Working with head coach Jim Harbaugh, University of Michigan football performance and operations director Fergus Connolly is challenging the misconceptions about sports science.
Fergus Connolly and Jim Harbaugh can agree on this: they aren’t interested in sports science, only winning science. While that may be one of the made-for-TV recruiting statements we are accustomed to in college sports, Connolly—a performance expert who formerly worked with the San Francisco 49ers—actually focuses his scientific philosophies on earning victories.
“We work from the field to the weight room, not the weight room to the field,” says Connolly, who works with head coach Harbaugh as the University of Michigan football program’s performance and operations director. What does this mean? Connolly believes in working backwards from the game, isolating the factors that intertwine to influence performance.
“What is a win? A primary goal of any coach, player, and team is obviously to win as many games as possible. But coming out ahead on the scoreboard is only one validation of the game model and its execution,” writes Connolly in his new book Game Changer.