The Daily Gamecock

Gamecocks' strength coach Jeff Dillman builds infectious culture

Situated between an assembly line of squat racks and a nutrition bar that wouldn't look out of place in a Miami night club, I walk into the office of Jeff Dillman, South Carolina's director of strength and conditioning. In my pocket, I bring with me two freshly minted parking citations. I also carry a lingering defensiveness after being made to wait an extra 10 minutes for my credentials to be validated. So it goes. 

I'm also a little terrified. Dillman's energy is the stuff of legends. "Maniac" is a world that I have heard thrown around by fans watching him on the sidelines. 

Meeting him for the first time, my apprehension isn't immediately dispelled. He has dynamic, darting eyes that are constantly on surveillance. His bald head is fixed on mountainous sloping shoulders. I have never seen "Game of Thrones," but he is about what I would expect one of the show's giants to look like. 

But Jeff Dillman is awesome. Just ask him — awesome in the most literal interpretation of the word, as in awe-inspiring, generating both excitement and fear. 

"I'm a big believer in: 'actions trigger feelings, feelings trigger actions,'" Dillman said. "When you're around someone who has very positive energy and loves what they do, it's infectious." 

"I have players all the time ask, 'Coach, how you doing?' and I say, 'Man, I'm doing awesome!'" Dillman said. 

I can't help but grin, and he calls me out. 

"See you just smiled," Dillman said. "It makes you feel good because the word 'awesome' makes people feel good. No matter how bad of a day I'm having, I'm always responding, 'awesome.'"

He finishes the epic monologue and the wild helicopter eyes finally rest on me, as if asking, "How was that?"

"Awesome," I mumble involuntarily. And then I cringe, feeling completely lame. Dillman just nods, his point made. It's infectious.

Dillman, who was part of a staff that won national championships at Alabama in 2016 and LSU in 2004, held his current position under Coach Will Muschamp while at Florida. He began assembling his staff when Muschamp was hired last winter. 

"Here is where this world is going in strength and conditioning," Dillman said. "A lot of people are doing a lot of the same stuff in the weight room. The difference is how meticulous are the teachers and the coaches."

That's how Dillman defines himself — as a teacher. That makes all the difference for him. He compares himself to a professor that must works with his students until the lesson is absorbed. He refers to his staff as teachers, not as coaches. 

He doesn't look like my accounting professor, that's for sure. 

"We're still teachers, Dillman said. "You've got to connect with your audience. If you don't connect with your audience and they don't get the information through to them, they're never going to learn it."

But it's hard to argue with Dillman's methods, or his madness. After year one of the Muschamp regime, Dillman has noticed a difference in how the team trains. 

"We had discretionary last week, and guys were just showing up. I got guys coming and doing extra on the weekends. We keep the weight room open because they want to show up and do extra," Dillman said.

According to Dillman, around 60 players showed up to workout on Martin Luther King Jr. Day without being prompted to do so. It's infectious. 

"So now you're starting to see the buy-in, starting to see the investment they're making and willing to sacrifice, to give up, to be successful."

I left his office completely sold on everything he was preaching. His energy is spiritual. The parking tickets stuffed in my pocket didn't press so tightly. 

It's infectious. 


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