He's a relentless worker. No detail is too small. You probably would expect those qualities from George "Geo'' Courides, the new strength and conditioning coach for USF football. But for Courides, they aren't just sterile lines in a job description. They are emblazoned in his DNA.
Courides, the man charged with making Coach Alex Golesh's players bigger, stronger, faster and ready to go the distance, has real-life examples for the offseason regimen he's implementing with the Bulls.
Across his chest and arms are tattooed portraits of his grandparents — immigrants from Greece and Poland. One grandfather was a former Marine who was a reserve police officer and a trucking-company staff member. The others worked for the water company, a sewing factory, a high-school cafeteria.
"Always working,'' said Courides, who grew up outside of Philadelphia and graduated from East Stroudsburg University, where he was mostly known as a top-flight rugby player.
Then there was Courides' father, George, "the hardest-working man I've ever known.'' He was a gifted artist for a New York advertising agency, crafting the logos for some Johnson and Johnson products. The family actually lived in Pennsylvania and the father didn't want to uproot the kids, so he commuted to New York, often staying in the city for days at a time, sometimes returning for family events on lonely roads, dead-tired, but his priorities in order.
"For sure, I think I have an old-country or old-school kind of work ethic,'' Courides said. "You show up every day and you do your job. And you let everything else fall where it needs to fall. You never turn your back on your responsibility.
"And our responsibility is to serve these young men. As long as that's the top priority — serving these young men and their families — then everything else will fall into place.''
Courides was brought to USF by Golesh, after they built a strong relationship at Iowa State. During Courides' time with the Cyclones, they appeared in five straight bowl games and qualified for a New Year's Six Bowl berth for the first time in program history.
When Golesh formally accepted the USF job, one of his first calls was to Courides. The two men's wives got on the line with each other, weeping with joy over the reunion of their husbands.
"I loved my time in Ames, Iowa, but it is not really comparable to Tampa, Florida,'' Courides said with a smile. "Iowa State is an awesome place. But it's not hard selling my family (Courides and his wife have two children) on the prospect of being near the beach and Disney World. That is very exciting for all of us.
"But coming to USF has been equally amazing. There's a lot of talent in this building on the football side of things. These guys are incredibly eager to get things rolling. You never know what the culture and the standard is going to look like when you walk into a new place. I have been nothing but incredibly surprised and happy with the way these young men have worked. They are putting in the work worthy of some big rewards on the field next season.''
The value of a good strength and conditioning coach is often expressed in the offseason work. That's the coach who spends the most time with the players, getting to know their hopes and dreams, while seeing them at their best (and worst). An effective strength and conditioning coach could often be the difference in a team turning the corner.
Golesh said he's optimistic that the work of Courides and his staff will pay off big.
"With Coach Golesh, there's no stone left unturned,'' Courides said. "He's calling me at night, asking how the lifts are going for everybody. We go over everything. I find his attention to detail rather incredible.
"The best part is he always wants the opinion of me and my staff. He knows we spend a lot of time with these guys and we have information he can use. And it's not just us — it's the coordinators, the assistant coaches, the staff members. He has a holistic view of everything, then he crystalizes that information and makes it work. I think he's a unique guy in this profession because of how he can talk to anyone, get a good read on the situation, and draw upon that information when it's needed.''
Courides has gotten pretty good at working with information himself. And it's not just how much a player can bench press.
"You're fortunate to have this kind of work and be in a leadership role because you can make a difference in someone's life,'' Courides said. "Whether it's waking up at four o'clock in the morning to get in here early or staying late, what I do has a greater purpose than myself. When you have a career like that, it's not hard to be motivated to do a great job.
"I want to be completely open and transparent with these guys. They know what the practice week looks like. Why shouldn't they know what the training sessions look like, too? We tell them what we're doing, why we're doing it and how everything is going to progress.''
Often, USF players are working with exercises and equipment specific to different points of motion, applying agility and translating directly into the skill set needed for the player's position.
And there's competition.
Lots and lots of competition.
"We train them to push themselves, but they also have to push the guy next door,'' Courides said. "You find out what the other guy's breaking point is. And then the guy next to him and so on, down the line. You grow from that each day.
"We try to put them in safe, but uncomfortable, training sessions so we can see what they do and how they respond to adversity. So far, this group has done great at bringing the energy, attacking the day and pulling along the guys next to them. I love to see that.''
For Geo Courides, it's about showing up and working hard.
Every single day.
It's what he observed from his family.
It's the only way he knows.
– Go Bulls –
