Texas Strength Coach to Iowa State

AMES, Iowa ? Kenneth Sheppard, most recently an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Texas, has been hired as Iowa State's head strength and conditioning coach, ISU head football coach Gene Chizik announced Tuesday. Torre Becton, an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Baylor will fill a similar role under Sheppard.

“Texas and North Carolina have sent a long list of players to the National Football League under head coach Mack Brown and Ken Sheppard has had a major impact on the development of those individuals,” Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik said. “He has been the No. 1 assistant strength coach on ACC championship, Big 12 championship and national championship teams. Ken has turned down a lot of opportunities before accepting this position. Obviously, I'm really excited that he is now a Cyclone.”

Sheppard has been a strength and conditioning coach at Texas for the past nine seasons. He supervised Longhorn daily strength facility activities and implemented training programs for individual student-athletes. He also supervised nutrition plans for Texas athletes.

While at Texas, Sheppard directed the Mack Brown/Jeff Madden Texas Speed and Explosive Power Camp, one of the largest of its kind in the United States. He developed and organized the camp's daily activities. The 1985 graduate of North Carolina Central (criminal justice) was the camp's primary administrator and developed curriculum for beginning strength coaches.

“I am grateful to coach Chizik for this opportunity,” Sheppard said. “I'm looking forward to working at a Big 12 school with a great reputation like Iowa State University. To be able to coach with Gene Chizik and do so at a school like ISU is a tremendous opportunity.”

Prior to heading to Austin, Texas, Sheppard served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at North Carolina for five seasons. At UNC he designed and implemented strength and conditioning plans in an athletics program that boasted 29 sports and more than 800 student-athletes. He worked with former Iowa State assistant coach and current Texas head coach Mack Brown at both schools. The Longhorns have been to a bowl game in every year of Sheppard's service and earned the collegiate football national championship in 2005.

Becton has assisted with the implementation of speed, strength, agility and conditioning programs in Baylor's speed, strength and explosive training department over the past four seasons. He also helped coordinate strength and conditioning programs for other varsity sports and educated Baylor student-athletes on nutrition strategies. At Baylor, Becton worked with 2004 Olympic 400-meter gold medalist Jeremy Wariner and with Darold Williamson, who joined Wariner on the winning Olympic 4 x 400-meter relay in Athens. Both are Drake Relays champions.

“Torre Becton is an up and coming man in his field who has coached NFL players and Olympic gold medal sprinters,” Chizik said. “In Ken and Torre, Iowa State has proven coaches who despite their youth have very impressive resumes. The fact that they are both very familiar with the Big 12 Conference makes them an even better fit for our football program.”

Becton is a 2000 graduate of North Carolina A&T State (health and physical education and fitness management), where he was a four-year letterman in football. In January 2001, Becton became an assistant strength coach at his alma mater, working with all varsity sports.

After leaving his native state of North Carolina in July 2002, Becton served as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Oklahoma State, where he worked with the football, track & field and cross country.

Current NFL Players Coached by Ken Sheppard
Name	Position	NFL Team	College Team
Ethan Albright	C	Washington Redskins	North Carolina
Cedric Benson	RB	Chicago Bears	Texas
Dre Bly	CB	Detroit Lions	North Carolina
Alge Crumpler	TE	Atlanta Falcons	North Carolina
Leonard Davis	OT	Arizona Cardinals	Texas
Russell Davis	DT	Seattle Seahawks	North Carolina
Derrick Dockery	OG	Washington Redskins	Texas
Ebenezer Ekuban	DE	Denver Broncos	North Carolina
Greg Ellis	LB	Dallas Cowboys	North Carolina
Cedric Griffin	CB	Minnesota Vikings	Texas
Ahmard Hall	RB	Tennessee Titans	Texas
William Henderson	RB	Green Bay Packers	North Carolina
Vonnie Holiday	DE	Miami Dolphins	North Carolina
Quentin Jammer	CB	San Diego Chargers	Texas
Derrick Johnson	LB	Kansas City Chiefs	Texas
D.D. Lewis	LB	San Diego Chargers	Texas
Cullen Loeffler	C	Minnesota Vikings	Texas
Cory Redding	DT	Detroit Lions	Texas
Shawn Rogers	DT	Detroit Lions	Texas
Jeff Saturday	C	Indianapolis Colts	North Carolina
Bo Scaife	TE	Tennessee Titans	Texas
Jonathan Scott	OT	Detroit Lions	Texas
Brian Simmons	LB	Cincinnati Bengals	North Carolina
Chris Simms	QB	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Texas
David Thomas	TE	New England Patriots	Texas
Marcus Tubbs	DT	Seattle Seahawks	Texas
Nathan Vasher	CB	Chicago Bears	Texas
Marcus Wilkins	LB	Cincinnati Bengals	Texas
Mike Williams	OT	Jacksonville Jaguars	Texas
Roy Williams	WR	Detroit Lions	Texas
Vince Young	QB	Tennessee Titans	Texas

Iowa State University Athletics

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