Penn State Football: Former Nittany Lions Strength Coach Hired by Georgia

John Thomas, who was not retained as Penn State’s strength and conditioning coach when Bill O’Brien took over as head coach in January, has found a new home.

Thomas was hired on Monday as the senior associate director of strength and conditioning at Georgia. He will work with strength and conditioning coordinator Joe Tereshinski.

‘Coach T is kind of a strength, explosive, endurance guy. And John is a little bit more of a high-intensity training kind of guy,’ Georgia head coach Mark Richt told reporters on Monday.

Thomas led the Nittany Lions’ strength program under former Coach Joe Paterno for the past 20 years, but Thomas’ program had been considered ineffective by many in recent years.

Thomas spent two seasons at the U.S. Military Academy, the second as the head of the strength and conditioning program. He also spent two years as a graduate assistant football and strength coach at Toledo. And at the University of the South, he coached football and served as a strength coach in both football and baseball.

A Muskingum College graduate, Thomas started at defensive tackle for two years and at offensive guard for two seasons and was an All-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference first-team pick and a second-team Division II All-American. He was inducted into the Muskingum Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2008.