CLARION, Pa. --- Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Wendy Snodgrass announced today that Andrew Vonada, a former Golden Eagle student-athlete and Division I strength & conditioning coach, has been hired as Clarion's head strength & conditioning coach. Vonada returns to Clarion after spending the last several years working in the profession.
 
"We are excited to welcome Andrew Vonada back to Clarion as our head strength & conditioning coach," Snodgrass said. "As a student-athlete he exemplified what it means to be a Golden Eagle with his work not just on the field but in the classroom, and has since taken that experience and turned it into a promising career. He is going to be an excellent asset for our athletic department."
 
A certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), Vonada spent the past summer as a Performance Enhancement intern with the Penn State football program. There he worked with the strength & conditioning staff in all aspects of performance training, including lifts, speed, change of direction, recovery and conditioning. Prior to that he spent a year at Robert Morris, including working the 2021-22 season as the assistant strength & conditioning coach. Working primarily with football, women's lacrosse and women's soccer, he handled all aspects of those programs' strength & conditioning programs, including in-season and offseason work.
 
"I want to thank Dr. Snodgrass and everyone at Clarion for giving me the opportunity to become the department's head strength and conditioning coach," Vonada said. "As an alumnus and former student-athlete myself, I am looking forward to being back in Clarion and working with our amazing student-athletes, coaches and athletic trainers, and to playing a part in the development of our athletic programs."
 
Vonada played 41 games as an offensive lineman for the Golden Eagles from 2015-19, most of those starts, and was a lynchpin for some of the best offenses in recent program memory. An accomplished student as well as player, he graduated from Clarion in December 2019 with degrees in both Management and Marketing, and was named a Clarion Scholar-Athlete for his accomplishments.