Lucas at Large: Badgers make strength a strength again
December 02, 2015 | Football, Mike Lucas
In-season weight work a renewed emphasis for Wisconsin under Kolodziej
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Drew Meyer, a senior punter, was the last one waiting in line outside of Ross Kolodziej's office; the last of nearly 50 players that had short interviews Monday with Wisconsin's football strength and conditioning coach.
The one-on-ones began early in the morning and ended with Meyer at 3:15 in the afternoon. They started up again Tuesday morning. Kolodziej's goal was to meet with everyone on the team.
"I just want to pull guys aside and get their thoughts on where they're at," Kolodziej said. "For the guys who are leaving, they've seen a lot and have been a part of some turnover here.
"I just want to get their perspective on what we're doing — what they like and what we can improve on. There's some great insight there.
"For the guys who are coming back, I also want to check the pulse on how they're doing and what their goals are going into the winter.
"With any of this, we're not looking past the bowl game by any stretch of the imagination. But we have this little down time where we don't know the bowl schedule and don't know our opponent.
"So let's just take a moment and think about where we can get better. That's the driving force — how can we get better, individually and collectively as a team, and as a strength staff?
"What can we do in this room to improve this team?"
Two days after the Badgers retained Paul Bunyan's Axe with their 12th-straight victory over Minnesota, the Camp Randall Stadium weight room was buzzing with activity.
"The guys have to get in here this week," Kolodziej said, "and get a couple of lifts in."
That was the only mandate: each player must lift twice this week while transitioning from their structured regular season lifting schedule to the yet-to-be-determined bowl prep.
"There's some air between those windows," said Kolodziej, "and I want to give them a little more freedom to take advantage of this time to focus on academics or anything else that they need.
"I didn't want to make it inconvenient for anybody. But I told them, 'Hey, if you're finishing up a workout and you've got five minutes, let's talk.' It's really informal. I'm trying to be non-invasive."
Kolodziej leaves nothing to chance. He has a plan to help everyone, if they want help. That includes the departing seniors who have aspirations of playing in the National Football League.
"We want to find out where they are at in terms of the (NFL scouting) combine-slash-pro day prep or if they're playing in an all-star game," he said. "What are their plans if they're going to train here? Do they have a plan? If they don't, let's have a plan for them.Â
"They certainly did their part in helping keep this program on top," he said of the seniors, "and we want to do anything we can to help them in their future endeavors."
Right now, it appears the Badgers are a strong candidate to play in the Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl, which would match them against a Pac-12 opponent at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
Until it's finalized, Kolodziej said, "We'll hang loose and keep working to get better. For guys who are nursing certain things, we have to get them in the best position possible, health-wise.
"But for the guys who are feeling pretty good, we're going to lift. We're going to keep getting stronger. We still have conceivably four weeks before we play a game. That's a huge opportunity.
"To this point in the season, we've certainly improved (in strength areas). And we're going to keep working to continue to improve. By no stretch have we come close to our potential."
It was little less than a year ago that UW athletic director Barry Alvarez put one of his former players, Jamil Walker, in charge of the weight training program on an interim basis.
Former head coach Gary Andersen was on his way to Oregon State and the players were trying to regroup, physically and mentally, after getting crushed by Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
Walker had three weeks to get everyone pointed back in the right direction. He had to pick up the pieces from that humbling loss to the Buckeyes and build everyone back up for Auburn in the bowl.
"Jamil did a tremendous job. It was kind of old school — like when Herb was here," said Meyer, referencing former strength coach Ben Herbert, who went to Arkansas with Bret Bielema. "He (Walker) really helped everyone get excited again about getting into the weight room and getting after the (weight) bar. It was a great transition into the changes (that were ahead)."
The most notable change was the hiring of head coach Paul Chryst who brought many of his Pittsburgh assistants with him to Madison, including Kolodziej, who has his own old-school concepts.
"It has been great having Coach Kolodziej back," Meyer said. "He was here when I was younger and we're getting back to force and power and winning games in the trenches through strength."
This is the Alvarez way, the only way Kolodziej knew as a defensive tackle at Wisconsin. Along with a staff made up of many former UW players, he's making up for two years of lost ground.
"That has been one of the bigger surprises that I had coming back," Chryst said of the drop-off in the strength program. "And it was one of the big challenges I thought that we had going into this year.
"The past couple of years, the players weren't lifting hard. And that (physicalness) was one of the competitive edges that we had when I was here before.
"The last two years I was here, the game before our last game of the regular season, all our offensive linemen, tight ends and fullbacks got their personal best in the squat that week.
"We said that to our kids this year and they looked at us like we had two heads."
Many of them questioned Chryst, "What do you mean we're going to still lift?"
And Chryst promptly responded, "You're going to still lift."
As part of any transition, he suggested, it's important to make the players feel like they're part of the decision-making process to where they "feel like it's of their own choosing" to do something.
Chryst praised Kolodziej for creating that work environment and compatible mindset.
"I'm not going to hit you over the head with a hammer," said Kolodziej, who interned in Herbert's weight room in 2009. "If you've got an open mind, and you're willing to try it, this works.
"And now that we have them all aboard with that, the sky is the limit. We'll be as good as they want to be … they will determine what the standard is and what it will be …"
Chryst has been delighted by the early results.
"They're starting to buy into it," he said. "They'll come up and say, 'I feel better.' Well, no kidding. That's why you're doing it. We're not trying to make you feel worse during the season.
"And you just can't maintain. You have to keep training otherwise you'll never make progress. You'll never make any strides or gains.Â
"We're getting there," Chryst said. "But we're not there yet. We're not where we want to be or where we can be. I give the kids a ton of credit. They're doing everything we're asking.
"Whether we're right or wrong, we believe it's one of the things that is special about this place and gives us a competitive edge, and that's what we're working to get back to."
Kolodziej's objective is to be firm but fair. He stressed that football is a "grown man's game." So you should act like a grown man, he rationalized. And that's how he treats everybody.
"We have time to really get better before we play this bowl game," he pledged.
And the feedback has been positive, even from those who may have been skeptical at first.
"It's encouraging to hear where guys are at," Kolodziej said. "When you hear them say, 'I feel this … I feel stronger … I feel quicker … I feel more confident.' That's stuff you can't fake.
"When they feel it and they trust it — as I said when I first got there, it's going to be a process of earning trust — that gives us a great foundation going forward."
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