By Kim Goss

AST YEAR MOST OF THE NATIONAL MEDIA ATTEN- “We're going to be a very competitive football team and a very competi- TION REGARDING THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERtive league,” says head coach Rocky Long, a former Lobos quarterback ENCE WAS FOCUSED ON ALEX SMITH AND HIS. who became head coach for his alma mater at the end of the 1997 season. “We've been in the top half of the league the past foury and we expect to stay up there.”

TION, ONE MOUNTAIN WEST TEAM WAS QUIETLY ENJOYING ITS FOURTH-STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON AND. PARTICIPATING IN ITS THIRD-STRAIGHT BOWL GAME.

THAT TEAM IS THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, AND WITH 17 RETURNING STARTERS — COMPARED TO 12 IN 2004 — THE LOBOS MAY JUST BE THE TEAM TO BEAT IN THE CONFERENCE THIS YEAR.

Although senior running back Don‘Trell Moore is ranked second nationally in career rushing with 3,675 yards, the Lobos are best known for their gang-tackling defense. Masterminded by Coach Long and defensive coordinator Osia Lewis, the only teams to finish UNM joins Oklahoma and Te: in the top 30 nationally for total defense in the past five seasons. Further, during those five years the Lobos led the conference in sacks. success at defense and improve their offense — they ranked 108th nationally in total offense — winput the “student” back in “student-athlete.” ning the conference remains open to debate. But one thing is certain: The Lobos fans certainly like Coach Long’s approach.

Attendance has Asked about his sales pitch to recruits, Long replied, “First of all, we 37,282 last season, and the number of season ticket from 12,299 in 1997 to 15,729 holders inc: that Coach Long is even more proud of. Since Long took ov demic all-MWC honors 67 times. Last yea 17 play: ers made the Academic/ Another great selling point is the Lobos strength and conditioning program.

Ina protession where coaches often change schools as ad football coaches, ing the former record of 1 some major college football programs, Coach Long's off-field commitment to character development with good reason.

“Whenever you have success, the administration does whatever it can to keep the right people around,” says Paulsen. “If you had constant turnover in the coaching staff, it would take you three years to figure out why this place was different, and by then you could be on your way down. Coach Long played here and brought in an offensive coordinator who had coached here, so the learning curve was already a little bit farther along.

But even with those advantages, our first couple of years adjustments just because we were getting to know each other.”

Asked what the major differences are between strength coaches now and when he began, Paulsen replied, “You have better-educated people now in the profession, but that is not to say they are better strength coaches. The old guys who started this profession were supreme motivators — the players had so much respect for them and would go through awall for them. The new generation of strength coaches needs to understand it’s not all about writing the perfect program.” To Paulsen, it's about sticking to the basics and hard work. “A perfect example is the European countries,” says Paulsen.

“How is it that we, with all our technology and Swiss balls, wind up getting creamed in the Olympic events by European countries? It seems that when our athletes break a sweat, we're right there handing them a rehydration drink! Athletes in Europe have that toughness that only comes from getting under a bar and working hard to the point where you feel like the blood’s gonna come blasting out of your nose! I can deal with just about anything, but I can’t tolerate + non-workers.”

Quickly and easily show your athletes how to properly perform the following lifts: Squat. Bench Press. Power Clean. Quick Lifts. Hex Bar Deadlift.

Coach Paulsen poses with five Lobos who cleaned 350 pounds ‘of more this year — talk about power!

In administering his program, Paulsen says he now relies more on delegating duties to his assistants and doesn’t spend countless For evidence of the success of the Lobos strength program you only in the gym. “I don’t put in the long hours that I used to put in early have to look at their power clean numbers: This year there were 40 on, and I don’t need to — | trust my staff and they know what they are athletes on the team who could power clean 300 pounds. Paulsen si doing. The key question to ask here is not how many hours you work, getting to that level has been a gradual progression, but he adds that but are you effective in the time that you are here?

If you're not getting having some athletes on the team who can do 400 pounds or close to it the job done, then of course you need to look at investing more time or re-evaluating what you're not doing right. In my situation, family is really important to me. I've got four kids who are active used to look.” sports, and I’m committed to doing things with them. What's even more amazing about their power clean numbers is that it’s How do his new recruits react to Paulsen’s put one day in our off-season program and they're in shock — they not just the linemen making the 300 standing, as running back DonTrell Moore power cleaned 340 last year. Paulsen don’t even open their mouths.

We're not working them till they freshman wide receiver do 350! Now he's a bruiser — I've never seen a receiver look like this. big on that kind of stuff — we just squat and clean and bench and incline and do all the old stuff and do it in such a way that 300 pounds, the new benchmark we've set is 45. they're shot at the end of the day! And I get zero kids questioning the program —none — but if they did, I wouldn’t take it well. Frankly, their Although he believes in power cleans, he does not allow his players to jobis to show up, shut up and lift!” perform cleans from the mid-thigh.

“We're not hang clean people — 1 don’t like hang cleans because you lose the hip action that you get strength program, and sure, we could have three athletes blow out a by going to the floor. If they are done like an Olympic lifter would do knee in two-a-days. them, there’s some benefit; but you don’t see that very often — it turns area, and I hope it continues.”

All 1 know is that we've been fortunate lately in this into what my assistant Joaquin Chavez calls a “hang swing.” He said despite their success, overconfidence is not an issue. “Consider Squat cleans and snatches are also an issue with Paulsen. “At some ing the fact that I don’t have a ring and I've been here 19 years, there'd point you've got to transition into getting your focus onto the football better not be any cockiness here. Last year we thought we could win the field, and the reason | bring that up is that when you do a squat clean conference.

The great thing is people are starting to respect the fact that it's too easy to get an elbow stuck on the quad — a lot of things can we have a solid program now. We have a tough preseason schedule in happen. I’m also not big on snatches. Do I like the move? Absolutely. that the last couple years we've started off 1-3, and we've had to rally Do I think snatches are incredibly explosive? Yes I do. But we're not ix or seven straight games to finish the season three years in a row. It’s four-deep in players here, and you have to look at the risk/benefit ratio. time to change that.

But I don’t think this team has lacked confidence You blow out a shoulder on a starting defensive end in New Mexico and for the last several years. They know they have earned the right to be in we're sucking air. If a coach wants to do every game they're in.” good at it and they get results, then I say, ‘Have at it,’ but personally, | have very little confidence that it’s right for my athletes.”

Paulsen knows a lot is riding on his athletes this year but he believes the strength program has brought the Lobos where they need to be Another key exercise in the Lobos’ program is squatting. “We try to to pull off a conference win in 2005. Says Paulsen of his profession, get people to squat as deep as they can, with appropriate poundage. I “Being a college strength coach is not all about knowing the latest mean if you shoot your hips up out of the hole — turning it into a good research. It’s not all about doing stuff on a balance ball with one leg up morning — that accomplishes nothing. We also like to front squat, but and all that. To me, that sort of coaching will get you fired.

What I tell we don’t do multiple variations of one-legged exercises because we just recruits is meant to appeal to what's going on inside their hea don’t have time for them.” window of opportunity comes and goes unbelievably quick, so dedicate yourself to something worthwhile and avoid all the traps out there.

In addition to having strong athletes, Paulsen says the Lobos have had There will never be another opportunity to do what you’re doing here a low injury rate over the past five years. “We're a very healthy team, knock on wood. I’m not saying that this necessarily correlates with the 10 Ib. pair #320390c *109 15 Ib. pair #320391¢ $129 25 Ib. pair #320392c °139 35 Ib. pair #320393c %159 45 Ib. pair #320394c $179 Full Set #320395c %699 5 Ib Training Plates Hard urethane plate with the same diameter as a 45-lb. plate, but weighs only 5 Ibs! A must for teaching the power clean and other quick lifts. From BFS, the inventor of — & light training plates.

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From BFS Magazine — July/August 2005. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).