John Sauer

01/01/00 2:00PM

-

Head Speed, Strength and Conditioning Coach John Sauer is now in his 20th year as the director at William and Mary. He is responsible for all aspects of strength and conditioning for the Tribe’s 23 varsity sports.

Under his guidance, the College has had a football player earn All-America strength honors for the past 19 seasons, including the recent selections of Josh Wright (‘07), Adam O’Connor (‘06) and Dominique Thompson (‘05) as All-American Strength and Conditioning Athletes of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

During the summer of 2005, Sauer was one of seven coaches nationwide recognized as a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach (MSCC). The title of MSCC is the highest honor that can be achieved as a strength and conditioning coach. It represents professionalism, knowledge, experience, expertise, as well as longevity in the field. For these reasons, all applicants must be a full-time collegiate and/or professional strength and conditioning coach for a minimum of 12 years in order to be considered for this distinction.

In 1995, Sauer designed the Joseph W. Montgomery Strength Training Center located in the lower level of William and Mary Hall. This 5,000 square foot facility was upgraded in the spring of 2006, primarily with new Power Lift and Sorinex equipment. The room now contains 16,000 pounds of free weights, over 7,000 pounds of dumbbells and 6,000 pounds of rubber bumper plates. In addition, it has 24 custom-built Olympic platforms, 18 multipurpose power racks and a fully-equipped plyometric area.

Sauer came to William and Mary from Clemson where he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach. At Clemson, he assisted in the development, coordination and implementation of strength and conditioning programs for more than 450 varsity athletes.

Before Clemson, Sauer held assistant coaching positions at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He earned his bachelor of science degree in health and physical education from the University of Montana in 1984. In 1985, he received his master’s in health and physical education from Delta State University, where he was the head coach of strength and conditioning in charge of all varsity sports.

Sauer is a certified member of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. He is also a member of the NSCA, International Sports Science Association, U.S. Weightlifting Federation and is both a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified. Sauer is certified as a Level I Club Coach & Level II Senior Coach by U.S.A. Weightlifting. Additionally, he has achieved Level I Coaches certification from the USAT&F. From 1996-98, Sauer was honored as Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year by the CAA.