“Nobody does it like Notre Dame”—Brian Kelly Dec. 11, 2009
When fans sit down and watch college football they think about the head coach leading their team onto the field and the offensive and defensive coordinators who call the plays, but they rarely consider the men who get their favorite athletes in shape—the strength and conditioning staff.
However, ESPN and ESPN.com have featured many stories this week on strength and conditioning staffs across the country, shedding light on the men who put in long hours over the summer to condition football players into the athletes who take the field in early September.
In May, Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com beat ESPN to the punch and wrote about a few different strength coaches, including Pittsburgh’s Buddy Morris. Strength coaches have the most access to players over the year, especially during the summer when position coaches can’t have much contact with players.
“While the bond between a player and a strength coach can be strong, there may be no closer relationships on a coaching staff than the one between a head coach and his strength coach,” Dienhart wrote. “While other members of a staff often are looking to move to a ‘better’ program or to become a head coach, a strength coach already is at the top of his profession and often remains glued with the head coach.”
And no head coach/strength coach combo may be tighter than Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Paul Longo. ESPN.com’s Pat Forde ventured to South Bend to watch Longo’s work in progress.
For three years I got to see Longo’s work in progress as he conditioned UC football players. And his relationship with Kelly, along with his demanding style, made UC one of the best teams in the Big East. “You’ve got two small-college grunts running the thing who would rather compete than do anything,” Longo told Forde of his relationship with Kelly.
When fans sit down and watch college football they think about the head coach leading their team onto the field and the offensive and defensive coordinators who call the plays, but they rarely consider the men who get their favorite athletes in shape—the strength and conditioning staff.
However, ESPN and ESPN.com have featured many stories this week on strength and conditioning staffs across the country, shedding light on the men who put in long hours over the summer to condition football players into the athletes who take the field in early September.
In May, Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com beat ESPN to the punch and wrote about a few different strength coaches, including Pittsburgh’s Buddy Morris. Strength coaches have the most access to players over the year, especially during the summer when position coaches can’t have much contact with players.
“While the bond between a player and a strength coach can be strong, there may be no closer relationships on a coaching staff than the one between a head coach and his strength coach,” Dienhart wrote. “While other members of a staff often are looking to move to a ‘better’ program or to become a head coach, a strength coach already is at the top of his profession and often remains glued with the head coach.”
And no head coach/strength coach combo may be tighter than Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Paul Longo. ESPN.com’s Pat Forde ventured to South Bend to watch Longo’s work in progress.
For three years I got to see Longo’s work in progress as he conditioned UC football players. And his relationship with Kelly, along with his demanding style, made UC one of the best teams in the Big East. “You’ve got two small-college grunts running the thing who would rather compete than do anything,” Longo told Forde of his relationship with Kelly.
Longo and Kelly (shown above) have been working together since 2004. (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)
And Longo’s relationships with players are what he considers the best part of the job. “In the offseason, the strength coaches are pretty much the only coaches we interact with,” said star Notre Dame tight end, and former Elder Panther, Kyle Rudolph.
Longo mentioned that, “I could do this forever. It’s never work.” He also used some of Kelly’s words when he mentioned to Forde after the first Notre Dame workout of the summer that the team has one coat of paint and there are many more to go.
“It used to be that it almost was a boutique thing if you had a strength coach, a luxury,” Kelly said. “It’s now become a leadership position. The strength and conditioning coordinator is on parallel with the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.
“Really, he brings a different perspective than the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator or position coach. They sometimes only see what their units are doing. He sees the 105 [players on the roster] like I do as a head coach. I can talk to him about the whole program.”
And Longo just started earning his pay in the summer months. One source informed me he is making over $400,000 a year, and he might be a more important coach than the new head man himself.
Notre Dame fans will get their first chance to see Longo and Kelly’s work in early September. If their work at Cincinnati is any indication of what is to come in South Bend, Notre Dame fans shouldn’t be too worried.
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