Justin Wilcox is reuniting with one of his old strength coaches. Torre Becton, formerly of Washington, currently of USC, was officially hired as the new California Golden Bears strength coach.
Welcome to Bear Territory Coach Becton.#GoBears pic.twitter.com/l1c8djnRI8
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) January 20, 2017
USC assistant strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton will be taking over the Cal football strength program from Damon Harrington. Becton previously was the assistant strength and conditioning coach for Washington under Steve Sarkisian and Chris Petersen from 2011 to mid-2016, when he made the move down to USC and Clay Helton’s staff. Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Washington from 2012 to 2013, so there’s overlap there.
This anecdote from David Lombardi at ESPN is promising:
New Cal strength coach Torre Becton used to be on the staff at Washington. Upon reaching the CFP, many of this season's Husky seniors credited Becton for the mentality he helped instill in them back when they were freshmen.
Becton was in charge of integrating the new USC and Washington freshmen to college life.
Becton also took on the key role of overseeing the integration of freshmen into the team training structure and football program at both USC and Washington by designing and implementing a mentoring orientation period that would help them become acclimated to life on a college campus and increase their chances of success.
Becton previously served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Baylor (2003-06), Iowa State (2007-2009), and the Houston Texans (2009 to 2010). He was the director of strength and conditioning at South Carolina State from 2010 to 2011 before joining Sarkisian’s staff.
Becton will have to deal with an ongoing investigation from campus officials into the Cal strength program (it won’t be terminated with the departure of Harrington).
It seems as if Becton stresses a few important things: Agility, recovery, and health.
Coach Becton earned his master’s degree in Sports Science while juggling five different job changes and moving across the country. In his current position and fourth season at Washington, he works solely with the school’s football team, overseeing the physical strength and development programs while enhancing their performance through exercises, agility and acceleration and deceleration drills.
“We basically do as many things as we can to prepare them to play the game of football at a high level,” said Becton. “We try to keep them as healthy as possible and keep them on the field. We also give consideration to injury reduction and joint mobility.”
He also has a pep talk or two in him.
Becton was rumored to be a candidate for the Notre Dame strength position as well.
Welcome to Cal Coach!
Here’s part of the release for CalBears.com:
"I am thrilled to be joining the football coaching staff at the University of California," Becton said. "Justin Wilcox is a terrific coach that I was able to make a great connection with when we worked together previously at Washington and I am excited about building upon that at Cal. I'm just looking to do my part to help develop student-athletes to their fullest potential and win championships."
Wilcox, who was named Cal's head coach this past Saturday, worked with Becton during the 2012 and '13 seasons at Washington while serving as defensive coordinator for the Huskies.
"Torre is an organized and detailed professional with a strategic plan that will help our football student-athletes reach their full potential," Wilcox said. "Certainly, the success he has had in developing tremendous football student-athletes at both Washington and USC over the past six years stands out, but even more impressive to me is the way in which he has done it. Torre has an innovative, smart and detailed plan that not only motivates student-athletes to be their best but does so efficiently. I had the pleasure of working directly with Torre when we were at Washington together and was extremely impressed."
...
Becton was the first person in his family to attend college and played football for four seasons on the defensive line during his playing career at North Carolina A&T State (1996-2000) with the Aggies winning the MEAC title during his 1999 junior campaign. Becton graduated from North Carolina A&T State in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education/fitness and wellness management. He added a master's degree in Sport Science from the United States Sports Academy in 2014.
Becton is certified through the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa) and is also Strength & Conditioning Coach (SCCC) and Functional Movement Systems (FMS) Level 1 certified.
The well-versed Becton completed 450 hours as an intern with the Director of Football Operations at Washington in 2013 and is on the programming committee for the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), a former huddle leader for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.