Ex-Mizzou strength coach Pat Ivey reunites with former players at Senior Bowl

Pat Ivey was having a conversation amid the constant chatter of scouts and personnel men in the lobby of the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel on Wednesday when he suddenly saw Kentrell Brothers walk past him.

Ivey, without saying another word, made a beeline to Brothers, a linebacker who developed into the nation’s leader tackler during Ivey’s 11-year run as Missouri’s strength and conditioning coach.

“There he is!” Ivey yelled before the two embraced.

Ivey was not retained when defensive coordinator Barry Odom was promoted to head coach in December after Gary Pinkel’s retirement, so this was the first time Brothers had seen Iveyin a month, and he couldn’t have been happier to reconnect.

“It’s weird for him to not have a job there, so when he got here, I gave him a big hug and told him how much I appreciated him,” Brothers said. “I’m hoping he finds another good job that he can enjoy. We miss him out there.”

Pinkel’s retirement brought an end to a chaotic football year at Missouri that started when defensive tackle Harold Brantley — one of the team’s best players — was lost for the season after a car accident in late June.

Throw in the student protests that involved the football team and eventually led to the resignation of MU System president Tim Wolfe, not to mention Pinkel’s cancer diagnosis in November, and there was plenty of turmoil for the players to navigate. But Brothers credits Ivey for helping them.

“Coach Ivey has done a lot of things for the football team — he’s done a lot of things for me, personally,” Brothers said. “We’ve had several heart-to-hearts. He was there for us when Harold (Brantley) got in his car accident. He was there for us when all the protesting and stuff happened for us.”

In his role as the Tigers’ associate athletic director for athletic performance, Ivey was in charge of the football program’s player development program and also oversaw development in other varsity sports. He was chosen as the 2013 Football Scoop strength and conditioning coach of the year after Missouri’s breakthrough season in which the Tigers went 12-2 and won the SEC East.

Like Brothers, Missouri center Evan Boehm, who was also participating at the Senior Bowl, could not have been more thrilled to see Ivey.

“I mean, coach Ivey, I really can’t thank him enough for what he’s done for me in my football career,” Boehm said. “In the weight room, I came in not doing the numbers I wanted to do. And he pushed me to become the best I could. It was amazing to see where I started and where I am now.”

Boehm said that because of Ivey, he now has a one-rep max of 425 pounds on the bench press, and he can rep 225 pounds 32 times. He also squats 755 pounds and hang-cleans 325 pounds.

“Everybody had nothing but respect for coach Ivey, and it started with the mental conditioning that he taught us, the positive coaching he showed us,” Boehm said. “But by doing that, he pushed us to our limit and over our limit and out of our comfort zone to do the things he needed to do it.”

Boehm credited Ivey and Josh Henson — Missouri’s offensive coordinator from 2013 to 2015 who was also in Mobile — for helping him find his footing after the first day of practice on Tuesday.

“I saw him and coach Henson here, and just seeing those two familiar faces really brought me back down to Earth and showed me I’m still here and this is still football and everything is going to be OK,” Boehm said, “Coach Henson and coach Ivey meant a lot to me at Missouri and I have nothing but respect for those guys and I love both of them.”

Love was a word also used by Brothers in reference to Ivey, who declined an interview. Like Henson, Ivey apparently hasn’t found a new gig yet, but Brothers was confident that Ivey will be an asset to whatever program he lands with.

“The next team that gets him will get a real coach who actually cares, who is genuine, who is smart, who knows what he’s talking about and is there to get things done,” Brothers said.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Ex-Mizzou strength coach Pat Ivey reunites with former players at Senior Bowl."