KENNESAW, Ga. – Zach Waranch, who spent the past seven seasons with the football strength and conditioning program at Rice, has been named the director of football sports performance at Kennesaw State, head coach
Jerry Mack announced Friday.
In addition to Waranch, Kennesaw State also added
Troy Johnson, who spent the last three seasons with the strength programs at FIU, as the assistant director for football sports performance.
Waranch arrives in Kennesaw after seven seasons as an associate strength and conditioning coach for Rice football.
In this role at Rice, he was responsible for the design and implementation of training programs for all first-year/transfer players, as well as the implementation of Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) protocols for all football players.
Prior to joining the Owls, Waranch served as an assistant athletic performance coach at the University of Missouri where he assisted with the football program. In this role, he was responsible for return to play protocols for injured athletes as well as assistance in all other aspects of the program.
Before Columbia, Waranch spent three years at Quincy University where he served as the running backs coach/assistant strength and conditioning coach for a year before being promoted to the wide receiver coach/head strength and conditioning coordinator for his final two seasons.
Waranch also holds internship experience with the Southern Miss, as well as Missouri. In these roles, he assisted directly with their respective football programs and assisted in all areas of the program.
The Joplin, Mo. native received his bachelor's degree in physical education and strength and conditioning from Central Methodist University where he was a three-year letterman with the football program. He also earned his master's degree in educational leadership in 2016 from Quincy University.
Waranch is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is also certified as a Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms) as well as First Aid, CPR, AED through the American Red Cross.
Johnson arrives in Kennesaw after three seasons at FIU (2022-24) as the assistant strength coach for football. While with the Panthers, he oversaw injury rehabilitation programming, Pro Day training and sports science responsibilities, as well as the accountability system. He also worked with men's soccer, volleyball and track sprinters.
Johnson's responsibilities at Kennesaw State will include serving as the director of sports science and working directly with the offensive and defensive lines.
Prior to FIU, Johnson was the assistant director of sports performance at Catawba College (2020-22). While in North Carolina, he was in charge of all the strength and conditioning programming for the football and men's basketball teams, as well as men's and women's track, men's and women's swimming, men's soccer and volleyball.
He was also the director of speed development and data analysis for football and men's basketball.
No stranger to Conference USA, Johnson was the assistant strength and conditioning coach for football at Louisiana Tech in 2020 after serving as the graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at West Georgia (2018-19).
Johnson also gained experience as the summer intern in the Youngstown State football program (2018) and UNLV basketball program (2017).
The Munster, Ind. native graduated from Quincy University in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. He was a four-year letterwinner on the football team, including two years starting at fullback. He earned his master's degree in media instructional technology from West Georgia in 2019.
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