Michigan football strength coach

Submitted by goblue85 on
There are rumors floating around that Michigan may found its man Ben Herbert from Arkansas? Any truth to it?

JonnyHintz

December 29th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^

“Herbert helped grow the 2014 and 2015 Arkansas starting offensive lines into the largest in any level of football, including the NFL. Behind their devastating offensive lines, the Razorbacks became the only FBS team with a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in 2014 and the only SEC program in 2015 with a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher. In addition, Arkansas has given up the fewest sacks during each of the last three seasons.”

“Herbert joined the Razorbacks after spending 11 seasons working in strength and conditioning at Wisconsin, including the last four as head strength and conditioning coach. He started his career as an intern during the 2002 season following his playing days at Wisconsin and was promoted to assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2003. He was involved in all aspects of sports conditioning for the football team during his time with the Badgers.”

“Wisconsin’s work with Herbert was evident in the fourth quarters of games, when the Badgers outscored opponents 435-309 from 2009-12. The team’s strength and conditioning work also was apparent late in the season, as Wisconsin was 15-5 in games played in the month of November or later during Herbert’s four years as head strength and conditioning coach. The Badgers also outscored its opponents 856-442 in games played in November, December and January.”

From his bio on the Arkansas Athletic Website. Sounds like an extremely solid hire.

RobM_24

December 29th, 2017 at 4:41 AM ^

After my in-depth 3 min Google search analysis, I like him. He looks like a mix of South Park's PC Principal and Bill Goldberg. He's basically exactly what you'd think a S&C would look like. More importantly though:

"Herbert helped grow the 2014 and 2015 Arkansas starting offensive lines into the largest in any level of football, including the NFL. Behind their devastating offensive lines, the Razorbacks became the only FBS team with a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in 2014 and the only SEC program in 2015 with a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher. In addition, Arkansas has given up the fewest sacks during each of the last three seasons."

Blue4U

December 29th, 2017 at 5:17 AM ^

He was Bert's S&C coach during his last 4 years at Wisconsin as well.  He was a D lineman at Wisc during the early 2000's so he has first hand experience of Wisc Oline.  He's also earned S&C highest honor when he was named Master Strength and Conditioning Coach (MSCC) by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association at the age of 35 becoming the youngest coach to ever earn the award.  

I've never heard his name before but he seems like a S&C coach this Oline needs.

MGoStrength

December 29th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^

I'm with you on the amount of time I spent researching him.  I don't know him and it looks like he's only coached at Arkansas and Wiscy and went to Wiscy, so it's unlikely I'd know anyone in his coaching tree (most of the guys I know are in the Northeast).  At first blush without knowing anything about him he seems more like a football guy than a performance/S&C guy, but that's just an impression I get based on his background.  I'd like to see someone with a graduate degree and a little more variety in his exposure to other S&C coaching influences.  It seems like he's only ever really been around the Wiscy S&C guys as both a player and a coach, which may mean he is somewhat limited in his philosophical influences.  

newtopos

December 29th, 2017 at 5:47 AM ^

Here is a Arkansas message board thread on him:

http://www.hogville.net/yabbse/index.php?PHPSESSID=c1da236fb5b95c460e66…

Obviously, a lot of noise and differing opinions (and lots of the standard: S&C coach is easy scapegoat, S&C is given too much credit, etc., etc.).

One thing that stood out to me in the discussion was the hype video made showing Jonathan Williams doing a "one-leg" squat with 455 pounds (around the 1:20 mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOXJM8tJZb0

One poster mentioned that this was just before Williams had a season-ending foot injury.  Probably unrelated, but let's just say I would find it interesting to hear some S&C experts discuss the pros and cons of Herbert's approach (re: injury avoidance and prevention, developing explosiveness vs. mass, etc.).    

It does seem that Herbert (and Bielema) valued adding bulk over all else.  (It's not the approach I would favor.)  

In digging for information, I was depressed to learn that Saban said in 2015 that MSU's S&C coach might be the best at what he does in the country.  (MSU's S&C coach Ken Mannie and Stanford's Shannon Turley have both won a S&C coach of the year award given by a website not favored by posters here.  As the nominations are made by ADs, AD staff and coaches, and previous winners vote on the result, I think the award has some credibility.)

I have not heard of any other names being thrown around.  Last time around, Kaz Kazadi's name popped up on the board.  (He was Baylor's S&C coach at the time, and also is a former winner of the S&C coach of the year award.)  He's at Arkansas State now working for peanuts.  I assume he would not be considered now by Michigan given that he worked with Briles at Baylor. 

 

 

In reply to by boliver46

Mi Sooner

December 29th, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^

Before you got there in the late ‘80s as an undergrad. The story from the future NFL lineman I had classes with was that they, the football team, were relatively clean. Now the cheerleaders were a different story; they were doing roids.

Ps. If you were an engineering student, you probably had a lab or two that I taught during the 90’s.

ak47

December 29th, 2017 at 9:31 AM ^

Ugh do not think we just need a bulk strength guy, this seems like an overreaction from Harbaugh. We weren't strong enough so go get a guy who focuses primarily on adding bulk. Would much rather a guy in the Turley vein who focuses on functional football strength, flexibility, etc. as that is much more in line with more advanced training techniques and more recent research being utilized by top tier professional sports.

Mr Miggle

December 29th, 2017 at 10:28 AM ^

Anyhow, I don't think that Arkansas having enormous OLs would have anything to do with this hire. The fact that Wisconsin consistently gets the most out of their talent would make me look at their staff, present and former. UMBig11 below suggests that we will also be hiring assistant S&C coaches away from the Badgers.

Alumnus93

December 29th, 2017 at 11:24 AM ^

Why not? Then it's a hug coincidence that I've been biching about our OL size for the past decade...tons of 6-5 guys even at OT. We have looked undersized for a decade now. Braden and Lewan were the exceptions.

Mr Miggle

December 29th, 2017 at 8:33 AM ^

So there was an early connection to enormous OL. Two questions though. Isn't having the largest OL much more a reflection of recruiting strategy and offensive philosophy than S&C? We could have Faalele (plus Onwenu), for example. Wisconsin had those kinds of lines before Herbert and Bielema. Do S&C coaches specialize on working with the OL or is that just what fans talk about? Seems like working with the rest of the team is important too.