New Irish S&C Coach.

[tiburon]

Any thoughts on the hire of Paul Longo as ND strength and conditioning coach? Sounds like he is big on the Olympic lifts (says that 70-80% of time in the weight room should be on the platform), and that he loves the Strongman stuff. He had some tough, fit teams at Cincy. Great to have him aboard.

[paulgill]

Dave:

I don't know much about Longo, but I understand he emphasizes Olympic lifts. That is key. Also, Mad Dog says he has a great reputation. It is amazing how strength and conditioning has evolved from "I don't want you lifting weights, it will make you muscle bound" in the 60s to where it is now recognized as a critical component of college football.

Paul

[slimjim]

there was a reference on UHND.com that "rumors were circling about how the strength program at nd was not getting players ready for the draft/based on poor numbers put up by nd athletes at the combine.."

duh!

[monk]

Was on campus this noon, and went to the South Dining Hall. Wound up sitting next to a player. He said the main differences between Kelly and Weis is that Weis's assitant coaches seemed to be afraid of making a move unless it was pre-annointed by Pope Charles I. The guy also said that Longo is a great guy. What they are calling the period they are in, is "Camp Kelly." He said that both Kelly and Longo said: "I expect you guys to be in terrific shape for the start of Spring Practice -- and that still won't be good enough." Anotehr guy at the table said that Kelly told the offensive linemen: "No more kiss-blocking. When you block, you smack the other guy in the mouth." So far, I like what I hear.

Monk

[geezerpower]

kiss blocking? is that what they were doing these past five years?

i assume this is true because we know what else they got with that kiss...

[mg14]

Longo and his asst. are great. SN, CJ, squat, deadlift, kettlebells. Old school- train hard, no radio. Story has it they talk regularly with a former ND champ that knows the iron pretty well. What happened at UC was no accident. It will be fun to see a game that the OL doesn't get.....well you guys covered that...