Williams said the key is to focus on the lesser-used muscle groups for each sport. For example, since basketball players’ legs get plenty of exercise during a season, the emphasis would be on upper body strength.

Most Division I programs have separate strength and conditioning coaches for football and basketball. Having a cohesive plan and communication, not only between the athlete’s two head coaches but also between his strength coaches, is crucial, Williams noted.

“The challenge is somehow being able to train them so that they have the physical capacity to be able to play both of those sports,” said Virginia strength coach Mike Curtis.

“If you’re a basketball player, and you’re solely training for the physical demands of football, you’re not going to have as much endurance. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s going to be some things, from a force output standpoint, that if you’re a basketball player, will translate to what you have to do in football. But at the same time, if you’re solely training for football, sometimes it will be very difficult to meet the endurance demands of basketball.”

It has been done before at Tech.