Football Coaching Staff

[heyguy85]

I had the opportunity to listen to Coach Rhoads and Coach McKnight speak this weekend at a coaching clinic. If you aren't excited about the future of the football program, you need to step back and look at the plan and how they are carrying it out.
McKnight has a fantastic workout program in place where they focus on Olympic style lifts and explosiveness. Compare that to Sheppard who was all about mass and not much explosion. His assistant (C.O.) is a top notch agility guy and they both claim they have seen a big difference in the players since they got here late January. They are both excited about how much more athletic the entire team will look this fall. We got to see video of different people lifting, and one of them was Alexander Robinson. Both guys believe that he has the potential to be a fantastic running back.

Rhoads went through his philosophy, practice plans, and beliefs they are instilling in the program. He used the Missouri game last season as an example for the difference in "want to win" and "need to win." He didn't see any quit in the team, which showed him they wanted to win. The problem was, they didn't have a need to win. He believes that is the difference from where we are to where we need to be. Once everyone buys into it; doing whatever it takes to "need to win," then ISU football will do great things. One of the RB's had a 6 AM punishment work out and was about to quit the team because it was too hard, in his mind. Thankfully he didn't quit, but it goes to show the Rhoads means business, he's not all talk. They have started working with DB's, in particular, on fundamentals because they "aren't very good" in his words.
I also got to meet Pope and Wally Burnam, both of them were nice guys that were fun to talk to and have big plans for the football program.
I am excited about the upcoming season and the years to come. I think you should be as well.

 

[buckskin]

Thanks for taking time to share the info. Looking forward to this fall.

 

[Clonegrad07]

I'm an Iowa State fan, Cubs fan, and Vikings fan... I'm ALWAYS excited about the upcoming season and what it could bring...

 

[Clonegrad07]

granted... I get let down a lot though...

 

[jay moe]

Thanks for the info...any I can get is great because I won't be making it to the spring clinic this year.

 

[iowa_wildcat]

I have known Paul Rhoads on a personal basis for over 10 years. He is a good man, organized, and very goal oriented. He tells me that he remembers every bad play in every game seemingly forever. Now that is the type of guy Cyclones need at the helm.

 

[CarolinaCy]

McKnight has a fantastic workout program in place where they focus on Olympic style lifts and explosiveness. Compare that to Sheppard who was all about mass and not much explosion. His assistant (C.O.) is a top notch agility guy and they both claim they have seen a big difference in the players since they got here late January. They are both excited about how much more athletic the entire team will look this fall.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about S&C coaches or their philosophies, so all of the above could be completely accurate. But I distinctly remember when Sheppard came on board with Chizik, that he was praised for being from the speed and explosiveness school of thought as well. Everyone was excited because he was a vast departure from Getty, who everyone said was about size/mass.

I guess my point is that I don't really believe any hype about S&C programs until I see the results on the field.

 

[Clones21]

I'm an Iowa State fan, Cubs fan, and Vikings fan... I'm ALWAYS excited about the upcoming season and what it could bring...

hey me 2!

 

[Stewo]

I'm curious as to what RB nearly quit. I don't like hearing things like that. Please, no guesses etiher.

 

[cycloneG]

hey me 2!

I can't believe there are three of us out there.

 

[Clones21]

I can't believe there are three of us out there.

Its a miracle

 

[ShopTalk]

I have known Paul Rhoads on a personal basis for over 10 years. He is a good man, organized, and very goal oriented. He tells me that he remembers every bad play in every game seemingly forever. Now that is the type of guy Cyclones need at the helm.

Well, here's to lots of new memories.....:biglaugh:

 

[cloneu]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about S&C coaches or their philosophies, so all of the above could be completely accurate. But I distinctly remember when Sheppard came on board with Chizik, that he was praised for being from the speed and explosiveness school of thought as well. Everyone was excited because he was a vast departure from Getty, who everyone said was about size/mass.

I guess my point is that I don't really believe any hype about S&C programs until I see the results on the field.

I sure hope we are able to see some results this fall. I would love to see the team to physically dominate another Big 12 team. Especially in the 4th quarter.

 

[benjay]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about S&C coaches or their philosophies, so all of the above could be completely accurate. But I distinctly remember when Sheppard came on board with Chizik, that he was praised for being from the speed and explosiveness school of thought as well. Everyone was excited because he was a vast departure from Getty, who everyone said was about size/mass.

I guess my point is that I don't really believe any hype about S&C programs until I see the results on the field.

Yeah I remember everyone was really high on Sheppard when he arrived. Now he's gone and everyone's like, "Sheppard was the suck. The new guy's THE MAN".

We're in the "wtf hype" stage of a new coaching tenure. The coaches are building enthusiasm among the fanbase by telling us all what we want to hear. This is standard operating procedure. Maybe if I hadn't seen all of these things happen a mere 2 years ago with Chizik I wouldn't be this cynical.

 

[Clone9]

I'm curious as to what RB nearly quit. I don't like hearing things like that. Please, no guesses etiher.

I don't like to hear about them almost quitting either, but maybe it will be a good thing. If it was one of our top guys, you know they will be in shape and will be ready come fall.....they may actually appreciate the extra motivation after they've had time to realize what happened.

 

[BryceC]

Maybe if I hadn't seen all of these things happen a mere 2 years ago with Chizik I wouldn't be this cynical.

I am very happy with the coaching staff. I didn't like that Chiz hired his buddies two years ago so I think this is a lot better staff overall.

However like you said, we hear this stuff all the time with new coaches. Everybody loved Sheppard while he coached here then we had multiple huge threads after Chizik left about how his program was crap and he was lazy.

We heard all about how the coaches were going back to the fundamentals because our previous guys weren't fundamentally strong. Now we're hearing that again.

I'm just saying we tend to love our guys because they are out guys. Good coaching will show up on the field. It's way to early to expect too much next season but I do have high hopes for the staff.

 

[d4nim4l]

At least with this S&C coach we can see the results of his work at a school like Rice. Everyone there credits him, and not the coaching staff, with their turnaround the last few years. The problem with Sheppard was he was unproven with just an assistant title on his resume. He was brought on board and everyone thought that since he was from Texas he would bring Texas-esque results. Not the case.

Glad to see they discovered flaws with our DBs fundamentals. That was pretty obvious last year any time they were in the open field with opposing receivers. Having Ash in that position is going to work wonders I hope.

 

[benjay]

Well said Bryce. And I'm not saying I'm not excited about Rhoads and staff. I just realize that what they're doing is marketing. It's not necessarily meaningful at this stage. I remember all of the hype after Chizik hit campus, and then he turned in his famous "5-19 gene" record.

I'm going to be in the stands cheering come September, but I'll reserve judgment until I see the product on the field.

 

[intrepid27]

I had heard Marcus Fizer almost quit when Larry E became coach due to the stepped up conditioning program. The story I heard was he walked up to Eustachy and informed him that he did not come to ISU on a track scholarship. Glad he stuck around. Remember - "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

 

[IsUaClone2]

I had heard Marcus Fizer almost quit when Larry E became coach due to the stepped up conditioning program. The story I heard was he walked up to Eustachy and informed him that he did not come to ISU on a track scholarship. Glad he stuck around. Remember - "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

I thought that was a Tinsley quote when he had to do wind sprints.