AMES — It was approximately a decade ago, but Iowa State football safeties coach Pete Menage still remembers the two-handed punch he received from Jimmy Rogers that rivaled a double-barreled shotgun.
Menage, a native of Rock Rapids, Iowa, was a safety at South Dakota State from 2016-17, where Rogers was rising up the coaching ranks as a position coach on the defensive side for his alma mater.
He was a test subject for Rogers, who was demonstrating the proper technique of “hat and hands” as a way to engage an opponent.
“He’s the one that kind of taught me that was valuable to be able to get in there and demonstrate,” Menage said of Rogers. “I remember the punch that I felt in my chest, and that’s why I understood what you need to do with your hands. Him punching me physically in the chest, with his hands, that showed me, this is how you do it.”
Now coaching alongside Rogers and following him through South Dakota State, Washington State and arriving with him at Iowa State, he places a similar emphasis on being hands-on with his players.
“You’ll see us demonstrating physically, sweating in the drills and stuff, which I love doing,” Menage said. “There’s been a couple times I get jaw-checked or whatever, something like that. I’m a little sore for a couple days, but that’s part of it. Honestly, there’s a weird part of me that is like, ‘Man, this is awesome.’
“I remember a couple times where I’m trying to act like a blocker and an arm goes over into the jaw and it is what it is. That’s the fun part of being a coach, where you can be in the mix. That’s the best part, where you’re not behind a desk, being able to be out there with the guys grinding and at the end of the day, having a lot of fun.”
Sometimes, Menage gets overzealous, but there’s no doubt that his players respect and appreciate it.
“I’ll be trying to slow him down so he doesn’t hurt himself,” safety Duhron Goodman said, laughing. “But, he’ll really be out there in no cleats, nothing, just out there slipping around, but showing us. He’s a great example. Every time he tries to give us an example, we’re always paying attention.”
The 39-year-old Rogers is the third-youngest head coach in the Big 12, behind only Kansas State’s new-hire Collin Klein (36) and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham (35).
These days, Rogers will sometimes get involved with demonstrations, but not as much as he used to during his previous gigs as a position coach or defensive coordinator. As the head coach, he tries to be more of an overseer and provide feedback to coaches as they instruct the team, but he’ll step in whenever he needs to offer players insight. He has surrounded himself with a coaching staff that skews towards the younger side.
“Do you have to be young to be relatable to the players?” cornerbacks coach Mike Banks said. “I don’t necessarily agree with that, but I do think that the youth, the energy that our staff brings, does help mend that gap with the players. Maybe they trust you a little bit more when you’re out there doing things and explaining drills out there with them, so I do believe that helps in that aspect.”
All of Rogers’ position coaches and coordinators are former players. Some aren’t too far removed from their glory days, which also allows them to mix it up with the current batch of Cyclones.
Defensive line coach Jalon Bibbs appeared in 39 games over his four-year career at Division II Northern State, where he graduated from in 2015. Sometimes, he has difficulty containing himself when it’s time to step onto the practice field.
“I’ll be like, ‘Hey guys, it’s a walkthrough,’ and then I’ll hop up and I’ll start striking people,” Bibbs said. “That’s kind of my habitual nature, a little bit. As a coach, I am a very interactive coach. I do believe in the tactile style of learning, because not everybody learns from a visual standpoint or auditory standpoint, so just being able to put the guys in as many interactive settings is always a goal of mine.”
Strength and conditioning isn’t only vital for players, but it becomes just as important for coaches, too. If they want to be active and interact in drills with Division I athletes, they need to keep in shape.
Don’t be surprised if you see multiple coaches hitting the weight room at the same time or undergoing cardio workouts together.
“We got to be living in that weight room,” defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit said. “I want to be able to knock as good as them and maybe tweak a hammy at times here or there, but I want to be able to replicate what I’m showing. I think it was kind of funny, when I was out there with the linebackers for the first time, trying to demonstrate some stuff and they’re like, ‘OK, coach, there we go,’ and it was funny. I don’t want to have to just instruct it, I want to be able to show them, to an extent, of what it is.”
While most of the defensive staff is familiar with each other and have stayed together through previous stops at South Dakota State and Washington State, the newcomers to Rogers’ staff and those on the offensive side of the ball have also engaged in the hands-on approach.
From setting the tone to how to take the field, placement in the huddle, approaching the line of scrimmage and every step or necessary technique needed to carry out a specific play, coaches are locked in.
“From a player standpoint, you’re going to feed off of the energy for the coach and if we’re just standing there with our hands in our pockets, well, how is the player going to be energized and ready to play?” offensive coordinator Tyler Roehl said. “I think we as coaches set the tone with how we approach the time they walk into the building, in the meetings, do we have positive, contagious energy for them to learn from?”
“You see (wide receivers) coach (Derrick) Sherman flying down the field, (offensive line) coach (Jake) Thornton, the players feed off of that. It doesn’t need to be fake juice, fake energy, it needs to be real and authentic. If that play is a good play, go run after them. If it’s not, let’s go and coach as they’re running back to the huddle and hold them accountable, whether it be a wrong first step or pad level or what have you.”
Positive energy and the demonstration aspect are important, but the same goes for understanding the significance of each drill.
“(Thornton) does a great job of making sure we understand what the point of drills are and why we’re doing the drills, a lot of the things we talk about is what, why, and how,” said offensive lineman Caden Maas. “If we don’t know why we’re doing the drills, they won’t translate to what we do during games and the practice field. He’s done a great job on demonstrating.”
With a new-look coaching staff and player roster, it’s important for the Cyclones to efficiently learn as much as they can in a new system and develop chemistry.
Any advantage they can get to streamline the process and make it as easy as possible for everyone, they’ll take it. The coaching staff will use their youth and ability to get in the trenches with their players if it makes the learning and teaching process better for everyone.
Spring football is coming to a close, while fall preseason camp and the Sept. 5 season-opener against Southeast Missouri will be here before they know it.
“We have zero ego, so we talk about doing this together,” Bobbit said. “We have what we do, what we’ve done, but I always ask the guys that have been here in a different scheme where they come from, what you guys have done, or how are you taught this? So I know how you were taught that and that makes sense why you’re doing that, because you’ve been taught that for three years, right? Well, here’s how we can adjust and here’s how I can make it the same for you and teaching, and there’s that aspect of it.
“We got some guys that were here like Carson Willich and he’s asking a ton of questions and really good intellectual curiosity, I would call it, where he’s always taking it one step further and that makes the group better.”
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football staff’s hands-on approach bolsters Cyclones
Reporting by Eugene Rapay, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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