Overview
Coach Aaron Feld will be brought on as the University of Miami’s Director of Strength & Conditioning (S&C) for football. Coach Feld has been talked about extensively lately and is no doubt quite a character, as most people will instantly notice his old-school handlebar mustache that he chooses to rock.
However, beyond his mustache, his arm size, his loudness, and his enthusiasm, I’m more concerned about the “meat and potatoes” if you will regarding how he implements S&C programs. Here’s what I’ve found.
The Good
As I wrote about in a previous thread, S&C has come a long way from the 80’s, 90’s and even early 00’s. It is important to me to see that any practicing S&C coach has a formal education in S&C or an allied association, i.e., Exercise Physiology or Athletic Training. Coach Feld has a Master’s in clinical exercise science which is a strong plus and the first thing I look for. I’ll admit this is actually a little surprising to me as
clinical exercise science is a little more geared towards health promotion, dealing with patients who may have metabolic syndrome (patients who use exercise as a prescription to try and overcome pathological conditions like atherosclerosis, dyslipidemia, osteoporosis, etc.), but looking at the MSU catalog there may not be any Master’s programs with S&C specialization like there is at Miami (Class of ’13
). Still, it shows that he has a strong understanding of the underlying systems that make up the human body and how they acutely and chronically respond to exercise.
He is also NSCA certified (CSCS I'm assuming) and CSCCa certified. Good stuff.
Talking GRIT: S1 E2 - Oregon Strength Coach Aaron Feld on Balancing Strength and Speed Training - YouTube
This was GREAT to hear about halfway through (2:10). He talks about how speed IS performance. And power is foundational to speed. And how strength is foundational to power. I was literally saying it out loud to my screen in agreement with him, because this means he strongly understands the concepts of
linear periodization,
which you can read about here if you feel inclined. Periodization is the backbone of a modern S&C coach. He says “grit” is foundational to strength – I’m splitting hairs a little here but most coaches would say it’s “intensity” which lays the foundation for strength, but I’m being overly picky, it’s the same thing. The typical model would look something like:
Neural Introductory / Mobility / Technique --> Metabolic Conditioning --> Strength --> Power --> Speed
And then if you really wanted to get picky some people even add “Power Endurance” at the very end, which is
for how long can you be powerful? But I digress, this is all a very good sign in my opinion – the average “bro” S&C coach doesn’t know any of this ****.
Talking GRIT: S1 E2 - Oregon Strength Coach Aaron Feld on Mental Toughness - YouTube
I find that most fans of the sport put more emphasis on the mental toughness stuff than even the coaches do. I mean, yes, obviously that’s a huge aspect of designing these programs: your athletes need to suck it up and get done what you tell them to get done. But I always felt like that was the easiest part of coaching for me and nearly all good S&C coaches expect mental toughness out of their players. And you do not want to **** off your strength coach. So it’s good to see that he values mental toughness in his athletes, but any good strength coach does.
Talking GRIT: S1 E2 - Oregon Strength Coach Aaron Feld on Taking What Works - YouTube
Huge agreement from me here and I hope everyone here watches this video.
One reason you may have seen me on this forum be so passionate and critical about the way other S&C coaches run their programs is because I’m one too. I like to delve into various programs and see what they’re doing and think about what I would alter and why; taking out what doesn’t work and keeping what does. Also agree about what he said for bench pressing here.
I won’t go through all of his videos here but because it’s so difficult to obtain training programs from collegiate football programs like Oregon (I’m sure I won’t be able to find one), so I’m okay sort of listening to his philosophy here.
The Bad
Behind the Scenes with UO Strength Coach Aaron Feld (PT2)
It’s a little unfair of me to be critical of this video since he was clearly guiding a reporter around and on camera, but I hate BOSU balls. It made me chuckle that he talked about “football movements” and then said he can stand on a BOSU ball “all day,” like how is that applicable? Standing on a BOSU ball is fine for working on ankle proprioception, prehab/rehab, or throwing in a warm-up, but most research has shown that ground-based, loaded movements are more effective at recruiting motor units than balancing. As one of my professors put it, “We don’t play sports on unstable surfaces, so why should we train on them?”
The Ugly
Oregon had a LOT of injuries this year. A LOT. It is extremely difficult to get a database of how many players were injured, the degree of their injuries, and the cause of their injuries.
I mentioned in the other thread that non-contact ACL tears / knee injuries are in many ways directly reflective of the S&C program. Overtraining certain movements like hip and knee extension while undertraining the hamstrings can lead to joint instability in the knee. Also, training in the sagittal plane only can be detrimental when athletes do not move in a single plane. It’s very, very difficult to attribute an “accident” to one person, but I’m very concerned with how many injuries Oregon suffered this year. The sign of a good S&C coach is that injury prevention is the primary priority, and often the “best” S&C coaches will have far fewer injuries than their competitors. This will be something we need to keep an eye on.
Speaking of competitors, this is why I find those “Top 50 Strength Coaches” pictures so stupid lol. What metrics are they using to rank them? Strength Coaches are not offensive coordinators. There’s no “yards/game” metrics. As Coach Feld said, the types of players are recruited by the coaches based on what they’re looking for, and the S&C coach has to develop those players that are then given to him. There’s nothing that makes Feld #1 verses Zach Duval at Nebraska #7 verses Noel Durfey at Duke #44.
Conclusion / Takeaway
I think he’s a little goofy lol. He’s got the mustache, he’s loud (trying to be like Scott Cochran or something?), but overall, I appreciate his enthusiasm and I’m warming up to him. It’s clear that this something he’s passionate about, and if his mustache and IG antics get the kids motivated to play for him, I’m all for it.
I think he has a very strong understanding on the principles that motivate and develop football players (although I’d like to see his programming to be sure, though that’ll never happen). I would say this is a good hire and I’m optimistic about seeing his results –
let’s just keep an eye on the injuries.
