The Patriots' strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik is scheduled to interview with the Cowboys today according to ESPNDallas and ESPNBoston.
Mike Woicik is a familiar face in Dallas, and he and Garrett know each other well from their shared time in Dallas (1993-1996). According to ESPNBoston, Woicik is the only player or coach with six Super Bowl rings, three with Dallas and three with the Patriots.
Woicik could replace current Cowboys strength and conditioning coach Joe Juraszek. According to Josh Ellis from the mothership, Juraszek is on a leave of absence since the end of last year. ESPN reports that his absence is due to a "personal illness situation" and that assistant strength coach Tony Ollison had handled some of the strength and conditioning duties towards the end of the 2010 season.
The fact that the Cowboys are looking to bring in Woicik signals a permanent change and does not bode well for Joe Jurascek, whom we keep in our thoughts as he faces a tough personal situation.
More after the jump...
The Patriots' mothership has a very in-depth look at Mike Woicik from the back in 2006. It's very informative if you want to know what kind of coach he is, and what he would bring back to the Cowboys.
How he tailors his offseason workouts to each individual player.
"The first thing is if they have any injury concerns we work to be proactive and prevent reoccurrence," said Woicik. "Overall, we want them to become better. We evaluate them through a series of tests and we know what their strengths and weaknesses are. For one player it might be his explosiveness while another player might need to work on his speed. We show them where they are, set goals, and try to improve upon it."
Also, he runs a little competition during the offseason workouts.
The award winners receive small considerations from the coaching staff, such as the right to choose the music during stretching periods at training camp practices and preferred parking spaces in the players' lot.
"There's a tangible motivation. That's why we do testing and we measure guys and evaluate guys," said Woicik. "You don't play the games without keeping score. So in the off-season, we try to keep score so that we can say that this guy had a good off-season or this guy didn't do as well. And the players get into it. They like the parking spots, their pictures on the wall and the recognition." But it's not all about the perks. Among the benefits of a superior effort in the off-season conditioning program are the results the players see on the field.
A Pats player on Woicik:
"This is one of the elite strength and conditioning programs," said linebacker Don Davis. "Mike has six Super Bowl championships. Obviously there is something to that. It's not coincidental."
Short bio:
Mike Woicik was named the Patriots strength and conditioning coach on Bill Belichick's staff on Feb. 16, 2000. The 32-year coaching veteran is now in his 20th season.
Woicik is a two-time winner of the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Society's Coach of the Year Award, earning the honor in 1992 and 2004.
Woicik entered the NFL coaching ranks with the Dallas Cowboys in 1990 and was voted the NFL's "Strength Coach of the Year" in 1992. During his seven seasons (1990-96) with the Cowboys, the team totaled an 89-38 record, including 12 playoff victories and three Super Bowl championships.