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Gross Center Weight Room
The goal of Miami RedHawk Strength & Conditioning is to maximize every athlete's potential through the use of safe, effective, and time-efficient training protocols with an emphasis on intensity and execution, while minimizing the risk of injury. Our goal for athletes is to be in the top three of every sport in our conference. To do this, we emphasize discipline, work ethic, attitude, and pride in one's self and the program as a whole. These traits are critical in our motto of "Graduating Champions" and we would like the student-athletes to carry everything they learn in the weight room to the rest of their lives.
Student-athletes train consistently, sensibly, and systematically by design. We employ a wide variety of evidence-based training methodologies with the best interest of the student athlete in mind at all times. Our strength programs revolve around the general movement of any athlete: power, stability, strength, and injury prevention.
Facilities
Located in the Walter L. Gross Student Athlete Development Center, the varsity weight room boasts 10,000 square feet and two levels of floor space that houses a multitude of training options. Featuring 18 Samson Racks, 10 PowerBlock adjustable dumbbells, and multiple kinds of Intek equipment, the weight room also includes a variety of specialized equipment for certain styles of training methods. The Gross Center weight room has multiple custom bars and implements, and a variety of cardio equipment including Woodway treadmills. Over the course of the training year, student-athletes coached in the Gross Center weight room will be exposed to a wide range of training modalities including, but not limited to, Olympic based programming, powerlifting, Velocity Based Training (VBT), High Intensity Training (HITT), TRX/bodyweight exercises, metabolic circuits, and overall injury prevention exercises. We also utilize a variety of testing modalities for health and performance. This includes Functional Movement Screening (FMS) and our state of the art DARI system.
The Gross is one of three weight rooms on campus. The Leahy Performance Center and the Randy Gunlock Family Athletic Performance Center also have additional weight rooms for our athletes across Miami's campus.
History
The Miami University Strength and Conditioning Department has come a long way since former Director of Strength and Conditioning Dan Dalrymple started the program in the late 1980’s. Dalrymple, a 1988 Miami graduate, former captain, and all-MAC offensive tackle, built the program from the ground up as the university’s first strength coach.
The weight room of Yager Stadium served as the first home to the strength department at Miami. Its home then moved to two different locations at Withrow Court. With minimal space in each of these facilities, “Coach D” was forced to not only create effective programs for each team, but to also become a craftsman when it came to using the available space and time to accommodate hundreds of athletes.
In May of 2001, the completion of the Gross Family Student-Athlete Development Center, known to the athletes as “The Gross,” provided the strength department with the Miami Football Class of 1976 Strength and Conditioning Center. Along with the center came the tools needed to build on the fundamentals of hard work that were already established in the smaller environments. The strength staff was then able to utilize a state of the art facility, including superior equipment, to bring the program to the next level.
In 2006, the program launched by highly respected Dalrymple, who received MAC Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year honors in 1995, 1997, and 1999, was handed over to James Carsey. Prior to receiving the nod, Coach Carsey served as both an intern and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach here at Miami for five years.
Carsey, who worked closely with Dalrymple over the years, believes in upholding the same high expectations and demanding the same solid work ethic from the athletes that have become staples in the Miami program. He also has begun a new era within the strength department by rallying the athletes around the ideals and values that exist within the fight song phrase “Love and Honor to Miami.” The future looks promising as the Miami University Strength Department continues to provide a strong push in the development of Miami athletes, ultimately improving upon the past success of Miami’s athletic teams in their quest for prominence.
