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Zac Ruch returns to the UW-Eau Claire athletics staff for his fifth year in 2022-23 as the Head Strength and Sports Performance Coach.

Ruch is in charge of overseeing training for all 25 sports at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. He has spent over 15 years directing and leading strength and conditioning programs at the professional, collegiate and high school levels where he developed and implemented programing for a wide variety of sports based on individualized training assessments and programming methods.

At the professional level, Ruch spent time working in the Colorado Rockies baseball organization in addition to training pro athletes at the Velocity Training Center in Edina, Minnesota. Collegiately, he worked as the strength and conditioning intern at the University of Minnesota, working specifically with the baseball, softball, track & field, gymnastics, volleyball, hockey, soccer and swim & dive programs. Ruch also spent eight years at the high school level, coaching football, powerlifting, track and field and strength and conditioning in addition to his teaching duties.

Ruch earned his undergraduate degree in Physical and Health Education at UW-La Crosse in 2007 and his master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science from Minnesota in 2017.

The Monroe, Wis. native holds numerous credentials, including certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach with Distinction (RSCC*D). He is also a USA Weightlifting Advanced Sports Performance Coach, RPR Level 2 (Reflexive Performance Reset), Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms), and is certified in CPR/AED and First Aid.

Updated: 8/4/2021