Photo by: Andrew Fielding
DU added Chuck Lobe, former strength and conditioning coach for the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, to its staff earlier this month as the new head strength and conditioning coach for all 17 DU sports programs, made up of over 325 athletes.
“We are excited to welcome Chuck to the Pioneer family,” said DU Assistant Athletic Director, Cynthia Rail. “Chuck brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from both the collegiate and professional ranks that will help take our student-athletes’ training to the next level. He’s an outstanding addition to our staff and we look forward to him continuing the momentum we have gained with the recent opening of the Pat Bowlen Training Center.”
In the past two years, the Pioneers athletic program has seen three head strength and conditioning coaches come and go.
Lobe, the fourth to take over the position in recent years, is a 2002 graduate from the University of Minnesota who spent six years working in their athletic program as an intern. After graduating, he became a graduate-assistant and then a full-time assistant in 2003.
While at Minnesota, Lobe helped train eight NCAA championship teams, 19 individual NCAA athletes, 12 Big Ten conference champions and more than 120 All-Americans in a variety of sports.
From 2005-2008, Lobe also served as the head strength and conditioning coach for Minnesota State University. In his time there, he managed the strength and conditioning operations for all 23 athletic programs. In addition, he trained 18 conference championship teams and more than 75 All-Americans.
After three seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Lobe looks forward to working with collegiate sports again.
“I’m happy to be back in the college setting,” said Lobe. “I’m glad to be in this location and work with great facilities. I look forward to continuing the winning tradition at the University of Denver.”
Lobe’s goal is for all 17 Pioneer athletic programs to win a conference title in five years. “I’m here to win,” Lobe said. “I am honored to have been selected to be part of the DU family.”
As the new guy, Lobe wants to implement his different approach to training within the program, but he does not want to change the teams’ habits right away. DU’s previous strength and conditioning coach, Michael Bridges, had his own approach, and Coach Lobe does not want to make changes too soon.
“I want to run my program as individuals in a team setting,” said Lobe. “Just because another team won a national championship does not mean we should adopt their training program. We may not have the same caliber of athletes as they do, so we have to train our athletes to get to a higher level. Becoming a better athlete makes you better at your sport.”
In his last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Lobe helped the team advance to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.
