Beginning early Monday morning, the University of Hawaii’s offseason program will receive a boost — and new leadership.
Bobby Thomas is the Rainbow Warriors’ new strength and conditioning coordinator. Thomas is the permanent successor to Kody Cooke, who accepted a job at Tulsa, his alma mater, last year. Cooke is now the head strength and conditioning coordinator at Utah State. Ryan Ishihara, who was promoted following Cooke’s departure, is no longer with the UH football program.
UH associate head coach Chris Brown, who has helped with the strength program, has praised Thomas’ experience on the college and professional levels.
“He knows what it takes,” Brown said of Thomas. “I like what he brings to the table with mentality. It’s not just about how much weights you lift or how fast you are. That stuff will come. The first thing is the mentality. That’s what we’re trying to instill every single day.”
Thomas, who was Morehead State’s strength/conditioning coach this past season, previously served as the Atlanta Falcons’ assistant strength coach for three years through 2003, and worked at Western Kentucky and Fresno State. He also had internships with USC and Stanford.
At Stanford, Thomas learned under innovative sports performance coach Shannon Turley. Turley is known for functional movement screens, an eight-discipline test that measures strength, flexibility and movements. Former Stanford defensive back Richard Sherman parlayed FMS data to become an All-Pro cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks.
Thomas said he has training plans for the entire team, as well as specific to positions and individuals. “There’ll be different things in the weight room geared toward the bigs,” Thomas said. “The bigs need to be strong and big and violent in the trenches. That’s where you’re going to win. We’ve got to develop those dudes to be big and strong.”
Thomas said there are drills to help receivers not only “run like gazelles,” but also to “change directions, get in and out of breaks quickly, accelerate or decelerate, stop and go, linear and lateral.”
He also has combo plans for the “big skill guys,” such as linebackers, speed rushers and safeties.
“I’m really big into movement,” Thomas said. “That was one of the big things I took away from Stanford. They were FMS based. It was creating great movement patterns, try to alleviate injuries. If we can move well, we can bend well, and that’ll help us train better. Every thing I do is to try to get the athletes to perform on game day.”
Brown said: “I really like his personality. It takes a certain kind of guy to be around here. I wanted a guy who’s willing to buy in and not use this as a steppingstone.”
Thomas is admittedly “very demanding, but I’m not demeaning. I won’t ever attack them personally. … Whatever we do will be in the best interest of the team. I’ll communicate with them. I’ll tell them why we do certain things. Nothing is guesswork. It wouldn’t be: ‘I wonder what he has for us today?’ Everything has a plan to it. Everything is detailed.”
