Michigan Football needs a new weight room
Brian mentioned this in the mailbag...
As for maximizing Michigan's resources, I literally cannot imagine what else Harbaugh could be doing to increase Michigan's recruiting profile and on-field fortunes.
How about getting a new weight room that can compete with the big boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fquDTF09bk
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/7/31/4574556/oregon-football-building-new
Our current weight room looks like an 80s basement compared to Alabama and Oregon.
Edit: yes I didn't read all of the posts. Sorry.
added and call it a day
March 16th, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^
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Didn't they just renovate this in RR's first year?
...kidding.
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March 16th, 2016 at 11:25 PM ^
March 16th, 2016 at 11:27 PM ^
March 16th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^
Are you a 17-year-old kid who likes shiny new things? A 2004 VW Jetta might get you from place to place just fine, but that doesn't mean Kate Upton wants to ride in it.
March 17th, 2016 at 12:05 AM ^
Our weight room is not amazing. Far from it actually.
...cars Kate Upton wants to ride in.
March 17th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
Oregon average recruiting ranking in 5 years prior to super weight room: 17.8
Oregon average recruiting ranking with super weight room: 23.25
Alabama pre-renovation: 1.8
Alabama post-renovation: 1.3
So Oregon got significantly worse recruiting with the new weight room, and Alabama saw basically no change?
Now, I'm sure it's just correlation and causation.... but it is pretty much what I'd expect. It's basically irrelevant fluffery.
No evidence at all that it helps recruiting.
I didn't say it helped recruiting.
Also, there's not far to move up when you start off at 1.8.
March 21st, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^
"Are you a 17-year-old kid who likes shiny new things? A 2004 VW Jetta might get you from place to place just fine, but that doesn't mean Kate Upton wants to ride in it."
Hmmm... that sure seems to imply that recruits are attracted to it, and the point in doing things attractive to recruits is... helping recruiting.
March 16th, 2016 at 11:35 PM ^
March 17th, 2016 at 12:50 AM ^
This comes from the same line of thinking that we shouldn't have to pay coaches a lot of money because we're Michigan. Just build an Alabamaesque weight room and win games.
Meh, I like our weight room, nothing but barbells and bumper plates like it should be. Dingy dungeons are the best place to workout imo.
That's missing the point. The goal is not to impress you, a random dude on the internet.
I'm personally not a fan of the new weight rooms ala Alabama & Oregon. Oregon's looks like a country club and I hate the big open floor plan with all the natural lighting like Alabama's. I know a lot of schools are moving to that model, but I think it sucks. I'd prefer to have fewer windows and a lower cieling to keep the sound inside so it's loud, but that's just my idea of what a weight room should be. It's not a country club for looking at the view. It's too easy to get distracted there. Get down, stay in the submarine, and get to work IMO.
It seems to be working for Alabama. And Oregon's pretty good, too.
Alabama's new weight room was built in 2013, after the Tide had won three National Championships in four years. I think the NCs had a little more to do with their recruiting appeal.
March 17th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^
Exactly. Alabama won, installed a new weight room, and is still winning. Despite a couple people saying "I prefer dungeons," there's no evidence that a new weight room has any negative effect. (Also, there's no evidence here that it has a positive one.) So maybe it makes a small difference or maybe it doesn't, but if Michigan can find the money for it from donors, then there's no reason not to go for it.
To be clear, my comment was how I'd prefer to have a weight room as a strength coach to get the most out of athletes in an S&C environment, not which style of weight room will attract the most recruits.
I think you can still have a nice big, new age, high tech weight room without making it look like a country club. It doesn't have to look like a basement. I just don't like the high cielings or the country club mahogany look. There is something inbetween.
March 17th, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^
Michigan is pretty good with their dungeon weight room also.
What exactly is working? I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if you've seen either of those teams complete a workout in those facilities.
If you're talking recruiting, I'd guess winning champtionships was more helpful for Bama than the weight room. They did pretty well before the new weight room was built. I'd agree that facilities and uniforms all go into the whole marketing thing that has increased Oregon's popularity, but is Oregon any good at recruiting?
I would say Oregon is pretty good at recruiting, considering they don't have a ton of history and Oregon isn't the most desirable location for kids from around the country to live.
Regardless, what seems to be working is their facilities. It's not the only factor, but I'm sure it's *a* factor.
To be clear, I'm not sitting here, pounding my fist, saying that Michigan needs an upgraded weight room to be successful. I don't think Michigan's weight room is a detriment to the program. I'm simply saying that there are reasons that upgrades could help, and not many reasons that upgrades would hurt (except money, which would probably come from rich donors, anyway).
I think we're probably saying the same thing with a slightly different lens. My reply was more of a rebuttle to your flippant response. I hear what you're saying. I agree there's no reason not to upgrade a facility...there's not a whole lot to lose.
I know the thread was more about recruiting appeal and I was making a comment of what I'd prefer from a strength coach's perspective for training athletes, not how it would help recruiting. I just don't personally like those two particular examples and think there is a good happy medium....not that I would ever complain as an athlete to have either of them, it just wouldn't be how I'd do it if I had the resources.
I watched the video tour of Bama's weight room when it was first introduced and Scott Cochran said he also didn't like all the windows because it's distracting. But, he didn't have any say in how it was designed. He was the yes man, it was all Saban's idea.
Why does it matter? Harbaugh is going to take the team wherever he can and use the facilities there. Hell, I could see him going all Rocky IV and training Siberian style.
March 17th, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
Couldnt agree more! We had enough of the country club atmosphere with Hoke
Not at all. This is about being leaders and best. If the organization thinks that a new weight room will be a further attraction for recruits or will help the on-field performance of the team, then they should raise the money for it and get it done. Old-school, new-school, waterfalls, yoga studios, who cares...to paraphrase "Rounders", "give the man his [money] weight room"
...but a sweet 80's basement!
I'd leave this one up to the coach. I personally don't like my weight rooms too architectural. If the equipment is in good condition and clean, and the floor is clean and free of obstructions, I'm good. All that glass in the Oregon weight room would distract the $hit out of me.
But I'm far from being an up to date S&C guy, nor do I have a finger on the pulse of the recruits.
I suppose it would be good to improve the lighting and get rid of the drop ceilings - it looks like a shitty office building in that regard. Just open it up and throw some shop lights and BFF ceiling fans in there. The weightroom is a place of work. I would think Harbaugh's weigh room would be a place of honest blue collar work so lets make it look like the factory floor at FCA where they build the Viper - exceptionally clean, well-lit, but still industrial.
I'd rather spend an hour on the elliptical at Oregon's facilities, but if I'm gonna pump iron I don't see the benifit of walls of glass or skylights or whatever. Stuff like cleanliness, equipment availability (if the place is too small/crampped that is a problem) and airflow matter a lot more.
[Upvote]
March 17th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^
Sooo...more windows?
March 17th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
It has mostly the right equipment but probably needs more floor space for more dynamic work
Fan, alumni and donor opinion matters because the AD is raising money for this new weight room.
If they want us to donate ~$24 million, it would be nice to know it's the most helpful place, vs a therapy and training room w/ a pool, endowed academic help, or student athlete career placement assistance.
March 17th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^
I just read on ESPN that Harbaugh had put in a request for a new/updated workout area. Not sure if that's been discussed at all in the thread here.
March 17th, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^
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March 17th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^
In the Community
Start a GoFundMe page for the Michigan weight room and maybe they'll name it the MgoBlog.com weight and fitness center