Srock is the answer to the question

 

    Byrnes strength coach Mike Srock looks on as wide receiver Ricco Sanders lifts. (photo by John Byrum)

    Why has the Byrnes football team become such a powerhouse in the past decade?
    It can be attributed to good athletes, a good offensive system and the competition the Rebels play.
    Or, it’s Mike Srock.
    Yes, there are other contributing factors, but the strength and conditioning system that Srock has put into place has helped the Rebels.
    I’m going with Srock as the main reason.
    The team’s success began a few years after Srock came to work there and started players on his weight-lifting program.
    Coincidence? I don’t think so.
    “It’s a program now. When we first started wasn’t much going on,” Srock said. “Now it’s a full-tilt, year-round training program. Two things to describe our program – it’s consistent and relentless. It’s intense and it has to be. You have to develop players. If you’re not doing something to develop players then you’re just waiting for that good class.”
    It’s the way he makes the players work.
    It’s the time he gets to do his job.
    It’s the fact that Srock, a tall, muscular guy with a flat top, can be a little scary.
    If he told me to lift 230 pounds 10 times, I’d do it. (OK, I’d try until I gave myself a hernia.)
    “If he says go hop in the creek down there, you do it. You don’t ask. There’s a reason,” Byrnes safety Justin Bright said.
    “We have the best speed and conditioning coach in the area,” Byrnes wide receiver Ricco Sanders said. “He pushes us hard and we want to work every day to get better.”
    One of the cool parts of this job is getting to see the behind-the-scenes parts of high school sports.
    Like the morning I showed up at Byrnes to watch a group of rising seniors go through a workout with Coach Srock.
    They were there before 7 a.m., worked hard for 45 minutes and then headed to class.
    “Teenage boys are the easiest audience,” Srock said. “I’ve never met a teenager in over 30 years of doing this that didn’t want to look better and get bigger and stronger. What hooks those little kids is the first we give them a test and he puts 10 extra pounds on his bench. He’s hooked for the next six years.”
    Srock asks his players about the drills and tweaks the program that they’re on.
    He goes to workshops and seminars to learn more about how to make athletes stronger. They use chains and parachutes to keep strength and conditioning from getting dull.
    “Mike is the reason it’s caught on so much in South Carolina. He’s good at what he does. He helps every kid he can,” Spartanburg strength coach Jimmy Anderson said.
    Other schools have talked to Srock about leaving Byrnes for another high school.
    He listened, but can’t leave the Rebels.
    “I get courted quite often,” Srock said. “The thing that keeps me here is that I know these kids will work. There’s no guarantee that kids will work somewhere else, even if they threw a bunch of money at me.
    “For me, that’s good enough. They treat me really well here.”
    Srock – who doesn’t like telling people his age – says he wants to stay around for a few more years.
    You know, make the Rebels “too fast, too strong,” which is one of Srock’s favorite sayings.
    “People ask ‘How do you stay around this for so long?’ The kids make me laugh every day. I enjoy them. I have a repoire with them,” Srock said.     “The whole thing is I’m here to make them better. I tell them ‘I’m going to make you a star.’”
    He’s made a couple.
    And helped a football program gain national recognition.