ASAP PAC-12 Feature: Arizona State Football Strength Coach Joe Connolly Podcast

Tempe, Arizona

 

I had to go all the way out to the desert to track down Coach Joe Connolly, Arizona State's Director of Sports Performance. I'd last seen Joe at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, when the Michigan State Spartans hosted the ASU Sun Devils. In the end, MSU couldn't find a way to catch the shifty Sun Devil freshman QB Jayden Daniels as the capacity crowd of over 77,000, mostly in green & white, and their Sparty mascot left the stadium in shock with an upset loss. Head Coach Herm Edwards, Joe Connolly and the Sun Devil mascot, Sparky boarded their motor coaches and headed to the airport, off to PHX with the W.

Coach Connolly a Massachusetts dude, now in his fourth year in Tempe, has settled in to Arizona living, abundant cacti, and his PAC-12 team. We'd first met back in 2008 at the University of Louisville, where Joe was an assistant with then UL Cardinals' Head Strength Coach Joe Kenn.

Joe also spent some great years at the University of South Carolina as head strength coach for the Gamecocks and their legendary Hall of Fame Head Football Coach Steve Spurrier. In fact, they ran off three straight seasons of 11 win teams! Following that, he spent a few very enjoyable years with UMass Football. But now, he's preparing the Arizona State Sun Devils for the week to week challenges of a competitive PAC-12 Conference. Things can be good out west when you've had  some nice season victories versus UCLA, USC and Washington.

In this ASAP~Athletic Strength And Power Podcast, we discuss:

• his carrer path that led him to working with Herm Edwards at ASU
• Developmental Fridays"
• the extensive in-season training program
• what Sun Devil legend Pat Tillman means to ASU and all of Arizona

This ASAP Podcast is brought to you in part by:

• TEAMBUILDR
• SPECATHLETIC Sports Flooring
• Pit Shark Strength Equipment
• The Bill Jacobs Power Company
  & The CBD Healthcare Company