TEMPE, Ariz. -- Joe Connolly needed to feel passionate about his job. He knew that the first few things he tried, after double-majoring in sociology and criminal justice at the University of Hartford, did not fit that description.
He got his EMT and became a volunteer firefighter. He managed a landscaping company. He sold life insurance for New York Life. All the while, he kept thinking of a better path.
"I always loved strength training and fitness," he said. "It just never clicked that I could do it for a profession. It wasn't nearly as common back then."
So Connolly called his former strength and conditioning coach, Emil Johnson, who moved from the University of Hartford to Yale in 2005.
Connolly got some pointers, and he got a masters in physical education with a concentration in strength and conditioning from Bridgewater State.
That began a 10-year run of positions at Harvard, Louisville, South Carolina and finally the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was named the director of sports performance in January 2016.
Along the way, he coached such marquee names as Houston Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina), while working with influential names in the business such as Carolina Panthers strength and conditioning coach Joe Kenn, who hired Connolly at Louisville and held the same position at Arizona State from 2001-2007 under Dirk Koetter.
Kenn met Connolly at a conference in Nashville just before a position opened up at Louisville.
"We chatted for 20 or 30 minutes," Kenn said. "Sometimes, you just know a guy fits your style. He's not overboard energetic, something that I'm seeing way too much from strength and training coaches. The business is starting to starting to get a little over the top but you have to remember we're still coaches so we have to teach and educate first. He gets that.
"I've been fortunate to work with a lot of great coaches and guys at various points in my career but Joe just resonated with me."
When Sun Devils Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director Jean Boyd called to ask Kenn for recommendations, Connolly was at the top of the list. Boyd soon understood why.
"When you meet him, he's straight-forward. He's got a very strong yet humble energy about him," Boyd said. "He's very organized and focused. He talked immediately about creating competitiveness on a daily basis in the weight room and out on the practice field, which coincided exactly with coach Edwards' philosophy. He always wants guys competing and he sets a standard of accountability for everyone equally in that regard."
When Connolly arrived in Tempe for his interview, something inside him nodded approval at this new opportunity.
"It was going to take a great situation to get me out of UMass," he said. "I had a great position. We had 26 sports. I'm from Hyannis. I was very comfortable. I loved the kids, I loved the coaches, and I loved the administration.
"I was just smitten by this place. I've always been a fan from afar and I always thought it was a sleeping giant. The opportunity to start at ground zero with Herm Edwards was motivating for sure, but so was his vision for what this program can become."
Connolly hesitates to define his approach because he doesn't want to pigeonhole or limit himself.
"My approach is always changing," he said. "It depends on the athlete, the personality, the situation.
"Of course, we'll be using a block system and you can't train somebody who is 18 the same way you train someone who is 22 or 23. We'll have different programs, but ultimately what we do in the weight room is general. There won't be a lifting exercise in the weight room that is football specific and anybody that tells you there is one is lying. The only way to be specific to football is to play football, but there are general qualities we can develop in here that will help athletes be better at their specific position or game."
Connolly keeps abreast of the latest advances in sports sciences by attending conferences and talking constantly with his peers.
"A lot of it doesn't have any substance and a lot of it does," he said. "It's your job, as a so-called expert, to weed through that and determine what you'll get something out of versus wasting your time."
Connolly believes in a gradual approach to preparing his players for the season.
"You learn things better in pieces than all at once," he said. "I think athletes need to be progressed and volume can be increased over time. Typically, the body adapts to stimulus a little at a time, not a lot. You see injuries at the beginning of camp because the athletes aren't adapted to that situation."
Connolly can cite a litany of methods and machines the Sun Devils will use, like the velocity-based training Tendo Units he just ordered, but above all, he wants to develop a trusting relationship with his players.
"The one major thing that I've always gauged myself on is: do the players love me and hate me and respect me?" he said, laughing. "Ultimately, all great players want to be pushed to the limit and sometimes farther. If they don't, they may not be great players.
"To accomplish that, they have to buy in, and to buy in, they have to trust you. I want them to know that I care about them as a person because once they know you care they'll give you more of themselves -- more effort, more energy, more of themselves.
"If they don't know already that I care about them, they will."
He got his EMT and became a volunteer firefighter. He managed a landscaping company. He sold life insurance for New York Life. All the while, he kept thinking of a better path.
"I always loved strength training and fitness," he said. "It just never clicked that I could do it for a profession. It wasn't nearly as common back then."
So Connolly called his former strength and conditioning coach, Emil Johnson, who moved from the University of Hartford to Yale in 2005.
Connolly got some pointers, and he got a masters in physical education with a concentration in strength and conditioning from Bridgewater State.
That began a 10-year run of positions at Harvard, Louisville, South Carolina and finally the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he was named the director of sports performance in January 2016.
Along the way, he coached such marquee names as Houston Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina), while working with influential names in the business such as Carolina Panthers strength and conditioning coach Joe Kenn, who hired Connolly at Louisville and held the same position at Arizona State from 2001-2007 under Dirk Koetter.
Kenn met Connolly at a conference in Nashville just before a position opened up at Louisville.
"We chatted for 20 or 30 minutes," Kenn said. "Sometimes, you just know a guy fits your style. He's not overboard energetic, something that I'm seeing way too much from strength and training coaches. The business is starting to starting to get a little over the top but you have to remember we're still coaches so we have to teach and educate first. He gets that.
"I've been fortunate to work with a lot of great coaches and guys at various points in my career but Joe just resonated with me."
When Sun Devils Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director Jean Boyd called to ask Kenn for recommendations, Connolly was at the top of the list. Boyd soon understood why.
"When you meet him, he's straight-forward. He's got a very strong yet humble energy about him," Boyd said. "He's very organized and focused. He talked immediately about creating competitiveness on a daily basis in the weight room and out on the practice field, which coincided exactly with coach Edwards' philosophy. He always wants guys competing and he sets a standard of accountability for everyone equally in that regard."
When Connolly arrived in Tempe for his interview, something inside him nodded approval at this new opportunity.
"It was going to take a great situation to get me out of UMass," he said. "I had a great position. We had 26 sports. I'm from Hyannis. I was very comfortable. I loved the kids, I loved the coaches, and I loved the administration.
"I was just smitten by this place. I've always been a fan from afar and I always thought it was a sleeping giant. The opportunity to start at ground zero with Herm Edwards was motivating for sure, but so was his vision for what this program can become."
Connolly hesitates to define his approach because he doesn't want to pigeonhole or limit himself.
"My approach is always changing," he said. "It depends on the athlete, the personality, the situation.
"Of course, we'll be using a block system and you can't train somebody who is 18 the same way you train someone who is 22 or 23. We'll have different programs, but ultimately what we do in the weight room is general. There won't be a lifting exercise in the weight room that is football specific and anybody that tells you there is one is lying. The only way to be specific to football is to play football, but there are general qualities we can develop in here that will help athletes be better at their specific position or game."
Connolly keeps abreast of the latest advances in sports sciences by attending conferences and talking constantly with his peers.
"A lot of it doesn't have any substance and a lot of it does," he said. "It's your job, as a so-called expert, to weed through that and determine what you'll get something out of versus wasting your time."
Connolly believes in a gradual approach to preparing his players for the season.
"You learn things better in pieces than all at once," he said. "I think athletes need to be progressed and volume can be increased over time. Typically, the body adapts to stimulus a little at a time, not a lot. You see injuries at the beginning of camp because the athletes aren't adapted to that situation."
Connolly can cite a litany of methods and machines the Sun Devils will use, like the velocity-based training Tendo Units he just ordered, but above all, he wants to develop a trusting relationship with his players.
"The one major thing that I've always gauged myself on is: do the players love me and hate me and respect me?" he said, laughing. "Ultimately, all great players want to be pushed to the limit and sometimes farther. If they don't, they may not be great players.
"To accomplish that, they have to buy in, and to buy in, they have to trust you. I want them to know that I care about them as a person because once they know you care they'll give you more of themselves -- more effort, more energy, more of themselves.
"If they don't know already that I care about them, they will."