Look at the Task of Michigan State Strength Coach Jason Novak
East Lansing, MI— Mel Tucker took over Michigan State and instantaneously went to work to revamp and reshape the program from top to bottom.
One of his most prominent hires that perhaps many fans would not recognize as important was finding a strength and conditioning coach. Tucker tabbed Jason Novak for the task, and no sooner did he arrive in East Lansing, then the COVID-19 pandemic took off.
Novak has been charged via Zoom and Skype to keep his players accountable to stay in shape, with the players not having the same equipment at their respective homes.
Novak said of the challenge, "I think the biggest challenge, honestly, is everybody's figuring this out together for the first time. There's no playbook for it, there's no blueprint for it, and everybody's trying to figure out what the best practices are. The big thing for me is, as far as communicating with the players, getting training and workouts and plans and things like that to them, but it's got to be things that they can do, you know, things that they have access to. The big thing for me is, if I write a program, it can be the greatest program I can come up with, but if they can't do it as where they're located right now then it's not very valuable to our program, so trying to find out what those things are, and then just being a source of support and resources for the guys, like 'Hey, tell me what you have access to' and let's build something off of that. And so that can look 105 different ways right now with what we're going through."
On social media, you can see some guys lifting tires and some using expensive and expansive weights.
The disparity doesn't make Novak's job easy. "I would say one of the biggest things with that is; obviously, we're probably limited with the access to traditional bars and dumbbells and lifting the pounds that they're used to and things like that. So, in doing that, finding out what they do have access to and then writing programs based off more, it's more volume based, because, to me, it's not exactly this way but, you can lift 300 pounds one time, or you can lift 30 pounds 10 times, and it's still 300 pounds. Now the training effect of that is different, but trying to encourage them that, 'hey look, number one, we got to make sure that our legs are in shape, we got to make sure that we're used to the volume of work and sending them things, putting ideas out there that will allow them to do that.' And then getting creative everything from, you know backpacks full of can goods, water jugs, like you said with milk jugs and things like that. Everything becomes a tool at our disposal at that point, what you have access to around the house. Especially that they can't go to...a a lot of places can't go to parks now, and things like that, to use a jungle gym or monkey bars and things like that."
For those familiar with Michigan State football, injuries have plagued the program for years.
Novak discussed how that could be changed by strength and conditioning. He didn't want to talk about the past, but he was willing to talk about the future.
"Honestly, I haven't looked back at that so much yet. Just in terms of...I got there the last week in February; we had a week's worth of training before everything got shut down. Our sole focus has been on taking care of the players and trying to communicate with them and get them what they need, to be a resource. I have not looked back as far as the injury rates or specific injuries in previous years. The biggest thing, with regards to that, is with us, as far as building a program and what not, the ultimate factor is making sure and monitoring workloads, making sure that the guys are prepared for the volumes of practice and games and things like that. A lot of that starts off from a standpoint of addressing it where they are when we get them. Again, you can't just accelerate yourself right in to where we would be whenever this breaks like we've been training all spring or all summer. We're going to have to address it from a 'where are we now' and then 'how do we accelerate that safely and appropriately to make sure that the guys are set up for success and not at risk of injury.'"
Tucker has done a terrific job of building staff and repairing the program since he arrived.
The more we learn of Novak, is that he was another homerun hire by the Spartans new head man.
The Spartans kick off the season on September 5, 2020. They will be hosting in the Northwestern Wildcats with a rare, season-opening Big Ten game.
Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Want the latest breaking MSU news delivered straight to your email for FREE? Sign up for the DAILY Spartan Nation newsletter when you CLICK THE MAGAZINE ICON at the top left of the page or the FOLLOW button back on the main page. Don’t miss any of the latest up to the second updates on Michigan State Sports when you follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter & @JDeuceDullack
