By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

If the purpose of Lou Hernandez's weight room at Memorial Stadium is to strengthen the 13 major muscle groups of his student-athletes' bodies, then why does a message pertaining to their brains greet them when they enter the facility?

It's pretty simple, really. The words "Get Your Mind Right" adorn the sign, a not-so-subtle attempt by the University of Illinois's new football strength and conditioning coach to influence his pupils to focus their attention on the work they're about to begin.

"To get your mind right, it's all mental," says the native of Alice, Texas. "I want these guys to understand that they have to have the mindset of being successful. They'll have pain and discomfort coming at them and they have do be ready to conquer that and succeed when those challenges come up to them. Once they walk through that door, they've already made a choice, and it had better be the right choice. You're going to either succeed or you're going to fail. You're going to win or you're going to lose. The biggest part of what we do is making sure they come in here locked in with the right mind set to win and conquer."

The 'Get Your Mind Right' sign above the entrance to the football weight room  

The word "accountability" is frequently mentioned by Hernandez and his Illini student-athletes.

"It's all about being a family," Hernandez says. "It's about accountability to each other. Everybody matters and everything we do matters. I want them to understand that here in the weight room we are all responsible for each other's actions. If someone happens to come in late or misses a rep or misses a time or misses a run or misses an assignment, it's not just that one athlete's fault. It's everybody's fault because we allowed that to happen. Success begins in the weight room, then continues to the practice field, then hopefully into the game on Saturday. Everybody has a role to do and everybody has to hold each other accountable for doing the right thing."

Sophomore offensive lineman Kendrick Green, with a 650-pound squat and a 300-pound power clean, has been particularly impressive to Hernandez during off-season workouts.

"Alex Palczewski and I are always trying to get after it with each other," Green said. "Competition is how you win, so we're always trying to implement that into our workouts. Coach Lou has a lot of rules in the weight room, so we've got to hold ourselves accountable to each other. We learn pretty fast that if you mess up you're not going to like what's going to happen. If one guy messes up, we're all in a world of hurt."

Despite only being hired by Lovie Smith a few months ago, Hernandez is anything but a stranger to Champaign-Urbana. He served on Coach Ron Zook's staff from 2005-11 and played a major factor in Illinois's trip to the 2008 Rose Bowl. A sizeable legion of players from that team influenced him to consider a second tour of duty with the Illini.

"To think that I had an impact on a group of guys that felt they way they did, and then for them to put their name on a piece of paper in support of me, that's probably my best coaching accomplishment," Hernandez said.

From the time he was a teenager, he's been a strength and conditioning aficionado.

"My dad would help me in the back yard doing some basic lifts and exercises," Hernandez said. "I remember doing them before baseball and football and basketball games. After while, he saw that I had more of an interest in it than he was expecting. So he took me over to one of his friends who had a local gym and I absolutely fell in love with it. Ever since then, that's been my number one passion and my lifestyle. Eventually, through my power-lifting career, I came to understand that there were opportunities to help athletes."

As an undergraduate at the University of Houston, Hernandez was mentored by longtime NFL strength coach John Lott, now with the Los Angeles Chargers, and sprint coach Tom Tellez, the man who trained Olympians Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell.

"I've been blessed to have had incredible people who have helped me develop my philosophy and my approach on how to get guys better," Hernandez said.

(Left) Hernandez was instrumental in helping Illinois reach the 2008 Rose Bowl Game during his first stint in Champaign. (Right) Hernandez looks over a spring workout in March 2019, just after returning to Illinois.  

As for his current Illini student-athletes, he relies on a foundation of five exercises that everyone does, then tailors other workouts to fit the various position players.

"For the offensive and defensive linemen, their maximum distances are going to be 10 or 20 yards, but with an incredible force and power," Hernandez said. "For our skill guys, we're going to make sure they work on fast twitch, more of a run-oriented track-based philosophy to be faster and more efficient runners. Then the combo guys—the tight ends and the linebackers—get a little bit of both worlds. They have to be able to be both strength oriented and speed oriented."

In recent years, technology has played a more significant role.

"Science and technology has really come a long way, so it's important to add those things into our plan," said Hernandez. "(Illini athletics director) Josh Whitman has been very supportive when it comes to purchasing these expensive pieces of technology. He wants to give us every advantage towards keeping our athletes healthy. At the end of the day, though, there's no substitute for the basics and there's no substitute for hard work and effort."

By fall, the entire Illini football staff will be moving into the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, a massive 14,200-square-foot facility that adjoins the south end of the Irwin Indoor Practice Facility.

"When I began at Illinois in 2005, we had a little match-box of a weight room," Hernandez said. "That weight room got us to the Rose Bowl. Then in '09, we moved into our current facility and it got us to back-to-back bowl game wins. So we are really excited about what this new room is going to do for us in the future. It's going to have a camera system in the weight room that will be able to record our athletes' technique. That will give us the ability to provide instant visual information and feedback."

Hernandez is quick to compliment the Illini athletics training staff, the sports nutritionists and the sports psychologists, all vital contributors to the team's overall success.

"We work hand-in-hand when it comes to putting the best athletes out on that field," he said.

As for an improved record, there's no doubt in Hernandez's mind that success is just around the corner.

"With our administration and Coach Lovie and the expectations his staff has, we're really excited about their improvement moving forward."

Kendrick Green and his teammates agree and say that the future is now for the Illini.

"Coach Smith preaches that this is the year we've got to make our break through, so that's what we plan on doing," Green said. "I can't wait. I'm super excited."