ISU strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan reminds me of a bear. At first glance he’s a tough grizzly who could very well rip your head off, but as you take another look you realize he is more of a Yogi Bear than a forest beast.

Perhaps it’s the way one of his deep barrel-chested laughs takes you by surprise when he finds something funny. Or it could be that talking to players makes you realize he is not feared but respected-deeply respected.

Matt McGettigan, or “Getty” as the players call him, has as much to do with the on-the-field success of the Cyclones as any other coach who calls the Jacobsen Building home. But the role he plays on the team differs from the rest of the coaches.

While head coach Dan McCarney’s office overlooks the football field, Getty’s office is in the weight room. When Cyclone coaches hit the road to recruit, Getty stays home to mind the troops. He spends close to every day of the school year with ISU football players, and most of the summer as well.

ISU linebacker Justin Eilers summed it up best when he said, “A strength coach is a different kind of breed.”

Indeed. Coach McGettigan is the horsepower in the Cyclone engine. Every extra yard lunged for, and the fourth quarters Iowa State outplays its opponent, is due to Getty. He demands hard work and he gets it.

“The weight room is an extension [of the field] for us,” Getty said.

He is the guy who gets out of his players what they think they can’t give. He is serious about lifting and conditioning, but there is a softer side to him, too.

He has a pension for nicknames. It’s his way of keeping things light in an otherwise serious activity.

Eilers is “Shamrock”, while Marcel Howard is “Cell Block”. Craig Campbell earned his nickname of “Mayor” after Getty saw him out on the town talking to so many different people it appeared he was running for office. One person who didn’t have a nickname that stuck was Dustin Avey, but Getty got to him a different way.

It seems after Avey celebrated his 21st birthday with a night getting heavily lubricated, Getty put it to him the next morning during an early workout. Avey had the distinct pleasure of doing leg-aching wall sits while his belly still held the remains of bar-hopping bliss.

Getty’s side of the story: “We hold them [players who have hangovers] to a higher level, and Dustin came in under the weather a little bit. We turned up the heat on him a little, but he made it through.”

All joking aside, coach McGettigan is truly the right man for the program. He was one of McCarney’s first hires after coming to Iowa State. McGettigan had been an assistant strength coach at Notre Dame before coming to Iowa State. He was here through a bismal start, and unfortunately had to endure the old facilities of the Olsen Building, as well as spend a year in the basement of State Gym observing his charges pumping iron in a facility better suited for Rikers Island.

Through it all he has had faith in the system that McCarney has implemented at Iowa State. Seeing all of the hard work pay off last year with a bowl win made it all worthwhile.

“I wouldn’t trade that feeling I had in Phoenix last year for anything,” he said.

Getty has seen a lot since his arrival at Iowa State. The talent level has continually improved every year, as well as the strength gains he has seen in the weight room. A hefty 535 pounds is tops in the bench press, while James Reed squatted close to 715 pounds before he jetted his way into the NFL.

Hard work is part of the package when you play for the Cyclones. Getty demands it, and the players respond. Troy Davis, Craig Campbell, Mike Banks, Ennis Haywood and Jordan Karstens are just a few of the names Getty drops when asked about some of the hardest working guys in the weight room.

Those who aren’t working hard will hear about it, and that is where a good deal of the respect comes from.

“He treats us like men,” Craig Campbell said.

“We are going to be flat out honest with people. It may not be what they want to hear, but at the same time they are men and they appreciate that,” Getty said.

Everybody talked to had the exact same word to describe McGettigan-“respected”.

That respect comes primarily from being consistent, which is the one word Getty would use to describe himself.

He realizes that demanding your players show up for 6:30 a.m. workouts means you better have your butt there before they arrive. It is these early morning hours that constitute the only negative about his job. He would like more time for his family. Unfortunately, the schedule dictates otherwise.

While McCarney gets the lion’s share of the credit for victories, and the blame for losses, McGettigan remains mostly behind the scenes.

But the next time the Cyclones trounce an opponent, realize that the major driving force behind that victory is a man that you normally don’t think much of. McGettigan believes in hard work, reaching goals and being honest. As long as players do their best, and don’t tinkle on his leg and tell him it’s raining, the grizzly bear that is present by appearance will remain in hibernation.

Marcus Charter is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Ames.