Let's go ahead and get this out the way first, I wasn't impressed with the hiring of Joe Tereshinski as Georgia's new strength coach. From the outset it seemed like a lazy hire and it was tough to understand how a man who was already in the strength program was going to make things better.
Well, that was then.
After reading the interview given by Tereshinski on yesterday, it's safe to say that he may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
You can read entire article here, but here are a few of the highlights of what Joe T. had to say.
On Georgia's troubles "in the trenches" last season:
"...The film doesn’t lie, I’m the video coordinator, I see every play. Yeah, we were not winning the line of scrimmage. And our goal now is we’re going to see how far we can develop these kids from their hips to their glutes to their quadriceps."
Can we say hallelujah?!? Wow, he said a mouthful right there and you have to admit that he has a solid point about being able to "see" the problems the team was having during the season. The only question worth asking beyond that is whether or not former strength coach, Dave Van Halanger, saw those problems as well. And, if he did, why on earth didn't he do anything to solve them.
His strength and conditioning philosophy:
"We are not Olympic training anymore, we are training for football."
In other words, all those glowing records that touted the amount of weight and reps the players pushed out...nix em'. Tereshinski isn't focused on those numbers because the only thing that matters is being ready to get on the field and play football. I love it. Give me more of that!
On his role as Georgia's new strength coordinator:
"It is a very critical year for the program, for the University of Georgia, OK? It is very critical for our coaching staff. We all wanna stay here, we love this, we want to do our job, we want to win, and we want to do right by our kids."
He further goes on to say, "When December comes, I want to be able to sit in my chair and say I did everything I could in my power, in my mind and my heart and my soul, to make the Georgia football program better than I found it, when it comes to the strength and conditioning area."
Listen, he's not playing around at this job. He wanted it and he's got it. I don't know if the talk will measure up to what any of us see on the field next season, but all signs point to a marked improvement over the attitude we saw last season and that's a very good thing.
"We are training for football". Man, if you're a Georgia fan, that's got to be nice to hear.
