GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics announced Doug Ross as the next Assistant Athletic Director.
Ross first came to Southwestern in 2011 as the part-time assistant men's and women's track & field coach and served in that role for two seasons before becoming a full-time member of the Southwestern family in 2013.
In 2013 Ross began Southwestern's first official strength & conditioning program, serving all 20 sports. Since its inception, Ross has trained teams to one NCAA semifinal appearance, five SCAC championships, six combined no-hitters in baseball and softball, and eight all-americans.
"I am flattered and honored to join the athletic department leadership team here at Southwestern," said Ross. "Bill Raleigh was a great coach, administrator, and mentor for many years and has left some very big shoes to fill. I'm looking forward to the new opportunity and am thrilled to continue my career as a Pirate."
In addition to his time at Southwestern, Ross was a part-time assistant cross country and track & field coach at Concordia University (TX) for two seasons. Ross assisted in guiding the women's program to their first American Southwest Conference Cross Country Championship and fourth conference championship in any sport in the university's history while the men posted their highest finish ever. From there the Tornado women advanced to the NCAA Regional Championships where they finished in eighth place, the highest finish ever by an ASC school. Eight athletes earned All-ASC Cross Country honors during his time and one athlete was named ASC Freshman-of-the-Year in 2012.
Prior to his time in higher education, Ross founded and was head coach of Validus Athletics, a firm that created and implemented strength, conditioning, speed, agility and endurance training plans for student-athletes in a variety of sports. He has presented numerous times to businesses on wellness, leadership and motivational topics and was also a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin.
Ross graduated with a bachelor of science in management and holds the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification (CSCS), two additional national personal trainer certifications, the USATF Level 1 Coaching Certification and USA Weightlifting Level I Sports Performance Coach Certification.
He, his wife Becki and two daughters, Jesse and Hannah, reside in Leander.