EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugold.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire athletics department announced today the hiring of Zac Ruch as the Head Strength & Sports Performance Coach.
"To have someone with his knowledge and expertise working full-time to build bigger, faster and stronger Blugolds is exciting for us," said Director of Athletics Dan Schumacher. "We are happy to have Coach Ruch join our staff."
Ruch has spent over 12 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 with the Colorado Rockies in addition to training pro athletes at the Velocity Training Center in Edina, Minn.
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 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 in Sport and Exercise Science from Minnesota in 2017.
"I am looking forward to working with all University staff to create an athletic performance program that is second to none," said Ruch. "I'm excited to work at an institution with such a strong history. We are ready to hit the ground running."
The Monroe, Wis. native holds numerous credentials such as a certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He is also a USA Weightlifting Advanced Sports Performance Coach, RPR Level 1 (Reflexive Performance Reset) and is certified in CPR/AED and First Aid.
