NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. – Samson Equipment, the most-respected name in weight training, has selected Illinois State head strength and conditioning coach Jim Lathrop as the FCS Coach of the Year for 2014. Lathrop, along with the other winners, be honored in an upcoming edition of American Football Monthly.
"This is our 12th year honoring coaches with AFM," said Scott Schroeder, Samson Equipment's Director of Sales and Marketing. "The number of deserving candidates continues to grow at all levels of football. Congratulations to all of this year's winners."
Serving in his role at Illinois State since 2011, Lathrop has been instrumental in the resurgence of the ISU football program. During his tenure, the Redbirds have appeared in the FCS playoffs twice and won the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship in 2014 for the first time in 15 years. The 2014 Redbirds made a historic run through the playoffs and advanced to the FCS National Championship game against North Dakota State.
Lathrop's first job as a strength coach came as a graduate assistant at Missouri (1983-87), and he later coached at Georgia Tech (1988-92), Wyoming (1993-97), California (1997) and Purdue (1998-2010), where he worked with current ISU football head coach Brock Spack.
"Jim is the best strength and conditioning coach I have ever been around in my career and we are very fortunate to have him working with our program and student-athletes here at Illinois State," Spack stated. "Our players really respond to him and there is no doubt that he is a big reason for our success over the time he's been here. He is demanding, but very fair, which I think players respect and like. His passion in life is to train student-athletes and make them better, and he is extremely good at it."
Along with Lathrop, Samson Equipment selected an NFL coach, two additional college coaches and three high school strength and conditioning coaches for 2014. The Samson Equipment Strength and Conditioning Coaches of the Year for 2014 include:
- NFL – Garrett Giemont, Pittsburgh Steelers
- FBS – Mickey Marotti, Ohio State University
- Div II – Bill Perkins, Bloomsburg University
- High School – David Reese, Monte Vista Christian School (CA)
- High School – David Aoyagi, Marcos De Niza High School (AZ)
- High School – Rich Lansky, Manatee High School (FL)
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