What does "tough camp" mean to you?

I think that at that level when they talk about a tough camp they're probably talking about how often they're in full pads and do full contact drills. Maybe the pace of practice is faster.

In HS football I believe that the idea of a tough practice is often misunderstood and misused. When I've talked to kids who've transferred to our school form less successful programs they say that our practices aren't harder than at their old school. Often they say it's easier. The difference is what how we use our practice time.

When the HC took over our program it was as bad as any in the state. This is what their practice was like: They started with a full hour of conditioning-a hundred up-downs followed by running hills. Then they went to individual period which consisted of driving the sled, one on ones, and Oklahoma drill. Next came team period which consisted of a live, unscripted scrimmage. They ended practice with a round of gassers. The kids were tough and talented but they couldn't play football and there weren't many of them. Let me make this clear: that was what they did BEFORE we got there.

Holy hell. Was that coach preparing to invade North Korea or win a footbll game?

I don't think so, they didn't practice shooting, small unit tactics, fundamentals of infantry warfare, etc. they're just really good at up-downs.

Well at least that would make them hard to shoot.

Don't like it - LOVE IT

Here's the relevant bit:

“If those kids hear that, then I’ve got to beat it out of them the first week of training camp,” Meyer said. “I can promise you after Day Four, they’re not going to be talking about being 10-0, they’re going to be talking about getting to Day Five. It’s going to be a really, really hard training camp.”

Meyer said he always runs a difficult camp to ensure players refocus after spending all summer hearing from family members how wonderful they’ll be.

“The better the team, the harder the training camp,” Meyer said. “It’s to get them ready and for that nonsense right there.”

Link: www.ohio.com/sports/osu/ohio-state-notebook-urban-meyer-believes-lebron-could-ve-been-hall-of-famer-in-football-too-1.323169

He doesn't really say what he means other than that he wants them broken down and not thinking too far ahead. I can tell you this - I was at three of their spring practices and the spring game and there were one on one drills for every position all over the field and the level of detail was precise. It was awesome, but not what I would consider "tough.". I guess Brophy is right - we don't know Meyer's definition so without seeing it will be hard to tell.

Urban noted that coaching a complacent and entitled group is one of the hardest things to fix as a coach, but to coach "an angry group of guys that are on a mission" is every coaches dream. Especially when you have a group capable of channeling that anger and rage into a productive attitude.

“That’s the essence of coaching, that’s what we do. The way I like to do it is to make practices so hard that their anger better be channeled into becoming a better player.

“If practices aren’t hard, there’s still that anger. What are they going to do with it? Fight downtown? Someone is going to say, ‘You guys stink,’ and … we make it so hard that we channel it to what’s important now, which is practice.”


After reading that I think he means....better strap it up because we are getting after it in camp.

My initial reaction to the phrase is lots of hitting, lots of running.

I think my coaching staff work at a pretty fast pace. My intentions this year was not to condition as much. I have decided against that. In my view or with my coaching style I think conditioning past what you think are your limits helps the kids get tougher. They learn not to give up. It takes me less than 10 minutes a day for conditioning. I know alot of coaches disagree with this but this is what works for me.

I do what's callled 6 1/2 six minutes thirty seconds. Sideline to sideline 10 seconds to run ten second rest. 20 sprints in all 6.5 minutes. I do that once a week and then ill do short burst sprints. Try to be intense and quick. Works for me.

I think many coaches would say that 10min is too much time spent on conditioning....

Regarding the original question, "tough camp" for Urban Meyer probably refers to applying mental pressure and placing the athletes/ team in adverse situations through a variety of means (physical, verbal tone, expectations etc. )