Todd Stroud Position: Assistant Coach Years coaching: 26th season (2nd at CSU)

Todd Stroud at a glance...

• Hired by Steve Fairchild, joined the Colorado State coaching staff on Feb. 25, 2010.
  
• Played and coached several years for legendary Bobby Bowden, the No. 2 all-time leader in college victories. A three-year starter (1983-85) at FSU, anchored the `Noles defensive line, serving as team captain in 1985.
  
• A former head coach, has tutored the No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft and built recruiting ties across the SEC and ACC footprints.
  
• At N.C. State, saw five of his players selected in the draft (three first-rounders, including No. 1 overall choice Mario Williams), and helped the Wolfpack rank as the nation's No. 1 defense in 2004.
  
• Trained and conditioned an Auburn team that went 11-0 and finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll in 1994.

Prominent Players Coached

• Mario Williams, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2006 NFL Draft (Houston Texans).
  
• Philip Rivers, the No. 4 overall selection in the 2004 NFL Draft (traded by New York Giants to San Diego Chargers).
  
• Leroy Harris, the Tennessee Titans' fourth-round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft.
  
• Manny Lawson, San Francisco's first-round choice (22nd overall) in the 2006 NFL Draft.
  
• John McCargo, Buffalo's first-round selection (26th overall) in the 2006 NFL Draft.
  
• Koren Robinson, the Seattle Seahawks' first-round pick (eighth overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft.
  
• Patrick Robinson, New Orleans' first-round choice (32nd overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Postseason Experience

Coaching Background

Recruiting Areas:

• South Florida
  
• Colorado (Boulder-Fort Collins)
  
• Georgia

Stroud, 47, came to CSU from Florida State, where he served three seasons (2007-09) as the athletic department's head strength and conditioning coach, working with college football's No. 2 all-time leader in wins, Bobby Bowden. During his recent stint at FSU, Stroud helped the Seminoles to three bowl appearances.

From 2004-06, Stroud served as associate head coach and defensive line coach at North Carolina State, where the Wolfpack led the nation in total defense after his first season, 2004. Five of his N.C. State players were selected in NFL drafts. Three of those linemen went in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft: Mario Williams, the No. 1 overall selection ahead of Reggie Bush, Manny Lawson and John McCargo. Additional N.C. State standouts Tank Tyler (2007, third round) and DeMario Pressley (2008, fifth round), a member of the New Orleans Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV, also were drafted.

And before he coached them on the field, Stroud had those three first-rounders and other N.C. State athletes, such as No. 4 overall choice Philip Rivers, in the weight room, as the Wolfpack's director of strength and conditioning from 1999-2004. All told, he has served 20 seasons in a role as a strength coach, including three years at Memphis (1997-99), one year at Auburn (1993), and six at Samford (1987-92), where he also coached the defensive line simultaneously. He first worked with athletes in a college weight room in 1986, as an assistant at Florida State.

From 1994-96, Stroud held the reins as head coach of the football program at Western Alabama, making him one of two current CSU assistants with previous head coaching experience (also Larry Lewis, Idaho State).

The year before, in 1993, he trained and conditioned an Auburn team that went 11-0 and finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll but didn't play in a bowl due to NCAA probation.

During his six years as a defensive line and strength coach at Samford, he helped the program to consecutive Division I-AA playoff appearances, including the national semifinals in 1991.

Stroud launched his career as the defensive line coach at Central Florida in the spring of 1986, before Bowden hired him to return to Tallahassee that summer.

From 1997-2007, Stroud worked either directly or indirectly with Pat Meyer, now CSU's offensive coordinator/offensive line coach.

A three-year starter (1983-85) for Bowden, Stroud anchored the Florida State defensive line, serving as team captain in 1985. The noseguard was a two-time Nutrament Strength All-American and went to four bowls with the Seminoles. In 1984, he earned the Bob Crenshaw Award, given annually to the FSU player whose courage and fighting spirit was an inspiration to others.

Born Dec. 17, 1963, in St. Petersburg, Fla., Stroud and Marianne Sylvers married in 1988 and have four children: Jessica, Alexandra, Chelsea and Stone. He holds a master's in athletic administration (Alabama-Birmingham, '88) and a bachelor's in physical education (Florida State, '85).