BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Derek Owings, Indiana’s strength and conditioning coach for football, was once big into golf. The one-time tight end at Mercer was allegedly a long hitter off the tee, too.
“I can still hit it, you know, I just don’t get out there as much as I used to,” Owings told host Don Fischer during the Inside Indiana Football radio show Wednesday.
That’s because Owings is extremely devoted to his job. When he’s not working with Indiana’s football players to improve their bodies and health, he’s reading about what he can do to improve his own craft in the strength and conditioning business.
“I kind of just junky in my profession. Man, I’m always trying to learn, read, educate myself. I always feel like if I’m not improving, somebody’s outworking me. And I think everything that I learn, I can pour back into our student athletes. And that’s ultimately why I feel like I’m on this planet,” Owings said.
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Owings relayed to Fischer that he’s always wanted to go into coaching. His passion for strength and conditioning was triggered when he was a player.
“When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to be a football coach. (Then) I fell in love with the process, the training,” Owings said. “I kind of flip from wanting to be a football coach to a strength coach, you know, train kids, develop them, understand how important health is during their career, but also life after football, teaching them what to eat, when to eat, why to eat, those things, proper training. And, you know, something I fell in love with, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
Owings has the kind of personality needed to devote himself to his profession. He’s all in, all of the time.
“I was an average athlete, maybe above average, but everything I did … I worked as hard as I could, you know, I was that kid that would, you know, bring my food scale into the cafeteria and I was measuring out foods like I knew what I wanted to do and kind of how to get there,” Owings said.
“I don’t want to say I was born to do this, but I got a kind of certain level of OCD and how I want things done, and how we’re going to run things,” Owings added.
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Owings said his priorities in training are to train through a full range of motion, prioritize speed, joint integrity, joint health and nutrition. Owings said his mission is to build a foundation and it’s important that athletes work at a consistent tempo and with similar techniques.
“Unless there’s an orthopedic issue, nobody’s lift should look different. A squat should look the same. And we’re going to hold those kids to that every single day,” Owings said.
Owings is part of Indiana’s new staff of coaches under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. He’s also one of seven coaches who worked under Cignetti at James Madison.
Obviously, Owings has Cignetti’s trust and was brought to Bloomington to help foster the culture that Cignetti wants to build. Few coaches work so directly with the athletes than the strength coach does, so Owings has had a crucial role in the transition.
What Owings likes about working with Cignetti is that once trust is established, Cignetti usually lets his assistant coaches carry on with their jobs.
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“I think that’s my favorite part about (Cignetti). ‘Hey, this is what I want. These are my expectations. Now, go train them how you need to.’ And he does the same thing with the rest of the staff, too. He gives us a lot of ownership inside our department,” Owings said.
Like so many of the coaches who came with Cignetti, Owings projects confidence in what their system entails. Because of that, much of the onus for player improvement is put on to the shoulders of the player himself. Accountability is a big deal in the Indiana program, and that includes the weight room. Owings has a staff of four assistants who help keep everyone in line.
“Coach and myself are going to write a plan that’s going to be as good as anybody in the country can. We’re going to maximize your development,” Owings said.
“But when you’re outside of this building, what are your eating habits? What are your sleeping habits, what are your partying habits? What are you putting inside your body? And those are the kids that really want to buy in and be as good as they can be,” Owings added.
New Orleans Pelicans (4-13, 15th in the Western Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (7-10, ninth in the Eastern Conference)
Indianapolis; Monday, 7 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Pacers -5.5; over/under is 228
BOTTOM LINE: New Orleans heads into the matchup against Indiana as losers of four straight games.
The Pacers are 5-2 in home games. Indiana ranks fifth in the league with 17.0 fast break points per game led by Bennedict Mathurin averaging 4.5.
The Pelicans have gone 1-7 away from home. New Orleans averages 14.2 turnovers per game and is 3-4 when turning the ball over less than opponents.
The Pacers are shooting 48.7% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 48.5% the Pelicans allow to opponents. The Pacers average 103.8 points per game, 14.3 fewer points than the 118.1 the Pacers allow to opponents.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Pascal Siakam is averaging 20.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists for the Pacers.
Brandon Ingram is scoring 22.9 points per game and averaging 5.8 rebounds for the Pelicans.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 4-6, averaging 111.7 points, 38.9 rebounds, 26.1 assists, 9.0 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 47.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 115.5 points per game.
Pelicans: 1-9, averaging 100.2 points, 42.7 rebounds, 23.0 assists, 7.8 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 42.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.7 points.
INJURIES: Pacers: Aaron Nesmith: out (ankle), Andrew Nembhard: out (knee), Isaiah Jackson: out for season (calf), James Wiseman: out for season (calf), Ben Sheppard: out (oblique).
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Pelicans: Zion Williamson: out (hamstring), Yves Missi: day to day (shoulder), CJ McCollum: day to day (thigh), Herbert Jones: out (shoulder ), Dejounte Murray: day to day (hand), Jose Alvarado: out (hamstring).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Washington Wizards are still in the loss column after falling to the Indiana Pacers 115-103 inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday evening.
The Wizards remained competitive throughout the game, especially after the first half when they led by two points going into halftime.
However, the Pacers pulled ahead in the second half and were able to cruise to a double-digit victory.
The Pacers had seven players scoring in double figures, including a team-high 22 points from Pascal Siakam. Myles Turner had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
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The Wizards were sorely missing their leading scorer in Jordan Poole, who was ruled out prior to the game with a hip injury. That put Kyshawn George into the starting lineup, where he scored 15 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists.
All five starters scored in double figures with Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr scoring 17 points apiece for the team-high.
With 11 consecutive losses, the Wizards remain at the bottom of the NBA standings, but there are some positives that the team will walk away with.
The Wizards will look to snap their losing streak back at home on Tuesday against the Chicago Bulls.
Make sure you bookmark Washington Wizards on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!
It’s a day that ends in the letter ‘y,’ so Indy Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel is acting strange online. Thankfully, this scenario has nothing to do with him acting creepy towards WNBA star Caitlin Clark, but instead, centers around the Ohio State Buckeyes blowing out the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday.
For anyone who may have forgotten, Doyel stole the show during Clark’s introductory press conference with the Indiana Fever by making the scene all about himself in one of the strangest moves ever seen in a media setting.
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Doyel introduced himself to Clark by saying “Real quick, let me do this,” before reportedly forming a heart with his hands, a gesture Clark does towards her family after games.
Clark replied by very awkwardly asking “You like that?” before things got even weirder.
“I like that you’re here. I like that you’re here,” Doyel responded. “Yeah, I do that at my family after every game, so it’s very cool,” Clark replied.
“Okay, start doing it to me, and we’ll get along just fine,” Doyel replied back.
Long story short, Doyel later apologized for his creepy actions but was ultimately suspended by the Indy Star for two weeks.
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Naturally, each time he shares his opinion on social media nowadays, he gets chirped into oblivion and Saturday was no exception.
Doyel took serious offense to Ohio State scoring a touchdown with 35 seconds left in regulation to ultimately cap off its win over Indiana 38-15. He specifically didn’t appreciate Ohio State quarterback Will Howard celebrating the nail-in-the-coffin touchdown by putting out a fake cigarette to mock Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
Doyel taking offense to a 23-year-old college quarterback celebrating a monumental win over an undefeated Indiana team is odd behavior, and folks in his mentions were sure to point out that fact.
Ohio State virtually guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff with the win over Indiana, and the Hoosiers should be safe as well, barring a colossal loss to Purdue to close out the regular season.
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