TAMPA - The University of South Florida has hired Hans Straub to serve as head strength and conditioning coach, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug Woolard announced on Thursday. Straub, who will oversee all aspects of USF's strength and conditioning programs for its 19 sports, has spent the last 11 years in collegiate sports performance at Stanford, Washington and San Diego.

"I've had experience working with a lot of different sports and have worked directly with the coaches of those sports to find out what their student-athletes need to be successful," Straub said. "As a result, I've been able to develop functional-based programming that's specific to each sport and its metabolic demands. With the use of increased scientific research, we train these bodies by utilizing a detailed and organized periodization that allows our student-athletes to maximize their performance, while targeting their unique, individual needs."

Straub comes to USF after serving as the top assistant sports performance coach for football for the last two years at Stanford, where he designed and implemented the sports performance program for the Cardinal. He worked primarily with the development of the big skill group, including tight ends, fullbacks, linebackers and defensive ends. Straub was also heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the sports performance program.

"Hans brings a wealth of knowledge in sports performance to our athletic department and we believe our student-athletes will benefit greatly from his experience," said Woolard. "His work with a wide variety of sports has allowed him to tailor his performance program to the student-athletes' needs and we think that is extremely important as strength and conditioning continues to evolve. We definitely feel Hans is another strong addition to the USF family."

During his time at Washington, Straub worked closely with the Huskies softball, baseball and women's volleyball programs. He also served as an assistant director of athletic performance at the University of San Diego from 2002-06, when he worked with a variety of Torero programs, including baseball, softball, men's soccer, men's and women's tennis, men's golf, swimming and diving and men's and women's rowing.

Straub is a 2002 graduate of Towson (Md.) University, where he earned his bachelors of science degree in kinesiology. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is also certified as a club coach with USA Weightlifting. Straub is currently pursuing his master's degree in exercise science from Texas-El Paso.

A native of Carlisle, Pa., Straub was an offensive lineman at Millersville (Pa.) University for two seasons before playing tight end at Towson for two years.