Meade Smith, MS, CSCS, CES, PES
Adjunct
Meade Smith is one of the top strength and conditioning professionals in college athletics with a proven track record of helping athletes maximize their potential. He joined the staff at Southern Illinois in May of 2016 after serving as head strength coach at SIUE from 2011-16. In 2019, he oversaw a complete renovation of the weight room.
A 2000 graduate of Missouri, Smith played two seasons with the Tigers’ baseball program and earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and fitness. He earned his master’s degree in exercise physiology in 2004 from Southern Illinois, where he served as graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach.
During his first stint with the Salukis, Smith was mentored by Eric Klein, who is now the head strength and conditioning coach at Christian Brother’s High School in Memphis, TN. Smith’s core strength and conditioning principles focus upon training movements not muscles, ground-based training programs, explosive training, an accent on core training, and an emphasis on injury reduction.
“The primary focus with all performance programs is to build a strong athletic foundation while focusing on each student-athlete’s individual needs,” said Smith. “This is accomplished by developing comprehensive training programs that put a major emphasis on movement training, explosive power development, foot speed and agility, linear and lateral speed, proper resistance training techniques, functional strength, injury reduction, and energy system development.”
Smith is a certified strength and conditioning specialist in the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Smith holds both the Performance Enhancement Specialist and Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He also is a certified sports performance coach and Level 1 weightlifting coach with USA Weightlifting. More recently, has completed Level 1 certifications in both FMS (Functional Movement Screen) and RPR (Reflexive Performance Reset).
Smith’s unique training experiences has allowed him to train youth/high school, collegiate, and professional athletes throughout this career. Smith has also served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Logan University in Chesterfield, teaching in the Sports Science and Rehabilitation Program since 2008. Meade has taught Exercise & Prescription, Exercise & Sports Practicum and is currently teaching Cardio-Respiratory.