The pitch of Will Hicks’ voice began to rise as the words spilling out from underneath his bushy, gray mustache quickened.

Leaning against the desk inside the Iocolano-Petty Hallway in Manley Field House, the Syracuse strength coach voiced his passion for his occupation. His lifestyle.

“You can’t do it ‘just because,’” Hicks said. “I guess that’s my biggest — not a fear — but the biggest thing that keeps me sharp is I don’t ever want to tell you I do it ‘just because.’

“I’ve got to have a reason why I do it.”

This season, Hicks has 105 reasons. From running back Jerome Smith, who has dropped 15 pounds since summer. To left tackle Sean Hickey, whose almost exclusively grilled chicken and brown rice diet has him projected as a second-round pick. To center Macky MacPherson, who has gained more than 50 pounds in his SU career while maintaining the same body fat percentage.

Hicks, SU’s assistant athletics director for athletic performance, connects with each player at an individual level, even in his 29th season as a Division I strength coach.

Starting as an athletic improvement coach under John Stucky at North Carolina State in 1986, Hicks worked his way up to being named Atlantic Coast Conference strength coach of the year in 1999. Since coming to Syracuse in 2000, he has brought Stucky’s training regimen to Central New York and blended it with his engaging and caring personality.

“Nobody cares how much I know, until they know how much I care,” Hicks said. “I can know every damn thing in the world, but if the players don’t believe in me, it don’t work.”

In his 13 years at SU, he’s implemented numerous “pre-hab” exercises to limit hip, shoulder and lower-back injuries. When the Orange switched to a hurry-up offense last summer, he cut the rest time between sprints and lift repetitions in half.

But through all the examination and adaptation, conversation and conference speaking, Hicks has stuck with his core beliefs.

“There’s a big difference being on the cutting edge of stuff and being on the bleeding edge of stuff,” Hicks said. “You can kind of get too out of whack to where you water down what you do so much that you don’t really do anything well.”

Much of Hicks’ philosophy comes from Stucky, but it also stems from his career as a professional weightlifter.

Power lifting. Bench. Squat. Clean.

Regiment everything, including nutrition. Every Sunday while Hicks competed, he would boil 60 eggs, a 10-pound bag of skinless chicken breasts and a pot of rice mixed with black beans.

Now his players take on similar, albeit not all Hickey-esque, diets.

“I think we’re one of the best-conditioned teams in the country, and we take pride in that,” MacPherson said. “We take pride in not getting overly tired in games. We can have those 14-, 15-play drives and just wear the other team out.”

In season, Hicks breaks the team up into two weightlifting groups: playing players and non-playing players. The first group works Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The latter works Monday, Wednesday and Friday — that’s when Hicks can work directly with the younger players.

Out of season, it’s four days of lifting, five days of running per week. The lifting days alternate with the push — chest, shoulders, triceps, etc. — and pull — laterals, deltoids, biceps, etc. — with one heavy and one light day of each.

And on the running days, MacPherson said, players can expect to hear Hicks break into his Southern drawl — oftentimes when the team is midway through an intense set of sprints.

“Now that cha’ll warmed up, get ready to run.”

“We’ll be on our 15th 110, and we’ll have 15 more to go,” MacPherson said, “and you just want to kill him.”

Through the years, though, Hicks has added to his repertoire. He attends conferences held by athletes on and off the gridiron — and tries to connect each to his profession.

After listening to an Olympic hurdler explain his series of hip mobility exercises, Hicks taught future NFL first-round pick Will Allen that summer, whose flexibility was one of his biggest issues. Then he showed the skill players, and eventually started implementing it with the whole team.

They still do it twice per week.

Soon after came increased plyometric and core work, as well as shoulder strengthening. Hicks has made videos with San Diego Chargers defensive end and SU alumnus Dwight Freeney, featuring stabilizing drills on medicine balls and slide boards.

“I remember 20 years ago, where they kind of made fun of guys who were using the medicine balls and stuff,” SU head coach Scott Shafer said. “That was old school, back in the ‘50s and the ‘40s. Now it’s in vogue.”

After the Orange’s win over North Carolina State two weeks ago, SU gave Hicks the game ball.

Smith said Hicks was so happy, he was crying on the sidelines.

“He’s with us throughout the year,” Smith said. “When the coaches are away recruiting, he’s always with us. He’s always someone you can go and talk to.”

That’s what sets him apart. From texting current players regularly in the offseason to inviting hordes of alumni back each summer, Hicks’ open-minded approach and ability to connect with his players are special.

Because behind all the lifting drills and new schemes is a 51-year-old man who loves what he does every day. Training, teaching and learning.

“As soon as you feel like you know everything,” Hicks said, “you don’t really know anything.”

Published on October 21, 2013 at 10:47 pm

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