Who will be the Strength Coach?

Submitted by Sauce Castillo on

I don't believe I have seen a topic on this or any hints from Michigan insiders but has there been any mention of who we could possibly bring in?  I know I've seen some mentions on the board of people wanting Barwis back but has anyone seen mention of who it might be?

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newtopos

December 29th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^

It would seem fairly obvious that such an approach is suboptimal.  Not surprising, given the previous regime's defense of a suboptimal punting strategy (we are comfortable with it -- it's the way we've always done it), but disappointing.  Given Michigan's resources, why wouldn't you tailor the program to the position group and individual athlete? 

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1974

December 29th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^

As much I'd like to *not* be at variance with one of the NFL's all-time greats (Steve H.), isn't Gittleson the the guy who valued bulk over speed and flexibility?

Also, his ancient dope-smoking-moron picture was unchanging for years:

http://static.flickr.com/55/183334396_54e5c6f2b8_o.jpg

Makes no sense, when IRL he was looking like a cool, bulked-up George Carlin:

http://nicktumminello.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Mike-Gittleson-600…

New arguably better than old ...

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RGard

December 29th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^

I heard from 'sources' that these are being mailed to B1G head coaches in order not to be embarassed when shaking hands with Harbaugh after the game...

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MStrength

December 29th, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^

Shannon Turley would be great, as his work reducing injuries at Stanford has been second to none. Tolbert has been around the block so he probably wouldn't be bad, although if he is a disciple of Gittleson it's likely we'll be going back to more of a HIT, machine based training style, which IMO isn't ideal. 

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MStrength

December 29th, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^

Strength coaches tend to model their style of programming after the coaches that mentored them. Tolbert I believe has been at Miami and a few other places as well. This may mean he's not as strict of an HIT coach as his old boss, as you were sort of pointing out. There is nothing wrong with incorporating elements of HIT into training, as all styles should be part of a coach's toolbox, but it generally isn't the most effective to center a program around. Hopefully, if Tolbert is the new Director of S&C, he does the former. 

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Reader71

December 29th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^

Read up on Kevin Tolbert. He is as HIT as a man can get. He worked under Gittleson, but was raised by HIT guru Dr. Ken Leistner. He trained with Kim Wood, who was part of inventing the Nautilus machines and was one of the first SC coaches in pro football for the Browns. Kevin will almost certainly bring back a Gittleson-esque program. Which I dont think should be poo-pooed by anyone after 7 years of non-Gittleson failures. For all of the flack Gittleson got on here, his teams were tough, strong, fast, and they won. They were never physically outmatched. Never. And he was a psychological gold mine to the program for all of those years, toughening guys up mentally before they ever took the field. That's what we have missed the most in these past seven years, IMO.

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MStrength

December 29th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^

HIT can be effective, but generally is not optimal for athletic performance when used by itself. The teams that Gittleson had, mostly under Bo and Moeller, were more benefitted by solid recruiting and coaching. 

That said, it can be effective, as Ken Mannie at MSU uses a lot of HIT type methods over there and it seems to be working. I don't think it was the methods the past two coaches were using, moreso the implementation. You can create the best program in the history of programs, but if you aren't good at coaching it, it's not going to work. There are a lot of ways and methodologies that work, and Tolbert has been around long enough that he knows what he has to do to prevent injuries and keep players healthy, which is what the team needs more than anything after all the injuries the past several years. 

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Reader71

December 29th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^

Of course. Its not like Mike was HIT-only. But there's no doubt that he believed in working to failure. I think a lot of people on here would be shocked to see some of the old Friday lifts; they weren't what people would lead you to believe. And for all of the fuss about the pizza-eating, Michigan was one of the last power schools to have OL over 300 lbs. Wasn't until 2002 or so that Michigan had more than 1-2 guys that big. By then it was standard procedure. But Mike wanted guys who could move. As far as injury, I've no clue. Can we get some data on Gittleson-coached teams?

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mjv

December 30th, 2014 at 12:16 AM ^

I graduated in 1994 and my roommate was a student manager for the offensive linemen. To say that those players were all 297-300 pounds, as the program listed, is complete crap. The weights in the program were propaganda.

I don't believe for an instant that the variety of shapes of the OL would lead to such a low variance. And there was no way that Runyan was the 298 he was listed in the program. The man was 315 easy.

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Reader71

December 30th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^

I will say that the numbers in the program were accurate. I know, because when I got over 299, Mike worked my ass until I got back down there. Eventually, he allowed a little more leeway. It wasn't propaganda. We actually worked like dogs to hit those numbers. Now, we added weight during the season, but we spent all summer and fall camp hitting our targets. If there was a lie, it was because program weights are all taken at camp, during two a days, when losing 10 pounds of water weight after a double session was pretty common. Maybe they weighed us after practice, getting the lower numbers. But the numbers in the program came from actual weigh-ins, I promise.

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ama11

December 29th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^

I hope it's Turley.

Does anyone know if Michigan has plans to upgrade the weight room anytime soon? I think the weight room is the last piece of the "facilities" puzzle. Everything else a M has is state-of-the-art, with exception to the weight room.

I would gut it out, open it up with glass walls and high ceilings.



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Geaux_Blue

December 29th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^

Let's start beating Rutgers before we start worrying about having tranquility fountains in our weight rooms. I seem to remember a certain mantra about a nail and Yost's hat when it comes to facilities; I don't see them building an atrium any time soon if the weights are effective

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