From College Football Star to Division I Strength Coach, Adam Edwards has never lost sight of his BFS roots
52 STILL GOING STRONG:
Adam became a starting center for the Air Force Academy, and played in the 1995 Copper Bowl.
Most athlete profiles that appear in BFS magazine are snapshots of a few years of an athlete’s life: an outstanding football season in which an athlete rushed for 2,000 yards and led his team to the state championship...the captain of a volleyball team who inspired her teammates to take their success to the next level…or perhaps a baseball or basketball player who overcame physical limitations to stand above all others. With Adam Edwards, however, we From college football star to Division I strength coach, Adam Edwards has never lost sight of his BFS roots didn’t want to do just a snapshot of his athletic career – we wanted a photo album.
Adam Edwards is special to BFS, as we have followed his career for nearly 20 years. Our president, Bob Rowbotham, was introduced to Adam in 1988 when he gave a clinic at Southern Nash Senior High School, where Adam’s father, Lawrence, was a teacher and former head football coach. Adam was in the eighth grade at the time but would be attending Southern Nash for high school. Lawrence wanted Adam and his brother, Aaron, to get a head start on their conditioning program by attending the clinic. During that clinic, Rowbotham stayed with the Edwards family, and he found that Lawrence had set up a BFS gym in their garage, along with plyometric boxes so they could do box jumping in the backyard.
‘The Edwardses were an incredible family, and Adam was willing to commit totally to making himself great.” And that he MAY/JUNE 2007 did. Adam began his freshman year at Southern Nash as a 5-foot-9, 160pound freshman but worked hard in the weightroom and became a 6-foot-1, 220-pound senior who could bench 365, power clean 300 and jump like a kangaroo. Playing center, Adam helped his Firebirds rush for a single-season record of 4,700 yards and contributed to the track team’s success with a personal best in the shot at 52.10. Academically, Adam finished fourth in his class of 281 students and earned himself an appointment to the US Air Force Academy, where I was a strength coach at the time.
“The foundation that the BFS program gave me was certainly was an edge coming into the environment here,” says Adam. By his senior year Adam became the starting center for the Falcons, despite being one of the smallest Division I centers at only 234 pounds bodyweight – a tribute to the speed and quickness he developed through the balanced training program promoted at the Academy. His strength improved considerably, with maxes that included a 390 bench and a 325 clean. One of Adam’s fondest memories in college was playing in the 1995 Copper Bowl against Texas Tech. “My role was blocking Zach Thomas, who At a BFS clinic in 1992, BFS President Bob Rowbotham with Aaron (left) and Adam Edwards.
Adam’s new family, wife Sarah and daughter Lillian. was an inside linebacker for Texas Tech – this was quite an opportunity, as he went on to be so successful with the Miami Dolphins.” After graduation in 1996, Adam stayed on one more year at the Academy as the offensive line coach for the junior varsity team. While coaching he developed an interest in furthering his knowledge in strength and conditioning, eventually earning a master’s degree in exercise science. For the next three years Adam served as a communications officer at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. “I was in charge of a deployable communications unit, providing support for the B-52s.”
In 2000 he was selected to serve as an instructor at the Air Force Communications Officer Training School at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.
You Can Come Home Again In August of 2002 Adam, now a captain, returned to the Air Force Academy to serve as a strength coach. Among the sports he worked with were boxing, cheerleading, diving, golf, lacrosse, men’s basketball and women’s swimming – eventually he even found himself teaching unarmed combat as a physical education instructor. And to prove that he still practices what he preaches, last year he entered a weightlifting competition and exceeded his college maxes with a 264-pound snatch and a 336-pound clean and jerk!
When Adam learned that a civilian strength coaching position was going to be available in 2005 due to the expansion of the weight training facilities, he separated from the Air Force in July of that year. In that position, Adam’s responsibilities with men’s basketball FEATURE STORY increased in that he now travels with the team and handles the pre-game warm-up. And although men’s football gets far more national press coverage, the Air Force men’s basketball team is becoming a favorite with the press. And with good reason. Prior to 2005, the Falcons men’s basketball team had developed a reputation as the “cellar dwellers” of their conference, racking up 25 straight losing seasons.
But in a remarkable turnaround, in 2004 under new head coach Chris Mooney they finished 22-7 (12-2 in the Mountain West Conference) and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament, a feat the Falcons had not been able to accomplish in 42 years! That success continued in 2005 with an 18-12 record (9-5 MWC) and in 2006 under Coach Jeff Bzdelik 24-7 (12-4 MWC) and another AFA photos courtesy AFA Athletic Media Relations Office Now a strength coach at the Air Force Academy, Adam stresses a balanced program that includes Olympic lifting movements, medicine ball throws, and auxiliary exercises with dumbbells. to strength and condiberth in the NCAA tioning. “I see some Tournament.
Jacob Burtschi incoming basketAdam believes ball players who that one reahave been really son for their focused on the success was strength but introducing are not able to the Princeton move really offense and well. Sure, recruiting athit’s great to letes specifibe strong, cally to play but if you that offense. can’t move Explains from point A to Adam, “Coach point B, you’re Jeff Bzdelik not going to be demands the able to use that same level of energy strength.” on both ends of the Adam spends a court.” He adds that considerable amount of time on defensive, in which talking to young people about the Falcons have led the MWC the benefits of the Air Force Academy.
in scoring defense for the past three Here’s his sales pitch: “Having a degree years, “Coach Bzdelik stresses having from the US Air Force Academy caractive hands and feet, moving into ries a lot of weight in the job market, good positions, and having a lot of obviously. But being an alumnus of the communication.” Academy, I like to talk about the bond From a conditioning standpoint, in the association of graduates – the fact Adam says one focus of the team is to that you have a shared background with maintain their strength throughout other graduates. Pretty much everythe season.
He also says that because where you go you’re going to run into they have a larger staff than in the past, an Academy graduate, and that bond there’s a lot more hands-on coaching extends to the other military academies in the weightroom. “Instead of sayas well, as they recognize what went ing, ‘Here’s your program – go ahead into obtaining that degree. And as for and do it,’ we now use the approach of the character that you’ll build while ‘Here’s your program and I’m going to you’re at the Academy, you can’t really take you step-by-step through it.’ That approach develops a lot more adherence put a price on that.” Adam Edwards exemplifies to the workout.
As for special basketball everything that BFS stands for – as an exercises, Adam says he will prescribe athlete, and as a person also. We hope some work with dumbbells and chains, his story will inspire others to follow his but adds, “You don’t see my basketball lead. team flipping tires – we’re relatively conventional here with our training.” Adam’s primary responsibility is handling the conditioning program of the Regarding advice he would give to Air Force Academy Men’s Basketball high school coaches, Adam says that Team, which has become one of the athletes must take a balanced approach Cinderella stories in Division I sports.
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From BFS Magazine — May/June 2007. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
