Coach K’ Improving Stamina, Facilities

Before my current writing life, there was The Hilltop, Howard University’s and the Nation’s Oldest Black Collegiate Newspaper, where many of the questions and themes I still explore first found their voice. What follows are my early published works, preserved in their original form.

From The Hilltop Archives

Originally published in The Hilltop, Howard University — October 29th, 2002

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‘Coach K’ Improving Stamina, Facilities 

Notice anything different about Howard University athletics? Maybe it's the stamina and drive of the football team who have upset two teams in the fourth quarter. Perhaps it's the extended endurance of the women's cross-country team, which just took home the conference championship. It could even be the extra energy the men's and women's basketball team have, as both are pre-season favorites. 

 

Wherever manifested, there has definitely been a noticeable change in the style and play of every sport on Howard's campus, a change largely due to the newest addition to the Athletic Department, Keith Comeforo, the strength and conditioning coach.

 

Coach K, as he is more commonly known, is Howard's first and only strength and condition coach. How does one person change the attitude and drive of an entire department in such a short time? It starts with experience. 

 

Originally from the New Jersey Shore, Coach K graduated from Oregon State with a degree in exercise and sports science. Since then, his passion for sports has taken him around the country. 

 

He started his career at the University of Arizona as an intern. Coincidentally, he came to Arizona the same year the men's basketball team won the National Title. It couldn't have been drawn up any better. 

 

From there he has been the assistant strength and condition coach at Princeton and Kentucky and the head coach at Towson, where he first heard of the position at Howard.

 

"Howard is behind compared to other Division I schools," Comeforo said. "I don't have to pick up where someone else left off. I am able to start from scratch and build a whole new program."

 

Because this is Coach K's inaugural season and he is the University's first specialties coach, there is room for development and improvement.

 

"Most athletes haven't been exposed to this kind of training before, it will benefit all and the impact will be seen immediately," Comeforo said. 

 

When he first took the job, he assessed the facilities and noted actions that needed to be taken. His first goal was to make sure everything was under one roof. With his office in the basement of Cook Hall, he couldn't oversee one team's training in Cook while another was in Burr.

 

His number one priority is to prevent injury and maintain safety. "You can't do that unless everyone is together," he said. 

 

Between the two weight rooms, one in Cook and Burr, there weren't enough machines to accommodate every athlete. Coach K's only alternative to accomplish his goals was to get new equipment. 

 

He then came up with a plan that entailed putting down a new floor, donating all the old equipment, and installing new equipment, none of which, Comeforo said, could have been done without the time and effort of the Bison Express.

 

"There's no right or wrong way to do this job," Comeforo said. "You can personalize your own workouts. You look at other schools, their websites, and get ideas." 

 

Comeforo started every athlete with the basics, building trust by working on an individual basis with each athlete. His massive filing cabinet has a file for every athlete with detailed instructions for workouts geared toward that unique individual. 

 

His schedule revolves around the athletes; what he has time and availability to do. However, time is one factor that is not on his side. Coach K is the strength and conditioning department. He is only one person and being there for every athlete is impossible. He relies on the team head coaches who he looks to as his assistants.

 

With a full week that consists of five, 12-hour days, thirteen teams and hundreds of athletes, why would anybody want this job? Coach K doesn't complain, though his athletes sometimes do. 

 

"If you love it, you'll do it. I enjoy training. I work in a weight room and there's no dress code. Compared to the corporate world, who wouldn't do it," he boasted. 

 

The feedback from athletes and coaches are also positive. Darryl Nunn, a junior wide receiver from Detroit, Mich. praised Coach K's efforts. 

"Just look at the effort he has put into this weight room. You can tell he's devoted, he takes his job seriously."