Danny van Dijk couldn’t afford to waste anyone’s time. USC was preparing to face Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl in 2014 and he was just an unpaid intern on the strength and conditioning staff.
But 15 wearable GPS devices, given to the program to test, were collecting dust. Van Dijk was sure he could make use of them.
Ivan Lewis, USC’s head strength and conditioning coach, carried a message for him to then-coach Steve Sarkisian: “Look, I have a guy downstairs who really understands this stuff,” Lewis said. “I think he could really help us.”
Word of Van Dijk, a curious Australian who’d shown up one day looking for work, trickled up the USC food chain.