Michigan Wolverines (Official Thread) (12x National Champions)

BRB · Aug 29, 2009

In 2006, when Barwis and Rodriguez were at West Virginia, Barwis described the Mountaineers’ off-season workout regimen to the Associated Press: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the players did Olympic and conventional lifts, functional and balance training, injury prevention, core training, plyometrics and explosive training, functional flexibility and conditioning. Tuesdays and Thursday were for speed, agility and flexibility training.

Barwis runs the same program at U-M.

Several players said that on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the past two off-seasons, they were expected to be in the weight room for three to four hours, followed by a run of 45 minutes to an hour.

Players said that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they were expected to spend two to three hours working on speed and agility. That brings the total time commitment to 15-21 hours a week — more than the NCAA’s weekly 8-hour limit, which includes time spent watching film.

On top of the strength and conditioning, many players are expected to participate in seven-on-seven scrimmages five days a week, for about 45 minutes a day, during much of the off-season.

Why do Barwis’ workouts take so long? The volume of weight-lifting sets and exercises is only part of the explanation.

Barwis assigns players to groups of eight or 10. Every player in a group must complete a weight-lifting set before any of them can move on to the next task. Barwis and his assistants work with them.

At the school’s news media day, the Free Press asked freshman Brandin Hawthorne what winter conditioning was like. Hawthorne, a linebacker from Pahokee, Fla., enrolled in January.

“It’s crazy,” said Hawthorne, who was not complaining about his coaches and was apparently unaware of the time-limit rules. “I work out at 8. We’ll work out from, like, 8 to 10:30. We come back later, have one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens, a little passing. Then I’ll go watch a little film.”

The Free Press also asked freshman receiver Je’Ron Stokes about Michigan’s off-season program. Stokes, from Philadelphia, arrived at the Ann Arbor campus in June.

“Hooooo!” Stokes said. “A typical week is working from 8 a.m. in the morning to 6 or 7 at night, Monday through Saturday.”

And that was starting in June?

“Yes, sir,” Stokes said. “We do the weight room at least three times a week, and seven-on-sevens and one-on-ones. Speed and agility on the other days. Every day we have something new to get ready for the season. The coaches have done a great job of stressing the importance of getting us ready for the big season that we’re about to have.”

Stokes was not complaining. Like Hawthorne, he apparently was unaware of the rules.

On top of the regular workout schedule, every Tuesday during winter term, a few players on the team are required to spend additional hours at Schembechler Hall for what they call “Torture Tuesdays.” Players say Rodriguez created Torture Tuesdays to maintain school discipline and class attendance.

Those players must show up before dawn on Tuesday for a series of rigorous physical tasks: Army crawls, barrel rolls, long piggyback rides, wheelbarrow races back and forth across the field. Sometimes the players have to move every dumbbell in the weight room to the other side in a few minutes.

Players have been known to get physically ill on Torture Tuesdays because of the workouts. But they are still expected to complete their two to three hours of speed and agility work later that day.
‘We work hard’

Barwis is the first to say he is demanding.

“Occasionally, some people do go the other way when it’s a little too much work for them,” Barwis told the Free Press in January 2008, his first month on the job.

“Regardless, it’s a system where we work, we work hard, we expect to outwork the opponent, we will outwork the opponent. …

“When you’re tired and don’t feel like doing it, you’re going to do it anyway. It’s a pretty simple process.”

Several players said the off-season hours contributed to the program’s high attrition rate — more than 20 players have left the program early since Rodriguez was hired. They said that Michigan coaches have a saying: “Workouts aren’t mandatory, but neither is playing time.”

This echoes the words of Rodriguez’s All-America center at West Virginia, Dan Mozes. In the summer of 2006, Mozes told the Associated Press: “The way I say it is, ‘The workouts aren’t mandatory, but neither is your playing time.’ ”

Six months ago, Rodriguez and Barwis hired Mozes as a part-time assistant strength coach.

According to NCAA rules, coaches must do more than just declare weight-room workouts as “voluntary.” If attendance is kept or an athletic department staffer relays information about the activity to the coaches, the activity is mandatory.

Michigan players said their off-season conditioning was done at the direction of Rodriguez’s staff.

“They know the rules,” one player said. “Of course they know the rules. There was a time when the offensive line coach” Greg Frey “told me, ‘You’re not doing nothing different than anybody else in the country is.’ ”

But veteran players told the Free Press that Carr and his director of weight training and conditioning, Gittleson, strictly followed the NCAA rules. Players were expected to spend up to eight hours a week pushing themselves in the weight room during the off-season, but anything beyond that was truly voluntary. They also were encouraged to fit their workouts around their class schedules.

Players said that off-season workouts are not the only dramatic change under Rodriguez.

Under Carr, off-season seven-on-seven drills were run by players, without coaches or staff members present, players said. The only staffer there would be a trainer, in case anybody got injured, as allowed under NCAA rules.

Several players said Rodriguez’s coaches were more likely to insist they participate in seven-on-seven scrimmages, which have become more frequent. They also said that members of the program’s quality-control staff frequently watched seven-on-sevens.

“They usually just watched and would write down who wasn’t there,” one player on the 2008 team said.

Another said graduate assistants would track them down.

“The phone would ring: ‘Where you at? … You gotta come.’ ‘I’m in class.’ ”

Quality-control staffers are not allowed to attend voluntary drills, according to the NCAA.

Players also said members of the coaching staff sometimes lingered nearby to watch seven-on-seven scrimmages. Players said the coaches were not physically coaching them, but their presence made it apparent that attendance was being noted and their performances were being evaluated. NCAA rules require such scrimmages to be voluntary.

And when the season started, every week began with a violation.
‘Sundays were miserable’

The 2008 Wolverines were shocked by how much Rodriguez required on fall Sundays.

Rodriguez required his players to arrive at Schembechler Hall by noon the day after games. They would then go through a full weight-lifting session, followed by individual position meetings and a full-team meeting. Then, at night, they would hold a full practice. Often, they would not leave the practice facility until after 10 p.m.

In September 2008, three weeks into Rodriguez’s first season, senior defensive tackle Terrance Taylor talked about his previous Sunday.

“It was, like, 10 hours,” Taylor said. “Everybody was like, ‘Where were you at?’ ‘I was at practice all day.’ My parents were still here. They were like, ‘Where were you at?’ I was like, ‘I was at the building all day.’ ”

The NCAA limit is 4 hours a day for required activities.

“The Sundays were miserable,” one player said. “I could never get healthy. You’d go through a game and then go through a hard workout. Sundays would just kill you.”

The NCAA also limits teams to 20 hours a week, and Rodriguez apparently exceeded that limit as well.

The NCAA counts competition days — usually Saturday for U-M football — as 3 hours against the weekly limit, even though players at all programs actually devote six or seven hours to football on those days, not counting travel.

With three hours on Saturday and a full day on Sunday, players tallied about 12 hours on those two days. They were off Monday. Players said they would spend an additional three to four hours with the team on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, bringing the weekly total to 21-24 hours.

They also had to work out on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. There was a walk-through of the plays for at least an hour on Fridays.
‘I wish I had more time’

As he prepares for his second season, Rodriguez has said he is pleased by how hard his players are working, especially in the weight room.

Rodriguez has posted a big sign above the entrance to the team’s weight room that says, “Through these doors walks the best conditioned, most disciplined, and hardest working football team in America.”

If that’s true, it did not show on the field last fall. For the season, the Wolverines were outscored, 166-157, in the first half — and 181-86 in the second half, when conditioning is crucial.

Michigan finished with a 3-9 record. The low point came in October, when the Wolverines lost at home to Toledo.

Two days after that loss, Rodriguez was asked if there were anything he would have done differently in his short tenure.

“The only thing I wish I would have had in the last seven, eight months, is I wish I had more time to spend with the players,” Rodriguez said. “You have NCAA rules. We can’t go over the time limits, all that.”
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Interesting, to say the least.

BRB · Aug 29, 2009

This has to be a large reason for most of the transfers at UM.

Several players said the off-season hours contributed to the program’s high attrition rate — more than 20 players have left the program early since Rodriguez was hired. They said that Michigan coaches have a saying: “Workouts aren’t mandatory, but neither is playing time.”
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AZBuckeye · Aug 30, 2009

UM sold it's soul when it brought Rich Rod aboard, and it's paying the penalty for that decision. Unfortunately for the once-renown and well respected program, another coaching change won't come until Rich Rod depletes the teams roster of talent and breaks it's tradition of class (which he seems to be doing at record pace). I think this story has the potential to be a changing point in UM football in the long run. UM is already losing a lot of it's talent to transfers, and a story like this will make it that much more difficult to recruit top tier players.

I feel sorry for the next coach that gets that job. It'll be MUCH worse than whoever has to take over the Notre Dame job next...

Think scUM's gonna lose any schollies over this??

Killer Nut91 · Aug 30, 2009

I much as I love to see scUM in so much trouble, they need to get there act together.

ScarletMerica · Aug 30, 2009

I bet they are wishing they would've tried just a wee bit harder to get Les Miles out of the South now more and more now.

BRB · Aug 30, 2009

SuperBuckFan08 said: ↑

I bet they are wishing they would've tried just a wee bit harder to get Les Miles out of the South now more and more now.
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As much as I love beating Michigan every year, I don't enjoy it as much when they are a terrible team, I want some good matchups... Les Miles would have surely been a better choice I would think.

Anchorman · Aug 30, 2009

Some SCum former and current players have told ESPN that the coaches broke NCAA rules on conditioning and practice-going over the alloted hours.

Wow, sounds like their is dissension in the ranks there. One thing to complain to the coaches or athletic department about things that are going on in the program. But to complain to the media! And some are current players.

I wonder since they are practicing longer if the players grades have been affected!

Anchorman · Aug 30, 2009

But does Les Miles want the job?? I wouldn't leave LSU. I think that is a top 10 job inthe college ranks.

Dawg24 · Aug 30, 2009

I think Western Michigan could beat them...

Anchorman · Aug 30, 2009

^^They will! 24-10 Broncos. Watch and see.

Arkhayne · Aug 30, 2009

I think Miles just didn't want to pull a DickRod move and abandon players he brought in for another job like that.

IceBreaker · Aug 30, 2009

Is Western Michigan supposed to be a good team this year?

BlockONation · Aug 30, 2009

IceBreaker said: ↑

Is Western Michigan supposed to be a good team this year?
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On offense yes, on defense not really so it could go either way.

louts8wings · Aug 31, 2009

i say RR's time is limited. esp. if they have another losing season.

Agent Johnny Utah · Aug 31, 2009

Rodriguez-Barwis are the axis of feeble.

My only complaint is that they won't be at Michigan more than another 2 or 3 years to keep me entertained with their douche baggery.

louts8wings · Aug 31, 2009

^ true! but as a football fan i didn't feel this was a good move for michigan. they should of brought in a michigan man not a west virginia man. they totally have gotten away from what has made michigan successful. good play action offense and tough as nails defense. michigan has always produced very good nfl qb's. nebraska made the same mistake years ago. their program still hasn't recovered from bring in the spread from coach solich. i am sure with time the cornhuskers will be back same as for michigan. i just hope it is soon because it make the rivalry so much better when both osu and mich are ranked in the top 25.

louts8wings · Aug 31, 2009

really that shouldn't hurt western too much not having a good defense. almost every team in the MAC doesn't have a good defense. majority of that conf. spreads it out and tries to out score each other. western very well can knock off michigan. michigan will be a better team but western is a much better team then last years toledo team. should be a solid game.

Agent Johnny Utah · Aug 31, 2009

louts8wings said: ↑

^ nebraska made the same mistake years ago. their program still hasn't recovered from bring in the spread from coach solich..
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I was thinking something very similar but the Nebraska coach you are thinking of was Bill Callahan, not Frank Solich. Solich runs a power-I offense. Callahan was the NFL guy who tried to institute a West Coast offense with with lots of passes with the QB dropping back from under center.

Aesculus glabra · Aug 31, 2009

Shouldn't the NCAA make an exception for DickRod? They obviously need the extra practice time more than anyone. It's like the special olympics over there, ease up on them, guys.

Arkhayne · Aug 31, 2009

I think DickRod will get fired at the end of this year, especially if they get blown out in THE Game again.

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Michigan Wolverines (Official Thread) (12x National Champions)

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Michigan Wolverines (Official Thread) (12x National Champions)

BRB Well-Known Member

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