Patriots fire strength and conditioning coach Harold Nash

[soxhop411]

Adam SchefterVerified account ‏@AdamSchefter 2m2 minutes ago
Patriots will change strength and conditioning staff in 2016, as Harold Nash won’t be back with team, per @MikeReiss and @FieldYates.

 

[nattysez]

1. I wonder how much Alex Guerrero will impact this hiring, both in terms of being asked for his thoughts (less likely) and the candidates having to be open to his input and/or balancing their treatments with whatever Guerrero privately recommends to guys (very likely).
2. Odd to see the Pats firing people in a reactive way, seemingly based directly on the team's failings during the season. I don't remember this happening previously.

 

[soxhop411]

Phil Perry ‏@PhilAPerry 4m4 minutes ago
Many would recognize Harold Nash as the one who used resistance bands (aka the "leash") while working w/Tom Brady.

 

[Hagios]

Interesting. I've always felt like the strength and conditioning coaching is very underrated, based on (A) how often you hear about it, and (B) how much conflicting BS you get when you start researching strength training and aerobic fitness.

Trying to find out Nash's philosophy I came across this:

According to ESPN, Woicik is in talks to return to Dallas. It’€™s believed Woicik would be replaced by Harold Nash, who has served as Woicik’€™s assistant since 2005. Nash also runs the team’€™s player-development program, which was named as the best in the NFL this past year. While Nash’€™s credentials are impressive, Woicik’€™s departure is another sign that the glory days of the early 20th century are truly a thing of the past ‘€” only Tom Brady, Matt Light, Kevin Faulk and Stephen Neal still remain as players from Super Bowl XXXVI, while Belichick, Dante Scarnecchia and Pepper Johnson are the only members of the coaching staff left.

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports/newengland/football/patriots/tag/kevin-faulk/page/12/

 

[moondog80]

2. Odd to see the Pats firing people in a reactive way, seemingly based directly on the team's failings during the season. I don't remember this happening previously.

Do we know for sure that it's reactive? I have a hard time believing that making a change never occurred to them until 6:45 on Sunday. I get how it looks, but BB started planning for 2016 in the plane ride home from Denver, so it's not like they'd wait until April to do this.

 

[Hagios]

Do we know for sure that it's reactive? I have a hard time believing that making a change never occurred to them until 6:45 on Sunday. I get how it looks, but BB started planning for 2016 in the plane ride home from Denver, so it's not like they'd wait until April to do this.

Well, here is a comment on a thread from 2011 when Nash was hired:

The buzz on 98.5 by Zo says that possibly because of all the injuries and players on IR that maybe the Pats may move onto Harold Nash.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/02/09/patriots-secondary-coach-leaving-strength-coach-may-follow/

 

[Shelterdog]

Do we know for sure that it's reactive? I have a hard time believing that making a change never occurred to them until 6:45 on Sunday. I get how it looks, but BB started planning for 2016 in the plane ride home from Denver, so it's not like they'd wait until April to do this.

I'd be shocked if BB didn't have feelers out about replacement candidates for weeks or months. Even if Googe or Nash are imperfect getting a high quality NFL line or S&C coach is pretty hard and you don't want to be stuck with somebody even worse.

 

[Erik Hanson's Hook]

Not terribly surprised, considering all the injuries this year. I know some (many?) are random, but perhaps others could be avoided through better preventative practices.

Avocado ice cream for everyone?

 

[stp]

I wondered during the season if the excessive number of injuries was due to the strength and conditioning practices. Perhaps someone with a medical or training background can offer an opinion if the types of injuries could have been caused by anything other than bad luck?

edit: EHH types faster than I do.

 

[Hagios]

Football outsiders has an adjusted games lost stat. No data for last season yet, but the Pats have been a bit above average for the past two years (edit: whups - misread the table - see below). Of course, they've also been younger than average for the past two years ...

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/2014-adjusted-games-lost

 

[lexrageorge]

Who knows....this may be less about on field results, and more about his relationship with the players and other coaches, communication skills, organizational fit, etc.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Won't be a new regime as expected. Moses Cabrera expected to be named head S&C coach.

Christopher Price ‏@cpriceNFL 7m7 minutes ago
Per source, Moses Cabrera is odds-on favorite to become Pats new strength & conditioning coach. He was assistant under Harold Nash.

 

[m0ckduck]

Football outsiders has an adjusted games lost stat. No data for last season yet, but the Pats have been a bit above average for the past two years. Of course, they've also been younger than average for the past two years ...

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/2014-adjusted-games-lost

Seems like they were relatively healthy for 2014, but fourth-worst in 2013 with 99.9 AGL (adjusted games lost): http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2014/2013-adjusted-games-lost

 

[troparra]

Fatigue plays a role in injury. I think this has been studied in soccer. As for sports in general, there's one guy formerly at Michigan (now at FitBit) who has done some studies on the topic:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19568192

From that article:

The need to develop more robust and applicable ACL injury prevention methods has resulted in sports-relevant factors being increasingly integrated within the in vivo testing environment (3,37). One such factor gaining recent research attention is that of neuromuscular fatigue (6,25). Neuromuscular fatigue as it pertains to human performance can be simply defined as a decrease in the maximal voluntary force produced by a muscle or muscle group (5,19). With regard to ACL injury, fatigue is proposed to increase risk by promoting extreme lower limb biomechanics, stemming from inadequate active joint stabilization via a suboptimal muscle activation strategy (6,25,34). A more extended (hip and knee) landing posture (7,34), increased out-of-plane hip rotations (6), and resultant increases in three-dimensional (3D) knee motions and loads (7,25,34) are common biomechanical outcomes of fatigued landings. Considering that these profiles culminate in concomitant increases in ACL loading (31,36), countering neuromuscular fatigue effects within the ACL injury prevention modality seems well warranted.

 

[soxhop411]

Phil Perry ‏@PhilAPerry 1h1 hour agoBoston, MA
Dr. Matt Provencher is leaving his job as Chief of Sports Medicine at MGH, Patriots medical director. http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/patriots-medical-director-leaving-mass-general-team…

 

[soxhop411]

And Nash was just hired by the lions