich talent pool in CONUS allows various athletes and sport teams to achieve high results even in the case of incompetent coaching.
While it’s difficult to exclude our own subjective feelings on what truly characterizes coaching qualification, I feel that there are enough ‘in the know’ individuals who have been influenced by leaders such as Charlie who possess the skill set to not only do an excellent job with their athletes, but also to recognize the phonies. This is irrelevant, however, because it’s the higher ups (AD’s and head sport coaches) who are doing the hiring.
I’m optimistic of the state of affairs experiencing improvement, however.
I, for one, have been fortunate to be presented with interview opportunities with bigger and bigger publications. I’ve had two with Muscle and Fitness (the first one was featured in the on-line version of the mag: Articleand Just yesterday Buddy and I spoke with a senior writer for ‘The Sporting News’ who was doing a piece on Dion.
I ended up have a two hour talk with the writer and at the end of it he stated that, his words, “I’ve never had a discussion like that with a strength coach”.
It’s only a matter of time.
James,
What exactly do you mean by this in regards to what happens with coaches in the UK?
My associate told me that the US system would be similar to the UK system within 5 years. When I asked what he meant he implied that the research topics, as well as coaches knowledge of those topics, were further advanced in the UK.
I don’t have the details, however, so I can’t intelligently discuss that end of it at this time.
The S&C coach should not have a different objective that any other coach. Their objective is to win games. It does not matter what program they use. How strong their bench is, what their 40 time is, clean, squat, VJ… whatever! It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of the game. I can list for you several big time college football players that do not have great numbers in the gym or 40 time. Guys like Nic Harris, of OU or Rey Maualuga of USC.
But, the S&C coach did their job and clearly got them ready to play at their fullest. They were both All-Americans. If the Florida Gator S&C wanted their guys to do a HIT program for their workouts, and they win the national championship-- As long as the head coach doesn’t want him fired- then in all reality, he did his job. If you win- there is no argument.
I wouldn’t say that is the case at all. The US sounds just the same, but on a larger scale, as the UK.
Agreed. But since Barwis and RR decided for the first time I can remember to put their S&C coach front and center with all his bombastic claims, he has made himself a bit of a target fairly or unfairly. Winning cures alot and they have done little winning as of late. Regardless of what his style is, they have lost to OSU and MSU for 2 years in a row. That is damn near unforgivable in Michigan. I also think it is shortsighted to call kid’s pussies for not wanting to be verbally and physically abused. I played the game and can tell you if I ever had a coach get too personal, I would have probably said F**k you and walked off. I got my ass chewed plenty, but it wasn’t daily and it wasn’t some of the very personal attacks these guys have made. Kid’s get recruited by certain coaches and go their because they like the program and the atmosphere. Lloyd and RR are about as different as they come. Some kid’s may not like his style i.e. Boren. Too say a kid is soft because he left your program, went to a better program, starts and beats you twice say’s alot. No pussy in my book, just a good football player who went to a better situation.
Do you think that the field needs a change of direction? I certainly do. Just because someone is a professional or collegiate S&C coach doesn’t make them good at their job. It’s more of a who you know. I like what I do, I wouldn’t want to work for a situation like Michigan even if I had the chance. Too much uncertainty regarding employment. Coaches screw up, get fired and you’re out of a job. Do you think Charlie or Ian King aren’t leaps and bounds smarter than most of these guys? I know what intelligent training is. I know what training is bad as a consequence. Running 50x110 yds with minimal recovery is idiotic at best.(like at CMU). They also did a 1200 rep leg workout. What is the point? Where is that in the annual plan? I think you can have plenty of fit guys doing a hell of a lot less. Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn’t Michigan had a lot of injuries the past few years? I seem to remember like 20-25 guys missing time due to injury. That is a bit of a statistical oddity. Not arguin RB34, I just think the more people support stupidity, the longer it goes on. I agree with post above. Great genetics can trump a lot on the playing field. Our number one job is injury prevention first, performance second. Not much good to the team in the training room no matter how good you are.