Creating a stronger basketball bond
The results of the 2017-18 Iowa basketball season didn’t sit well with anyone involved in the program.
Fran McCaffery wasn’t happy with his first losing season since his initial year in Iowa City.
The Iowa players weren’t happy about missing out on post season play for only the second time in McCaffery’s tenure.
It also didn’t sit well with strength and conditioning coach Bill Maxwell and he knew if the program was going to get back on track, the work needed to start in the weight room after the season.
Maxwell has been the strength and conditioning coach for the Hawkeye basketball program since 1997. He’s worked under three coaches during his tenure, starting with Steve Alford and currently under McCaffery. Each coach has a different view of strength and conditioning and as a result, Maxwell has had to adapt to their style of play and also earn their trust.
“When I first started working with Fran, he wanted intense work. He really allowed me the freedom to do what I wanted. He did have some reservations initially because basketball players generally have long arms and legs,” Maxwell said.
Since Maxwell and McCaffery had never worked together prior to Iowa, the trust between head coach and strength coach had to be developed and during Jarrod Uthoff’s redshirt year, that’s exactly what happened.
“I gained that trust and around that time Jarrod Uthoff transferred in and he was sitting out a year and he said I could do whatever I wanted with him,” he said. “We worked on squats and Olympic lifts and he saw that it worked well, so we moved that to the rest of the team.”
It’s fair to say that McCaffery was more old school when it comes to weightlifting and basketball.
There was a time not long ago when the general view was basketball and bulking up by lifting weights was frowned upon by many in the game. The feeling was lifting weights, especially upper body weight training, could tighten up muscles and impact shooting.
That’s the era that McCaffery grew up in, so it makes sense that he would lean in that direction. However, he’s become more open to it during his time at Iowa because he has seen the results.
“He’s always told me that you are the guy who is the expert in this area and you are working with the players there, so I’m not going to step in and say anything, unless there’s something that he feels is detrimental to the player or the team.”
The Iowa basketball team has avoided those conditioning type injuries, trust have been built over the years and once this past season ended, McCaffery and Maxwell sat down to lay out a plan for the out of season training for the team.
The out of season plan is different than in-season training for the Hawkeyes. During the season, the Iowa players usually lift a couple of times a week for about 30 minutes. When they are not in-season, the lifting sessions generally last between 60-75 minutes with the focus on speed and power development and at the end, overall conditioning.
McCaffery and Maxwell agreed that getting the Hawkeyes back on track had to start once the team started out of season workouts two weeks after the season concluded.
“I think we lost some of our intensity with our workouts last season,” Maxwell said. “Not that guy’s got weaker or anything like that. It was more that guys were coming in at different times on more of an individual basis and as a result the intensity of their workouts weren’t there.”
Typically in the out of season, the Hawkeyes have team workouts four times a week. Two days are high intensity days filled with lifting, sprinting, and explosive moment exercises. Then the other two days are not as high intensity, working on general circuit work and using a medicine ball for exercises.
“Fran really felt that we needed to gain confidence as a group. So when you look at it from a strength and conditioning perspective, if you are stronger, you are generally more confident. If you are more confident, then I think the results are usually better.”
Maxwell said he’s tried to increase his own intensity during the training sessions as well and he’s seen the players do the same.
“We are trying to create a few more adverse situations in training, so we can push them a bit more. We have to be careful not to cause injuries, but we also have to push them in our training to create a stronger bond.”
Maxwell is quick to point out that fans might not see a drastic difference in the team physically and if they do, it is probably due to heavier training that happens this time of the year.
One other thing that Maxwell has had to navigate this spring is the fact that two Iowa players declared for the NBA Draft, which means they might be looking for something different if they are preparing for the NBA workouts.
While Moss hasn’t generated much NBA buzz at this point, Cook has six workouts with perhaps more yet to be scheduled. Once Cook announced his intentions, he and Maxwell sat down to lay out a plan.
“I sat down with him and talked to him about his goals and what he was looking to do physically. I kind of modified his workouts based on his schedule coming up and it’s been pretty good. He has handled it very professionally and we worked together during the whole process.”
The Iowa players are current in finals week preparation’s, so the spring workouts have come to an end. They will have a couple of weeks off, but they are still supposed to get in their workouts as much as possible.
From there, they resume on campus workouts, four days a week, once the team arrives back on campus in early June when they will integrate incoming freshmen Joe Wieskamp and C.J. Fredrick into what they do.
We won’t know the results from this different strength and conditioning approach until the season gets underway, but it appears that the Iowa basketball team is taking steps together to get back on track.