Men's Basketball Strength & Conditioning Coach

[80shusky]

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).

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?

 

[tcf15]

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

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.

 

[James]

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?

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.

 

[Chief00]

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.

Event Speakers

 

[Paesano]

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.

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.