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Wallace hired as basketball strength coach

Photo+courtesy+of+Linwood+Ferguson
Photo courtesy of Linwood Ferguson

By JORDYN MATEZ
SPORTS EDITOR


Travis Wallace was recently hired as the FGCU basketball program’s strength and conditioning coordinator.
“Travis brings a wealth of experience to our program as a former player in the ASUN and having been around very good coaches and players at VCU, UCF and the Toronto Raptors,” FGCU men’s basketball head coach Michael Fly said. “His passion and intensity for getting our players stronger and his overall investment in them as people on and off the court made me feel as though we had to have him as part of our program here at FGCU.”
Wallace is coming off a run as Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry’s personal strength coach, a job he started in September of 2017. During his time as Lowry’s coach, Wallace helped develop Lowry’s in-season program while traveling with him to help him maintain an optimal fitness level. Wallace aided Lowry in being able to play in 78 of 82 regular season games. Wallace also assisted Toronto’s head strength and conditioning coach in pre-draft workouts and the NBA Summer League.
“Coach Wallace is knowledgeable and has experience working with high-caliber basketball talents,” FGCU women’s basketball head coach Karl Smesko said. “I am excited to see how our players develop their strength and conditioning with his program.”
Wallace played college ball himself; beginning his collegiate career at Florida A&M and transferring to North Florida for his final three seasons. Throughout his collegiate career, Wallace scored 1,338 career points -1,196 of those in his three seasons at UNF. He is one of only four players in UNF basketball history with at least 1,000 points and 500 rebounds (571) in a career.
“The addition of Coach Wallace means that we now have five coaches on our staff that have either played or coached in professional basketball – myself, Marsh, Cantens and Marshall,” Fly said. “Travis and I had similar NBA experiences in that we both learned a lot and enjoyed being at the highest level, but we also both missed the relationships and impact that you can have on a college player’s life. I have no doubt that he will get our guys stronger and prepare them to perform, but I think he’s an even better person than he is a strength coach. He is the type of individual we want to surround our players with.”

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