Weight Room Conditioning

[ac3983]

We have an excellent Strength and Conditioning staff. It is headed by Evan Simon who I have known for a long time. His credentials are big time.

Brian Seitz handles strength and conditioning for men's and women's basketball. You will see him on the court pregame with both teams and sitting on the bench supporting our players at each game. Brian is doing a fantastic job with our basketball programs.

Our Doe Weight Room and the Terry Holland Performance Center (training center for men's and women's basketball) will be enhanced by the new weight facility in the new Game Changers Football Facility.

Whether we should be recruiting 7'0", 400 lbs basketball centers or 5'2" 120 lbs guards, I will leave that up for discussion, but to question at any point whether we have appropriate staff or facilities, let alone whether our men and women are working hard enough on strength and conditioning is foolishness. Our staff and our men's and women's basketball team are getting it done in the weight room.

Didn't UMASS have one of these a few years back?

[stan]

If our staff and team were getting it done in the weight room this thread would not have happened.

It’s obvious we aren’t getting it done. We get pushed around and can’t do anything about it. Facts are facts.

I realize that I don’t know anything about lifting and college athletes since I only spent some of my life as a college coach working with athletes and observing their weight programs. I appreciate the knowledgeable experts on this site explaining how my experience has misled me into believing myths.

I guess my problem is my talking with other college programs whose beliefs in the same myths keep producing players who keep kicking our ass. Those silly rabbits. Obviously, the solution is to explain to all the other teams that they are foolishly believing in myths.

[ScootCat]

Trust your eyes. They don’t lie.

[stevelee]

How dare they work with the players we have! They should be working with players with better genetics.

[i77cat]

Questioning it isn't foolishness. Would any of our strength and conditioning folks claim that they have enough people? I doubt it. We have as many D1 athletes to take care of as most big schools. Our strength and conditioning professionals may be exceptional, but we don't have enough of them. I suspect that the sports where we compete more athletically with our competitors (football, lacrosse, etc), are sports where our athletes arrive on campus with a smaller gap to make up. Blame it whatever single factor you like, or on a combo, but the bottom line is that we can't jump, can't stay in front of people, and get tossed around. Go Cats.

[DC69Wildcat]

One word: Vitameatavegamin. It's so tasty, too.

[catnhat]

Poll:
1. Do you know what the heck DC69 is talking about?

2. Are you over 60 years old?

Yes and yes

[MrMac]

Classic. Just like us.

[collegecoach8502]

We have a full-time staff of 7. Anyone in athletics - Davidson or Alabama - are going to say we need more staff. That's true in any athletic department. We have a full time staff member dedicated to basketball - along with their own dedicated facility.

Many look at someone's body build and how people are "pushed around" physically and say they need to bulk up and get stronger. While this may be true in some cases, it is not necessarily an indicator of how one works in the weight room and for that matter, how strong one individual may be.

A classic example can be found between Virginia and Georgetown greats, Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing. No one would ever accuse Ewing of being easy to push around and with his build, he was often considered a bully in the paint. Sampson on the other hand was always considered slim and easy to be man handled both offensively and defensively.

People forget that Sampson worked as hard as anyone in the weight room and was considered the strongest player on the team. In fact, back in college when Ewing and Sampson famously matched up, Sampson was actually stronger than Ewing in the weight room and the one that could curl and leg press more than just about anyone. This was true throughout his NBA days as well.

In fact, many felt that our beloved Terry Holland and his style of coaching and training led to this perception and in Sampson's play. Many also felt John Thompson was a factor in how Ewing played physically (perhaps bully) people in the paint.

I challenge all you naysayers to spend a week with the team during their training both on the court and in the weight room before you condemn them and the staff. Until you do, I don't give a lot of credibility to your comments on this subject.

[i77cat]

7 for the whole campus. Is that about half what bigger schools have for the same number of athletes? I'm sure that the athletes and the coaches work hard, make gains in their lifting, endurance, etc. But it isn't working on the MBB court. Maybe we'll start winning more fights on the court after we start winning more recruiting battles.

[collegecoach8502]

I'm not here to argue whether we need to do something different to achieve more wins. NIL, portal, grad programs, different recruits, coaching decisions - they are all things that people can debate.

For instance, I think we need to increase our NIL money substantially in order to be more competitive on the recruiting trail. I strongly disagree with the notion that our staff, facilities, coaches and athletes are not getting it done in the weight room.

We have lost to Dayton, Rhode Island and George Washington. Dayton has 4 full time staff members, Rhode Island has 4 and George Washington has 4 (with 3 grad positions). We have 7 and they are great. Argue as you will, but those that point the finger at our team and their efforts in the weight room are misguided.

[cat44]

Trust your eyes. They don’t lie.

[TiredCat88]

Trust your eyes. They don’t lie.

That may work for John, Stan and others, but that doesn't make it so.

[collegecoach8502]

Trust your eyes. They don’t lie.

I stand by my comments.

[i77cat]

The proof of the pudding is in the tasting. It has nothing to do with the efforts of the cook or the quality of the ingredients. Ours tastes weak. When we see our players play weak that's all the proof needed.