Mark McAllister, strength and conditioning coach for intercollegiate athletics at Columbia for the past six years, has been selected the 1996 Ivy League Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
The award recognizes coaches who have shown excellence in their strength training and conditioning programs.
McAllister administers an extensive program at Columbia that serves more than 600 intercollegiate student-athletes, both as strength and conditioning coach and as an instructor in physical education.
Directs Donelli Room
He directs the year-old Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli Strength Room, a 6,000-square-foot facility which he helped to design.
"Mark has had a tremendous impact on our football program," head coach Ray Tellier said.
"Columbia football teams often had been undersized and lacked strength, but through his off-season work with our players, he has enabled us to become a physical team, a change which has been noticeable throughout our league.
"You could see the results of Mark's work even before our team became successful. You might say we started to win in the weight room before we actually won on the field.
"Without question, Mark McAllister is the best strength and conditioning coach I have ever been associated with. He is highly deserving of this honor," said Tellier.
His selection was greeted with enthusiasm by the male and female student-athletes at Columbia.
"He's the best strength coach I've ever had," said Joey Bolder, a sophomore football player.
Best Coach
"He's the only strength coach who's ever been successful in helping me to gain weight."
Bolder added, "I always want to go to the weight room. It's like a second home to me."
McAllister, 37, came to Columbia from Ohio State University, where he worked as a graduate assistant in strength and conditioning, and earned a master's degree in 1990. From 1986 to 1988, McAllister worked in strength and conditioning at Texas A&M.
A native of Wichita, Kan., he first became interested in strength and conditioning after watching body builders, then became involved as a way to gain strength and defend himself.
But when he realized he could make a living teaching and coaching, "it went from a hobby to vocation," he said
While a student at Kansas State University he prepared for a career in strength and conditioning by switching his major from farm/ranch management to exercise science.
He earned his degree in 1986.
McAllister and his wife, Hjerda, live in Westwood, N.J., with their son, Kiernan.
Columbia University Record -- February 23, 1996 -- Vol. 21, No. 17