For many fans, the recipe for a winning program lies in the strength of the positions coaches, but behind the scenes, it’s the strength and conditioning staff that provides the framework. Luckily for Texas Tech Football, it has some of the best in the business.
Texas Tech Football is turning a new leaf this season, both on the field, and behind the scenes. In what appeared to be business as usual at the start of the offseason, the program called audibles in every aspect possible. From new positions coaches, to stripping the Double-T; Kingsbury opening his up schedule more to media and fans; and generating a stronger behind-the-scenes, interactive presence, Texas Tech Football has undergone a sort of metamorphosis this offseason.
While this is a results-driven business, and there’s a lot of football left to be played, what we can already see, is just how significant an impact the strength and conditioning staff has had on the program.
In an article published last month by Ralph D. Russo in the Sacramento Bee (Northern Calif.), Penn State running back Saquon Barkley was featured, where he offered, arguably, the most logical correlation between weight lifting and football.
“I’m a firm believer that the work you put in in the weight room translates to the field,” Barkley said in the interview. “Some people don’t really think it correlates. A lot of people think you have to do football specific stuff, and that’s true. But I think football is a direct correlation with weightlifting. I think the stuff that you do — the explosive movements, the leg strength — helps you finish plays. Helps you break tackles.”
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For a program like Texas Tech–which has experienced season after season of explosive starts, followed by fourth quarter letdowns–durability was the focal point for the new strength and conditioning staff.
Headlined by second-year Strength and Conditioning coach Rusty Whitt, and second-year Director of Speed and Power, Scott Salwasser, the objectives were highlighted on Day One: teach players to take accountability for their actions, and how to train with a purpose.
Texas Tech Football gave fans a glimpse throughout the offseason of what the conditioning program consists of via a series of short video clips. From endurance training and calisthenics, to squats and deadlifting, the entire S&C program has been redefined to help Tech players condition both mentally, and physically.
For a player like Saquon Barkley to give so much recognition to the process that goes on behind the scenes, is advantageous to S&C programs nationwide. But for Texas Tech fans, perhaps it answers many questions regarding why the program has failed in specific areas over the years.
A lot of Tech writers will mention attrition rates, and how injuries affect that. Coach Whitt emphasizes the importance of squats, primarily because it helps strengthen joints, thus creating a more durable (and explosive) athlete. If Texas Tech can avoid injuries and compete through all four quarters as it did against Eastern Washington, the details emphasized by the S&C program will pay off exponentially this season.
When I spoke with Coach Whitt last year, I asked him what the overall atmosphere was like when he arrived in Lubbock, “When I came and visited, the overall energy and excitement he (Kingsbury) had, it was legit; there was nothing fake about it, and I wanted to help him out and be part of it.”
Not surprisingly, the overhaul came shortly after Texas Tech’s 2015 Texas Bowl loss to LSU, where it was painfully obvious just how small Tech players were in comparison to LSU. Tech’s defensive issues under David Gibbs would be a work in progress, but adding weight and muscle was priority No.1 after the 27-56 loss. If you speak with any Texas Tech Football fan who remembers the team from 2015, they’ll all be the first to comment on how much bigger the players are now, which is already proving to be a huge return on investment.
With two offseasons under the new strength and conditioning program, Texas Tech Football has a higher level of expectation now, especially with the growing number of players coming out attributing their football performances to the weight room.
While positions coaches will get players’ attention, it’s the strength and conditioning coaches that create powerful, physical, durable athletes who are truly ready for the pros. If Texas Tech can continue this forward progress, expect Tech to become a destination for athletes who are serious about their futures.