Over the summer, Stillwater High School hired its first-ever strength and conditioning coach to train every sport. Athletes will now be under the direct instruction of certified strength and conditioning coach Hayden Harmon.
Coach Harmon will work with athletes from all sports as part of their weekly practice routine. Head Football Coach and Assistant Athletic Director Chad Cawood and Athletic Director Brian Warwick started this search last December. They feel like it was something that was needed for our student athletes for more than a decade now.
“It is something that Mr. Warwick was very passionate about, making sure we can help our student athletes be the best that they can,” Cawood said. “That is something we started processing and working through last fall. Stillwater athletes needed someone that specifically worked on their strength and conditioning, and not a coach that is more focused about their sport.”
Harmon is an expert that will help them in season and continue growing in strength throughout the season, Cawood said.
Warwick and Cawood met with a few schools in the Tulsa area to see how their strength and conditioning programs work. Harmon’s name came up a few times and was recommended by several people. Next, they connected with Oklahoma State University Football Strength and Conditioning Coach Rob Glass.
Harmon checked all the boxes and worked with all OSU sports as a graduate assistant. Working with all the sports was really important to Cawood and Warwick when hiring for this position.
Hamon wasn’t always a trainer. Immediately after graduating from high school, he went into the U.S. Marines. He was a dog handler on his first deployment, and in April 2012, he went back to Afghanistan as a team leader. Finally, he was honorably discharged in June 2013.
After the Marines, he went to NEO for two and a half years then transferred to OSU. He finished his undergraduate degree, and then got his graduate degree. After OSU, he went to NSU for a semester, and then worked at Pryor High School.
Harmon was very excited to start something new here at Stillwater high school.
Outside of school, Harmon is planning an April wedding with his fiancé. He also loves to golf in his free time.