A graduate of Apple Valley High School, Klein took over the Gophers football strength program after serving as the Director of Sports Performance at Northern Illinois.
During his first press conference after being named the Golden Gophers head coach, Jerry Kill immediately talked about the importance of a robust strength and conditioning program. He touted the virtues of the program and the importance Coach Eric Klein, who has been a critical part of the Kill’s coaching staffs throughout his career.
A graduate of Apple Valley High School, Klein took over the Gophers football strength program after serving as the Director of Sports Performance at Northern Illinois. Klein’s impact on the Gophers program could be seen as last season progressed as many players commented on how fresh they felt in late games.
With the “strength and conditioning” portion of the season in full-swing, GopherHole caught up with Klein to learn more about his philosophy, background and role as a critical part of Coach Kill’s staff.
GH: How much further along is the team this year compared to last year when you started working with them?
EK: We’re obviously a year better. From that standpoint it’s more of execution and expectations, they know where they’re suppose to be at. You give yourself some adjustment period because it’s a new semester, it’s a new off-season. Instead of that taking 2-3 weeks, we probably got that done in a half a week’s amount of time. Now we’re operating full force.
GH: How have you had to change the mind-set over the past year compared to the mind-set that the guys had about strength and conditioning before you got here?
EK: I really haven’t had to change my mindset, it’s more adapting the program that I’ve used to more of a Big 10 style of football; having a bigger lineman, that type of thing. In the past, we were more truly oriented on speed, and size wasn’t that big of a deal.
GH: Do certain leaders emerge in the S&C program each offseason?
EK: Yes, each year you’ll find different guys that lead differently. Right now, we’re working with guys, and we’re trying to help them develop that leadership. We’re trying to teach them what it is to be a leader. Me, personally, I’m working with about 8 guys that the team actually picked, and working on their leadership skills, and what it takes to be a leader.
GH: Can you tell me who they are?
EK: I think it’s probably the same guys that anyone would expect, MarQueis is in that group, and Mike Rallis in that group.
GH: Basically, the team leaders.
EK: Yeah, the guys that you immediately would think are in that group. From my standpoint, besides getting them stronger, I want them to help them learn what it is to lead their teammates.
GH: What does a typical off-season S&C program consist of? How many days a week do you lift? Sprint work? Etc.
EK: Right now, we run 4 days a week, that running is a conglomeration – there’s speed work, agility work, some general conditioning in there. Teaching the guys how to bend properly, change a direction, we do that 4 days a week. We lift 3-4 days a week depending on the position and the player, they’ll lift 3 days a week which is a total body lift, so they do Olympic movements, clean snatches, jerks, squats, bench presses. Some of our freshman work out 4 days a week, where it’s more of a split, upper body, lower body, still learning the Olympic lifts and things like that. We give the plenty of options of when they can come in and get their workout in.
GH: Do you work on different aspects prior to spring ball than you do over the summer leading up to the fall?
EK: Right now, we want to lay the foundation for what we want to develop in the summer time. I try to develop our program so that a player gets better from January to August, and then from freshman year to sophomore year, so each section builds on what the previous segment was working on. Right now, we’re really laying the foundation for summer time, and then the summer time will prepare us for the season and then after they finish this year, it build onto the next year.
GH: What are the big challenges for in-coming freshman when they come in to your S&C program?
EK: The biggest challenge is getting to learn every one of those guys, and what their needs are. A lot of times in the summer time, when those freshman are able to come on campus, a lot of it is just learning each other. It’s no different than what they’re going to be doing during 2-a-days. I get the advantage of getting them for 8 weeks in the summer time, the coaches get about 15, 20 practices before we’re in the game. Hopefully they catch on, where I get 8 weeks so I get to learn what those guys need, their strength issues, or deficits, their speed and conditioning deficits during that entire time.
GH: Since you get so much more time with them, how do you report back to the coaches, and how do you compile all of that?
EK: Right now, with them on the road, I really have very little contact with the coaches. The beauty of my relationship with Coach Kill is he trusts me completely, so if I have any issues, I can take it to him – although I haven’t had any, it’s pretty much all my show right now.
GH: Tell us about the off-season teams that you and the staff put together? What do these teams consist of? How many per team?
EK: We broke the team up into 8 individual teams, each team has 11 or 12 guys per team. So we broke them up that way. Their team leader is responsible for their entire team.
GH: How competitive are the guys in the S&C program?
EK: Very competitive. Everybody likes to win, everybody likes to be #1, we put an emphasis on that, and it really shines right now.
GH: For the Gophers that just signed but aren’t on campus yet, do you give them an off-season program to follow?
EK: I will give them an introductory program that will help them develop themselves so that they’re ready come summer time.
GH: What does that plan consist of? Exercise and diet?
EK: It’s all exercise, by trade, I’m not a dietician, so I don’t put much information in there. It’s all exercise, basic lifting techniques, things like that so they have a foundation.
GH: What are the biggest surprises that the average Gopher football fan wouldn’t know about the S&C program?
EK: Probably the amount of time that they players actually spend in preparation right now. By NCAA rules, we’re only allowed 8 hours with them, and that’s what we stick to. But a player that wants to do the best he can, is spending a lot more time than that, because of the things they can do on their own, with catching a ball, or working on position techniques, stretching, anything like that.
GH: Did the incidents at Iowa last winter cause you to re-evaluate how you do your job?
EK: No, not necessarily because that was one incident, and I don’t train guys in a fashion that I would have to worry about. I shouldn’t have to worry about something like that.