ISU Director of Strength and Conditioning Jim Lathrop Announces Retirement

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State Director of Strength and Conditioning Jim Lathrop announced Thursday that he will be retiring at the end of the calendar year, bringing an end to a nearly 40-year career in collegiate strength and conditioning.

Following the announcement, ISU Director of Athletics Larry Lyons named current staff members Ryan Swenson the Director of Athletic Performance and Chris Carter the Director of Nutrition and Assistant Strength Coach.

"I've loved my time here at Illinois State and tremendously appreciate the atmosphere within this program," Lathrop said. "Thanks to Larry Lyons and Coach (Brock) Spack for their support since joining the staff here in 2011. Words can't express how much I appreciate the relationship I've had with Coach Spack for all these years and all the relationships I made with all the coaches and staff here at Illinois State. I got into this business to help the student-athletes, and I really appreciate their willingness to put in all the time and effort it takes to improve. I wish everyone the best of luck in the future."

Serving in his role at Illinois State since 2011, Lathrop has been instrumental in the success of the Redbird Athletics programs and particularly important to the resurgence of the ISU football program.  During his tenure, the Redbirds have appeared in the FCS playoffs five times and won Missouri Valley Football Conference championships in 2014 and 2015. The 2014 Redbirds made a historic run through the playoffs and advanced to the FCS National Championship game against North Dakota State. For his efforts, Lathrop was selected as the Samson Equipment FCS Coach of the Year for 2014.

"This decision comes with mixed emotions for me, as I am happy for Jim but will miss having him around the program," ISU head coach Brock Spack said. "He's been a tremendous strength and conditioning coach for over 35 years at several stops, and I've been fortunate to know and work with him since our time at Wyoming. He's the best I've ever been around and did great work here at Illinois State. I wish him and his family all the best moving forward in retirement."

In May of 2015, Lathrop earned the highest honor in his profession when he was named a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association (CSCCa) and was presented with the blue MSCC jacket at the organization's national conference. His 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. 

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