EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – South Dakota head strength and conditioning coach Clete McLeod has been named one of the 50 most impactful strength and conditioning coaches in Division I athletics by Silver Waves media.
 
McLeod, who has been in charge of the Coyotes strength program since 2018, has more than 20 years of experience in the industry.
 
Along with McLeod, a few former Coyote strength and conditioning coaches also made the list including Austin Sparks, now at Sacramento State, and Caleb Heim, now at Idaho.
 
Meanwhile, Josh Storms, who played football at South Dakota, enters his third season as Florida State's director of strength and conditioning in 2022.
 
McLeod has previous stops at Nebraska, Southern Illinois, Oregon State, Southeast Missouri and Northern Illinois. Since 2001, he has been teaching and training elite athletes by creating and implementing a multi-year training program.
 
Heim, in his first season at Idaho, spent the 2018-22 seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at South Dakota, working primarily with the women's basketball, softball and football teams.
 
The Coyote football team qualified for the 2021 FCS playoffs, while the women's basketball team has captured three Summit League tourney titles in a row and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2022.
 
Sparks, who played basketball at South Dakota and is in his second season as associate director of strength and training at Sacramento State, works primarily with men's basketball, men's soccer, women's gymnastics, and track and field team as well as his responsibilities as a football assistant.
 
Storms, who graduated from South Dakota in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in recreation began his career in strength and conditioning working for the Minnesota Vikings. He moved to UNLV and has also spent time at Arizona State, where he earned his master's degree, and Memphis prior to his arrival in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
The South Dakota strength and conditioning program oversees 18 varsity sports, 11 women and seven men.