By Mike Pilosof
Garden City, KS-Call it the circuitous route, but Garden City Community College, who made headlines in 2016 as the first program in the Jayhawk Conference to employ a full-time Strength and Conditioning Coach, got their man on Wednesday, naming Alex Huddleston the new director of the program.
“Going into this process, we had a clear-cut vision of what we wanted our strength and conditioning program to look like,” Director of Athletics, Greg McVey said. “Alex fit that description perfectly. He brings experience as a former player and coach.”
Huddleston didn’t take the direct path to a head strength job out of college. Instead, he turned a collegiate baseball career into a coaching gig at Bluefield College in Virginia. But after one season, Huddleston headed back to school, earning his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from Tennessee Tech. That eventually led him to his first strength and conditioning internship at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, TN.
“This is tremendous opportunity,” Huddleston said. “I get a chance to come to one of the best Junior Colleges in the country. It’s an opportunity to grow and create a really good strength and conditioning program.”
From there, he earned internships to Tennessee Tech and Louisiana State, training wide receivers and defensive backs while taking full reigns of the track and field program. Then, in 2018, he was hired as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Lamar University, where he was in charge of the women’s soccer and men’s and women’s golf teams while assisting with football, baseball, softball, volleyball, track and field and men’s basketball. During his time there, the women’s soccer team won the conference title and the football squad earned a postseason berth.
“I believe I bring a perspective as someone who played sports in college,” Huddleston added. “I’ve seen and worked with some really high-level athletes. I love getting a chance to mentor.”