Former Chicago Blackhawks trainer finds new home with UW-Platteville football
It's barely 7 a.m. on a rainy September morning, but Paul Goodman is already getting after it.
UW-Platteville's new football strength coach is moving like a dynamo through the Pioneers' early morning workout in the Pioneer Activity Center, high-fiving players, handing out advice on creatine supplements and modifying exercises on the fly to help players work around injuries. He's one of the boys, outfitted in team workout gear and orange-and-white Nike high-tops, the iconic scene of Rocky Balboa thrusting his arms in triumph on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art tattooed on his right forearm.
"This is where you get better, in this moment," Goodman shouts as barbells clang around him and hip-hop music blares. "This is your time to get better. This is where the dirty work gets done, in the dark. Let's have a day!"
Goodman has been on the job for only a few weeks, but he's already established himself as a key figure in the Pioneers' push toward a WIAC championship and a third straight playoff appearance. The man knows what he's doing. He spent 17 years as a strength coach with the Chicago Blackhawks, worked as a strength coach with the University of Wisconsin football and men's hockey teams and single-handedly established the University of Vermont's first strength program for athletes. He was named the 2021 National Strength and Conditioning Association Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year during his time with the Blackhawks and ran his own gyms in Chicago and Oregon, Wisconsin.
His client list has included former Badger and NHL player Tony Granato, former Catamount and NHL player and current Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis - "a genetic freak," according to Goodman.
He spent part of the summer of 2006 training Phish lead singer Trey Anastasio while he was on tour. His main job, he said, was to secure a racquetball court at each tour stop. Anastasio loves the game, Goodman said, and would not work out until after he and Goodman had played each day. During a stop in New York City, Goodman recalled, he was on his way to visit Anastasio in his hotel room in Trump Tower when he passed the building's gym and encountered Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash "just giving it" on a treadmill.
He got along so well with Anastasio that Anastasio gave him a shout-out in the liner notes of his 2005 solo album "Shine." Goodman knows the message by heart: "Thanks, Paulie. SCOT," shorthand for "strongest core on tour."
So how did Goodman end up in Platteville?
Goodman ultimately wants to blend his practical knowledge with theory as a professor. He's currently pursuing a doctorate in concussions and return-to-play protocols through Auckland University of Technology. He learned that UW-Platteville Health and Human Performance Department Chair Tim Swenson was looking for a lecturer. Goodman jumped at the chance and in August won a position teaching four HHP courses and a weightlifting class.
Pioneer football strength and defensive backs coach Michael Martin left the team around the same time Goodman was hired. Coach Ryan Munz said that one of his assistant coaches knew Goodman through hockey circles and mentioned that the university had hired him as an instructor. Munz asked Goodman into his office on Aug. 24, Goodman's first day on campus, and offered him the strength job.
"From a cultural standpoint, a ton of alignment from the get-go," Munz said. "He's shown he can train athletes and win at a high level. Not to say he fell into our lap -- everything happens for a reason -- but it timed out well. When we needed him, he was here. I can't explain it any other way."
Goodman, a former rugby player who has been lifting weights since he was 11 years old in his father's basement, said he doesn't subscribe to the old-school powerlifting approach football coaches have used for decades. The risk of injury is just too high, he said.
"The risk-to-reward ratio is not worth it," he said. "In pro hockey, we're not doing it. Your joints are just too banged up."
He said workouts likely will look different this offseason as he gains an understanding of the abilities players need to develop to excel within Munz's system. For example, he's already starting to move skill position players toward velocity-based training, an approach that calls for players to move weight as fast as they can rather than grinding under heavy loads.
"I'm not trying to build better weightlifters," Goodman said. "I'm trying to build better football players. I'm slowly titrating in certain things that are important."
Goodman has only led the team through a handful of workouts so far. He's still learning where some equipment is stored and figuring out how best to move more than 100 players through short in-season workouts. On that recent rainy morning, players were taking turns performing cleans, sprinting onto the basketball court to perform box jumps and back into the weight area for bench press and reverse lunges.
Munz said he's already impressed with how Goodman can tailor workouts for individual players.
"Everybody knows the lifts, but at the end of the day, you need the expertise and history to adjust things and he has that," Munz said. "He's fitting in really well for us. He's there to help people get better at what they do."
Goodman said he's never felt such a warm welcome as he's had at UW-Platteville. He's used to the corporate side of professional sports, he said, and the human connection he's already felt with the players has energized him.
"I got emotional last Friday," Goodman said as he bounced on an exercise ball after the morning workout. "I never felt so appreciated. Everybody was respectful and welcoming. The staff for sure, but the players. We're in this together."
The Pioneers (0-0 WIAC, 1-0 overall) face the University of Dubuque in a nonconference game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. Tickets are available here: Events - UW-Platteville Box Office. A livestream can be found here: UW-Platteville.
