FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (June 22, 2021) – Tyler Shumate, arriving from the University of Virginia, has been hired as Northern Arizona's Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Performance. In his role, he will serve as the Head Strength Coach and will oversee NAU's strength & conditioning staff.
"We are thrilled to add
Tyler Shumate to our team as our new Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Performance," said Senior Associate Athletic Director
Matt Howdeshell. "Tyler separated himself from a deep and diverse candidate field by demonstrating a bold vision for NAU Sports Performance and his passion for developing and growing team members. I want to thank Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Tylor Henry for his interim leadership during the transition and we are excited to have Tyler leading our Sports Performance efforts into the next chapter in the Student-Athlete High Performance Center."
Shumate comes to Flagstaff following more than three years as the Assistant Football Development and Performance Coach at Virginia, where he assisted in the development and implementation of daily training for the Cavaliers' football program. While at Virginia, he was also the Director of Data Science with his main duties centered around Catapult (GPS Technology).
"It's a huge opportunity to be here," Shumate said. "I spoke with Coach (Chris) Ball and
Matt Howdeshell and I quickly grew to understand that they're good people. I came on interview and I met another 30-40 people and everyone was the same, just great people, and that really excited me. They took me across the street and I saw the new building and I knew there was no excuse not to win now. I've already started working with the guys here, and they've bought in. It's really impressive."
Shumate will help usher in a vital component of NAU Athletics' new
Student-Athlete High Performance Center, that will include the Jennifer Marie Wilson Strength and Conditioning Center – an 11,500-square foot space complete with warm up turf, plyometric space and 21 Sorinex weight rack stations. The 72,000-square foot facility is expected to be completed and operational by January 2022.
Prior to Virginia, Shumate was a Sports Performance Graduate Assistant at Arizona State from May 2017-January 2018 where he worked with the football, men's tennis, women's gymnastics, volleyball, track, hockey, water polo and swimming & diving programs. It was his second stint in Tempe following a summer Sport Performance internship in 2016. In between his stints at Arizona State, Shumate was a Sport Performance Coach with F.A.S.T NWO.
As an undergraduate, Shumate was a thrower on University of Mount Union track & field team and was a two-time podium performer as a senior. He placed third in the weight throw at the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Indoor Championships and second in the hammer throw at the 2016 OAC Outdoor Championships. Shumate would go on to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw and placed 20th.
While at Mount Union, Shumate also served as a Student Strength and Conditioning Coach, developing and implementing training protocols for his throws peers.
Shumate graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and a minor in coaching from Mount Union in May 2016 before earning his master's degree in higher education, intercollegiate athletic administration from Virginia in December 2020.
