Several other users on this forum, including myself, are current or former Strength and Conditioning (S&C, or just Strength) Coaches. As we go through the coaching carousel, I wanted to shed some light on what we should be looking for in a Strength Coach, as I assume Feeley will likely be replaced.
It’s important to understand that the Strength Coach has an especially unique role on the coaching staff. Offensive and Defensive Coordinators might have a “system” they run, recruit the right players for that system, and execute their system with various X’s and O’s based on what looks the other team is giving them. As such, they can have a robust history of numbers and averages that other coaches and commentators as well as fans can use to show their effectiveness, i.e.: *** rushing yards per game, passing yards, touchdowns, points allowed, etc.
S&C doesn’t really work this way. The Strength Coach will spend arguably more time with the athletes than any other coach on the team but won’t really have any hard or concrete numbers to show his effectiveness unless you are an insider, like seeing the progression of fat loss or muscle mass gained from player to player. The closest that a fan can get to really seeing the effectiveness of the coach is how “gassed” the players look throughout the game and especially in the 4th quarter. But the Strength Coach is critical to developing the athletes in a way conducive to the coaching staff’s goals.
Credentials
Back in the day, becoming an S&C Coach at the collegiate or professional level typically came from an apprenticeship. Ron McKeeferey (Tennessee) wrote in his book about how he got started by writing letters to dozens if not hundreds of S&C coaches at the collegiate and professional level until someone finally took a chance on him. That supposed knowledge containing all the “secrets” of the best coaches was passed down in this manner.
Another manner in which many coaches “made it” was simply because they themselves also were athletes, and after their career was over they met with their former coach and asked to be brought on as a Strength Coach, regardless of their knowledge; having “been there, done that” was good enough.
The emergence of exercise science/physiology as a major in the 90’s and after has made this method of learning obsolete. Research and development from Universities and allied health organizations such as the
National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) has shed light on effective training strategies for athletes and thrown to the wayside old/stupid/outdated ideas like making the football players bodybuilders. You should be proud to know that your University of Miami is considered a leader in this field.
In 2014, the
NCAA required that S&C Coaches be certified by an accredited certification. As such, several certifications have arisen to show a baseline aptitude of exercise science for the coach who successfully passes the test. Passing the test simply shows a minimum degree of knowledge that the practitioner understands anatomy and physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, programming and periodization, technique instruction, stretching, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and more.
Any worthwhile S&C Coach will have one or more of the following certifications:
NSCA – CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist)
CSCCa – SCCC (Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified)
NCSF – CSC (Certified Strength Coach)
The CSCS has been widely regarded as the “gold standard” for S&C for many years, but the SCCC is quickly emerging as something coaches and administrators also would like to see. The SCCC involves a lengthy internship process where the practitioner needs to have x number of hours learning from a “Master” S&C Coach (as deemed by the CSCCa) in addition to passing the certification. It’s a little “good ol’ boy-ish” for me but nevertheless it’s worth having. The CSC is also emerging as a good option although it is less known than the other options.
As a quick aside: I know there are many users here and former players who admire Coach Swasey as a S&C Coach – while not an attack on his character as it’s a difficult test, I will simply leave it that while at UM he was unable to obtain a certifying credential as a S&C Coach.
Looking at his current bio at FIU now, there is still no mention of one.
So any Strength Coach that we bring on, this is typically the
first thing that I look for and want to see. If they don’t have it, they’re a dinosaur and were probably grandfathered in.
Injury Prevention
The #1 priority of a Strength Coach is injury prevention. This isn’t up for debate.
Strength Coaches are now having to work with athletes whom are pulling in literally 9-figure contracts + endorsements (Mahomes, Mike Trout, Lebron). It doesn’t matter how explosive, strong, or conditioned an athlete is: If you hurt them, they don’t play. And if they don’t play, the organization is losing games, fans, and money.
Football is a contact sport. There isn’t much a coach can do when a player gets wrapped up or tackled in an awkward position that tears a ligament – it’s unfortunate but part of the game. However,
non-contact injury is a huge deal and something the Strength Coach is directly responsible for. A Strength Coach who doesn’t correctly train athletes in multiple planes of motion, program considerably for calf/hamstring development, knee stability, etc. will have athletes whom have injuries from planting (quickly decelerating à accelerating) and needs to be corrected.
I’m looking to see if the coach’s teams have a history of non-contact ACL tears or other preventative injuries.
Athletes and Confirmation Bias
The largest determining factor for what makes a Strength Coach effective is the caliber of athletes they start with.
I’m going to say that again.
The largest determining factor for what makes a Strength Coach effective is the caliber of athletes they start with.
Working as a S&C Coach at Ohio State or Alabama is the easiest job on planet earth: You’re working with 4 and 5-star athletes whom were specifically recruited for their exact role, meaning they already have the aptitude to succeed. The Strength Coach’s job is to reduce their risk of injury, improve all the factors needed to allow the athlete to be successful (technique, conditioning, trunk stability, mobility/flexibility, etc. etc.), and monitor any signs of overtraining or fatigue, etc.
It is without exaggeration that I tell you that Swasey in the early 2000’s had the easiest job in the sports world, maybe 2nd to Scott Cochran while he was at Alabama. How hard do you think it is to train Sean Taylor or Julio Jones? They’re already freak athletes. All you have to do is make sure you don’t do something stupid and hurt them in the weight room, and even that is apparently too difficult for some people.
Recruiting athletes who are not explosive, not strong, not fast, not quick, not coordinated, and/or not smart, limits what the Strength Coach can do with them. You’ve either got type II muscle fibers or you don’t. I might be able to take an athlete who runs a 4.8 40 (whether you think that’s important or not) and bring it down to a 4.6-4.7, but there are simply limits to this. Additionally, the goal is to be a better football player, not run a faster 40.
As a positive example, it’s easy to see that someone like Jaylon Knighton is very, very fast. His Strength Coach in high school wasn’t responsible for that, and neither is his collegiate Strength Coach. What’s important is reducing his risk of injury, putting on some muscle mass to allow him to take a little more abuse and improve his longevity, while maintaining his explosiveness and speed.
Therefore, “the caliber of athletes” a Strength Coach has worked with in the past does not necessarily make them good or bad Strength Coaches. Just because someone comes from a small or irrelevant school doesn’t mean they
aren’t good, and just because someone came from an SEC school doesn’t mean they
are good.
What we don’t want
Navy SEALs or “World’s Strongest Men” or “Water is for the weak!”-type guys. This is going to come as a news flash to some of you, but believe it or not, someone who went through BUD/S has a lot of mental toughness but doesn’t mean they necessarily know jack **** about training football players. 13-mile rucksack marches and making guys lift giant logs in unison makes for a good movie scene, maybe, but is stupid and increases the risk of injury when training football players.
Just because someone bench presses a lot, loves to snort cocaine, screams at people, smashes Monsters on their forehead, was once a Green Beret, or has a handlebar mustache doesn’t – necessarily - mean they’re a good Strength Coach.
We don’t want a Strength Coach who is overly concerned with metrics. Impressive metrics like how much someone Benches or Power Cleans should be dependent variables from the caliber of the athlete as well as a byproduct of the training methodology. That is to say: Someone who goes through a proper S&C program will see their squat 1RM improve, but that wasn’t necessarily the goal of the program. The goal of the program is to make better athletes; the metrics associated should improve because of the effectiveness of the program.
Another good example of a Strength Coach we don’t want is Coach Oderinde, who followed Willie Taggart to Oregon and FSU. While at Oregon,
he nearly killed a couple of players by giving them all rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis or “rhabdo” is a condition where the muscle fibers are broken down beyond normal/healthy to such an extent that myoglobin leaks out from the muscle into the blood stream. From there, it’s too large of a protein to be filtered by the kidneys so someone who is experiencing rhabdo will have brown urine and can potentially succumb to renal failure, which is fatal. The guy is literally the Director of Strength and Conditioning at USF and he has no ******* idea what he’s doing lol. You’ll notice he also has no mention of being a CSCS or SCCC on his bio, which in my opinion is no coincidence as those certifications typically teach you how to not kill people.
Another example of a coach we don’t necessarily want is someone who’s known for being “innovative.” I hear this one a lot. “Oh, he’s so innovative, he’s doing all kinds of crazy stuff with his athletes!” We don’t want crazy stuff. We want an evidence-based plan of action that concurs with established science. Just because a guy is doing “crazy” or “innovative” stuff like making guys wear weighted vests while they hurl empty beer kegs at each other doesn’t mean what they’re doing is effective.
The best S&C Coach is most likely someone you’ve never heard of with a mix of impressive academic credentials and practical experience. They’ll have a fundamental, no-nonsense approach to their programming, expect discipline and the completion of every rep prescribed, and use data to ensure that their athletes are progressing at an expected, consistent rate so as not to risk under/overtraining.
I personally believe that Feeley did quite well in his role here, but I’m sure he won’t be retained and I’ll be disappointed to see him go, yet optimistic we’ll move forward with another qualified coach in the future. My favorite S&C Coach is Jim Radcliffe over at Oregon, who is a well-known plyometric guy, but he is probably nearing retirement now and/or taking a more research-oriented/academic approach to training.
