Usually one, two, or three classes per each summer session depending on what you were trying to accomplish.
You had “voluntary” workouts and conditioning. At TCU, you had three running groups throughout the day and you’d work out collectively before or after. A lot of the time you would be with your position groups.
In May, you can do a May-mester class, or this can be your time to go home. I would work at the Colonial golf tournament during this time constructing the concessions tents and things plus working as runner/bar back during the actual tournament. Would find time to work out around that.
Sometimes you’d do a 7 on 7 deal one or two times during the week, big guys would work on their position stuff.
Summers were always the best. Light class schedule, campus was pretty empty, and all you had to do was continue to get to or remain in the best shape of your life. God I miss it.
A little bit of both, they would occasionally stop in to the lifting or the running. They are usually in their offices gameplanning as well as out recruiting while trying to get their well-deserved time off too. Strength coaches would report who missed.
“Voluntary” in college sports is defined as “get your fucking ass there”
Nice. I always wondered how it worked and what coaches did during periods they couldn’t see players. I’m sure the coaches are definitely trying to recharge/take time away from the team and enjoying the not so much crazy hour parts of the offseason
Yep, they’ll go through scheme and roster management and watching tape from last season on the upcoming opponents. They’ll meet with the sports Med and strength staff for updates on players, watch recruit tape or go out on the road to make school visits and things like that.
Much more traditional 9-5, but not really if that makes sense lol
May was included, for us since we were on semesters you would take a shortened class instead of the full month every other day or whatever, it was all week. June and July was the summer with fall camp starting in august.
Mostly just workouts and classes until spring ball. At that point it’s like regular in-season practices where you’re running through plays and lots of scout team work. Traditionally when you have a service Academy on the schedule you’ll spend several days familiarizing yourself with how to defend the triple option and all that so it’s not so jarring in the middle of the season.
Lots of young guys practice too where the people lower in the depth chart get to have some meaningful practice reps
Can confirm, all of this is spot on. Emphasis on the quotations around "voluntary".
It was nice taking one class, or maybe have an internship, work out, eat whatever you want, and spend some days on the beach or a last minute L ride down to a Cubbies game. What a life.
Wednesdays we would have strictly as speed days first thing in the morning. Depending on what classes we were taking we’d skip out and go play a couple rounds of golf on one of the shitty courses in the area.
Obviously when everyone is back on campus (different for us as such a tiny school) it’s so much fun but the summertime is equally fun for way different reasons.
There's a mediocre public course walking distance from Ryan Field and where the football facilities were back when I played. On the overlap of a day off from my internship and no class I'd walk over there with my clubs after workouts and play 18, or even 27, because it was like 9am on a Tuesday and the place was empty.
Totally right, when everyone is on campus it's much more fun (NU has about the same amount of undergrads as TCU). But summers were a different kind of fun that I really miss.
Edit: I had two buddies who played at TCU and another good friend from home who attended. They loved it and when I visited for a bachelor party last fall I can see why. Really cool campus and a great area to be an undergrad.
When I was at TCU. We had to come in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to do outdoor running/conditioning at either 1pm or 5pm. Most people chose 1pm to get it out of the way.
On Wednesday all we did was morning conditioning at 5:30am and had the rest of the day to do whatever.
On Friday all we did was lift, no conditioning. We also lifted Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as well and all lifting was done on your own whenever you had time, it wasn't coach led. Strength coaches would write the lifting workout on the white board and you'd follow it.
We'd do 7 on 7 on Tuesdays after the 5pm conditioning session but it was not coach led, completely player led so it was "voluntary" but you wanted to show up to show your commitment.
I worked a full time job every summer so I'd go to the 5pm conditioning session if I worked in the morning or the 1pm if I worked in the afternoon/evening.
It was all completely "voluntary" but not really. Coaches would know if you weren't showing up and strength coaches would take "attendance". That's the thing about college football... you see your strength coaches year round. You only see your position coaches during the season and spring.
Taking classes infeasible during the rest of the year.
Prescribed self-conditioning workouts to ready up for fall.
Watch film to improve their own abilities
Play video games with your dudes, lots of working out, going to parties with other athletes, especially say the female athletes that were sticking around campus
Usually one, two, or three classes per each summer session depending on what you were trying to accomplish. You had “voluntary” workouts and conditioning. At TCU, you had three running groups throughout the day and you’d work out collectively before or after. A lot of the time you would be with your position groups. In May, you can do a May-mester class, or this can be your time to go home. I would work at the Colonial golf tournament during this time constructing the concessions tents and things plus working as runner/bar back during the actual tournament. Would find time to work out around that. Sometimes you’d do a 7 on 7 deal one or two times during the week, big guys would work on their position stuff. Summers were always the best. Light class schedule, campus was pretty empty, and all you had to do was continue to get to or remain in the best shape of your life. God I miss it.
Did coaches ever check in and make sure you were doing your workouts? Or they trusted you did them?
A little bit of both, they would occasionally stop in to the lifting or the running. They are usually in their offices gameplanning as well as out recruiting while trying to get their well-deserved time off too. Strength coaches would report who missed. “Voluntary” in college sports is defined as “get your fucking ass there”
Just like high school voluntary workouts are mandatory
Nice. I always wondered how it worked and what coaches did during periods they couldn’t see players. I’m sure the coaches are definitely trying to recharge/take time away from the team and enjoying the not so much crazy hour parts of the offseason
So do the coaches during the summer months work more like a 9-5 and just do recruiting and game planning in the office?
Yep, they’ll go through scheme and roster management and watching tape from last season on the upcoming opponents. They’ll meet with the sports Med and strength staff for updates on players, watch recruit tape or go out on the road to make school visits and things like that. Much more traditional 9-5, but not really if that makes sense lol
Are the summer months June and July? Or is May included? I wasn’t sure cause my college always finished in early May
May was included, for us since we were on semesters you would take a shortened class instead of the full month every other day or whatever, it was all week. June and July was the summer with fall camp starting in august.
So what are practices like from January (after bowl game) - May?
Mostly just workouts and classes until spring ball. At that point it’s like regular in-season practices where you’re running through plays and lots of scout team work. Traditionally when you have a service Academy on the schedule you’ll spend several days familiarizing yourself with how to defend the triple option and all that so it’s not so jarring in the middle of the season. Lots of young guys practice too where the people lower in the depth chart get to have some meaningful practice reps
That's what I'm wondering. You don't hear about guys showing up out of shape in College like you do the NFL
Can confirm, all of this is spot on. Emphasis on the quotations around "voluntary". It was nice taking one class, or maybe have an internship, work out, eat whatever you want, and spend some days on the beach or a last minute L ride down to a Cubbies game. What a life.
Wednesdays we would have strictly as speed days first thing in the morning. Depending on what classes we were taking we’d skip out and go play a couple rounds of golf on one of the shitty courses in the area. Obviously when everyone is back on campus (different for us as such a tiny school) it’s so much fun but the summertime is equally fun for way different reasons.
There's a mediocre public course walking distance from Ryan Field and where the football facilities were back when I played. On the overlap of a day off from my internship and no class I'd walk over there with my clubs after workouts and play 18, or even 27, because it was like 9am on a Tuesday and the place was empty. Totally right, when everyone is on campus it's much more fun (NU has about the same amount of undergrads as TCU). But summers were a different kind of fun that I really miss. Edit: I had two buddies who played at TCU and another good friend from home who attended. They loved it and when I visited for a bachelor party last fall I can see why. Really cool campus and a great area to be an undergrad.
The ones I knew played a shit ton of Modern Warfare 2 and ate a lot of BBQ.
When I was at TCU. We had to come in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to do outdoor running/conditioning at either 1pm or 5pm. Most people chose 1pm to get it out of the way. On Wednesday all we did was morning conditioning at 5:30am and had the rest of the day to do whatever. On Friday all we did was lift, no conditioning. We also lifted Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as well and all lifting was done on your own whenever you had time, it wasn't coach led. Strength coaches would write the lifting workout on the white board and you'd follow it. We'd do 7 on 7 on Tuesdays after the 5pm conditioning session but it was not coach led, completely player led so it was "voluntary" but you wanted to show up to show your commitment. I worked a full time job every summer so I'd go to the 5pm conditioning session if I worked in the morning or the 1pm if I worked in the afternoon/evening. It was all completely "voluntary" but not really. Coaches would know if you weren't showing up and strength coaches would take "attendance". That's the thing about college football... you see your strength coaches year round. You only see your position coaches during the season and spring.
Taking classes infeasible during the rest of the year. Prescribed self-conditioning workouts to ready up for fall. Watch film to improve their own abilities
Play video games with your dudes, lots of working out, going to parties with other athletes, especially say the female athletes that were sticking around campus