Samson\'s I-AA, II, III, NAIA, Juco and HS Strength & Conditioning Coaches of th

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Division I-AA/FCS:
Henry Briscoe
Central Arkansas

The Strength and Conditioning Coach at Central Arkansas, Henry Briscoe, has been influenced by a number of coaches and players over the years. But, in addition to that, one book that has helped his strategy is the Book of War by Sun-Tsu. “One of the concepts in the book is to analyze your weaknesses and make them your strengths,” says Briscoe. “We try to do that in the weight room and on the field. This can be working on overall athleticism, building up strength or working directly on motivation.”

Briscoe also believes that nutrition is an integral part of an athlete’s training as well as the recovery process. “Athletes must know their bodies, not push too far and always eat the right foods. This goes for all of our football players including those injured and in rehabilitation. Eating right can make a difference down the road.”

He also believes strongly in functional movements for helping to motivate his players. “This could be anything like hitting a tractor tire with a sledgehammer; climbing ropes in our facility; and competing in either boxing drills or hand-to-hand combat. I like to maintain a variety of competitions for our athletes. It keeps their attention focused and they really work hard at it. Every workout I try to do something different. If a player knows what he’s doing when he comes to our facility – the normal squats, cleans and presses – then he won’t be motivated. The functional drills are seen by the players as a challenge and they become more motivated to excel in whatever the competition is. Competition itself doesn’t just have to be on the football field. It really starts in the weight room in January.”

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Division II
Mike Doscher
Valdosta State

“My first strategy is to make sure our football players are healthy and have a full range of motion in order to prevent injuries,” says Mike Doscher, the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Valdosta State. “That’s the key to a program at any level: preventing injuries. You want your best athletes out there. My next goal is to make them the best athletes they can be and get the most out of their athletic ability.”

Doscher has certainly helped do that. He’s been at VSU for two National Championships – 2004 under Head Coach Chris Hatcher and last fall under first year head man David Dean. The Valdosta State strength and conditioning philosophy is based on several sport and individual development performance principles. They include: character; sport similar training; multiple joint exercises; multi-plane movements; ground-based movements; explosive training; periodization; and nutrition and recovery.

For workouts, Doscher believes in challenging his athletes. “We challenge our players all the time,” says Doscher. “If they can do a particular exercise on two legs, we’ll challenge them to do the same exercise on one leg. Or, if it’s an exercise using two legs and one arm, we’ll challenge them to do the same drill with one leg and one arm. We always try to make it more complex for them after they’ve mastered the initial drill.

“What I believe I do differently is that I don’t want to have my athletes do anything extrinsic. I want the players’ goals to be intrinsic. I want them to know it’s not about who lifts the most but it’s about every athlete doing their very best. Did you compete and do your best? When you did compete, were you beaten or did you lose? When you lose, it means you didn’t do your best. When you get beaten, it means you did the very best you could that day but fell short. We try to help them with the tools so they can get better and get to where they need to go. If you make yourself better, you make the team better.”

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Division III
Jake Anderson
Central College

Competition doesn’t have to take place just during the football season. At Central College, it’s a year-round activity. Central’s strength and conditioning coordinator Jake Anderson and his staff have put together an off-season competition.

“We draft every player on our team and then place them into four different groups. We call it The Central Strength Team Draft. We rank every individual from one to roughly 72 so we have about 18 per group. Each team has their own name. On Tuesdays we have individual competitions with the groups where each team can earn points. There could be speed competitions as well as sled drags and tosses for distance. On Fridays we have team competition that might include a tug of war or running an obstacle course in the form of a relay. We post each team’s point total as well as how each player performed in individual competitions so it’s all there for everyone to see. Then, as you can imagine, they get after each other when they see the results. We give out offseason awards for the fastest and the strongest and even make up a few more awards. It’s a healthy competition and a way for us to grow as a team.”

Anderson is in his fifth year as strength and conditioning coordinator at Central College. “We have to first recognize that we’re training athletes. We’re training football players and not power lifters or bodybuilders. We put all of our athletes through a biomechanical evaluation to see what kinds of strengths, weaknesses and inefficiencies they may have. In the process we look at five different areas: 1-posterior shoulder girdle that includes the rotator cuff and scapula area; 2-posterior chain strength; 3-torso strength; 4-knee joint stability; and 5-stability and flexibility for all major joints.

“Once we have all that we will put together a strength and conditioning program for each athlete. We modify the programs based on this evaluation and include any injuries or weaknesses we foresee. In doing so, our overall goal is to try to develop ground-based explosive power in every athlete whether they are an offensive lineman or defensive back.”

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NAIA
Joe Nemith
Ohio Dominican University

Ohio Dominican University is an NAIA college in Columbus, OH that has only had a football program for four years. On the ground floor since day one has been Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator and Strength and Conditioning Coach Joe Nemith. “I came on board in May, 2004 when the ODU program started,” said Nemith. “We didn’t have a weight room but a small gym about the size of two offices. With 50 players ready to start that first season, you can imagine the chaos in the gym.”

But the best was yet to come. “Ohio Dominican began the construction of our weight facility that first year,” continued Nemith. “After an 0-10 first season, we improved the next year both on the field and in the weight room. When our facility was completed our players really bought into the program. They worked hard as we won three games our second year and seven in 2006.

“After that, the athletes saw the fruits of their efforts and worked even harder in preparation for this past season. They knew they had to push themselves even more to continue to be successful. It was worth it; we were undefeated during the regular season and finished with a 12-1 record.”

Nemith has his own strategy when it comes to strength and conditioning. “ I believe in the combination of both structural and functional strength which combines both pushing and pulling and improving each individual’s overall strength. Our strategy is the four day split which we do during the off season from January to March in preparation for spring football. During the spring practice period we will practice three days a week and lift three days a week. During the summer the players have a 12 week conditioning program that concentrates on speed training. Then, during the season, we have a three day a week lifting cycle with Sunday being recovery day. On Sundays we work on recovery with multi-joint exercises.”

Not only was Nemith on the ground-breaking floor of a program as a coach but he did the same as a player. When Malone College of Akron started their program a few years ago, the starting strong safety was none other than freshman Joe Nemith.

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Juco
Stevon Moore
Mississippi Gulf Coast CC

It really helps recruiting when just about every high school player knows who you are. That’s the case with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Defensive Backs Coach and Strength and Conditioning Coach Stevon Moore. A fixture as an athlete in the state of Mississippi, Moore lettered in baseball, track, basketball and football at Stone High School in Wiggins and then went on to be a four-year starting cornerback at Ole Miss in Oxford. Moore then went on to play 11 seasons in the NFL with the Jets, Dolphins, Browns and Ravens. He’s been coaching at MGCCC since 2002.

“It’s great to have Coach Moore on our staff,” said Head Coach Steven Campbell. “Literally all of the recruits we approach know who he is as well as the credibility he has within the state.” And who to learn more from than a player born and bred in the state with more than a decade of NFL experience?

But it’s as a strength and conditioning coach that Moore makes a difference. “We strive to have the kids improve every day they’re in the weight room,” says Moore. “We teach them to be quick and explosive and transfer that energy and power to the football field.” The results have certainly paid off: MGCCC finished the 2007 season undefeated and as NJCAA Co-National Champions. In the process they outscored their opponents, 440-167.

“In the weight room we’re really not position specific,” says Moore. “Both O-Linemen and wide receivers will be doing the same style of lift. The actual weight used may vary but they’re really all doing squats, presses and core lifts. I sit down with all of our players and tell them three things: 1-Do everything you can to get better each day; 2-Take care of all the little things that can make a difference; and 3-Don’t be selfish. For example, when you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before and hand the ball to the referee. Don’t showboat. That’s a little thing that makes a difference and helps you win a championship.”

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High School
Sean Manual
California High School San Ramon, CA

When Tony Sanchez became head coach at California High School in San Ramon, CA four years ago, the first thing he did was hire Sean Manual as the school’s strength and conditioning coach. The two knew each other, having played together at New Mexico State. “When we got here four years ago there hadn’t been a lot of success and it really was about changing the mindset of the athletes. We took over a program that had won only 73 games in 33 years and was 6-24 over the last three seasons.

Sanchez and Manual changed the culture and last fall the football team finished 11-2 with a league title, the first in the school’s history. “Sean started a year round weight training program the first year and it seemed remedial at first. But the kids bought into it and we now have 200 athletes in the program.”

“We started out with a base strategy with core and stability training and then went to functional patterns,” says Manual. Our athletes will do a strength exercise and then right afterwards do a stabilization exercise. Once this is in place (February and March) we work the athletes in a general phase on a full range of motion. We then transition into a pure strength phase. The parameters we have – records from day one to today – show remarkable increases by our players in the 40-yard dash, bench squat, various presses and vertical jumps. Success and improvement is a great motivator and the kids have bought into it 100%.”

One of the innovative elements to the success of California High School has been the ‘Black Shirts’ program. All the players are required to wear a white shirt in the weight facility unless they can do three things: bench 225 pounds, squat 300 pounds and clean 200 pounds. If they accomplish all three, players are entitled to wear a prestigious ‘Black Shirt.’ The program is certainly working. From one athlete wearing a black shirt four years ago, the school now boasts 45 players doing so.

“I think you win by making the average athlete a little better,” comments Sanchez. “Many teams may have a superstar but it may be your offensive lineman who’s not going to play Division I football but shows tremendous improvement and makes a difference. That’s what has happened here.”

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High School
Leo Gonzalez
Montwood High School
El Paso, TX

Montwood High School in El Paso is a relatively new high school with their first class graduating in 1993. They’re members of District 1-5A, the largest classification of high schools in the state of Texas. From a 4-6 team two years ago, the Rams improved to 10-2 this past season before losing to Odessa-Permian in the state playoffs. Part of the reason for the team’s success is their strength and conditioning program under Leo Gonzalez.

“In terms of strategy we’ve found that football is not just an in-season sport,” says Gonzalez. “It's a year-round competition and we’ve divided the off-season into four different phases for our athletes. This has really helped both their overall strength and conditioning. During the phases we lift four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) in which we emphasize power lifting and strength. Wednesday is reserved for our conditioning drills and workout.

“The first phase of our off-season workouts is about three weeks long and its focus is strength and endurance. We do explosive lifts, power cleans and snatches. This may go into early March. The second phase of our workouts is also about three weeks long with a maximum of eight reps and consists primarily of explosive lifts. Our thought is to emulate in the weight room what you want to see on the football field; that is, explosive power. We also want our players to get stronger and faster but also become better athletes. The third phase completes a nine-week program that concentrates on building strength and power.

“That leads us to our spring practice where the concentration is on agility and speed training and we ask the players to stay away from the weights. We then have ‘7 on 7’ competitions with our skill people before we begin summer workouts. Our players have goals and we test and retest them to see improvement. If they can visually see their improvement – no matter how slight it might be – it's the best motivator of all.”

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