Building Athletes with Brain, Brawn, and Character is job one at this Southern College

Building athletes with brains, brawn and character is job one at this Southern college For any studentathlete thinking about attending a college in Mississippi, one school that definitely should be on the list is Jackson State. The campus was founded in 1877 and is located in the city of Jackson, the geographical, political, industrial and cultural center of what has been nicknamed “The Hospitality State.” More to the point, the school has a tradition of producing outstanding athletes, many who have gone on to play professional sports.

ball programs such as Mississippi State and Mississippi, Jackson State has seen 20 of its Iplayers go on to play in the N 15 years, including Walter Payton SWAC A testament to the Tigers’ commitment to in 2003. ne year the school hired its first full-time head strength and conditioning coach, Ken gins. men’s basketball team earned four regular season titles and nine postseason tournament crowns.

The men’s tennis team has six con: ference titles, and the women’s team has one.

The men’s golf team has won 14 conference Little Rock (1990-95), Memphis (1988-90) and Delta State University (1988). A few of his success stories are Alfred Williams of the Denver Broncos and Olympic champions Michael Johnson and Picabo Street. The man has done it all!

BFS: What else did you learn from Al Miller? COGGINS: The main lessons I learned from Al are the importance of proper tech- In this exclusive interview, Coach Coggins shares his ideas for taking an already outstanding athletic program to the next level with a serious strength and conditioning exercises. program. nique and introducing variety in training. Al is able to add variety to his workouts by adding just the right “twists” to common BFS: What are your core lifts for athletes? COGGINS: I’m really into the Olympic lifts, as they are athletic movements that develop the explosiveness that is extremely important for athletes. success?

COGGINS: ()ld-fashioned hard work. We're teaching our athletes how to be successful through hard work and discipline. BFS: Jsthere anyone who strongly influenced your ideas on designing strength and conditioning programs?

BFS: Do you perform any special exercises, such as strongman events COGGINS:| believe many of those lifts are too hard on the lower back, and the risk of injury is just too high because of the skill level required. [ also don’t see where those types of movements are sport specific. You won't see my athletes doing those lifts. onhis ideas.

95 percent of my time teaching proper form on other lifts and exercises that are more sport specific. They also often have problems with flexibility because they seldom stretch. That's one reason I think the BFS program is the best for high school athletes. It has a balanced approach to all aspects of conditioning, not just lifting BFS: Speaking of BFS, what do you think of the magazine? COGGINS: BFS is a first-class publication for the strength and conditioning coach. I've very impressed and always look forward to reading it. I like what you teach about char acter and hard work, because that’s what our program is all about at Jackson State.

BFS: How supportive have the administration and sport coaches been of your athletic at Mississippi State University, my strength coach was Al Miller, who is now with the Atlanta Falcons. My workout program is based athletes 1 work with who concentrated on powerlifting in high school is | have to spend BFS: Do you believe high school athletes spend too much time on the power lifts at the expense of other aspects of conditioning? program? COGGINS: They've been great. A lot of what I’m doing is new to some of them because they'd never had a strength coach our players, to know what their family life is here before, and it’s been a challenge, but a like.

And what has come out of that is this welcome one, to share what I know with the people f work with. players alike. We're all working together as a of hard times recently. Have your athletes family — we believe in each other. been affected? team has grown to be so close, coaches and BFS: What did you say to your football playfootball team has increased tremendously. BFS: The South has had more than its share ers when you first started working at Jackson State?

BFS: Back when you played, was discipline to overcome. Many of our kids have families less of a problem than it is today? who lived in the areas hit by Katrina, and COGGINS: No question. The peer pressure now is much more intense. When I played, we've had some deaths in our football family “Here's how it’s going to be. We want to win and to do that we've got to work hard,” and they were receptive to that. The fellows who ever had to tell me to go to class. Nobody had didn’t want to work are no longer with us to tell me to be on time. | knew that was just Do the long hours ever get to you? the way you do things.

Nowadays there are so many things distracting these kids, and there are too many kids who want it easy — they don’t get home until nine in the evening, but don’t want to work for it, What we're trying to teach goes beyond winning games. It’s ‘about [don’t get burnt out because the reason I'm.

BFS: Are there any special qualities you look for in new recruits? COGGINS: We want to recruit young athletes who have high character and who want nobody ever had to tell me to work. Nobody to excel not just on the field but also in the teaching them how to work hard. We're preclassroom.

BFS: How do you develop character, espe- BFS: Have you made a difference in the kids BFS: You don’t work a typical 40-hour week. when | come in at six in the morning and here is to try to make a difference in these young lives. BFS: Any advice you would give other strength coaches? cially with older athletes who are set in their academically? ways?

COGGINS: Definitely — if you don’t pass, you don’t play. You've got to make it aca- COGGINS: Same thing | tell my athletes: You need to have heart if you're going to be successful, you need to be a good person, and aside time with our players and our coaches demically here first. That being said, since there are no shortcuts. B>” to help build relationships. We get to know I've been here the grade point average of our Knock a tenth or more off your 40!

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