Jan. 21, 2005

Ruben Mendoza, coordinator of strength and conditioning the last four years at the University of Mississippi, has been named the University of Notre Dame's strength and conditioning coordinator.

Mendoza replaces Mickey Marotti, who served in that role at Notre Dame from 1998 until resigning last week to accept a similar position at the University of Florida.

At Ole Miss, Mendoza spent four years overseeing a Rebel strength staff that featured four full-time assistants and three graduate assistants dealing with 500 student-athletes and 18 varsity sports. Ole Miss saw its original 10,000-square foot weight room supplemented in September by a new 10,000-square foot facility devoted to football. Those two areas combined with Mendoza and his staff to provide Ole Miss with one of the top programs of its kind in the country.

Mendoza had been assistant director of strength, speed and conditioning for four years at Clemson University before taking over at Ole Miss in January of 2001. His football responsibilities at Clemson included implementation of in-season strength and conditioning programs, assistant coordinator of winter conditioning as well as a speed development program, testing and monitoring all progress in strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness, and educating student-athletes on nutritional factors, including supplementation that affect health and performance.

General responsibilities at Clemson dealt with supervising the development of strength and aerobic fitness for 19 varsity sports through the use of sports-specific training programs. Mendoza managed the 14,000-square foot facility and day-to-day operations, worked closely with the Clemson head trainer in coordinating rehabilitation programs for injured athletes, and provided supervision and developed time schedules for varsity sports for use of athletic weight facilities.

Prior to joining the Clemson staff in June of 1997, Mendoza served as head strength and conditioning coordinator at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga from January '93 to April '97. He was the defensive line coach/assistant strength and conditioning coach at Presbyterian College during the 1992 season and served as graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of South Carolina from June 1990 to February 1992.

A Kodak All-America offensive lineman in 1985 while playing at Wayne State (Neb.), Mendoza also earned NAIA All-America and CSIC all-conference first-team honors, and was a team captain. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Wayne State in 1989 and took graduate-level coursework in education at South Carolina. He spent three seasons in the National Football League as an offensive guard, playing for the Green Bay Packers (1986), Miami Dolphins ('87) and Phoenix Cardinals ('88).

A Crystal City, Texas, native, Mendoza is married to the former Kristen Prososki of Omaha, Neb. They have four children -- Nicholas, Emmanuel, Grace and Gabriel.