Men's Basketball Strength & Conditioning Coach | The Boneyard

Men's Basketball Strength & Conditioning Coach

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Chief00

Who is the Men's Basketball Strength & Conditioning Coach now? Travis or Chris West? Just want to check to see what others are hearing.
 
Could your dream be coming true? In all seriousness, KO mentioning that Larrier needs to bulk up is concerning, all things being considered.
 
My understanding is that Chris West is now the go to guy for MBB - what I don't know is what role Travis may still play - Chris is a higher pay grade under Bilais.

I do know it was getting pretty brutal with humor in the weight room per some football players - about the progress certain MBB players were making.
 
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I know I sound crazy but if larrier starts the year under 200 there is a serious issue with the weight room. There is really no excuse for him not to have added 20 lbs in 12+ months of just practicing and going to class.
 
I ran track at Uconn some time ago and Chris West did a lot of our strength and conditioning. I remember we did a lot of squatting, lunges, cleans, core work, pull ups with weight belts, bench, etc. Nothing crazy or revolutionary, but maybe they do different things with the basketball team.
 
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Everyone can give Chief crap about this, but this is definitely the #1 area I am almost in 100% agreement with him, our strength training and/or dietician the last few years has been pitiful.
 
One thing people need to keep in mind is that the strength and conditioning coaches have a limited amount of time to work with the players under NCAA rules (like all coaches). The vast majority of responsibility for players getting stronger falls on the players (at least in basketball). The strength and conditioning coaches can give them a plan, a diet, a workout regiment, but it's mostly up to the players to dedicate themselves, impliment the plan, diet, workout regiment, etc, on their own time and stick to it.

Guys like Emeka, Ben and Hilton (who learned from Ben and Mek) were monsters because of their dedication to diet, and strength and conditioning on their own time. They all understood the importance of it for them, and had the drive and determination to be the best they could be.

Some guys like Facey and Hamilton are probably never going to really be able to "bulk up", they just aren't built for it. Do the players (or certain players) need to be held more responsible to dedicating themselves to the strength and conditioning program? It's possible, but I have no idea.
 
I agree the player is accountable but needs to be given a program structure and oversight to get it done. S&C is now a critical component of any major college sports program.
 
As a little follow up to @Thirty Three post some kids aren't going to put on a bunch of weight or muscle and also be in top cardio conditioning shape. It is hard to expect kids with fast metabolisms and slight builds to run, run, run all day, have great conditioning to run up and down the floor for 20-30 minutes a game and practices and still put on weight and to an extent muscle. I am not and was not a Division 1 athlete and obviously did not have the benefit of dietitians and coaches but I got to UConn at about 160 lbs dripping wet. Along with some friends of mine I worked out at a gym, for the first time in my life, for 4-5 days a week for my freshman through junior years. I was doing standard "amateur" type workouts bench, curls, presses, incline, stuff like that. While I did gain quite a bit of strength and was a lot more defined than when I started I did not add much mass at all and left UConn at 165. Now that I am 46, my metabolism has slowed down, I work 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, daughter etc. and no time to work out I'm an easy 190 on a good day. If I could only find time to do something about that....
 
80shusky said:
As a little follow up to @Thirty Three post some kids aren't going to put on a bunch of weight or muscle and also be in top cardio conditioning shape. It is hard to expect kids with fast metabolisms and slight builds to run, run, run all day, have great conditioning to run up and down the floor for 20-30 minutes a game and practices and still put on weight and to an extent muscle. I am not and was not a Division 1 athlete and obviously did not have the benefit of dietitians and coaches but I got to UConn at about 160 lbs dripping wet. Along with some friends of mine I worked out at a gym, for the first time in my life, for 4-5 days a week for my freshman through junior years. I was doing standard "amateur" type workouts bench, curls, presses, incline, stuff like that. While I did gain quite a bit of strength and was a lot more defined than when I started I did not add much mass at all and left UConn at 165. Now that I am 46, my metabolism has slowed down, I work 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, daughter etc. and no time to work out I'm an easy 190 on a good day. If I could only find time to do something about that....
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The "fast" and "slow" metabolism myth has been debunked. The variance between fast and slow metabolisms is ~100kcal/day which is barely statistically significant. They need to eat more and lift weights, it's really that simple. Some will have to eat and work out more than others, but it's necessary if you want to put on weight.
 
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How do the other college teams do it - kids are the same age, etc. ?

80shusky said:
As a little follow up to @Thirty Three post some kids aren't going to put on a bunch of weight or muscle and also be in top cardio conditioning shape. It is hard to expect kids with fast metabolisms and slight builds to run, run, run all day, have great conditioning to run up and down the floor for 20-30 minutes a game and practices and still put on weight and to an extent muscle. I am not and was not a Division 1 athlete and obviously did not have the benefit of dietitians and coaches but I got to UConn at about 160 lbs dripping wet. Along with some friends of mine I worked out at a gym, for the first time in my life, for 4-5 days a week for my freshman through junior years. I was doing standard "amateur" type workouts bench, curls, presses, incline, stuff like that. While I did gain quite a bit of strength and was a lot more defined than when I started I did not add much mass at all and left UConn at 165. Now that I am 46, my metabolism has slowed down, I work 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, daughter etc. and no time to work out I'm an easy 190 on a good day. If I could only find time to do something about that....
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Chief00 said:
I agree the player is accountable but needs to be given a program structure and oversight to get it done. S&C is now a critical component of any major college sports program.
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Eating, sleeping and working out. It really isn't that hard.
 
Chief00 said:
How do the other college teams do it - kids are the same age, etc. ?
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So you are maintaining that only UConn kids of the 300+ Division 1 basketball programs out there don't get bigger and stronger while they are with our program? No other schools graduate skinny basketball players? And is it every one of our kids that doesn't get bigger and stronger?
 
80shusky said:
So you are maintaining that only UConn kids of the 300+ Division 1 basketball programs out there don't get bigger and stronger while they are with our program? No other schools graduate skinny basketball players? And is it every one of our kids that doesn't get bigger and stronger?
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Read your earlier post.
 
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superjohn said:
Eating, sleeping and working out. It really isn't that hard.
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It seems football players fare better and perhaps quicker than bball players. Although agility is not as important in that sport, but still they bulk up quite nicely over a 4 year span.
 
Kitaman said:
Is this good or bad or more of the same?
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Good question - I think it's good. The Athletic Dept has effectively recognized the problem that has been obvious to many of us and have taken action.

I think when the NBA "experts" came out in various news stories saying Hamilton needed to do two things - get stronger and shoot better - that is something I believe got KO 's attention. Travis is a KO guy so I think it was a tough conclusion - whatever Travis's role is going forward - it's clear Cbris West has "Direct"'responsibility over MBB. He is more of a tradition strength guy and that's what we need.
 
80shusky said:
As a little follow up to @Thirty Three post some kids aren't going to put on a bunch of weight or muscle and also be in top cardio conditioning shape. It is hard to expect kids with fast metabolisms and slight builds to run, run, run all day, have great conditioning to run up and down the floor for 20-30 minutes a game and practices and still put on weight and to an extent muscle. I am not and was not a Division 1 athlete and obviously did not have the benefit of dietitians and coaches but I got to UConn at about 160 lbs dripping wet. Along with some friends of mine I worked out at a gym, for the first time in my life, for 4-5 days a week for my freshman through junior years. I was doing standard "amateur" type workouts bench, curls, presses, incline, stuff like that. While I did gain quite a bit of strength and was a lot more defined than when I started I did not add much mass at all and left UConn at 165. Now that I am 46, my metabolism has slowed down, I work 60 hours a week, have a mortgage, daughter etc. and no time to work out I'm an easy 190 on a good day. If I could only find time to do something about that....
Expand ...

here's the thing. If you are a 19 year old with pro aspirations to be "paul george" as larrier was quoted, you can't loaf around for a year and come in your playing season the same frigging weight. nearly 6'9 prospects should easily be able to bulk 10-15 during a 12 months span while continuously working on their game and adjusting. frankly its completely tied into player and skill development as @aceboon posted about in other threads; you fill your frame , expand your game and basketball iq. Purvis put on crazy mass in storrs, but it didn't really coincide with his overall skill development. He was too bulky at times on the court and not slithery enough to 'snake' pnrs ( hoop term).
 
Chief00 said:
Just found this.
Chris West:
UCONNHUSKIES.COM :: University of Connecticut Huskies Official Athletic Site

Travis - interestingly only one of just two non intern coaches with no bio/responsibility link on S&C website.

UCONNHUSKIES.COM :: University of Connecticut Huskies Official Athletic Site
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While West heads men's basketball's strength and conditioning program, he took a backseat to Travis when he hired him. Travis has a PHD in human performance from Alabama and has worked for the University of Alabama with their (highly succesful) gymnastics and football programs, as well as working for the Oakland Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks, among others. West felt Travis was better qualified/suited for the men's basketball position and decided to devote more of his time to men's soccer. As far as I know that's how things still stand.
 
Are you sure Travis worked for the Seahawks and Raiders? I thought West did. Also, are you sure he did football at Bama? I have not seen these things reported anywhere else.
 
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Chief00 said:
Are you sure Travis worked for the Seahawks and Raiders? I thought West did. Also, are you sure he did football at Bama? I have not seen these things reported anywhere else.
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My bad. After double checking I found out that he interned with both the Raiders and Seahawks. I'm sure his info is out there somewhere if you look.
 
James said:
here's the thing. If you are a 19 year old with pro aspirations to be "paul george" as larrier was quoted, you can't loaf around for a year and come in your playing season the same frigging weight. nearly 6'9 prospects should easily be able to bulk 10-15 during a 12 months span while continuously working on their game and adjusting. frankly its completely tied into player and skill development as @aceboon posted about in other threads; you fill your frame , expand your game and basketball iq. Purvis put on crazy mass in storrs, but it didn't really coincide with his overall skill development. He was too bulky at times on the court and not slithery enough to 'snake' pnrs ( hoop term).
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Actually, you made part of my point in another post. Purvis put on mass as you say. Is that because our S&C coach did a good job, Purvis worked hard or he had the body for it to begin with?
 
Chief00 said:
Just found this.
Chris West:
UCONNHUSKIES.COM :: University of Connecticut Huskies Official Athletic Site

Travis - interestingly only one of just two non intern coaches with no bio/responsibility link on S&C website.

UCONNHUSKIES.COM :: University of Connecticut Huskies Official Athletic Site
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Can't really go by the website, as not much has changed on either of those if you run the links through the wayback machine.

Travis has always been listed as an assistant strength and conditioning coach since he arrived in 2014: LINK.

West has had this line in his bio ("the Associate Head Coach for Strength and Conditioning at the University of Connecticut working directly with Men's Basketball and Men's and Women's Soccer") as far back as 2009: LINK.
 
80shusky said:
Actually, you made part of my point in another post. Purvis put on mass as you say. Is that because our S&C coach did a good job, Purvis worked hard or he had the body for it to begin with?
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purvis worked hard and frankly had the frame before hand. he just build definition. As you know, he's probably the only other dude who made a seriously full body transformation, to his detriment imo, in the past few years. Facey is a senior dude looks the same as he was a freshman. My worry with larrier isn't the upper body its him hitting squats and various plyometrics to take his physical tools to the next level. Right now he is more jeremy lamb than paul george. Fact of the matter is TL shouldnt look like VCU larrier come november or i'll be sick.
 
To me this is interesting - Travis interests are very academic, sophisticated and specialized in his field. My own view is just pumping iron bores the heck out of him - yet sometimes that's what the Bigs need in my view. The strength a guard needs to be effective is very different than for a Big.

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Thirty Three said:
One thing people need to keep in mind is that the strength and conditioning coaches have a limited amount of time to work with the players under NCAA rules (like all coaches). The vast majority of responsibility for players getting stronger falls on the players (at least in basketball). The strength and conditioning coaches can give them a plan, a diet, a workout regiment, but it's mostly up to the players to dedicate themselves, impliment the plan, diet, workout regiment, etc, on their own time and stick to it.

Guys like Emeka, Ben and Hilton (who learned from Ben and Mek) were monsters because of their dedication to diet, and strength and conditioning on their own time. They all understood the importance of it for them, and had the drive and determination to be the best they could be.

Some guys like Facey and Hamilton are probably never going to really be able to "bulk up", they just aren't built for it. Do the players (or certain players) need to be held more responsible to dedicating themselves to the strength and conditioning program? It's possible, but I have no idea.
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Please don't take this as a knock on you but I have observed that most people here like to assign blame to nebulous entities. Rarely are individuals specifically blamed or held accountable in any way. It is always "players" or "assistant coaches" or "administrators" or "the NCAA".

If there are a higher than average number of players who aren't working hard on their strength and conditioning then one has to ask, why? The coaching staff recruits these kids. If they are recruiting kids that lack self discipline and initiative, they are responsible. Sure, the kid has to do it. He can't be forced. But you recruited him. You chose him. Also, motivating kids to go outside of their comfort zone is part of the job of the coaches and staff members like the strength and conditioning coach. Either they picked uncoachable kids or they aren't coaching them. You can't just point the finger at the nameless and faceless entity of "the players".

It sounds like changes are being made. Good.

As far as there being a conflict between strength and conditioning, there is some truth to that. But the conflict is really between weight/mass and conditioning. You can improve endurance and still gain muscle but the total weight gain will be limited by the fact that you can only gain muscle. Also, extreme endurance training can result in muscle mass loss so care must be taken. My son runs cross country and track and plays basketball in the winter. Compared to most varsity kids, he is light. But what he has is solid muscle. He weight trains all summer and continues to run nearly every day. During the school year, he sneaks in weight training whenever he can. The kid looks like Adonis. Up until this summer, he always looked like he was getting pushed around by heavier kids. He is going into his junior year next year and played in a summer game last week without any of the other projected varsity starters for next year. It was him and a bunch of JV kids. He was told he had the green light to do whatever he wanted. The other teams caught on quickly and went after him, full court. I have never seen kids bounce off him like I did last week. He still isn't "heavy" and still looks slim. But, finally, the weight and strength crossed a threshold and it made a huge difference. All of it has been self-motivated. I got him started on body weight stuff when he was in middle school. He saw the impact on his body, the impact that had on girls, and he was ten toes in ever since.

Every player at the D1 level can do this. The coaches need to identify the ones that would and then get them motivated. Find their buttons and press them.
 
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