Ben Hilgart Promises a Mix of Fun and Exhaustion While Constructing a New Culture

When a new strength coach comes to town, there's a certain expectation that they'll want to put their stamp on the program with a hellacious workout routine to make their standards clear.

Ben Hilgart, the Hokies' new associate athletics director for strength and conditioning, hasn't shied away from that notion, necessarily. After all, he's instituted regular 5:30 a.m. workouts since he joined the staff last month, though spring practice is still a month away.

But Hilgart told The Key Play that he wants to do more than just physically punish his new charges at Tech — he wants them to have their fair share of fun so they willingly welcome the challenge of the early morning wake-up calls.

"That doesn't mean it's not gonna be hard; it's gonna be hard," Hilgart said. "But as they progress, and as they improve and as they get better, they're going to be hungry for more and come back in the weight room and get after it again. Even though they're going to be completely exhausted today, they're gonna bounce back by tomorrow and want to get after it again."

So far, the team's offered a peek behind the curtain at the weight room sessions and crack of dawn practices on its various social media channels, and those demonstrate that Hilgart means what he says. A frequent feature of the team's Snapchat account is a look at whatever music the team is blaring that day to get the guys fired up, and Hilgart says he's not afraid to push the limits of the players' eardrums.

"If guys like to listen a certain type of music, we'll play the music as loud as we can," Hllgart said. "We'll play the music as loud as I can coach, and I can coach pretty loud."

It would seem that Hilgart's fun-loving tendencies are already rubbing off on the team. Sam Rogers, ever the darling of the coaching staff, has taken some of the motivational mantle on himself already, imploring the team to give him "three claps and a Ric Flair" in the midst of especially intense workouts.

"Lemme get 3 claps and a Ric Flair!"#HardSmartTough pic.twitter.com/p6gwjCfg8C— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) February 19, 2016

Hilgart says he can't take credit for that particular ritual, noting that Rogers drew inspiration from Sergio Brown's routine with the Indianapolis Colts last year, but he fully supports hearing it all the same. After all, it's hard to begrudge it when it comes from Rogers, as Hilgart says the fullback has already set himself apart as "a perfect example of a guy that, not just busts his butt every single day, but brings up guys around him."

"I personally love it," Hilgart said. "Those guys are just trying to find different ways to motivate each other, and that's just an example of those guys doing that. One of the leaders on our football team finding something that can get those guys excited, get them energized so they can go attack the next rep of what we're doing that day."

But for all the wrestling references and other lighthearted moments, Hilgart asserts that the workouts are still rigorous. The team has even started trying to promote accountability by doing regular film review of the workouts, then handing out maroon shirts to the top performers each day.

"Really, what we're doing is trying to promote an atmosphere during our early morning workouts where guys aren't just going out there and mindlessly running through drills," Hilgart said. "Anybody can go out there and mindlessly run through drills, that's not football."

Beyond simply awarding the shirts for the hardest workers each day, the coaches reserve the right to revoke maroon privileges: earning the shirt one day does not guarantee that you'll keep it.

"What that allows us to do is really give those guys some feedback as to where exactly where they stood on that day," Hilgart said. "And if they don't reach that standard, we show them and talk to them about where they need to improve and work with them on that, because that's our job as coaches. That's why coaching is such an exciting job for me, and we go attack it the next time, and we'll work towards reaching that goal."

That type of mindset speaks to the type of culture Hilgart hopes to instill in the Hokies. As a strength coach, he says he'll never neglect the nuts and bolts of the physical elements of the game — after all, he notes, rather scientifically, that "the ability of a player to utilize force, generate it into the ground and direct it toward another player is what's going to separate that athlete from the rest" — but he's also going to spend plenty of time cultivating the right kind of attitude in his athletes.

"Everyone wants to talk about bench press and back squat and power clean, the one thing that gets overlooked a lot of times is the culture," Hilgart said. "You're not just the guy who designs the x's and o's of the training program, but our role needs to be much broader."

Indeed, he says that's just the sort of vision Justin Fuente expressed to him a few weeks back when they first met. Though the pair had never worked together before, Hilgart says "from the first moment I ever spoke with him" that he felt Fuente was the kind of coach who put the right kind of value on strength and conditioning.

Now, Hilgart's hoping to become the "primary vehicle of instilling the vision of the head football coach" in each and every athlete on the roster.

"We can be the eyes and ears of the head football coach," Hilgart said. "Our position provides us unique access to build a relationship with the entire roster, not just one position group. And I think that relationship provides a different perspective into the pulse and climate of our football team, just the ability to work and strain and accept hard coaching, that can be developed in the weight room, and be a seamless blend from the practice field to the weight room to the meeting room."

As Hilgart continues to settle in and help translate Fuente's vision into results, he expects there will be some tweaks to Tech's facilities yet to come. Hilgart got the chance to lead the redesign New Mexico's athletic performance facilities when he was still with the Lobos last year, and he's already "moved some things around and adjusted some things" since arriving at Tech.

But he doesn't foresee any dramatic changes on the horizon for the Hokies' strength and conditioning set-up in the near future, as he works on improving the team first and foremost.

"I think every strength coach has some different ideas about how they'd have the room laid out or what type of equipment they prefer, and I certainly have my ideas as well," Hilgart said. "But at the end of the day, 45 pounds weighs 45 pounds, it's what you do with it that's important. Whether I'm lifting that 45 pounds in my garage or in my backyard or in a state of the art facility like we have here, that's what's important, so that's our number one focus right now."

The results of Hilgart's efforts, wrestling references and all, won't be on display publicly for some time, so it's impossible to tell how the team is taking the revamped approach. But Hilgart is confident that the coaches will do all they can to get the players looking like Ric Flair at his physical peak by the time the season rolls around.

"It's a process, each day our guys are working hard and getting better, and some guys are further along than others, just like anywhere else," Hilgart said. "But it's our job as coaches to take them to a place we can't get on their own. That's something we're going to be completely obsessed with and diligent about every single day."