Photo by: Luke Della
Mean, Lean, Green Machine
8/16/2019 12:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DENTON — Down deep in the depths of the Super Pit, off center from the rest of the rooms, is a dark, cold and tired space.
There, two years ago, is where Philip Baier was first introduced to the North Texas men's basketball team.
The Mean Green's then new strength coach who followed head coach Grant McCasland from Arkansas State to UNT looked around at the bunch and saw a mountain to climb.
"I was of course excited to work with them," Baier said. "We have a certain way we were going to do things and we knew it would take some time so we started off treating everyone as newcomers.
"But we knew we were going to coach them hard," he added.
Comparing the process to a painter creating a piece of work, Baier said some days they'd maybe only paint one stroke while other days they were doing hundreds.
The slab of marble the team was starting off with was giant but overtime the David would form.
Two summers later, the experience and buy-in the Mean Green have given in the weight room allowed Baier to implement an advanced summer workout program that has taken the Mean Green to that next level.
"The work coach Phil and the team have done in the weight room has been and will continue to be instrumental to our success," McCasland said. "The team understands its importance and is hungry to improve everyday in the weight room."
What started two years ago as just a whole team workouts, building the foundation of what Biaer and McCasland envisioned in the weight room has turned into more precise individualized plans catering the exact needs and goals of each player.
And the numbers don't lie.
Two years ago when Baier looked around the room at the team he was inheriting, one of the guys he saw was then freshman Umoja Gibson. A highly regarded and celebrated hooper out of central Texas, Gibson was a string bean. Standing at 6-foot-1, Gibson weighed in at just 148 pounds the first day he met Baier.
Two years later, Gibson weighs in at a lean 168 pounds and has gone through some of the most drastic body transformations on the team. Improvements that led him to be an all-conference guard a season ago.
Shakeem Alcindor, who didn't join UNT until last summer and came in with a solid frame but had little experience in the weight room, has put on 26 pounds since coming to Denton.
While experience within the program certainly has been key, it's maybe been the overall drive each individual on the team has shown that has led to the drastic improvements and success.
A culture that is bright as day when you enter the weight room and see the energy and motion of an engine at work.
"We have a group of guys that really want to get better and we know it starts in the weight room," said redshirt junior guard JJ Murray. "Guys coming in on their own and putting in extra work because once you start to see success it's contagious and then that carries on to the underclassmen and newcomers.
"It really does create a machine," he added.
While Baier by no stretch believes they've reached the top of the mountain that he approached when he first came to UNT, he is definitely proud of the progress the team has made.
"It takes a certain level of confidence to be able to program the way we did this past summer," Baier said. "We have a group of really bought-in returners who without the progress they've made over the past two years we would not be where we are right now, which is along the lines of what we had set out for us two years ago."
There, two years ago, is where Philip Baier was first introduced to the North Texas men's basketball team.
The Mean Green's then new strength coach who followed head coach Grant McCasland from Arkansas State to UNT looked around at the bunch and saw a mountain to climb.
"I was of course excited to work with them," Baier said. "We have a certain way we were going to do things and we knew it would take some time so we started off treating everyone as newcomers.
"But we knew we were going to coach them hard," he added.
Comparing the process to a painter creating a piece of work, Baier said some days they'd maybe only paint one stroke while other days they were doing hundreds.
The slab of marble the team was starting off with was giant but overtime the David would form.
Two summers later, the experience and buy-in the Mean Green have given in the weight room allowed Baier to implement an advanced summer workout program that has taken the Mean Green to that next level.
"The work coach Phil and the team have done in the weight room has been and will continue to be instrumental to our success," McCasland said. "The team understands its importance and is hungry to improve everyday in the weight room."
What started two years ago as just a whole team workouts, building the foundation of what Biaer and McCasland envisioned in the weight room has turned into more precise individualized plans catering the exact needs and goals of each player.
And the numbers don't lie.
Two years ago when Baier looked around the room at the team he was inheriting, one of the guys he saw was then freshman Umoja Gibson. A highly regarded and celebrated hooper out of central Texas, Gibson was a string bean. Standing at 6-foot-1, Gibson weighed in at just 148 pounds the first day he met Baier.
Two years later, Gibson weighs in at a lean 168 pounds and has gone through some of the most drastic body transformations on the team. Improvements that led him to be an all-conference guard a season ago.
Shakeem Alcindor, who didn't join UNT until last summer and came in with a solid frame but had little experience in the weight room, has put on 26 pounds since coming to Denton.
While experience within the program certainly has been key, it's maybe been the overall drive each individual on the team has shown that has led to the drastic improvements and success.
A culture that is bright as day when you enter the weight room and see the energy and motion of an engine at work.
"We have a group of guys that really want to get better and we know it starts in the weight room," said redshirt junior guard JJ Murray. "Guys coming in on their own and putting in extra work because once you start to see success it's contagious and then that carries on to the underclassmen and newcomers.
"It really does create a machine," he added.
While Baier by no stretch believes they've reached the top of the mountain that he approached when he first came to UNT, he is definitely proud of the progress the team has made.
"It takes a certain level of confidence to be able to program the way we did this past summer," Baier said. "We have a group of really bought-in returners who without the progress they've made over the past two years we would not be where we are right now, which is along the lines of what we had set out for us two years ago."
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
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