Source: Virginia Tech hiring ODU's Dwight Galt IV as director of football strength and conditioning https://t.co/XMEC3ovAF6— michaelniziolek (@michaelniziolek) December 22, 2021
Official by VT
We've added @dgalt56 as director of strength and conditioning 💪— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) December 22, 2021
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That's nice...but will he wear a polo on the sidelines during a cold day in November?
As long as he can cure our current skinny leg epidemic, I don't care what he wears
I'm very impressed with this Staff's ties to the 757 (even though I don't think that S&C coaches really recruit?) At the very least its something we can point to. I really hope we start seeing the dividends soon.
I don't believe they recruit, but they have a massive influence on the program since they get to spend the most time with the team with winter workouts and all those things the other coaches can't do.
I don't think it matters much where the S&C coach hails from. As you said I don't think they really recruit. I think I remember hearing this name come up very early when Pry was hired, as he has some sort of prior connection to Pry. My point being, it's still a positive sign that we're getting all these guys with mid-atlantic connections, because it says something positive about Pry's influence in the region.
Galt's dad is the S&C coach or something similar at penn state.
It's "pryor connection".
Seems like a very good hire for S&C. In 2020 he was named one of the best strength coaches in the country. Hopefully he is one of those S&C guys that is on the more cutting edge of sports medicine and training.
The model has shifted to a Director of Performance. As an example, the owner of the gym I used to go to was the S&C coach at Arizona-he got hired as the Director of Performance at Tennessee causing him to sell his gym in Tucson. There are two Directors: one for football and basketball and one for all other sports. They don't just use strength and conditioning concepts anymore, but a combination of philosophies with analytics becoming a much bigger part of the equation. The Director of Performance basically sets the vision for strength and conditioning across all sports and the S&C coach implements it (I'm sure the S&C has input into the overall direction as well). At the time (3-4 years ago), only a handful of programs were doing it this way but I think it's a lot more prevalent now across the country.
I would hope we are doing something like this. It's a lot more complicated than what I've described, but it's quite different from the old days where the S&C coach would be in charge of all sports and all athletes.
Yep. A lot of my comment had to do with how Alabama got Dr. Matt Rhea and David Ballou from Indiana before the 2020 season and they basically completely rebuilt and remade the Bama S&C program from scratch. They are on the extreme cutting edge of performance and efficient training. They track a zillion things I've never heard of before, curate individual plans for each player based on primary growth needs, steer away from areas showing diminishing returns, etc. It blew my mind a little bit the more I learned about the way they are doing things there. Then on the Cover3 Pod this season Bud Elliot mentioned that Bama might be three years ahead of the rest of the country in S&C with these guys.
I hope we are going to be heading along a similar path with this hire, and away from traditional S&C.
Chip Kelly was ahead of everyone else at Oregon when he was there and it showed. I personally think this is the largest growth area for college football because often in the pros everyone is top .1% athlete. But in college you have more room for variance. Just like those full body suits for swimming, sure they helped Phelps, but they did wonders for the 50 year old with a beer gut.
I also think this is an area VT should want to succeed in. We have led the way on measuring collisions and testing helmets for football, let's do some fucking research and remember we're supposed to be inventing the future.
Tell me more about 50 yo's with beer guts and full-body suits.
(asking for a friend. )
This. There's so much about analytics and nutrition that I really hope we start to incorporate. As much as I love seeing vids of linemen pushing trucks up a hill that doesn't necessarily equate to success on a football field. The whole science behind nutrition and training has jumped ahead light years recently and I really hope we're moving our philosophy in line with it.
Not doubting you, but who hands out that type of award?
Honestly, I have no clue. the article brought up a bunch of ad-blocker pop-ups/paywall stuff I didn't feel like dealing with. I doubt it's anything with too much authority.
Winning that award in 2020 is especially curious considering ODU didn't have a season. Maybe it was for 2019
Glad that we're turning the page in this area. Hilgart always looked the part, but the on-field performance and physical dominance just seemed lacking the last few years. The before/after selfies were great, but I really dont care about the 6-packs he developed - i'm more concerned about the pancakes and TD's that the S/C team enables.
When LOLUVAs QB ran over three DBs into the end zone, you knew it was beyond time to make the move.
Exactly! All our guys can look like pre-draft Tom Brady as long as they can do their job. We are trying to have a football team not a calendar shoot.
Those selfies were creepy and weird.
This seems promising. The S&C coach is probably one of them more important hires when you take into account that the S&C coach ends up spending more time with the players than any other coach on the team.
Nick Saban has said this exact thing on multiple occasions.
Instant upgrade. Let's go
Hokies!
Little skinny for an S&C coach dontchya think?
Old profile lists him 6-5 230
https://247sports.com/player/dwight-galt-43073/
Could be worse. We could have brought in this guy. They actually look pretty similar.
Richard Simmons is multiple magnitudes of a better person than Dustin Diamond ever was.
Do yourself a favor and watch the Richard Simmons clip of Who's Line
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21pfu
that was fantastic!!! I miss that show
And if he has any questions, he can call his Dad.
Yeah, what is the old adage, "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane"? Well, we need less of that.
Apparently Kumah called this in November.
And the follow up.
So did Kumah just hate Fu and staff? I'm so confused by him since he seemed to take a lot of pleasure in VT's struggles.
Kumah always had love for VT, he just did not like Fuente and most of his staff
So he should fit right in on TKP!
I believe you can dig up a tweet of his in the last couple months where he says he's fine with Fuente but hates Corn.
Galt and his twin brother went to my high school I think around the same time as Kendall Fuller or maybe just before. I believe their dad was coaching at Maryland at that time. Both brothers played at Maryland- great hire
How is that possible when Kendall graduated highschool after 2012 and It says Galt committed to MD around 2005, I think I may be misreading
Maybe it was Vinnie. Drafted in '05. Timelines would match a little better.
That's my brother. Our little brother was in school with Kendall. Just got the 2 of us confused.
I graduated in 04, Deege in 05. See my posts below.
So unless they announce his promotion to assistant or associate AD of S&C him being just "director of S&C for football" is just Shuman's job title currently not Hilgart.
There was someone on the 24/7 board posting saying they were Shuman's wife and that he was let go and was looking for a potential career change. Don't know if he'll answer, but I tweeted the question to Bitter about whose role he's taking.
The VT tweet says "Director of Strength and Conditioning"
Edit: though the tweet came from the VT Football account so who knows?
This is part I have questions about. Can't get an answer though.
here's one way think about it.
VT Football announced Hilgart's hiring, but not Shuman's.
I think that the fact that this was announced means Galt is going to be the guy in charge of football strength & conditioning, whatever that title ends up being.
On Hokiesports.com, there are 5 strength coaches with "Director" and "S&C" and "Football" in their title, including Hilgart. It's just the word they use for strength & conditioning coach.
I am assuming this is good and will be an improvement on the current situation.
But a curiously of mine. What is it with S&C people not having hair on the top of their head?
Too much steroids /s
Who is Dwight Galt?
Dwight Galt IV's great grandfather
John's brother.
Sneaky Ayn Rand reference? Let's hope he has John's work ethic and ability
Mother calls him John. Sorta like TT's mom and tu-rod.
Hopefully not the rapey two dimensional fantasy of an adolescent girl with serious daddy issues and an incurable case of misanthropic nihilism.
Kink shamed.
: )
Might have missed it but didn't see this linked in another post. Article about Galt at ODU
Well - we've got Bryan Stinespring's endorsement. I'm sold now!
Sarcasm aside, this is sounding like a great hire from someone Pry has pryer experience working with.
"That's why they came back to beat Norfolk State, and why then dominated play in the fourth quarter of losses to Virginia Tech and East Carolina."
May he have the power of all the Dwights Galt before him
Uh, before y'all get too celebratory you might want to check Hokiesports. They still have Hilgart listed under Strength staff and they also have Galt listed under Football, so it sounds like Hilgart is staying.
Hokie Sports Staff Directory
I imagine Hilgart, though listed under Strength & Conditioning, is part of the staff, including Cornelsen and Hamilton, who are still Hokies until after the bowl game. I wouldn't rule out the possibility (likelihood?) that he will be replaced between now and April
Did you look at the link? They have a section for bowl staff separate from the new staff. Hilgart is listed under Strength and Conditioning, a separate section from Football, while Galt is listed under the new staff.
I would expect that if Hilgart was to be replaced by Galt, they would remove him from the site.
Still possible that Hilgart goes, but there is no indication on Hokiesports - yet - that is the case.
Edit: I have to guess that just has to do with how the list is organized I would read too much into this.
Yes, I did look at the link. Yes I did notice there were separate sections for the bowl staff, new staff, and strength. But none of that is definitive. Hilgart was clearly the chief trainer for the football team. Galt has been hired to be the chief trainer for the football team. It doesn't really matter if Hilgart stays or not. He's not going to be the guy solely responsible for the football team. I think he'll go, though.
I think you're reading WAY too much into this. It looks like they have just grouped all new hires for football under football, including Galt. I think they're organizing it that way so they aren't getting rid of bios for coaches who remain on staff just through the bowl game. I mean, they don't even have position duties for Jones and Quinn listed on there, so it's still a mess and will likely be a mess until after the bowl and the entire coaching staff is fully ironed out.
If you still think you should read into it, in the official announcement for Galt, he's listed as Director of Football Strength and Conditioning, but they have him with the coaches, not the Strength and Conditioning staff. Also the S&C conditioning staff is more than just football, so breaking that list down to who would be on staff for the bowl and who's new doesn't even make sense (do the basketball and Olympic sports S&C coaches go under new hires or the ones only staying for the bowl game?). I think they're probably keeping them (all new hires) separate as much as possible just to be more clear about who's new and will therefore stay on staff, but potentially anyone else with a football descriptor in their title may not be around once Pry is fully in charge (after the bowl game).
Given all that, I feel almost 100% confident that Hilgart is gone after the bowl and Galt will be taking his role.
I hear he takes proper hydration very seriously - so much so that he added IV to his name.
"water makes you weak" - Willie Taggert
Story time, he stole my prom date
Story time: my friend got recruited by Bobby Ross at Army. He saw Deege during a recruiting visit and said something to the effect of, no way this kid is a sophomore.
Story time: he used to wear a Superman t-shirt under his football gear
Story time: how far can you throw a full keg? With one arm
Cool story Hansel.
But seriously those are the smashcut backstory character development we need around here.
There's plenty of stories between him and his twin brother. I knew him through mutual friends from the wrestling team.
Cocky son of a bitch. Great on a football field. Maybe not so much for a HS Spanish project.
He was one of our best players my senior year, and his subsequent senior year. He was a machine.
Leg for Burnt Chrysler gif.
Leg for keeping your jeans high and tight.
Just wanted to throw this out there.
God I hope they don't come poaching.
I hear there's a guy available that will make your team look great on Instagram
You're looking at this all wrong - this means DG3 has more time to counsel and advise (perhaps even in an official part-time / mentor sort of role) DG4 down in Bburg.
Bless you for showing me the error of my ways.
You mean like Frank is doing for Shane?