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ECU News, Notes and Commentary
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The
Bradsher Beat
Thursday, May 20, 2005
By Bethany Bradsher |
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'Borderline insane' tough
guy ready for duty
©2005 Bonesville.net
If you’re an East Carolina athlete and you’ve ever even
thought about whining, you should probably go ahead and transfer to another
school.
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Michael Golden
(Photo: ECU Media Relations) |
Talk to Mike Golden for just a few minutes
and you’ll discover he has a zero-tolerance policy against complainers. And
since he’s the
new boss of the Pirates’ strength and conditioning program,
any wimps around the Murphy Center will either shape up or be weeded out.
“If you don’t want to work hard, get out
now,” said Golden, who followed head football coach Skip Holtz to Greenville
from the University of South Carolina. “If you’re going to be soft, you’re
going to get crushed.”
Dave DeGuglielmo knows a little bit about
the survival of the fittest on the football field. Now the offensive line
coach for the New York Giants, DeGuglielmo worked with Golden at both the
University of Connecticut and South Carolina. And if he ever has the
opportunity to be a head coach himself, he knows just where he would turn
for his first hire.
“I trust nobody more than I trust him with
an athlete,” he said of Golden. “He makes kids want to lift. He pushes guys
beyond what they think they can do.”
As DeGuglielmo tells it, Golden is a legend
in the state of Connecticut. The high school strength program he directed
before going to UConn, at Bloomfield High, was known for excellence in spite
of being a small school. He also won a number of power lifting titles
and served as an assistant coach for the USA Men’s Powerlifting Team. And
with the Huskies, he helped Holtz lead the team to its first
10-win season and an NCAA Division I-AA playoff
appearance in the fall of 1998.
One of the things that sets Golden apart, DeGuglielmo said, is his blend of physiological knowledge and macho
toughness. With a degree in physical education and a background in athletic
training, he understands how to help athletes avoid and recover from
injuries, and his history as a power lifter gives him the kind of attitude
that really motivates players in a physical game like football.
“He’s got a great mix of real scientific
background, but also practical training in the power lifting world,” DeGuglielmo said. “And the professional power lifters, these men are
borderline insane.”
Number one on Golden’s list of strength and
conditioning values is old-fashioned hard work — the kind with no shortcuts.
But he also believes in building mental toughness, by motivating athletes
verbally and giving them the confidence that they can excel.
With nearly 15 years of experience at high
schools and universities, Golden has worked with male and female athletes in
all types of sports. And he has learned that each demands a different
training approach; the more physical sports require more mental toughness
building, and women need as much intensity as men but with a different
approach.
“I believe in hard work, training smart,
and just giving it everything they’ve got,” he said. “When they leave a
workout I never want them saying they could have done more.”
Whereas some coaches in his profession come
to strength and conditioning by the way of traditional coaching or playing
sports, Golden knew he wanted to be a strength coach at the age of 15, when
he read an article in a muscle magazine emphasizing the link between lifting
weights and athletic performance.
Since then, he has learned everything he
can that would make him better equipped to fine-tune the student-athletes
that see him more than they see their own sport’s coaches. He’s not
promising fun and games when the football players report on June 6, but he
is hoping to organize a Strong Man Competition for later in the summer.
Golden and his wife Nicole have four
daughters under the age of six: Natasha, Tatiana, Sophia and Anastasia. They
are looking forward to immersing themselves in the East Carolina community
that he has always heard about in coaching circles. And Golden appreciates
the fact that the members of the Pirate Nation know the importance of his
specialty.
“If you win a lot of games, you’re the
greatest strength coach in the world,” he said. “If you lost a lot of games,
you’re the worst strength coach in the world. There’s no in between.”
And he is looking forward to renewing his
partnership with Holtz, who wants to replicate the success the two men had
together in Connecticut by building a tough Pirate team that holds fast
through four quarters of football. Support from the head coach is vital in
his position, Golden said, and he has it.
“I know what he wants from me, and I know
what I can get from him,” he said. “If you don’t have the head coach backing
you, you can just hang it up.”
DeGuglielmo was part of Golden’s interview
at Connecticut, he said, when Golden was coming from a successful high
school program and the other two candidates were from Notre Dame and
Clemson. One of those other men was Holtz’s brother-in-law, DeGuglielmo
said, but still he hired Golden. Now he’s done so again, completing his
Pirate coaching puzzle with a piece that could be a significant
difference-maker.
“Gone are the days when the strength coach and the video guy
are lumped together as guys that don’t matter,” DeGuglielmo said.
Townes sighting
DeGuglielmo, in his role as the
New York Giants offensive line coach, has the occasion to see prospects
reaching for the NFL dream. One of those he most recently observed was
former ECU running back Marvin Townes. DeGuglielmo confirmed that Townes was working
out with the Giants this week and noted that he saw Townes running there on
Wednesday. Townes, who could not be reached, gained 235 rushing
yards and 23 receiving yards during his senior season as a Pirate.
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02/23/2007 01:11:21 AM |
