Bennie Wylie

I was with the Dallas Cowboys for the last four years. I was there with Joe Jurazcek and I got a good base there and a good foundation. He was here for six years and did a great job here so I just really got a good base and foundation on all my knowledge of the things I do and how he worked so hard and just kind of passed it on to me. Before that I was at Sam Houston, played football there for four years and had a year of school left. So my strength coach who was the assistant then left to TCU and kind of left the program to me there at Sam Houston. I was the interim head strength coach there for six months and then went straight to Dallas.

It will have been ninety days exactly on the 16th of April. A great first ninety days I couldn’t ask for anything more as far as my first three months here on the job. Great guys here and so it’s actually really flew by.

Yeah I did, John’s (Saldi) Dad played for the Cowboys and so John had been moved to linebacker his last year in high school and had been kind of undersized actually for that position but was pretty good size. He needed to pick up some weight so his Dad called me and asked me if I had any time and I said no of course because I didn’t. But, if you know Jay (Saldi) you know he kept pursuing it and I ended up working with John for about four months before he came here. He started out at 191lbs. and in four months we got him up to 217lbs. I came up with John on the Spring Game and met Coach Leach and met Coach Ruffin (McNeil) and actually thought this would be a cool place to come back to after I got done in the league (NFL). Just met those two guys and saw what they were doing here and I kind of followed John for the last two years on TV and things like that.

Actually worked with him probably three games left in the season and then they went to the playoffs and got into the third round. I kind of kept him together because he was getting a little banged up, of course he just kinda threw himself in there on every play and that's just how he knew how to play. So I tried to keep him together those last five to six games and then really got with him after that as far as getting mass and strength, things like that.

There’s a lot, like I said before I was really impressed with the guys to see how well they did last year. Then to get here and actually see how the guys are. I am really impressed with Coach Leach and Coach McMackin at the time. There’s a ton I can’t even pick out one or two. Guys that stand out are guys like Trey Haverty, you know he does everything right. Guys like Ryan Aycock, everything right and that shows on the field. I don’t say what I do helps a guy play football but guys who usually have good habits in with me usually make plays on the field because they always do it. They go to class they eat right, they lift right and they play hard, it’s all of the same characteristics.

Just with football, but I can’t watch anyone do anything wrong. If there is any of the other teams that are in there (weight room) working out I try to help out when I can. Just because I don’t want to sit and watch guys and girls do things wrong. There are just not enough eyes in there to watch every single person, so with me in there that’s another set of eyes. If I can help one athlete do one rep better, which would make them have one play better and that’s kind of how I see it. Each rep is that play they can make on the field or that they didn’t make or should have made because they did do that extra rep in there with me.

Brock Stratton is probably one of the stronger guys, he’s got a 610lb. squat, a 455lb. bench and a 285lb. clean so he’s a strong and fast guy with a great 40-time, he’s a 4.5 guy in the forty. Guys like Trey Haverty have a great short-shuttle time a low 4 or 3.9 and he’s as strong as he needs to be to play. Vincent Meeks, Meeks is one of the fastest guys I have ever seen he ran a 4.1 and you don’t ever see that. People say they run a 4.3’s all the time and they really don’t, there at a 4.5, so to actually see a 4.1 for him, he’s a fast guy. Wes Welker is a really powerful guy, if you watch him do a clean for example, just watch his hips move you see why he makes people miss out on the field because his hips are so explosive. He does things very hard and very natural, great hip strength. There’s guys and you can look all over the place,guys like E.J. Whitley who’s got great feet. That’s why he is going to be one of the best offensive lineman we’ll have as soon as we get his strength up, his feet are outstanding. You can pick guys on both sides of the ball anywhere and finds tons of strength and tons of agility. My job is to bring all of that out from each and every guy, all of the offense and the entire defense.

I don’t know about not high on the depth chart because Ken Scott is high right now but he’s more of an unknown right now. With more work though he’ll be an All-American, he has got all the tools. As explosive as he is naturally off the ball and with Coach Ruffin (McNeil) who’s going to work with him and get him better coming off the ball technique wise, I’ll work with him strength wise. He’s a fast guy, we run 200’s in the offseason and he ran 200’s probably better than some of the linebackers as far as just open speed, he can run. As a junior I see him as 12-15 sacks a year. Guys like E.J. (Whitley) I see him with no penalties for a year, he’ll give up no sacks and have twenty pancake blocks, things like that. I see Trey Haverty, he’s not high on the depth chart but he never drops the ball because be doesn’t know how, he thinks he’s the best receiver on the field and he plays like it. That’s just some of the confidence things I hope to try and build and try put in here and there. If you know and think you’re the best when you walk out there you’re probably going to play pretty dang good. That’s just kind of what I hope to add and put in during the summer.

My goal is to have everybody healthy, which is the main goal. If any strength coach says that I want ten guys to bench 400lbs. that’s great and all but that’s not going to win football games. We need our starters on the field every game. So that is my expectation is to make sure everybody has a good base going into the season. That they are strong, they are fast, their hamstrings are in shape all of there joints feel pretty good. Those are my kinds of things; I look at it like that, that we need to be able to play well. We need to keep our quarterbacks shoulder’s strong, that kind of thing. I expect us to win the National Championship every year; I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have that, as my number one goal then there is no reason for me to do this. I coach hard like I do because I expect to win every game every year, the whole thing. If we get there perfect, if we don’t lets look each year at how we should have gotten there.

I would hope so. I don’t want to be that vain to say yeah I’m going to bring in guys but I hope that our program will get to a point where a kid knows if he comes here that he’s going to get as strong and fast as he can be. He should know that coming in, in other words that should be known all across the nation that if you go to Texas Tech their strength and conditioning program will maximize everything you’ve got. That will be a credit to me and our staff here that when you come in here that you’re going to get right. When guys come in here on a visit, they’ll see our players working out.

They are probably better than in Dallas because on college you have to recruit with your weight room and all of your facilities. You have got to bring kids in with that so it has to look good, it has to have a presence and aura to it. When you walk in that weight room you’ve got to feel something, like man these guys get it done. Our facilities here are good now but when we’re done with the new building it will be in the top three of the Big 12. It will help us to recruit the kids that we probably wouldn’t get just because of our place. So, I hope that it would be the kind of atmosphere to where if a kid is close on deciding and he’s comparing the weight room and our strength program with another school that he’ll know that we get it done here.

I’m just glad to be here.