New strength and conditioning coach Quadrian Banks reunited with Chris Holtmann at Ohio State: Buckeye basketball news
Updated on September 14, 2017 at 8:52 PMPosted on September 14, 2017 at 6:13 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Quadrian Banks might not have become Ohio State's men's basketball strength and conditioning coach if it weren't for Chris Holtmann.
Banks, known as Q, had been in the NFL for the past few years, working with the Eagles and, most recently, the Colts before getting a call from Holtmann in July.
"He called, and it was no second thoughts. Let's do it," Banks said about his new boss.
Banks and Holtmann already have an established relationship together. Holtmann was the Gardner-Webb head coach from 2010-13, and Banks was the director of player performance for the team from 2011-13 before moving to the NFL.
He spent three years with the Eagles and went to the Colts in 2016 before reuniting with Holtmann in July.
"He's a stickler for detail. Everybody does your job. You hear it from Chris Holtmann and you're like, 'Okay. Everybody do their job,'" Banks said. "But then when you hear it from (former Eagles coach) Chip Kelly, then you hear it from (Colts coach) Chuck Pagano, and you hear it from (Colts general manager) Chris Ballard, and you hear it from other people in professional environments.
"And you're like, 'It's making a lot of sense. I've heard all of this before.'"
In addition to working with NFL teams since 2013, Banks was a student intern at Texas, the head strength and conditioning coach at Prairie View A&M, an assistant at Hamption, Richmond, Mississippi and the director of athletic performance for the basketball team at Gardner-Webb.
Banks came to Columbus in July and started working with a young Ohio State team that has just one true senior in Jae'Sean Tate. His goal is to instill a heightened attention to detail and work ethic with the players.
"We'll get stronger. We'll get faster. We'll gain the right kind of weight," Banks said. "It's just a day in, day out consistency. I think that's something, coming in, they've been doing things a certain way. Just the teaching, a new set of terminology, new staff, new everything. This is the way we're going to go about doing things.
"I think anytime you have a brand new staff, you have to start over. There's a lot of great things they were doing with the previous staff. But we're moving forward."
Banks and the Buckeyes got some good news on Tuesday when sophomore
Andre Wesson was cleared to return to practice after being tested for an undisclosed medical condition. It was feared earlier that Wesson's career could be in doubt. But he is back with the team and Banks is happy to have him back.
"He's doing a great job," Banks said. "Again, it's consistency. You try not to get bored with the details. But every day, he's coming along a little bit further. And you see him do things and you're like, 'Oh, I've never seen you do that before,' because we haven't been able to train him. Everything that he's doing is kind of like the first time."
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