Director of Sports Performance
Jerry Schmidt's career is all about very tangible results.
At three different schools- Notre Dame, Florida, and Oklahoma, he has won football national championship rings. He played a role in the development of no less than five Heisman Trophy winners: Tim Brown (Notre Dame), Barry Sanders (Oklahoma State), Danny Wuerfell (Florida), Jason White (Oklahoma), and Sam Bradford (Oklahoma). He has also tutored 23 National Football League first-round draft picks.
Success has shadowed the University of Oklahoma's Director of Sports Enhancement for a long time.
Schmidt began his career as an assistant coach at Notre Dame in 1987. He later moved to a director's position at Oklahoma State before assuming the coordinator's role back at Notre Dame in 1989.
It was in 1995 that he moved south to serve as strength and conditioning coordinator with Steve Spurrier at Florida.
And in 1999, he moved with then-Florida assistant Coach Bob Stoops to Oklahoma to begin one of the greatest runs in college football history.
Stoops reached 100 head coaching victories faster than anyone in the modern era, and he has often taken pride in telling that it was Schmidt whom he hired first, ahead of his brother, Mike.
That speaks to Stoop's admiration for Schmidt.
"Jerry instills in our program a conditioning level that allows us to flourish late in games and late in the season," said Stoops, whose Sooners have won an unparalleled seven Big 12 Championships. "He also helps us build an attitude of toughness and perseverance that is an absolute must in a demanding sport like football."
Schmidt, the 1991 Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year by USA Fitness, first learned his trade under legendary Tom Osborne and Boyd Epley at Nebraska. A Harvard, Nebraska, Native, Schmidt and his wife, Robin, are parents of daughter, Aubrey, and son, Samuel.
