CLASS NOTES AND NEWS
Jordan keeps the Rockies on their toes By David Driver
BRIAN JORDAN ‘98 SHOUTS “Quads! Quads! Quads!” as members of the Colorado Rockies do leg lifts in foul territory along the third-base line at Nationals Park. Moments later Jordan, with a
smile on his face, shouts “That’s nice! That’s nice!” as several players shuffle sideways nearly 90 minutes before the first pitch in the nation’s capital last season before a game with Washington. “Right over left,” implores the
Springfield College graduate, as the Rockies move on to another drill, where they take a large elastic rubber band to stretch their legs while sitting on the grass. “Now left over right.” This scene is pretty customary on
a daily basis during the Major League Baseball season for the personable, energetic Jordan, 37, in his sixth season as the strength coach for the Rockies of Major League Baseball. A former pitcher for the Springfield College baseball team, he graduated with a B.S. degree in applied exercise science. “It is a win-oriented league. You
can’t win if you have guys who are not playing because they are hurt,” says Jordan, sitting in the Rockies’ dugout before beginning his daily routine prior to batting practice. “My job is, to the best of my ability, for them to be prepared and be healthy all year long. It is a hard game; there are only about 18 off days the entire season from February to October. It is twice as much competition as any other (pro) sports in the world.” The road to the Major Leagues—
where Jordan has one of just 30 jobs in the business—began after he came to Springfield as a high school baseball player from Maine who was not sure what he wanted to major in or if he even wanted to play college athletics. Once he declared his major as a
AL L PHOTOS COURT E SY OF CLARKSON CREAT IVE 34
sophomore, Jordan said he was able to get some practical experience in the classroom as well as a vital internship at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. “A lot of the practical experience
that helped at Springfield was the hands on clinical work we did and a lot of the practical application we did in the classroom,” he says. “There was a lot of hands on
stuff. You don’t just read the textbook but [you] apply it and also learn how to teach other students, which is a strong focus there.” Through contacts at Springfield
he was able to land an off-campus internship to help finish up his course work at the Naval Academy under Phil Emery, now the general manager of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. “The greatest thing I have learned
being in the field is what looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily work in the real world,” he said. “The more experience you can get is invaluable when it comes to strength and conditioning.” Through his Springfield College
advisor, the late Dr. Forrest Tyson III ’64, Jordan became a strength coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1998 and then was the strength coach for the Toledo Mud Hens, the top farm team of the Detroit Tigers, in 1999. “My experience at the Naval
Academy opened doors to work at UMass and then to get on with the Tigers,” he said. Jordan was hired to be the
Rockies’ minor league strength coordinator in 1999 and he served in that role for nine seasons until he joined the Major League club. “My passion for baseball has
always been there. I knew right away when I was with the Tigers this [was] what I wanted to do,” he adds. “At that point it became a goal:
Continued on page 40 TRIANGLE 1 Vol . 85, No.2
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