HawkeyeReport.com - Burney helps build Iowa Basketball

June 19, 2009

Tom Kakert
Publisher

Rusty Burney grew up in Pella, Iowa and followed Iowa Basketball. He watched as a fan as players like Greg Stokes, Michael Payne, Roy Marble, and B.J. Armstrong starred at the University of Iowa. Now he is part of helping build the program he grew up cheering for. Burney took over this winter as the strength and conditioning program for Iowa Basketball and based on the early returns, the current players love him and they are buying in to his program. Burney talks about how he landed his dream job and much more.

Q: How did you get to the University of Iowa and what is your background?

BURNEY: I went to Central College and graduated from there in 1997. I spent several years in strength and conditioning programs doing an internship at BYU, Arkansas as a graduate assistant, and then at Tulsa on staff and Colgate as the head strength and conditioning coach. Then I came to Iowa and obviously I was very interested when the job opened up because it would allow me to get back home. The opportunity to work with Big Ten Basketball and specifically Iowa Basketball was a great opportunity for me.

Q: As a native Iowan, you had to be pretty excited to be at the University of Iowa.

BURNEY: It is fantastic. A great opportunity. It has been just awesome. My youngest memories are of watching Greg Stokes and Michael Payne play for the Hawkeyes. All of the games weren't broadcast back then, but my sister and I listened to all of them that weren't on the radio. Then the teams with Roy Marble, B.J. Armstrong, and Eddie Horton teams were great. We followed every game. When you get a job like this, the kid in you comes out.

Q: How did getting this job happen? Did you have a connection to Iowa that helped get this job?

BURNEY: I actually knew J.C. the strength coach here and I was at Colgate, which is where he went to school. We had a couple of common friends and one of his old college roommates was on the football staff when I was there. J.C. had also been at Arkansas shortly after I was there as a graduate assistant, so we had a couple of common friends there too. We started talking after I saw that there was a position open at Iowa. I wasn't sure which sports I would be dealing with, but I knew there was a chance that I would be working with basketball. We had 25 sports at Colgate and only two people to work with them, so it was kind of an overwhelming job, but a great place to be and a great experience. I had been there for four years and was starting to get burned out with that much work. The chance to come back home and work with two or three sports to focus on was pretty much a no-brainer.

Q: What is your athletic background that got you interested in strength and conditioning?

BURNEY: I was a college baseball player at Central College. I came in there as kind of damaged goods because I hurt my elbow in football my senior year. I struggled through a couple of years of baseball and never got over the hump. I got more interested in strength and conditioning and athletic training at that time as a student. I shifted my energy in that direction at that point.

Q: You get to Iowa and sit down with Coach Lickliter. He has talked for a while about guys needed to get stronger. What was his message when you first met with him?

BURNEY: When we sat down, I really enjoyed it. He doesn't like a lot of fluff. He wants guys that are strong and tough. That has been my experience. There have been a lot of advances in strength and conditioning and you have to stay on top of them, but at that same time it has become commercialized and people are trying to sell you something. We all go through phases where you want to try something new or different, but you also go back to the basics. What we need are people who move better and for people to be stronger and limit injuries. That is a big part of Coach Lickliter's philosophy. He loves the weight room because it gives them strength and it helps them as a basketball player. A lot of what he emphasizes comes from the mental standpoint as well. I feel better, I am stronger, and I have more confidence. That translates on the floor and he likes tough guys. We put them through some things to test them in that regard and make it tough on them and see how they respond. I really like working for a coach like that because it falls in line with what I believe.

Q: Back in the day there was a philosophy that basketball players shouldn't lift a lot of weights because it hurts your shot. How has that changed over the years and is there still some of that thought process out there among some people?

BURNEY: You still get some of that, but not nearly as much. I think that has really changed in the last ten years or so. If you watch and NBA game today and you realize just how insanely strong some of these guys are when you look at Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, or LeBron James. Those guys are not only well conditioned and have a crazy skill level, but they have exceptional core strength in the upper and lower bodies. You see that when they drive the lane and keep people off of them. Coaches see that and they want to see that from their own players and it trickles down to the high school level. It really is a physical game today and I don't think people realize how much pushing and shoving goes on in a game or be able to be strong with the basketball. What goes into it as well in knowing the right lifts to make. It isn't about being a body builder and being huge. It is about being strong in your core lifts, squats, bench presses, power cleans, and those type of things. Those are some of the core things that we try to emphasize.

Q: Have you experienced a bit more interest from the players in the weight room in the past few months? In talking to guys like Anthony Tucker and Aaron Fuller, they both said that they weren't big weight room guys and now they love being in there.

BRUNEY: Yeah, definitely. I have seen a big change in a lot of guys and Tucker is really one of them. Your goal isn't to make them big, but it is that confidence thing, the mental thing, that we start to see. Anthony is one of those kids. At first glance you might not notice it, but we all noticed that he looks at himself differently and just feels better about himself. He knows he isn't going to out lift Jarryd Cole, but he feels better about himself. I think he has a good perspective about it. He feels stronger and he sees that it will help his game and that maybe some things that were more difficult in the past will be easier.

Q: What is a typical routine for the guys in the off season, during the spring and summer in terms of the weight room and strength and conditioning?

BRUNEY: We had about six weeks in the post season right after spring break and we worked four times a week. They had seven guys at that point and they didn't have a lot of pickup games due to numbers, so we lifted four days a week on Monday/Tuesday and then Thursday/Friday. Three weeks before we could stop our organized activities, we did a little conditioning. We probably wouldn't normally do that in that time, but with the trip to Europe, we threw that in. We started with one time a week of true running conditioning and then we built it up to two times the next week and then three or four times the following week. Every day we also did something that I call "The Finisher", which is something that is designed to be tough. It might be a med ball circuit, a plate circuit, some type of metabolic circuit that places and emphasis on teamwork as well. They either had to count together or do something in a relay as a competition against each other. The idea is that it is not only hard, but that they had to team up together and bond to compete.

Q: You have some new guys on campus now. Do you get to work with them and do you baseline them when they arrive and build a plan for them?

BURNEY: Yeah, that is what we do. We have to get them through all the physical evaluations initially in accordance with the NCAA rules. We have to make sure that they are cleared to participate physically and get all the paperwork done and filed. We sort of touch the surface with them initially and work them out a couple of times. They are all here now for the summer voluntary workouts. What we basically do is give them an orientation, teach them the lift, and then get their baseline to see their strengths and weaknesses are. We test how they are moving, how they do the lifts, and what we can improve. We also talk to them about nutrition. I am not a dietitian, so I give them general information. We just try to improve their work habits and nutritional habits. We tell them that if you do the right things and live the training life, as Coach Lickliter likes to say, you have to get eight hours of sleep, drink half your body weight in ounces of water, and take care of yourself by having five or six healthy meals a day. Then you have the energy to do all the things that you need to do. We try to teach them what all of our other guys already know. We have really good leadership as well from guys like Jarryd, Matt, and Devin, who take the new guys under their wing. We stress to those guys that this is their team and that if you see guys not doing things the right way, then to take them aside and help them. I feel like it is good for team chemistry if these guys sort of take over some of the ownership as much as they can.

Q: Have you changed a lot of things from the way they were when you arrived and have you consulted with Coach Doyle since you have arrived on campus?

BURNEY: I haven't completely consulted with J.C., but I know what he does and it was good stuff. I do it with a little bit different style. I sort of came in and did what I know. I try to learn new things and then I try to incorporate those things into what we are doing. It's always good to change a few things to keep it fresh. With Coach Doyle, one of the first days that I was on campus I went to talk with him and get to know him a little bit. Honestly, I have been so busy with the trip and everything that I haven't gotten back there, but I want to get back over there and learn what I can from him. I think we have a fairly similar style based on the roots that I have and based on the people that I know who have consulted with him and put in their program. What I need to do now is get over and visit more with him and learn from him. I have a lot of respect for Coach Doyle and I know he doesn't do what the status quo is. He is usually a guy who is ahead of the curve. I'm sure that he can help us. One of his strengths is developing players who come and completely change them four or five years later. He will be a great resource for me on campus.

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