USD athletics welcomes new strength and conditioning coach
A healthy athlete, a welcoming environment and an overall increased athletic performance are three goals Clete McLeod has for his new position as the head strength and conditioning coach at USD.
Following the departure of previous head strength and conditioning coach Jevon Bowman, McLeod accepted the position Jan. 21.
McLeod said he was impressed by the training facilities at USD.
“This is not just a great weight room at this level — this is a world-class training facility by any standards,” he said. “I’ve been in weight rooms in the Pac-12 (Pacific-12 Conference), I’ve been in weight rooms in the Big 10, other weight rooms in the Missouri Valley football conference and the Summit even, and this is one of the best I’ve ever seen.”
A long history
McLeod said he’s always had an interest in athletics.
“I was one of the kids in high school who played every sport but I was lousy at all of them,” he said.
After joining the Army for three years after high school, McLeod attended Southern Illinois for his undergraduate degree, where he double majored in food nutrition and exercise science. McLeod said he missed the team atmosphere of athletics.
“I started gravitating toward athletics again with kind of a different view on it now, I was looking to going into coaching,” he said. “I started coaching as I started graduate school. I was teaching and started coaching in the weight room and I’ve been doing it 18 years.”
McLeod has coached at Southern Illinois, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oregon State, Southeast Missouri State and Northern Illinois.
Now at USD, McLeod primarily works with the football team, and said he’s hoping to take on other sports in the future.
Darin Greenfield, a junior on the football team, said the team is adjusting well to McLeod.
“He’s very straightforward with how he wants things,” he said. “He really respects the players and respects our bodies and how we feel.”
McLeod said he’s excited to work at USD for a long time.
“This is a place where I feel very at home immediately,” he said. “I’ve looked up at this job for the last couple of years and known that this is a place where I can feel I could really sink my teeth into.”
Setting new goals
McLeod said he values making sure the athletes are getting the best training experience possible.
“It’s about keeping the athlete healthy,” he said. “When you can quantifiably increase their durability, I think then you start working on the performance aspect of it.”
McLeod is making a few changes to the weight room, such as moving around equipment, managing injuries and putting an emphasis on movement.
“While (Bowman and I are) very similar in our training, there are also some things that I see as building off of what he established,” McLeod said. “Lifting weights is very important to me, but the fact is that if that doesn’t show up on the court or on the pitch or on the football field, then that weightlifting doesn’t mean anything, so I really like to incorporate a lot of movement.”
Greenfield said he appreciates some of the new things McLeod is bringing to the weight room.
“One thing we’re doing a little different is Olympic lifts — we’re learning how to do a little bit different weight programs,” he said. “We’re doing more complex movements. He’s really focusing on perfecting our craft right now.”
A tight knit community
McLeod said he likes the tightly-knit communities of USD and athletics.
“There’s a very real commitment to being the best out there. They’re not kind of just getting by — they’re doing spectacular things,” he said. “Everybody supports one another, the athletes all train in this room so there’s interaction between cross country all the way up to football. I think that’s really cool.”
In his few weeks being at USD, McLeod said he’s seen a positive training environment.
“It’s fun, the kids train their butts off, they’re exciting to be around, they have a chip on their shoulder,” he said. “What I’d like to see is a training environment where the athletes love coming here instead of dreading coming here.”
Greenfield said he looks for great leadership skills in a strength coach.
“I’ve known (McLeod) three weeks now and he’s been all about that,” Greenfield said. “Lifting weights, obviously sometimes kids aren’t excited about that, but when you’re a strength coach you have to have ways to make it fun and a good atmosphere in the weight room and he’s really done that.”
McLeod said USD is an “outstanding fit” for him.
“I’ve coached all over the United States — I’ve coached on the other side of the planet,” he said. “This suits my personality. I love this level of football and basketball. To me, this is what college athletics is all about.”
