How much pull does Babers have RE: S&C

[kirbivore]

I hope Dino has some replacements for Hicks to bring along.

 

[BKCuse]

Hicks is a tough call.

Pros:
All the players love him
NFL'ers come back to train with him
He's a great connection to alumni w/ many tweeting support for him
He does a great job with all the other sports

Cons
There sure have been a lot of injuries the past 2 years
He's not Dino's guy

I'm inclined to keep him. I'm as frustrated and mystified by injuries as anyone but I don't think it's a Hicks issue. He's been here awhile and never had injuries like he did during Shaf's run. So I say we keep him.

 

[Czar]

Hicks is a tough call.

Pros:
All the players love him
NFL'ers come back to train with him
He's a great connection to alumni w/ many tweeting support for him
He does a great job with all the other sports

Cons
There sure have been a lot of injuries the past 2 years
He's not Dino's guy

I'm inclined to keep him. I'm as frustrated and mystified by injuries as anyone but I don't think it's a Hicks issue. He's been here awhile and never had injuries like he did during Shaf's run. So I say we keep him.

Yeah. Last thing needed now is to piss off the alumni players by taking Hicks away.

 

[Stern]

Hopefully he can fire everybody in that regard and we start new

Amateur is over at Syracuse

 

[orangenauburn]

Long shot, probably not realistic but

Replace Hicks with Markus Paul to alleviate alumni anger

 

[Cusefan78]

I have talked to former players and to hicks. Hicks is very good at his job. The problem is we are playing a ton of under classmen and smaller players. The underclassmen normally would have been redshirted so they could add muscle and mass and get their body ready for the punishment of d1. The injuries aren't on hicks.

 

[rocklloyd]

I don't know anything about the guy,but he certainly does not pass the "look" test for an s&C coach

 

[RMH44]

I have talked to former players and to hicks. Hicks is very good at his job. The problem is we are playing a ton of under classmen and smaller players. The underclassmen normally would have been redshirted so they could add muscle and mass and get their body ready for the punishment of d1. The injuries aren't on hicks.

But that doesn't fit into kirbivore's agenda. Keep in mind that he is the same guy that had "fire Hicks" in his signature.

 

[Oswego93]

Provided every recruit we have, going forward, is ectomorphic who never needs to pay an ounce of attention to macros/caloric intake, Hicks will tear it up.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I have talked to former players and to hicks. Hicks is very good at his job. The problem is we are playing a ton of under classmen and smaller players. The underclassmen normally would have been redshirted so they could add muscle and mass and get their body ready for the punishment of d1. The injuries aren't on hicks.

The injury part is really well said. That year Marrone had his great run I remember thinking we were blessed by the absence of injuries and it would be more difficult in the ACC where teams had bigger, stronger athletes. Every time we play FSU i cringe at the difference in physicality. Factor in the past 2 seasons where you had runs with 9 consecutive games without a bye, and your going to have injury problems (the concussions are another story).

 

[Finwad32]

Money talks... If we lose support from football alums because Hicks is gone, they'll be inclined to keep him.

If Hicks is gone, I'd expect Brotzki too, it would be a clean sweep of the house. If you're going to do it, do it like a band aid and repair relationships later.

For the record, I firmly believe you should have some guys who are in more of a support role as opposed to a football role stay around. Somebody has to show the new guys the ropes, the ins and outs of who to deal with and how to deal with them for the day to day operations stuff.

 

[Ozcuse]

I make jokes that Hicks look more like the guy at the gym who hangs out at the vending machine than the weights but in all seriousness I'm sure he is good at his job. My concern is more in the tempo/endurance regard. I don't know if it's something that Hicks can shift to, or want to be a part of.

 

[old guy]

Give the new HC a free hand and a pocketful of money. He knows what he has,their availability and their price. Compare that to the coaches that would stay on and go from there. Maybe even go outside. It will be interesting to watch him put his staff together.

 

[CuseOnly]

I make jokes that Hicks look more like the guy at the gym who hangs out at the vending machine than the weights but in all seriousness I'm sure he is good at his job. My concern is more in the tempo/endurance regard. I don't know if it's something that Hicks can shift to, or want to be a part of.

He can and has, Marrone asked him to slim down the linemen in 2012 for the up tempo Nascar offense they were going to run.

 

[Cusefan78]

No offense to any of you guys. But I'm taking a lot more stock in guys like nassib Pugh and freeney then a bunch of guys on a forum. Those guys are nfl players and still come back to see hicks. Unless hicks has some kind of endorsement deal with them then I trust the players over a few arm chair qbs. hicks is a great guy. If you ever run into him, talk to him for a minute and you'll like him and see how passionate he is about his job.

 

[kirbivore]

But that doesn't fit into kirbivore's agenda. Keep in mind that he is the same guy that had "fire Hicks" in his signature.

I later changed it to luthor > hicks

 

[supp]

Hicks is a tough call.

Pros:
All the players love him
NFL'ers come back to train with him
He's a great connection to alumni w/ many tweeting support for him
He does a great job with all the other sports

Cons
There sure have been a lot of injuries the past 2 years
He's not Dino's guy

I'm inclined to keep him. I'm as frustrated and mystified by injuries as anyone but I don't think it's a Hicks issue. He's been here awhile and never had injuries like he did during Shaf's run. So I say we keep him.

Personally, I don't care what the football alums think on this issue. The right S & C regimen is the difference between wins and losses. That matters more than any personal relationship that Hicks has w/ our NFL guys. If Babers holds on to Hicks, I hope it's because he can institute the regimen needed for his offense and defense. If not, he needs to go. You don't pay all this money for a new coach and then don't allow him to have final say on the training of his players.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

As a general rule of thumb and in business, you don't keep a guy around just because he's "well liked."

Players don't need a s&c coach that's their buddy, they need one that is going to get them to achieve max strength and peak performance.

I can't comment if Hicks is that guy or not. Massive injuries over the past few years would leave me with cause for concern.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Since we're back to this. After a similar thread a few years ago, I was in the company of current and former players in the NFL in a private setting. I asked about Hicks. To a man they went out of their way to say he was just about the most important piece to SU. They were detailed in why also. And BKCuse, to your pro's list, the most important one; his NFL connections. Don't kid yourselves, NFL guys TRUST Hicks judgement big time. And he has many, many solid connections there, and know exactly what they want and expect.

 

[TheCusian]

I'd leave it up to Babers. All in means all in.

 

[jekelish]

What I'd like to see? Make Hicks the strength coach. Bring in someone else to teach conditioning. From what I gather, he barely emphasizes conditioning with his workouts, just focuses on getting guys strong. You need to have balance. Keep him around, but bring in at least an assistant S&C guy with an eye toward improving the conditioning aspect.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I'd leave it up to Babers. All in means all in.

Yep.

 

[MikeSU02]

I don't know enough to comment on keeping him or dismissing him, but I do know that S&C, team doctors, etc are an area where we should be focusing on being at the top of the game.

You see this becoming a huge issue in the NBA (understanding it's a much different sport), where it can help guys careers last much longer and can be a selling point for smaller market teams. It also is starting to be tied into all the analytics that are being done with player movement tracking.

 

[oldpinepoint]

What I'd like to see? Make Hicks the strength coach. Bring in someone else to teach conditioning. From what I gather, he barely emphasizes conditioning with his workouts, just focuses on getting guys strong. You need to have balance. Keep him around, but bring in at least an assistant S&C guy with an eye toward improving the conditioning aspect.

We need more conditioning as we were gassed in the 2nd quarter of the Florida State game.

 

[money3189]

What I'd like to see? Make Hicks the strength coach. Bring in someone else to teach conditioning. From what I gather, he barely emphasizes conditioning with his workouts, just focuses on getting guys strong. You need to have balance. Keep him around, but bring in at least an assistant S&C guy with an eye toward improving the conditioning aspect.

well said and a lot of you guys have great points rather its pros or cons. I think there's value in keeping him around. Having a seperate strength coach and conditioning coach sounds good to me.