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Parcells' way: Be fit, or else
Posted on Mon, May. 12, 2008
BY ARMANDO SALGUERO
asalguero@MiamiHerald.com
When he was coaching the New York Jets a decade ago, Bill Parcells saw one of his players throwing up during a workout session and yelled, ``Throw up on your own time.''
As the New England Patriots coach before that, Parcells spotted one of his players passed out from an energy-sapping training camp test.
''When he wakes up,'' Parcells yelled at trainers, ``tell him I just cut him.''
As the Dallas Cowboys coach, Parcells put an offensive lineman on the physically-unable-to-perform list because he flunked the portion of the infamous Parcells conditioning test that required him to run three separate 300-yard shuttles inside a specified time.
The player was Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen -- the Cowboys' highest-paid player at the time.
Are you getting the idea that conditioning is important to Bill Parcells?
He wants -- indeed, demands -- his football team be strong, disciplined and well-conditioned.
Out-of-shape teams lose.
They fade in overtime of season openers against the Washington Commanders.
They lose an inordinate amount of players to the injured-reserve list.
They can't close out games, so they drop seven of 16 decisions by a touchdown or less.
Out-of-shape football teams look flabby and soft and weak. They look like the 2007 Dolphins. And that's not what Parcells wants from the 2008 Dolphins.
That's why this time of year is just as important to Parcells, and now the Dolphins, as the months in which they actually play games. Parcells is convinced, based on his experience, that whatever harvest of winning his team reaps in the coming season is being sown now.
NO SO VOLUNTARY
The idea of an offseason conditioning program is not unique. Every team in the NFL has one. But it is voluntary throughout the NFL.
Not in Miami.
Just as it happened when Parcells was in Dallas and New England, with the Jets and the Giants, the definition of voluntary has changed.
''Now it's you-better-getyour-butt-in-there-if-youwant-to-be-on-this-team voluntary,'' former Dallas safety Darren Woodson once told Sports Illustrated about Parcells' program.
Parcells spent his early years coaching at West Point and the Air Force Academy. So it is no wonder he plans his offseason program to resemble a precise military operation.
''For me, this system -- as far as the offseason approach -- seems very, very detailed down to the way we stretch, the way we warm up, even how we cool down,'' quarterback Josh McCown said. ``And, obviously, the workout and the running in between seems very detailed and says how we're going to approach this thing.''
Parcells has a coaching tree that is rooted in South Florida with Miami coach Tony Sparano. But the tree extends to New Orleans, Cleveland, New England, and even to the Jets and Giants.
And in all those places, all the coaches who apprenticed under Parcells use all or most of what they learned about his offseason program in their offseason programs.
''It's not built on machine weights; it's built on free weights,'' New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. ``It's built on cleans; it's built on inclines, squats; it's built on running. And I think it's built on an environment where these guys have three or four lifting sessions per week, and there's a set number of goals we're looking for by the end of the spring.
FOOTBALL IS LATER
''[Parcells] pushes minicamps back to the latter part of the offseason and focuses more on the strength and conditioning aspect of it, and it didn't intertwine football during that time,'' Payton said. ``He wanted [players] to feel like it was just strength and conditioning, and football would be later in May. It allows us, with injured guys, to get them healed up more before you get to the minicamp.''
The Dolphins have a mandatory minicamp for their veterans the first week of June. If this Parcells offseason program has been a success, it will show there first.
It will show if Vernon Carey is more muscle than bulk instead of the other way around.
It will show if Drew Mormino's strength has grown to match his desire.
The offseason program will show on the weight scales and ultimately on the practice field -- where no player should throw up or pass out.
http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/529475.html
Posted on Mon, May. 12, 2008
BY ARMANDO SALGUERO
asalguero@MiamiHerald.com
When he was coaching the New York Jets a decade ago, Bill Parcells saw one of his players throwing up during a workout session and yelled, ``Throw up on your own time.''
As the New England Patriots coach before that, Parcells spotted one of his players passed out from an energy-sapping training camp test.
''When he wakes up,'' Parcells yelled at trainers, ``tell him I just cut him.''
As the Dallas Cowboys coach, Parcells put an offensive lineman on the physically-unable-to-perform list because he flunked the portion of the infamous Parcells conditioning test that required him to run three separate 300-yard shuttles inside a specified time.
The player was Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen -- the Cowboys' highest-paid player at the time.
Are you getting the idea that conditioning is important to Bill Parcells?
He wants -- indeed, demands -- his football team be strong, disciplined and well-conditioned.
Out-of-shape teams lose.
They fade in overtime of season openers against the Washington Commanders.
They lose an inordinate amount of players to the injured-reserve list.
They can't close out games, so they drop seven of 16 decisions by a touchdown or less.
Out-of-shape football teams look flabby and soft and weak. They look like the 2007 Dolphins. And that's not what Parcells wants from the 2008 Dolphins.
That's why this time of year is just as important to Parcells, and now the Dolphins, as the months in which they actually play games. Parcells is convinced, based on his experience, that whatever harvest of winning his team reaps in the coming season is being sown now.
NO SO VOLUNTARY
The idea of an offseason conditioning program is not unique. Every team in the NFL has one. But it is voluntary throughout the NFL.
Not in Miami.
Just as it happened when Parcells was in Dallas and New England, with the Jets and the Giants, the definition of voluntary has changed.
''Now it's you-better-getyour-butt-in-there-if-youwant-to-be-on-this-team voluntary,'' former Dallas safety Darren Woodson once told Sports Illustrated about Parcells' program.
Parcells spent his early years coaching at West Point and the Air Force Academy. So it is no wonder he plans his offseason program to resemble a precise military operation.
''For me, this system -- as far as the offseason approach -- seems very, very detailed down to the way we stretch, the way we warm up, even how we cool down,'' quarterback Josh McCown said. ``And, obviously, the workout and the running in between seems very detailed and says how we're going to approach this thing.''
Parcells has a coaching tree that is rooted in South Florida with Miami coach Tony Sparano. But the tree extends to New Orleans, Cleveland, New England, and even to the Jets and Giants.
And in all those places, all the coaches who apprenticed under Parcells use all or most of what they learned about his offseason program in their offseason programs.
''It's not built on machine weights; it's built on free weights,'' New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. ``It's built on cleans; it's built on inclines, squats; it's built on running. And I think it's built on an environment where these guys have three or four lifting sessions per week, and there's a set number of goals we're looking for by the end of the spring.
FOOTBALL IS LATER
''[Parcells] pushes minicamps back to the latter part of the offseason and focuses more on the strength and conditioning aspect of it, and it didn't intertwine football during that time,'' Payton said. ``He wanted [players] to feel like it was just strength and conditioning, and football would be later in May. It allows us, with injured guys, to get them healed up more before you get to the minicamp.''
The Dolphins have a mandatory minicamp for their veterans the first week of June. If this Parcells offseason program has been a success, it will show there first.
It will show if Vernon Carey is more muscle than bulk instead of the other way around.
It will show if Drew Mormino's strength has grown to match his desire.
The offseason program will show on the weight scales and ultimately on the practice field -- where no player should throw up or pass out.
http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/529475.html
