When the Eagles largely cleaned house of Chip Kelly’s coaching staff this winter, only five assistants from last season remained. Intriguingly enough, one was Director of Sports Science and Reconditioning Shaun Huls.
Huls was hired by Kelly when he became the Eagles’ head coach in 2013 and helped implement key elements of sports science such as practice schedules, on-field GPS systems worn by the players during practice, protein infused smoothies after practice, daily hydration tests and many of the other elements that seemed to give the Eagles a leg-up in the sports science department in recent years.
However many of the sports science theories instituted by Kelly and Huls, such as asking players to wear sleep monitors at night, an unorthodox practice schedule that included practicing on Tuesdays (a traditional day off in the NFL) helped alienate the head coach from the players in the locker room.
With Huls retained and many of the vestiges of Kelly’s sports science initiatives remaining throughout the NovaCare Complex such as a bolstered cafeteria, smoothie bar outside the locker room and the GPS system, it is fair to wonder just how much new head coach Doug Pederson is willing to utilize the sports science concepts that became so divisive last season.
“A lot of that stuff has been cut way back,” Pederson said during the Eagles’ mandatory minicamp. “I think it was introduced, and now, great, it was introduced. Now let’s pull back on it. If guys want it it’s there available to them, but at the same time we’re not going to force it down anybody’s throat, so to speak.
“The availability is there. But it’s been introduced to the team and they’ve been exposed to it for the last couple of years. At the end of the day, they’re football players. And, again, it’s that one-on-one communication. ‘How are you feeling? Are you getting enough sleep? I can tell if you haven’t slept last night.’ It shows up. Out here it’s going to show up.”
In a bit of irony, Pederson says that he first learned of sports science coaching under Andy Reid in Kansas City.
“We did GPS in Kansas City, we’re going to do GPS here,” Pederson explained. “I think it’s an accurate measure of how much a player might be running and moving around at practice. But ultimately, I’m going to come to you and go, ‘How are you feeling? How are your hamstrings today?’ ‘I feel great, coach.’ ‘Well, your numbers say this, but how are you feeling?’ ‘I’m a little nicked.’ So you still have to have a [inaudible].
“You can’t just go off a chart, I don’t think, and say, ‘He’s running a little bit too much. He’s doing something that he shouldn’t.’ But those are all communication things, and with myself, Shaun and Josh, and the whole medical staff, we communicate those things, and we monitor a guy’s progress just based on that.”
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In addition to scaling back on the utilization of sports science, Pederson says that he has already attempted to make a concerted effort to build the foundation for strong relationships with his players, even during the spring, that he hopes pays dividends this season and throughout his tenure.
“I can’t speak [on last year] because I wasn’t here for any of that,” Pederson said of the fractured relationship between Kelly and the players, that at least partially stemmed from sports science initiatives. “But just knowing what the guys have done this year and I get more and more either text messages or guys just coming and wanting to say hey and talk and hit me up at practice about certain things, like ‘hey coach, what about this or what about that.’
“So it gets me to think about what the players are really kind of into and what they’re thinking about. And I think too that you have to listen to the players. I mean, you have to listen to them. They’re the ones out there, they’re the ones playing, they’re the ones out there grinding every day, and if you’re not listening to the players, I think you’re just kind of stalemating yourself.
“And it’s been a great spring that way. This offseason I’ve had several guys text or call or come up to see me and just give me their feedback on the good, the bad and the indifferent and for the most part everything has been positive and they love the changes that have been made.”
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MDLombardo@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardo975. Find NJ.com Eagles on Facebook.
