Good replacement for Omer?

[mraven]

Chuck Stiggins . . . man, it's been a while since I've heard that name. We all hated that guy. He was well respected and good at his job, but dang, he was jerk. I remember being in the weight room when he and Roger French almost came to blows. They were nose to nose, screaming at each other, dropping the f bomb every other word, then Stiggins pushed French. French came right back at him, fists raised, but right before they got within arms reach again one of the O-lineman ran between them and kept them apart. I don't think French could have taken Stiggins, but it would have been fun to watch.

Anyway, Stiggins had all kinds of interpersonal issues, but snoscythe is right about why he got replaced.

[taekwondave]

It's about the overall program of Coach Omer as I see it. I think it has proven to be (and many other BYU trainers feel the same way) detrimental to our athletes.

I really disagree with this idea that most trainers at BYU feel Coach Omer's program is detrimental to the athletes. Unless you can back this up with anything more than your one anecdotal experience. Because I have just as much anecdotal evidence that says trainers and players are pleased with what he's doing.

The facts as I see it are these:

1. Before Omer was brought in, the players were getting soft.
2. After Omer came in, the players reached higher levels of ferocity and toughness that we hadn't seen in years, if ever.
3. Opposing teams often talk about the Cougars physicality and toughness after playing us.
4. Our fast guys have been fast, and speed wasn't that great on the team until recent recruiting classes.

What exactly would you like from me? Some written statements? Our new trainer told us how terrible he was and another trainer standing with our trainer was agreeing. You want a video or something? You don't have to believe me, I guess. But I can't give you any more evidence than what trainers have told me personally.

[runbyu1]

I'm going to have to back Dave up here on several fronts. I was recently a BYU athlete (1st team all conference at my sport) and lots of people/trainers had issues with Coach Omer's methods. He IS effective but he needs to get up to speed on new research specifically with static vs ballistic stretching, etc.

As for stretching, I study this stuff for a living and ALL the recent research is questioning stretching. Static stretching pre-workout has been lampooned over and over in recent research and press for good reason. No stretching should EVER be done without a solid 10-15 minutes of warm up. Also, active stretching is showing to be far superior to static stretching.

It's funny, I really liked Coach Stiggins as a teacher and he wasn't sexually harassing, people just can't take a freaking joke. The guy was pretty genuine in my opinion---very sarcastic and joking though and a lot of people don't get that stuff unfortunately---people need to learn to take a joke.

-G

[Mars]

I'm going to have to back Dave up here on several fronts. I was recently a BYU athlete (1st team all conference at my sport) and lots of people/trainers had issues with Coach Omer's methods.

I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to check your ID first. Hmm... this says you're "6". Glad I carded you- your number of posts to date doesn't disqualify you or your posts from being helpful, but it does make it easier to question believability.

Feel free to post more often!

[Lawboy]

Interesting topic because I just had a conversation with a guy about this earlier this week while on a work trip. He is a strength coach at a local high school, and knows all the strength coaches at BYU. He is an elite athlete, trains for strength himself for competitions, so he knows his stuff. He has a high school kid that BYU is recruiting right now that he trains, and says Utah is out-recruiting BYU on him by a mile--and it makes him mad, but that is another story.

Anyway, he said Omer is great for strength training. Really gets guys stronger. Knows haw to help them that way. But also said that his stretching approach is not best because he has guys stretch first before a good warm up. Said you should NEVER stretch cold muscles, and that for peak performance, it is best to only do light ballistic stretching prior to the competition, not much if any static stretching, with the heavy stretching after. If you do too much heavy static stretching of cold muscles, it causes micro tears that can led to injury.

SO basically, he just thought Omer needed to revise his warm up technique with the athletes to allow their bodies to prepare for the stretch, then do it lightly with more motion, less static, to not cause injury while performing. Otherwise, thought he really got a lot out of the athletes.

[CannonCougar85]

Anyway, he said Omer is great for strength training. Really gets guys stronger. Knows haw to help them that way. But also said that his stretching approach is not best because he has guys stretch first before a good warm up. Said you should NEVER stretch cold muscles, and that for peak performance, it is best to only do light ballistic stretching prior to the competition, not much if any static stretching, with the heavy stretching after. If you do too much heavy static stretching of cold muscles, it causes micro tears that can led to injury.

Seems pretty consistent with what I have heard too. Here is my earlier post.

I have spoke to many players who feel that Omer is a great trainer and an especially good strength coach. All of them said that they have gotten stronger with Omer across the board.

That being said a few of them did say that Omer is not a speed coach and that they don't think there are many players that get faster under Omer.

By the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses...

[taekwondave]

And......now I don't look so much like a crazy person

[runbyu1]

I'm going to have to back Dave up here on several fronts. I was recently a BYU athlete (1st team all conference at my sport) and lots of people/trainers had issues with Coach Omer's methods.

I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to check your ID first. Hmm... this says you're "6". Glad I carded you- your number of posts to date doesn't disqualify you or your posts from being helpful, but it does make it easier to question believability.

Feel free to post more often!

Go easy, Mars. If you will look back, you will see I have been on CougarBlue for MANY years and have hundreds of posts to my name. I switched over here a while back, which is why you don't see as many post. If you will check the quality of my posts and also my reputation on Cougarblue, you will see that I am both believable and qualified. Thanks, runbyu1

[HoosierCougar]

It seems like the strength and conditioning coach is a guy you want to change every several years...

I think the real issue is to change the training regime. The human body gets used to routines and needs a change to stimulate improvement. Omer needs to find a new way to do things or else BYU should find someone new who will do things differently.

For this to work at the college level, you'd have to change the trainer every 2 years. If the regime must change for success, then it must change during the athlete's tenure with enough time to have an impact. Changing every 2 years would do that, even accommodating missionary service.

I am not a trainer, barely even an athlete anymore, so I ask in all sincerity, how often do other top college programs and professional teams change trainers?

[hawkwing]

It seems like the strength and conditioning coach is a guy you want to change every several years...

I think the real issue is to change the training regime. The human body gets used to routines and needs a change to stimulate improvement. Omer needs to find a new way to do things or else BYU should find someone new who will do things differently.

For this to work at the college level, you'd have to change the trainer every 2 years. If the regime must change for success, then it must change during the athlete's tenure with enough time to have an impact. Changing every 2 years would do that, even accommodating missionary service.

I am not a trainer, barely even an athlete anymore, so I ask in all sincerity, how often do other top college programs and professional teams change trainers?

It would only make sense if all the top programs were rotating the best trainers between themselves. I don't see it ever happening.