Cardinals Make Changes to Strength & Conditioning Staff

Buddy Morris is no longer the strength and conditioning coach of the Arizona Cardinals after some changes were officially announced by the team today.

The Arizona Cardinals announced the following changes to their strength and conditioning staff today.

Additions

Evan Marcus (Head Strength & Conditioning)
Jason Benguche (Assistant Strength & Conditioning)
Everrett Gathron (Assistant Strength & Conditioning) 
Kyle Sammons (Sports Science Coordinator/Assistant Strength & Conditioning)

Buddy Morris now operates as the Senior Reconditioning Coordinator. Mark Naylor (Assistant Strength & Conditioning) and Shea Thompson (Director, Football Performance) are also in the department. 

Background Info

The following background information was provided by the Cardinals in their release:

Marcus comes to Arizona from Cleveland where he spent the past seven seasons on the Browns strength & conditioning staff. Prior to working in Cleveland, Marcus served as the head strength and conditioning coach with Minnesota (2014-15), Miami (2008-10) and Atlanta (2007) while also working as an assistant with New Orleans (2000-02).

Benguche has experience in the NFL, NCAA and private sector. He spent seven years as an assistant strength & conditioning coach with the Carolina Panthers (2013-19) after working with the football team at Georgia Tech as the assistant director of player development (2010-12) and as an assistant coach in player development with the Yellow Jackets (2008-09). 

Gathron spent the past five years as an associate strength & conditioning coach at Ohio State following eight years (2010-17) at the University of Virginia where he assisted with 18 varsity sports, including football, wrestling, lacrosse and softball. Prior to working at Virginia, Gathron was the director of strength & conditioning at the University of Texas-Pan American (2009-10) where he oversaw all varsity sports at the school. He was a strength & conditioning assistant at SMU (2008-09) after working as a graduate assistant at Ohio University where he earned his master’s degree in Recreation and Sports Sciences in 2008.

Sammons spent seven seasons at the University of Washington where he worked as the Director of Sports Science/Reconditioning (2018-21) and also as an assistant strength & conditioning coach with the football team (2015-17). Prior to Washington, he worked at the University of Nevada as an associate strength & conditioning coach (2012-14) where he assisted with football, men’s basketball, women’s soccer and track & field after starting as a graduate assistant in 2011. He played wide receiver at Nevada (2005-07) and finished his career with 64 receptions for 1,043 yards and six TDs. Sammons comes to the Cardinals from STRIVE where he served as the Vice President of Performance.