☕️ S&C Daily — Capped at Five

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A proposed antitrust class action filed Friday in federal court in Northern California targets the NCAA rule capping FBS football programs at five strength and conditioning coaches. The target is Bylaw 11.7.4.4, and its reach is broad: no more than five may work with football players "in any capacity," which the rule spells out as all workouts required and voluntary, practices, and game-related activities.

The defendants are the NCAA and the Power Five conferences. Behind the filing is Hagens Berman, the firm that ran the $22.78 billion NIL settlement, and its argument runs past wages - capping qualified staff, the complaint says, "degrades the development, safety, and on-field performance of student-athletes." The proposed class covers anyone who has applied for, holds, or will apply for one of these jobs.

The Maple Leafs missed the playoffs last season and lost captain Auston Matthews for a stretch with a knee injury. Now they've hired Andy O'Brien as head strength and conditioning coach - the man who has kept Sidney Crosby going at 38, to the tune of 29 goals and 45 assists this past season. O'Brien has trained Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene too. Former Leafs defenseman and TSN analyst Carlo Colaiacovo's verdict: "Really good hire here."

NC State strength coach Dantonio "Thunder" Burnette walked reporters through the program-record 410-pound power clean redshirt freshman Colby Cronk hit this summer.

Cronk cleaned 365 coming out of high school, 385 in the developmental program, then 410. He also went from around 260 pounds to 288. Burnette runs a two-miss rule on max days, and after Cronk missed 390 and came back to hit it, Burnette planned to shut him down. His teammates shouted him out of it. He turned around to change the music, and 410 was already loaded.

Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles told Inside Football the team has brought in a speed coach as part of a broader injury-prevention plan. Tampa Bay hasn't announced the hire or the role on its website, and no name has surfaced. The Bucs last carried a dedicated speed coach from 2019 to 2021, when Bruce Arians brought in Olympic gold medal hurdler Roger Kingdom. Head strength coach Chad Wade was promoted from within this offseason.

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