Sherrone Moore, the new head coach of Michigan football, is still filling out his staff and expanding the Wolverines’ behind-the-scenes operations.
Before he was officially appointed, the idea was that the program would expand inside, with a stronger recruiting staff, but Moore appears to be looking beyond that.
With Ben Herbert leaving the program to supervise strength and conditioning for the Los Angeles Chargers, Moore promoted assistant Justin Tress to lead the charge there. But he’s also not taking any chances with player development this offseason.
According to his Twitter account, Zach Higginbotham has been hired as the maize and blue’s director of sport science, expanding the strength and conditioning department.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association defines a director of sport science as having the following job description:
The Director of Performance and Sport Science is the Athletic Department’s leading applied research scientist. This role directs department research projects to uncover essential characteristics and measures for improving athlete performance, health and safety, and talent identification. The role is responsible for the delivery and implementation of sport science services across all integrated support team (IST) disciplines and has the ability to influence athlete performance planning, resources, and organizational processes through data collection, coordination, and analysis.
Furthermore, the Director of Performance and Sport Science has a broad understanding of IST specialties (e.g., strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, mental performance, etc.) to effectively provide leadership and support in a collaborative high-performance sport environment. The position necessitates frequent engagement with athletes, sport coaches, IST staff, department heads, and senior administration, as well as the ability to create and distribute educational products as needed, as well as mentor and supervise many employees.
While his job description at Ann Arbor may differ from the one listed above, he will undoubtedly collaborate with Tress to help set goals and keep athletes on track to achieve them.
Higginbotham most recently worked at Cal as the applied science and reconditioning coordinator. He previously served as the associate head strength and conditioning coach at FAU, an assistant at Ole Miss, ULM, and Nevada, an intern at Ohio State under Urban Meyer, and an intern at Marshall, where he attended school. In 2017, he graduated from Marshall with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and a minor in psychology. He also played linebacker for the Thundering Herd.
