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Jun 16, 2023

Meet the Coaches: Auburn strength & conditioning coach Dom Studzinski

AUBURN, Ala. – Dom Studzinski knows firsthand the transformation that can take place in a weight room. As a ninth grader in Wisconsin, he weighed 130 pounds. After five years of training and eating

AUBURN, Ala. – Dom Studzinski knows firsthand the transformation that can take place in a weight room.

As a ninth grader in Wisconsin, he weighed 130 pounds. After five years of training and eating like a football player, he weighed 255. An All-American linebacker for NAIA national champion Sioux Falls.

“I love this sport,” said Studzinski, Auburn’s head strength & conditioning coach. “I enjoy working with this population of young men who are at a pivotal point in their life.”

Studzinski’s role allows him to spend more time year-round with Auburn’s football student-athletes than even their position coaches.

“I love being in the background,” he said. “Being in their lives for the most amount of time and really trying to affect them, physically and mentally, for the next five, 10, 15 years.”

Studzinski came to the Plains from Liberty University. He and head coach Hugh Freeze go back more than a decade, having worked together at Ole Miss beginning in 2012.

“Working for a coach who is not ashamed to talk about his faith, that’s a work environment I’m very blessed and excited to be in,” Studzinski said.

When prospective student-athletes visit, Auburn’s strength and conditioning staff show them around the Creel Family Development Lab, 25,000 square feet of training space within the newly dedicated Woltosz Football Performance Center.

They discuss Auburn’s offseason program and show the high-tech training tools they use to maximize development.

“I talk about the process,” said Studzinski, for whom physical training is only part of the success equation. “To help shape not just their body but their mind. When they come here on the visit, a lot of times guys are like, ‘Wow.’”

Every Saturday in the Southeastern Conference, strength and conditioning levels help determine who wins and who loses.

“I love that word ‘opportunity,’” Studzinski said. “We are guaranteed absolutely nothing, but we are afforded a better opportunity with what we do day in and day out.”

Customizing training programs based on position, Auburn’s S&C team combines research and process, a mix of old school toughness with state-of-the-art technology.

“We make sure there’s a good blend between those,” he said. “We’re not just research based. We’re also practical. What is practical for our equipment and our athletes to create the best possible program for those guys.”

In addition to Studzinski, assistant strength & conditioning coaches B.J. Hayes, Cam Josse, Kevin Kcehowski and Davasia Jones share responsibilities, collecting data on the practice field and in the weight room, and tracking a movement screen to help student-athletes perform at their highest level.

Seeking to examine and learn from life’s failures as well as success, Studzinski passes along principles he’s learned along the way.

“If we can learn the lessons in sport and not have to go through it in real life as much, I’d rather have them do that,” he said.

Studzinski credits University of Sioux Falls exercise science professor Kelly Quick with steering him toward classes that prepared him for his profession.

“She affected me greatly,” he said. “She asked me questions, tried to figure out my personality and my thought process. She set me on the path that got me into this field. Our academic people have a great platform to help our student-athletes.”

While Dom Studzinkski enjoys developing student-athletes who aspire to professional football careers – and he’s mentored many in his 13 college football coaching seasons – his ‘why’ represents a longer timeline and concerns life beyond the game.

“Is he doing the best he can do and is he taking away some of those lessons during your time together?” Studzinski said. “That’s what I get excited about. That’s why I like doing this.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer

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