Muhlenberg College hired Darin Thomas as its first full-time director of fitness, strength and conditioning in 2012. In his first few years with the Mules, he implemented strength training, nutrition and conditioning programs for individual athletes and teams, using various strength and conditioning modalities.Â
A 1995 graduate of Cortland State, Thomas brought to Muhlenberg more than 15 years of experience in teaching and coaching. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and is also certified by the United States Weightlifting Federation as a Level 1 Club Coach.
Thomas has made numerous presentations at NSCA clinics on topics such as power development, multi-directional speed, agility and conditioning, with some of the presentations geared specifically to athletes in soccer, football, baseball and basketball, as well as multi-sport athletes.
For seven years prior to coming to Muhlenberg, Thomas served as an assistant professional specialist in the Department of Physical Education at the University of Notre Dame, where he taught contemporary topics for college students, including components of wellness, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, weight management, nutrition and stress management. He also was director and owner of Sports Performance Training in Mishawaka, Ind.
In 2011, Thomas traveled overseas to serve as a visiting faculty member at the University of Adama Mickiewicz in Poznan, Poland. In the summer of 2009, he interned as assistant strength and conditioning coach at Temple University.
Prior to Notre Dame, Thomas spent nine years at the University of Richmond, the last eight as director of strength and conditioning. While there, he was responsible for the day-to-day operation of all aspects of strength and conditioning program design for 21 intercollegiate sports.
Thomas began his professional career as a graduate assistant at Cortland State while earning his master's degree in physical education. Among his duties was coordinating and instructing adapted physical education lessons for physically challenged individuals for the entire Windsor Central School District.
