BleedGopher
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per SI:
Larry Kehres won 332 football games, claimed 11 Division III national championships, collected nine coach of the year awards and holds the highest winning percentage in college football history. And he did it all without spring practice and summer training. In fact, some summers, Kehres, now 70 and retired as coach of Mount Union, didn’t do much football at all. “Coached little league baseball,” he laughs. “Summers were different.”
This summer might not be so different. Accustomed to having their players on campus for June and July, Division I coaches might not see them until August. That’s not the half of it. Before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the sports world, most of them didn’t reach the halfway point in spring practice and some never even started drills. As campus closures extend through summer, a date to begin organized football activities grows hazier. Many coaches have gone four weeks without seeing their players, an absence that could stretch to at least three months by the end of the outbreak. Teaching is relegated to videos, meetings are electronic and training is at the discretion of the player.
“I go back to 25 years ago when it was not the norm for the players to be on campus during the summer,” says South Florida coach Jeff Scott. “Everybody went home after spring and came back for camp. You had a month of practices. We might find ourselves in that situation again.”
Coaches are bracing to squeeze months of on-field, in-person work into a six-week period that might begin sometime in July or, worst case, a four-week camp in August—the busiest, most chaotic camp you’ve ever seen. Well, maybe not ever. For 27 years, Kehres did it as head coach at D-III Mount Union. And don’t call his chaotic—they weren’t. “Everything was planned very precisely,” says Kehres, now athletic director at Mount Union.
For the FBS level, the impacts of an abridged football offseason are wide-ranging. Freshmen lose their normal full summer to orient themselves. Dense playbooks get simplified. And players’ physical condition is adversely impacted. “We’re doing a lot of things that bring us back to the days where we had to rely on our players to be self-motivated,” says Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who spent more than 15 years at Division II Grand Valley State. “We’re giving them guidance but, we can’t be mandating workouts and have to trust we have good leadership. We’re giving them the opportunity to consult with us. At Grand Valley, we had to call and check in and if they had questions, they could (ask). We’re seeing a lot of that right now. No doubt, this is a bit old school."
Just in the last 25 years it has become normal for the majority of an FBS team to remain on campus during the summer for academic classes and football activities (you can’t have the latter without the former). For years, only strength coaches could work with players in the summer until the NCAA passed legislation in 2014 allowing on-field coaches two hours a week. Since then, summer training has evolved into a critical time when many athletes realize their most growth. Their physique is sculpted through strength and conditioning programs, and their mind is expanded during classroom-style meetings with position coaches.
www.si.com
Go Gophers!!
Larry Kehres won 332 football games, claimed 11 Division III national championships, collected nine coach of the year awards and holds the highest winning percentage in college football history. And he did it all without spring practice and summer training. In fact, some summers, Kehres, now 70 and retired as coach of Mount Union, didn’t do much football at all. “Coached little league baseball,” he laughs. “Summers were different.”
This summer might not be so different. Accustomed to having their players on campus for June and July, Division I coaches might not see them until August. That’s not the half of it. Before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the sports world, most of them didn’t reach the halfway point in spring practice and some never even started drills. As campus closures extend through summer, a date to begin organized football activities grows hazier. Many coaches have gone four weeks without seeing their players, an absence that could stretch to at least three months by the end of the outbreak. Teaching is relegated to videos, meetings are electronic and training is at the discretion of the player.
“I go back to 25 years ago when it was not the norm for the players to be on campus during the summer,” says South Florida coach Jeff Scott. “Everybody went home after spring and came back for camp. You had a month of practices. We might find ourselves in that situation again.”
Coaches are bracing to squeeze months of on-field, in-person work into a six-week period that might begin sometime in July or, worst case, a four-week camp in August—the busiest, most chaotic camp you’ve ever seen. Well, maybe not ever. For 27 years, Kehres did it as head coach at D-III Mount Union. And don’t call his chaotic—they weren’t. “Everything was planned very precisely,” says Kehres, now athletic director at Mount Union.
For the FBS level, the impacts of an abridged football offseason are wide-ranging. Freshmen lose their normal full summer to orient themselves. Dense playbooks get simplified. And players’ physical condition is adversely impacted. “We’re doing a lot of things that bring us back to the days where we had to rely on our players to be self-motivated,” says Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who spent more than 15 years at Division II Grand Valley State. “We’re giving them guidance but, we can’t be mandating workouts and have to trust we have good leadership. We’re giving them the opportunity to consult with us. At Grand Valley, we had to call and check in and if they had questions, they could (ask). We’re seeing a lot of that right now. No doubt, this is a bit old school."
Just in the last 25 years it has become normal for the majority of an FBS team to remain on campus during the summer for academic classes and football activities (you can’t have the latter without the former). For years, only strength coaches could work with players in the summer until the NCAA passed legislation in 2014 allowing on-field coaches two hours a week. Since then, summer training has evolved into a critical time when many athletes realize their most growth. Their physique is sculpted through strength and conditioning programs, and their mind is expanded during classroom-style meetings with position coaches.
College Coaches Forced to Go 'Old School' With Summer Training
With no real return date in sight for college football programs, many coaches realize they'll have to return to the "old days" of shortened training in the summer.
www.si.com
Go Gophers!!