Editor's note: The Gators open spring conditioning workouts on Tuesday (Jan. 16). Here is a story from Dec. 13 on Nick Savage, Florida's new director of football strength and conditioning.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In December 2015, Mississippi State football coach
Dan Mullen got word that his strength and conditioning coach, Rick Court, was headed to Maryland. Mullen assigned Court's young assistant, 26-year-old
Nick Savage, to the interim post as the Bulldogs prepared for a date against North Carolina State in the Belk Bowl.
By the time the calendar flipped to 2016, MSU had a ninth victory after smashing the Wolfpack 51-28 in a game played just 90 minutes from the N.C. State campus. It was about that time that Mullen reached out to his athletic director.
"He said we needed to hire Nick,"
Scott Stricklin recalled. "He said if we lose him now we'll never get him back."
Funny how circumstances can work out sometimes.
Stricklin, now the AD at Florida, was not at all surprised when Savage's name came up late last month as conversations with Mullen regarding the vacant UF job started getting hot. Mullen knew he'd found a young, rising star.
He wasn't going to lose him this time, either.
"Coach Mullen stuck his neck out for me from the beginning," Savage said Tuesday morning from his new office in the south end zone weight room at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. "My track record, in terms of timeline in the profession, has been very fast and a lot of that has been because of the trust Coach has put in me by giving me the opportunity. For him to do it again truly hits home."
Now, in his new position, Savage is ready to repay his debt of gratitude.
The Gators, in turn, better be ready as well.
It's not like they haven't been warned, either. At the Nov. 27 news conference introducing him as UF's 27th head coach, Mullen made it very clear that things were about to change as far as the state of the team's conditioning, given the way the Gators were physically manhandled at times during the 2017 season on the way to finishing 4-7 and with just the second losing record in 36 years.
"I told them to rest up over the month of December," Mullen said that day. "Because when they come back in January, it's probably going to be something they've never experienced in their lives before."
Savage, now 28, was officially named director of football strength and conditioning on Monday. With exams in session, fall semester ending Friday, and no bowl game to prepare for, the Gators will not meet their new weight room task master until they return in January, thus setting in motion Mullen's prophecy.
And this will be about more — much, much more — than lifting weights and running sprints.
"I believe the really good programs seem to have really good strength and conditioning programs and the teams that aren't as good seem to struggle in that area — so there's a direct correlation," Stricklin said. "When I worked with Dan in the past, he could tell me — based on offseason and how January, February and the offseason conditioning went, and what the team [grade-point average] was — how the team was going to do in the fall. They all correlate, as well. All of it. Young people taking care of their responsibilities and being good in all areas of their lives, that manifests in the fall in terms of wins and losses."
Translation: Discipline.
On that issue, Savage intends to draw a line in the sand as clear-cut as his last name.
"It's going to be black and white, with no gray area in between," he said.
That's how he's seen it done and wanted it done since entering the profession after graduating from his hometown university of Youngstown State in 2013. His first job was as an intern at Bowling Green for one year, followed by two years under Mickey Marroti (of Urban Meyer lineage) at Ohio State, then on to a graduate assistant's post at Toledo.
Mississippi State came calling in 2014, with Savage taking part in that glorious run to No. 1 by the Bulldogs during their magical 10-3 season that ended in the Orange Bowl. Two years later, he was running the program.
"He's climbed the ladder quicker than most, but that's because he's been given opportunities and distinguished himself at those places," said Wake Forest football strength/conditioning coach Brandon Hourigan, who gave Savage that first internship at Bowling Green. "He may be 28, but he's an older 28. I imagine he'll go in there and set the tone right away. All strength coaches know — or should — that if you don't do it right away, there's no going back."
Indeed, Savage will make the ground rules very simple.
"We're going to do things the right away. If you do things the wrong way there are going to be consequences, and it doesn't matter who you are or what position you play. Everyone is equal," he said. "In January, they'll find out very quickly that whatever their actions are they'll be held accountable for those actions, and that includes every word that comes out of their mouths. They're going to learn how to be grown men, not only with how they train and prepare for the season, but how they go about their daily lives inside the building and outside of it."
He wasn't done.
"Great teams are separated by attention to detail. I can promise you that attention to detail — whether that means starting [sprints] behind the line or holding a rep for three seconds, whatever— we will have attention to detail. If guys struggle to understand that, there will be consequences and discipline for those actions. There will be direction, focus, leadership and discipline. That will not change."
For a program that dealt with its share of costly off-field woes last season, such words will be welcome to the fanbase.
As far as the actual training goes, obviously, the overall goal is to get bigger, faster and stronger. What strength/conditioning director would say otherwise? Within those common objectives, however, has to be a much bigger-picture plan. In Savage's case, bigger, faster and stronger only matters if the players have agility to match.
"So as far as movement, I'm going to prepare them for the rigors of the game; first quarter, fourth quarter, skill position, line position, game atmosphere," he said. "Obviously, everything we do will be physiologically safe and orthopedically sound. We won't do things just to do them. There will be a reason why that is backed by research and study, using proper protocol and progression, in how we're going to prepare these guys. I will create an umbrella in our training philosophy to make sure we're running the most comprehensive training program possible for these athletes."
Nick Savage on the sidelines at Mississippi State.
Each player will be assessed by
Paul Silvestri, associate director of sports health and head athletic trainer, who will then pass on that information to Savage and his staff. Together, they'll establish baselines from which to begin. After that, every muscle from the neck to the ankles will be trained with single- and multi-joint exercises, with emphasis on bench, squat, deadlift and pull-ups.
"It's not just slap some weight down and go," Savage said. "We're going to figure out what we need to improve on as a team, collectively, before we go on with our plan of attack."
It'll be a plan everyone knows, most importantly, has the 100-percent backing of the head coach. Mullen and his assistants will get daily feedback to make sure their players are responding to what is being asked of them.
The ground rules will be non-negotiable.
"To make sure no one misunderstands, what we're about to do in this weight room is strictly coming from Coach Mullen," Savage said. "He has his program identity that he's going to run. It's my job to implement this room — to promote contenders and expose pretenders — and fit that identity. We will do that."
Any questions? Didn't think so.
