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Jeff Connors |
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Jeff Connors is
set to return to East Carolina to direct the strength and conditioning
program for Pirate football, according to media reports.
Connors had similar responsibilities at ECU for 10 years before leaving
to work in that capacity at North Carolina. Connors has spent 10 years
in Chapel Hill as strength and conditioning coordinator. He was an
assistant athletic director at UNC-CH for the last nine years.
Connors worked for the Pirates when Steve Logan coached the program and
those ECU teams generally outperformed the opposition late in the game,
a testimony to Connors' conditioning training.
Connors would replace Mike Golden, who left ECU to rejoin former Pirates
football coach Skip Holtz at South Florida.
According to the North Carolina athletics website, Connors has been
honored as a Master Strength & Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate
Strength & Conditioning Coaches association (CSCCa). The Master Strength
& Conditioning Coach certification is the highest honor that can be
achieved as a strength and conditioning coach, representing
professionalism, knowledge, experience, expertise and longevity in the
field.
Connors has
helped develop some of the top players in the Tar Heels' program,
including Julius Peppers, Jason Brown, Ronald Curry, David Thornton,
Kentwan Balmer and Hakeem Nicks. In four years under Connors' direction,
Balmer increased his overall strength and agility and became a
first-round NFL draft choice.
During Connors'
tenure in Chapel Hill, 73 of 77 all-time football strength and
conditioning records have changed. In the past two offseasons, eight
all-time 40-yard dash records (position specific) have been established
in football.
Connors also
maintains department-wide responsibilities. He previously conducted the
strength and conditioning program for the North Carolina women's
basketball team. During that period, the team won four ACC titles and
made two Final Four appearances. Currently, Connors is training the Tar
Heels wrestling team. Connors has previous experience in wrestling as he
trained the Bucknell wresting program that produced four All-Americas.
Connors came to
North Carolina after spending 10 seasons as East Carolina's Director of
Strength & Conditioning. Under Connors, the Pirates were one of the best
fourth-quarter teams in the country. In 1996, the ECU defense did not
allow a point in the fourth quarter until the seventh game of the
season. In 1999, the Pirates outscored their opponents, 102-56, in the
final period. In 2000, ECU had a 94-57 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Connors' was the
head strength and conditioning coach at Bucknell prior to his experience
at East Carolina.
Connors is often
asked to present his strength and conditioning program to clinics and
conferences across the country. He presented UNC-Chapel Hill's speed and
position specific package at the National CCSCa Conference and Midwest
Sports Performance Conference in 2009.
Connors was a
competitive powerlifter and has won four state titles in powerlifting
and has been ranked as high as fourth nationally. He holds Level I
certification in Olympic Weight Lifting by the U.S. Weight Lifting
Federation.
A 1980 graduate
of Salem (WV) College, Connors was a four-year starter at cornerback and
was team captain as a senior. He led Salem in interceptions as a
sophomore and junior.
After college,
Connors served as a police officer in South Florida for two years. Prior
to becoming a strength coach, Connors coached high school football and
wrestling at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach, FL, and he coached
linebackers at the Tennessee Military Institute in Sweetwater, TN.
Connors and his
wife, Michele, have a daughter, Kaitlin, and a son, Beau.
Staff writer
Al Myatt
contributed to this story.