Feb. 7, 2006

By Helena Independent Record

Carroll College (Mont.) strength and offensive line coach Jim Hogan was named Strength Coach of the Year for the NAIA by Samson Equipment.

The award, in association with American Football Monthly, named nine strength and conditioning coaches of the year at the professional, college, and high school level.

"By winning this award and being recognized by your peers, it reaffirms that we are doing things the right way in the weight room here at Carroll," Hogan said. "We have made the transition over the past seven years by visiting and talking with coaches all across the country in an effort to make our strength program the best it could be."

Hogan has been a part of the Carroll program for the past seven seasons and has been the in charge of the program's strength regimen for the duration of that span.

"Our hard work in the weight room has paid off in the sense that down time to our players due to injuries has been very minimal," Hogan said. "By the time the playoffs come around, our players are extremely efficient in the weight room and it has carried over to their performance on the field."

Before coming to Carroll, Hogan was the head coach for football, wrestling and track at Billings Central High School.

Hogan's 1999 track team won the Class A state championship. In addition to his eight years of coaching in Billings, Hogan's career has included stops in Gillette, Wyo., and as an assistant coach for Western Montana College.

"This is a well deserved award," Mike Van Diest, Carroll's head football coach, said. "The players in our program know how valuable Jim is and how much time he puts into our players.

"Much of our success can be contributed to the work our athletes put in during the winter, spring, and summer programs which Jim puts together. His enthusiasm and passion is second to none, and our players realize how much Coach Hogan cares about each and every one of them."

This is the third year Samson has announced the awards. For the first time, awards were presented to coaches at all college levels this year.

"The growth of strength and conditioning programs at all levels of college and high school has been phenomenal," said American Football Monthly's Managing Editor, Rex Lardner. "Coaches to a person believe that in order to be successful, a sound strength and conditioning program is essential for their school."

Also winning the award was Mike Clark, at the professional division, for the Seattle Seahawks and Jeff Madden from the University of Texas for the Division I-A division.

View the original article at http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/02/07/sports/b01020706_02.txt