In his own words – Ryan Van Bergen

(image via Ryan’s Twitter profile)

Last week I spoke to former Michigan defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen.  Ryan now runs his own gym in Ann Arbor.  In the interview we touch on everything from the difficulties of starting your own company to tacking Braxton Miller for a loss in front of the Michigan student section.  Ryan’s passion for Michigan, fitness, and football was obvious throughout the conversation.

How are things going at Blue Lion Fitness?  When did you get the idea to start a gym?  

Really good!  We’re coming up on 2 year anniversary in a few days.  Honestly the idea started about the time I was done in Carolina [his professional football career, with the Panthers].  I wanted to lose some of the weight that I needed to play the position I was at.  The weight loss never really happened for me.  I had never trained in an environment where you had to go to a gym, pay for a membership, plug your headphones in, and put weight on a bench or machine.  Any time I really saw progress there was a team element.  I started looking for group options or class options, but at the time there was only Cross-Fit.  That’s pretty popular, but we had the idea to take an hour long class and take some of the elements we used at a Division-1 strength and conditioning program and use them for everyday fitness. My partner and I opened up the business, and we’ve been trying to get to 200 active members.  At our 2-year anniversary we’re about where we thought we’d be, at 158 active members.  We’re closing in on capacity, and we’re trying to take the next step in group fitness, and expose people to something other than Cross-Fit.  

What are some of the biggest challenges of starting your own company?

The biggest challenge is that you’re starting something completely from scratch.  There are a lot of things you don’t think of, like something as simple as human resources.  You have to make sure everyone working with you is on the same page.  Another challenge was building a new brand, developing it, and putting definitions on what we’re trying to accomplish.  We want to get other people up to speed on how to live the brand.    

You’re one of the few Michigan players to play under three different head coaches.  Without asking you to pick favorites, how would you characterize each coach’s style?

They’re very different people, and all are great coaches.  Coach Carr developed great position coaches, and offensive and defensive coordinators.  He was very motivating and provided good cohesion and chemistry.  He kept us focused on the here and now.   On my recruiting trip he never talked about football, but talked about fishing.  He’s just a good man.  He developed relationships with the players, and never had to ask my parents’ names.  

Coach Rodriguez was at a different stage in his career, and was probably looking to get more accolades.  He also had to transition the team into a new system.  We were going from power football to the spread.  Things weren’t necessarily set up from him to be successful right away.  He had a hard time getting consistency, we were transitioning defensive coordinators in and out.  He’s a great coach, and any team that he has  is going to put up numbers on offense. The defensive side of the ball is where we fell short.     

Coach Hoke’s specialty is defensive line.  He is very much like Coach Carr.  He’s personable, and built relationships with the players. He probably got that from his time coaching with Coach Carr.   As Head Coaches they all had great qualities.  They were all great leaders.  

You were recruited as both an offensive player (TE) and defensive player (DE).  At what point in your career did you make the switch to defense? Did you prefer defense, or was it a skill-set situation?  

One of the reasons I chose Michigan was because the coaching staff said there was a chance I’d play tight end in certain situations, like on the goal line.  However, I’ve always loved to sack the quarterback.  I’d rather sack the quarterback than score a touchdown.  It’s a better feeling, and don’t let anyone tell you different.  Before I came to Michigan, Coach Carr had seen me play tight end in camp, and I had a pretty good skill set.  He practiced me there a little while during my freshman year.  But when Coach Rodriguez came over we didn’t use the tight end as much any more so that ended up getting written off.  I picked defense because it made more sense at the time.

During your senior year, the defensive line improved dramatically.  Was the change schematic?  What changed from an individual perspective?

We had three guys that oversaw what we did.  We’d have film sessions that where everything you did wrong was approached by three coaches.  They were all very consistent with their message.  We had a full team room where Coach Hoke would go over the D-Line.  Then we’d break out into the defense and Coach Mattison would get on us about what we were doing.  And then we’d go into our position coach’s room with Jerry Montgomery, and we’d go through the mistakes one more time.  The microscope you’re under as a defensive lineman on Coach Hoke’s staff is unlike anything else.  It helped us move forward.  There wasn’t a time when we weren’t reviewing stuff as small as hand placement or even finger placement.  That level of criticism helped everybody improve.   

In the 2012 Sugar Bowl against against Virginia Tech the defense was on the field for over 37 minutes that game (including overtime), but held VT to just 20 points.  We’ve seen so many top defenses run out of gas lately, both in college (Alabama vs. Clemson) and the NFL (Falcons vs. Patriots).    Did you feel like you were running out of gas in that game?  Or were you confident that you could keep stopping them?

Honestly, on the defensive line, we were just along for the ride. We didn’t have any choice but to stay out there. We had a lighter unit [in terms of depth] on the team that year.  We went into the game with maybe 6 or 7 guys that could rotate in and play.  If you look at the first series, me and Mike Martin played all 12 or 13 snaps, which doesn’t usually happen.  If we tapped our helmet, no one was coming in from the sideline.  It wasn’t like we said, “put it on us, Coach,” which we would have done.  We just didn’t have a choice.  We knew if we didn’t play we’d have to just go with 10, or play without a linebacker.  We were really down on numbers.  We had a few injuries near the end of the first quarter, and on the sideline we’re talking about putting in someone that played offensive line just to have a body out there.  It’s a game that, honestly, because I went through the injuries that I did, I don’t have a great recollection of from the first person point of view.  We just had to strap it up and get ready for the next play.  And we came away with that win.  

Which of your teammates would you say had the most positive impact on your time at Michigan?  Who got you through tough workouts or got you ready to play in games?

Kevin Koger always had a positive impact.  During warm-ups [before games] he was a guy who would get people going.  I like to think of myself as a pretty enthusiastic guy, but when I didn’t have any juice, Koger got me going.

Is there any specific play that sticks out in your memory as being particularly special?

Yes.  Against Ohio State in 2011, we had them backed up near the student section. We had a play called and I called an audible to a twist, and Braxton Miller ran a read-option and ran right into it.  I ended up with a tackle for loss.  It was a pretty cool play, and given the fact that it was the Ohio State game and where it was on the field, it was probably my favorite play. 

Do you have any message for the 2017 Wolverines?

I would just say the position is what you want, and the team is what you make it.  When we showed up at fall camp, we’d already know that playbook.  We didn’t have to go through base defense or anything else, we were just getting ready for our first game.  If you were behind the 8-ball on that, we didn’t trust you in the game.  Make sure you’re ready to go in fall camp.  If you got to this level, you know what it takes to prepare yourself for camp.  Camp is not the place to prepare to play football.  You should have already prepared to play football.   Now you have to fine-tune it.  That’s the attitude you have to have to be in an elite program.

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