Off Season workouts?

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OldBob53

OldBob53

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Are players required to work out to stay in shape during the off months? I'd want to do it, required or not, because its a lot easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.
 

The coaches give them workout regimens periodically and meet with them to check their progress. They can't "coach them" during work outs or run the work outs, but they can give them a list of required exercises and have the player record how they do. They can also ask other players to ensure they aren't faking it.

That said, if a player chooses not to follow the plan, I'm not sure what the recourse is other than not playing them. I don't know if not following an off season S&C regimen in and of itself is enough to rescind their scholarship.
 

OldBob53 said:
Are players required to work out to stay in shape during the off months? I'd want to do it, required or not, because its a lot easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.
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Have you seen any of the twitter videos of Coach Nichols workouts? I seriously doubt those are voluntary sessions.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Couldn’t be more excited for another week of off-season workouts starting this afternoon!! Changing our best everyday!! 2 weeks until Spring Practices!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RTB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#RTB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HYPRR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#HYPRR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SkiUMah?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#SkiUMah</a> <a href="https://t.co/l9ZLdmsUA7">pic.twitter.com/l9ZLdmsUA7</a></p>&mdash; P.J. Fleck (@Coach_Fleck) <a href="">February 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
The coaches give them workout regimens periodically and meet with them to check their progress. They can't "coach them" during work outs or run the work outs, but they can give them a list of required exercises and have the player record how they do. They can also ask other players to ensure they aren't faking it.

That said, if a player chooses not to follow the plan, I'm not sure what the recourse is other than not playing them. I don't know if not following an off season S&C regimen in and of itself is enough to rescind their scholarship.
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I think if a player skips the workouts and shows up out of shape, their days are numbered (and should be).
 

Let's face it. the vast majority of D1 athletes are there to play a sport. if they happen to get an education along the way, that's a bonus. But they are at that school to play FB or Hoops, and they know it. So you can call them "voluntary" workouts, but I would think a player would need a really good reason to skip the workouts or there will be consequences.

Not that much different in HS these days. a lot of the summer programs, AAU, JO Volleyball etc may be 'voluntary,' but if an athlete chooses not to participate, a lot of coaches take that to mean that they're not "serious" about the sport. That is part of the reason why you don't see as many multi-sport athletes any more - each sport is pressuring the athletes to have a 'primary' sport. I knew a HS football coach who got into some trouble a few years back because he was telling kids to go to summer FB clinics and camps and told them 'don't play Legion Baseball." The baseball coach was not happy.
 


Even at a notoriously un-sporty D3 school where I played a non-revenue sport, off season workouts where in no way "voluntary". There was a little more flexibility on scheduling, but if you had a conflict with the scheduled time, you were expected to make it up on your own.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
The coaches give them workout regimens periodically and meet with them to check their progress. They can't "coach them" during work outs or run the work outs, but they can give them a list of required exercises and have the player record how they do. They can also ask other players to ensure they aren't faking it.

That said, if a player chooses not to follow the plan, I'm not sure what the recourse is other than not playing them. I don't know if not following an off season S&C regimen in and of itself is enough to rescind their scholarship.
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The strength and conditioning coaches can run the workouts however. And I imagine they are reporting back to the other coaches on a regular basis.
 

OldBob53 said:
Are players required to work out to stay in shape during the off months? I'd want to do it, required or not, because its a lot easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.
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They're required. Team usually splits Def and Off on some days. One group is in the weight room, while the other team is conditioning. From what I remember a few days a week there's full team conditioning ( both groups together). Strength coaches run the workouts. This was a few years ago, things might've changed.
 

We need Sid to ask the next time Fleck is on all about this.
 



GophersInIowa said:
The strength and conditioning coaches can run the workouts however. And I imagine they are reporting back to the other coaches on a regular basis.
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You're right. I was thinking the regular coaching staff, not the S&C guys. My bad.
Bob_Loblaw said:
I think if a player skips the workouts and shows up out of shape, their days are numbered (and should be).
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I'm not disagreeing, but on the same sense I'm not sure what actual recourse the school has. Can they literally cancel someone's scholarship (when the B1G guarantees Signing Day players for 5 years) just for not doing summer workouts? If so, why did Kill not cut Alipate?

Now obviously they have ways of making players miserable enough to leave on their own, so it's probably a moot point. Just not sure how much of that stuff is literal mandatory vs. "voluntary" mandatory, if you know what I mean.
 

NCAA policy is that offseason workouts cannot not be made mandatory. I believe technically the workouts can’t even be attended by coaching staff other than strength & conditioning. However, the coaching staff absolutely knows who is showing up to the workouts. Kids can’t lose their scholarship but if they’re not putting in the work they can definitely see their playtime cut. It’s “voluntary” mandatory to show up.

At the D1 level I wouldn’t imagine it’s really that big of a problem. These are kids that want to be there and had to work hard to get where they are. The overwhelming majority actually love that grind. And nobody wants to be seen by their teammates as the lazy dude who skips workouts.
 

A nonymous said:
NCAA policy is that offseason workouts cannot not be made mandatory. I believe technically the workouts can’t even be attended by coaching staff other than strength & conditioning. However, the coaching staff absolutely knows who is showing up to the workouts. Kids can’t lose their scholarship but if they’re not putting in the work they can definitely see their playtime cut. It’s “voluntary” mandatory to show up.

At the D1 level I wouldn’t imagine it’s really that big of a problem. These are kids that want to be there and had to work hard to get where they are. The overwhelming majority actually love that grind. And nobody wants to be seen by their teammates as the lazy dude who skips workouts.
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That and the lazy guy who skips workouts ... probabbly is a 5* that the coaches won't touch anyway.



There was a great pic like 10 years back of a hand written sign posted in what I think was Alabama's locker room (or some blue blood) that said something like (not exactly):

The strength and conditioning coaches will not talk to scouts about these players because they did not give 100% at X workout.

Amusingly enough the guys listed were all 1st and 2nd round draft picks anyway.... pretty much a pointless threat.
 

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