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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Decker Earns National Collegiate Strength Coach Award
4/20/2011 | Football
April 20, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Honoring a career of excellence, Ole Miss' Don Decker has been named the 2010 Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year from the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society.
Decker was presented the award by the society's executive director Mike Mashburn during pre-game ceremonies of the annual Grove Bowl spring football game Saturday. The award is in its 19th year of recognizing a leading coach in the field of strength and conditioning.
"Coach Decker's selection was due to the fact he is so highly regarded by his peers on a national level," said Mashburn. "He has developed a strong reputation at an early age, and it is quite a compliment to Ole Miss' football program to have someone of his status on staff."
"I was humbled to be a recipient of this award," Decker said. "Receiving this award says that my peers value my abilities as a strength coach. Respect is something we all strive to have in our specific professions, so when someone gives you an award which symbolizes that respect, it is a special moment. I am very thankful and grateful."
Decker is entering his fourth season as the Rebels' head football strength & conditioning coach and his 21st as a full-time collegiate strength coach. He also spent 15 seasons at Arkansas, including the last 10 as the head strength and conditioning coach, and two seasons at Kent State as the head strength coach for football.
In 2004, Decker earned the designation of master level strength coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. He is one of just 70 strength and conditioning coaches in the world to earn that honor.
A native of Masillon, Ohio, Decker is a 1988 graduate of Evangel University where he was an honorable mention All-American at quarterback.
