8 — Friday, January 5, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan hires new strength coach
After a regular-season ending
loss to Ohio State, Jim Harbaugh
said his team needed to get
stronger.
At the time, it wasn’t clear
if he meant that literally. But
it’s clear now that Harbaugh
believed in making a change,
as the Michigan football team
announced Thursday afternoon
it has hired Ben Herbert as
the team’s new strength and
conditioning coach.
Herbert
held
the
same
position
at
Arkansas
under
former coach Bret Bielema for
the past five seasons. Bielema,
Herbert and the rest of the staff
were let go earlier this offseason.
The Wolverines previously
employed
Kevin
Tolbert
at
the position. Tolbert worked
under Harbaugh in stints at
Stanford and with the NFL’s
San Francisco 49ers, and was
with
Michigan
throughout
its preparation for the Jan. 1
Outback Bowl.
Herbert will come without
significant ties to Harbaugh, but
he does have shared history with
the Big Ten.
Herbert
was
a
defensive
lineman at Wisconsin, where
he was a four-year letterman.
He then spent 11 seasons with
the Badgers on the strength and
conditioning staff, eventually
earning the position of head
strength coach under Bielema.
In the winter of 2012, Bielema
left
for
Arkansas,
bringing
Herbert with him to Fayetteville.
He explained his philosophy in a
video produced by the school’s
athletic
department
in
the
summer of 2013.
“My
overall
philosophy
encompasses a lot of different
things,” Herbert said. “I think
everything
starts
from
a
development standpoint, with
how well you take care of your
body, the types of foods that
you eat, your meal frequency,
the types of fluids that you put
in your body — we place a huge
emphasis on water.”
Herbert also touched upon
which areas he places emphasis
on in the weight room.
“From
a
weight
room
development
standpoint,
the
most important thing right out
of the gate for our young guys
when they come in is developing
their lower body and developing
their back,” Herbert said. “A
lot of guys spend a lot of time
(bench) pressing in high school.
They don’t spend a lot of time
pulling and they don’t spend a
lot of time training their lower
body. That’s where we see our
biggest gains.
“Teach guys how to eat well,
teach them how to hydrate
properly, teach them how to train
the right way, focusing on lower
body and back development,
and we set them up for a great
result.”
One
of
Herbert’s
biggest
success stories at Arkansas,
former tight end Hunter Henry,
tweeted out support of the
hiring on Dec. 30.
“One of the best hires in the
country!”
Henry,
a
second-
round NFL Draft pick, wrote.
“This guy is legit. Might have
to make a trip up to Ann Arbor
now.”
According
to
Michigan’s
press
release,
Herbert
is
a
certified
member
of
the
National Strength Conditioning
Association and the Collegiate
Strength
and
Conditioning
Coaches Association. He was
named Master Strength and
Conditioning Coach in 2015,
“the profession’s highest honor,”
and was the youngest coach to
win the award.
It appears Jim Harbaugh has
made a significant addition to his
coaching staff.
According to reports from Sam
Webb of 247Sports and Brandon
Justice
of
The
Wolverine
Lounge, Michigan has hired
Cincinnati defensive line coach
Al Washington.
Webb tweeted earlier this
afternoon
Washington
will
likely serve as a linebackers
coach, working with the SAMs
and VIPERs, and has already
informed Cincinnati signees of
his departure.
While
relatively
young
—
he was a three-year starter at
defensive
tackle
for
Boston
College
from
2002-2005
—
Washington has a wealth of
coaching experience and also has
ties with defensive coordinator
Don Brown, whom he previously
worked under on the Eagles’
coaching staff.
After Washington’s playing
career,
he
broke
into
the
coaching ranks right away, with
stops at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, North Carolina State
(as a graduate assistant), Slippery
Rock and Elon.
Following 2011, which he spent
as a linebackers coach at Elon,
Washington returned to his alma
mater,
where
he was a jack-
of-all-trades for
Boston College.
In 2012, he was
the special teams
coach. Between
2013-2015,
he
was the running
backs
coach,
overlapping with
the
tenure
of
Brown, who was
the defensive coordinator and
linebackers coach at the time.
In 2016, he served as the
defensive line coach and special
teams coordinator.
This past season, Washington
was the Bearcats’ defensive line
coach under former Ohio State
interim coach Luke Fickell.
Washington has a pedigree as
a talented recruiter. At Boston
College, he signed Jon Hilliman,
a highly-touted running back
from New Jersey, and Harold
Landry, a defensive end currently
projected as a first-round NFL
Draft selection. In 2016, Landry
led the nation with 16.5 sacks and
earned All-American honors.
In his one year with Cincinnati,
Washington signed two players —
including three-
star
defensive
end Malik Vann,
the
Bearcats’
second-highest
rated recruit in
their 2018 class.
It’s
entirely
possible
—
perhaps
even
likely — this will
not be the only
hire
Harbaugh
and
Michigan
make
this
offseason. According to a report
from Bruce Feldman of Sports
Illustrated, offensive tackles and
tight ends coach Greg Frey is set to
leave the Wolverines for Florida
State, his alma mater, while
the Wolverines have also been
linked with former Arkansas
offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
And thanks to a measure that
the NCAA approved last spring,
programs will soon be able to
hire a 10th on-field assistant
coach. The new rule will take
effect Jan. 9.
Reports: Washington to join staff
Michigan to face dominant No. 2 Notre Dame in home-and-home series
Tuesday
afternoon,
the
Michigan hockey team captured
a come-from-behind, 6-4 victory
against Michigan State to claim
third
place
for
the
second
straight year in the Great Lakes
Invitational.
Three
days
later,
the
Wolverines (3-5-2-1 Big Ten,
8-8-2 overall) will need to
carry this momentum on short
rest as they face their toughest
opponent yet: No. 2 Notre Dame.
In its first conference matchup
of 2018, Michigan will square off
against the powerhouse Fighting
Irish (10-0-0-0, 16-3-1) in the
first of two home-and-home
series this season — this Friday
in Ann Arbor and Sunday in
South Bend.
With Notre Dame joining the
Big Ten this season, the two
programs renew their annual
rivalry. It officially started in 1921
and spanned from 1971-1981 and
1992-2012, when the Fighting
Irish were part of the WCHA
and CCHA, respectively — two
conferences in which many Big
Ten teams also competed.
With
a
quick
turnaround
following the GLI, the Wolverines
have had limited practice time,
taking a mandatory day off
Wednesday and participating in
a short skate Thursday.
“It’s a weird week,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson
Tuesday. “You’d like to have a
normal week to practice and
prepare, especially for a team
like Notre Dame, but maybe
that’s okay. Maybe it’s okay we
played a couple of games and we
had to battle.”
Notre Dame, on the other
hand, is well-rested, idle since
dominating Wisconsin, 6-2, on
Dec. 9.
Unstoppable
of
late,
the
Fighting Irish have won 13
straight
games,
the
longest
active winning streak in the
country
and
school
history
while competing in a NCAA
Division I conference. They are
the first Big Ten team to win its
first 10 conference games in a
season.
Notre
Dame
is
also
the
nation’s only team without a road
loss, and its 8-0-0 record is tied
for the most wins in the NCAA
on unfamiliar ice.
During
the
current
win
streak, sophomore goaltender
Cale Morris started each game,
posting a .960 save percentage,
1.38 goals-against average and
four shutouts.
Sophomore
forward
Cal
Burke leads a balanced offensive
attack with a team-high 12 goals,
including seven over the last
five games. Senior forward Jake
Evans boasts 28 points — seven
goals and 21 assists — through 20
games.
The Wolverines have a hot
hand of their own in forward
Cooper
Marody.
The
junior
is
coming
off
a
five-point
performance at the Great Lakes
Invitational,
including
his
second career hat-trick against
Michigan State, earning him Big
Ten First Star of the Week.
However,
Michigan
will
continue to play without three
of its best players. Sophomore
forward
Will
Lockwood,
freshman forward Josh Norris
and
freshman
defenseman
Quinn Hughes were selected
to the United States National
Team for the World Junior
Championships in Buffalo, N.Y.,
taking them off the Wolverines’
roster from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
Despite the wear and tear
from
the
hard-fought
GLI
games, lack of preparation time
and shortage of star playmakers,
Pearson is still confident his
team will be ready for the Big
Ten’s best.
“They haven’t played in a
while, so we have to be ready
to go and I think we will be,”
Pearson said. “We have to get
after them. I’m really looking
forward to it, the opportunity for
our team to play Notre Dame at
Yost Ice Arena.
“It elevated the whole Big Ten
by adding Notre Dame. They’ve
been really good, and good
for them, but we’ll show up on
Friday.”
ORION SANG
Managing Sports Editor
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after the Ohio State game that he felt his team needed to get stronger.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has worked with newly-hired assistant coach Al Washington before.
ORION SANG
Managing Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior forward Cooper Marody will have to continue producing offensively if Michigan wants to upset Notre Dame.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
Washington
has a pedigree
as a talented
recruiter.