the 1% I was thinking of who aren't are Buddy Morris and his disciples.

I had the chance to meet and chat with Buddy at a convention of performance coaches several years back. This gathering was WAY off the beaten path. He and his guys from PITT were the only D-1 football S&C guys there. The speakers were some of the foremost experts on Easter Bloc training methodologies, most of whom gave their presentations in Russian via translators. The theme of the weekend was "Transfer of Training in Sport." Most coaches aren't even aware of what that concept is.

Morris' understanding of how to prepare football players so far exceeds that of conventionally-minded coaches, it's almost embarrassing.

About deload weeks. Despite using T-Nation as a reference, it's a pretty good summary.

The guy's pretty buff for an (ahem) older S&C coach:

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It's like they pass out a kit when old ripped dudes hit age 50.

"Here is your BIC razor to shave your head (if you're not naturally bald), your sleeveless flannel shirt, your construction boots, and your goatee trimmer. Have fun intimidating guys half your age!"

He's at the top of the list of dudes I wouldn't fuck with.

I'm curious if their success is more attributable to their program or if it's more a combo of great players with more time to train in a decent-good S&C program?

In other words, if we had Bama's players for four years, would the S&C results be the same or would they be lacking because our program appears structurally worse than their program?

I doubt it is much better than ours. Bama simply has the best athletes.

It's really settled in after the NC game that we are still behind the curve at this point. My expectation was that we would be closing in on Bama type performance by this coming season or next. I have adjusted that to a more realistic timeline. Perhaps in 3-4 years if recruiting and development continues on an upward trend.

when getting the Alabama players SWOLE!

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that facility is amazing.

The nutrition center really caught my eye. I remember how excited we were at ND when we got a couple refrigerators with crappy Gatorlode shakes in it.

Since you seem to follow ND's program actively, what kind of measurable improvement have you seen from since Kelly and Longo came to campus?

I've always felt that based on a look test, ND's guys always seem to fail compared to other good (let alone elite) teams. It's gotten a little bit better, but just curious your take? Are the lineman developing like they should? I always point to Sam Young (under Weis) who came in a huge FR and seemed to add little bulk and strength over his four years.

I have the distinct impression our guys are making much better progress under Longo than they did under Mendoza, but without seeing the day-to-day operations and tracking guys for several years, it's impossible to say whether it is due to Longo, recruiting, training table, or some other factor.

trimmer and faster than TW or CW's teams? Whistling past the graveyard it seems now, but obviously the coaches and players have made progress.

I read below how some lesser teams on ND's schedule should have been been dispatched with ease, yet during the season I read that those were the type games ND used to lose. The Irish had finally found a way to win the close one's instead of choking. That's a fact although a couple of those teams choked instead of the Irish.

My personal feeling is ND is definitely making progress but there are yardsticks other than USC, Stanford, and Michigan to measure by. Keep progressing as they are and I believe ND will be very close to the big boys in about three seasons.