Garza Hired as Director of Strength & Conditioning
ADA, Okla. – East Central University Athletics will have a new face guiding its strength & conditioning program as Director of Athletics, Matt Cole, announced the hiring of
Arthur Garza as the new Director of Strength & Conditioning.
"We are pleased to welcome home Arthur Garza to serve as our Director of Strength & Conditioning," stated Cole. "Coach Garza stood out as the ideal candidate very quickly in this search. As a former student athlete and alum of ECU, he understands NCAA Division II and has worked under coaches at the forefront of new ideas and innovations in this area. I am excited for the impact he will make on our campus and within our department."
Garza will oversee the Pat O'Neal Strength and Conditioning Center while developing and implementing strength & conditioning programs for ECU's 11 varsity athletic teams with over 400 student-athletes.
"I am fired up about coming back to my alma mater as the Director of Strength & Conditioning," said Garza. "It is a great opportunity and responsibility to give back to ECU, the student-athletes and the community. I am excited to train and prepare the student-athletes to be in the best position physically and mentally to enhance their success in their sport."
Garza returns to Ada after spending the last three summers assisting with training for two NCAA Division I football programs; Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University.
At TCU, Garza interned for Master Strength & Conditioning coach and two-time National Strength Coach of the Year, Kaz Kazadi, over the last two summers where he helped collaborate and implement comprehensive summer strength & conditioning workouts for the football team.
He headed to Fort Worth after undergoing his first collegiate internship in the summer of 2021 with the SMU strength & conditioning staff where Kazadi first mentored Garza before arriving at TCU.
Beyond college athletics, Garza coached sports in the Texas public school systems for 11 years before realizing his true passion of training and developing the human performance of athletes. He is now a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach.
The Lubbock, Texas, native was a member of the Tigers' football team and later earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from ECU in 2009. He is currently studying a master's of exercise science at Texas A&M University – Commerce.
Garza and his wife Sarah married in 2018.
