Lou Hernandez loves Texas. It’s his home state and you can see the pride he has when talking about Texas and his hometown of Alice. But, like most of the Tar Heels in town for the Sun Bowl, coming to a city that’s a 10-hour drive away is a new adventure for him.
“It’s been absolutely awesome,” Hernandez said, “We’re so excited, especially me and my family to come back to Texas. I’ve never really been out here to El Paso but I’ve been really impressed with the hospitality and the people here have just gone above and beyond.”
Like many of the other Tar Heels, the trip to El Paso has been an eye-opening experience for Hernandez. From the trip to Fort Bliss and the welcome the teams have received, the trip has exceeded expectations so far.
“Being from a town that has 19,000 people in Alice, you had to go down to Corpus Christi to shop or go to a restaurant,” Hernandez said, “Here, Here, El Paso has a lot more than what I was expecting when it comes to things to offer. Of course, there is always Whataburger to tie things together.”
Hernandez is North Carolina’s head strength and conditioning coach and was brought on to Larry Fedora’s staff in 2012 after six seasons at Illinois. He’s also spent time in the college game at Florida, Houston, and a couple of years in the NFL with the New York Jets. No matter where he’s been, Hernandez has used Texas high school football to influence how he runs his program.
“When I was at Florida, there’s always a comparison as to who has the better high school football: Florida or Texas? You have that argument going,” Hernandez said, “When I was at Illinois, people always want to talk about the standard that Texas high school football sets. Even at North Carolina, people want to know about the same thing.”
As he finishes up his fifth season with the Tar Heels, Hernandez has seen an improvement in his team since he’s been there thanks to the system he and Fedora are implementing.
“It’s almost like the offense that he (Fedora) runs,” Hernandez says, “We try to simulate that as much as we can and try to be very efficient and effective. We’re very, very big believers in basics and that’s something I tell high school coaches all the time. We tweak it a little bit based on what Coach Fedora wants and that’s to be smart, fast and physical.”
In fact, that physicality is what stands out to him in North Carolina’s opponent in the Hyundai Sun Bowl. With Stanford’s reputation as a physical team, Hernandez hopes to use the matchup with the Cardinal as a barometer for his own team.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for Stanford. You look across their team and that’s what you want your team to look like. They’re big, physical, strong and tall. They all look the part.”
Hernandez says he’s seen the progress his team has made in the areas of strength and conditioning and he hopes those results will show up one more time in 2016.
“It’s going to be a great experience for us and hopefully the work we’ve done is going to pay off and show off. I know our guys have worked very hard and are very excited about this opportunity.”
