By Harry Minium
This has been a difficult spring and summer for Dwight Galt IV, Old Dominion University's Director of Sports Performance, who is facing a series of challenges he's never taken on before.
When the coronavirus forced ODU students to stay home for the rest of the school year, he worked with his staff to design workouts for football players in their homes.
He also helped put a plan together a plan for athletes to train when they return to campus designed to keep them as safe as possible.
And in the last three weeks, he has been training football players as they begin to get into shape for the season, all the while practicing social distancing.
Yet his biggest challenge comes on or around July 25. That's when his wife, Meredith Galt, is due with the couple's first child.
Being a Dad, he said, is an awesome responsibility, though typical of Galt, he also made a joke.
"I'm ready for it," he said. "I was talking to a friend, another strength coach, and she was asking if I was ready.
"I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready to have humans in my life that expect me to do everything for them.
" 'I already have 100 in my life,' " he added speaking of ODU's football team.
The timing isn't optimal. ODU is scheduled to begin a series of walk-through practices two days earlier and shortly thereafter, summer practice is set to begin.
Generally, Galt works a lot of 12-hour days once practice begins.
Fortunately, he has a couple of bosses who embrace family values. Senior Associate Athletic Director Bruce Stewart and head coach Ricky Rahne mandated that he take time off to be with his wife and their first child.
Pre-COVID-19, Rahne's staff frequently brought their kids to work, as did Stewart.
The boy – they already know his sex – will be the fifth child born to ODU's football coaching staff in less than a year. It should not be a surprise that the Monarch staff is having a Baby Boom given that ODU has the nation's youngest Football Bowl Subdivision coaching staff.
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"I'll take some time, kind of readjust some priorities," Galt said.
"We've done some programming to accommodate being down a staff member. The main reason we did that was COVID, in case one of us contract the virus.
"But that also applied to me being away when my son is born."
Monarchs Taking Pains to Social Distance
At 17,000 square feet, ODU's football weight-training facility in the L.R. Hill Sports Complex is 12 times the size of my house. We've had as many as 20 people in our house for a party, so ODU's coaches could probably squeeze all 110 football players into the weight room if they wanted to.
"It's not that difficult when you bring 50 guys in there to work out," said Galt said.
That was, of course, pre-COVID.
Since ODU football players began returning to campus last month, the number allowed in the weight room has shrunk – no more than ten players at a time work with Galt and his staff in the weight room. Aaron Rittgers, Ryan Hardie and Greg Allen assist Galt in training the football team.
Galt says other universities are bringing larger groups into their training facilities, but that ODU decided on a more conservative formula. It includes players wearing masks throughout the facility (although not while working out), more hand sanitizing stations and social distancing at all times.
The weight room is sanitized between workout sessions and players are constantly being asked to wash their hands.
"The safety of our players, not only COVID safety but also injury safety, are at the forefront of everything we're doing," Galt said.
ODU players are participating in voluntary workouts this summer that include working with the training staff but not coaches.
Some players were fortunate in that while they were home for three months, they had access to gymnasiums or had friends who set up their garages as weight rooms. Most, but not all, could also travel to parks or recreations fields, where they could run and do agility drills.
Some, however, weren't so fortunate.
"We had guys with a jump rope and some cones. We had kids who had a pair of 20-pound dumb bells," Galt said.
About 50 players returned to campus in mid-June, with most of the rest are set to return this week or later this month, including most of ODU's 23-member freshman class.
Currently, 20 players work out at a time, with 10 running and doing conditioning drills on the practice field and 10 in the weight room. Galt considered changing that formula when more players arrived this week but decided to err on the side of safety.
Predictably, as players began to return to campus last month, "we've seen a mixed bag" as far as their conditioning, Galt said.
"Some guys are really looking good. Some guys still have work to do.
"The guys who have work to do, it's not necessarily their fault. They had limited resources.
"We also have a lot of guys in a really good place. They have put some good mass on their bodies."
Rahne said the transition to online classes "was seamless," in part because ODU has one of the nation's best online learning programs.
The stress levels of players, however, remained high in part because no one knew when they would return and whether they would play football this fall.
Faithfully working out several hours a day takes a ton of discipline when you're at home with neither coaches nor Galt and his staff to motivate you in person.
"What is challenging our guys is the pace," Galt said. "Sometimes these guys were doing a set, texting someone, then doing another set and getting a cup of coffee. It would take them three hours to finish a workout session.
"We do things a lot faster and it's taking a while for our guys to catch up."
Since they have returned, Galt and his staff has worked on basics in order to keep players safe.
"We've been doing basic conditioning stuff," he said. "We are teaching them run mechanics, how to run properly, when we're outside.
"In the weight room we're teaching them techniques, things they haven't heard in a long time."
There's still uncertainty as to whether the football season will be held. The Ivy League announced that it will postpone all fall sports, including football, as have many junior college associations and Division II leagues. The Big Ten announced it will play conference opponents only.
"We're not paying attention to that," Galt said. "We're just getting ready to play football."
Galts are an "All-American" Couple
The Galts are, in a sense, the All-American couple. They met while he was a football player and she was a cheerleader at the University of Maryland, and yes, that sounds like a perfect story for a Hollywood movie, although this movie would not have the complications that Hollywood loves.
They are Christians, dedicated to each other and very much in love. Meredith has excelled in her own right – she works as a physician's assistant for Sentara.
Galt has also had an All-American career. He's the son of Dwight Galt III, the strength and conditioning coach at Penn State who is nationally known for his ability to push marginal players until they are good and help take good players and make them great.
"I learned so much from my Dad," he said, adding that humbleness is among the virtues he tried to pass along.
"He still cuts his own grass and weeds his own driveway," Galt said. "He never wants any attention."
Dwight IV left Penn State a year and a half ago to train the ODU team then coached by Bobby Wilder. After Wilder resigned and Rahne was hired, the new coach kept Galt. When Rahne announced to the team that Galt was staying, the players broke into cheers and mobbed Galt.
Rahne was Penn State's offensive coordinator before he came to Norfolk, so they've known each other a long time.
"Deeg and I have the same philosophy," Rahne said, referring to his nickname. "That was an easy choice."
Athletic director Wood Selig said it was a great decision.
"Dwight has been a huge asset for Old Dominion ever since he got here," Selig said. "He's contributed to our athletic program in so many ways,"
Much like his father has been at Penn State.
In case you're wondering, there will be no Dwight Galt V.
"Meredith and I talked about it and we wanted our son to be able to build his own identity, to forge his own path," he said.
They haven't decided on a name yet, but the couple have it narrowed down to some biblical names.
"We'll wait and see how that goes," he said.
Meanwhile, he's getting a little anxious about the big day.
"My wife told me it's time to pack my bag" for the hospital, he said.
"Being a Dad is a huge responsibility. Thankfully, I had a great role model."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU Football Strength Coach Dwight Galt IV Having a Baby in the Midst of a Challenging Summer
