ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca College head coach of strength and conditioning, Vic Brown, has announced his resignation from the department after 10 years of service. Brown's last day on South Hill was January 19. Brown will relocate to Western Massachusetts to be closer to his family as his wife is the head women's rowing coach at Williams College.

"Vic Brown established a sophisticated program of both strength and conditioning development and coach development in his 10 highly productive years at Ithaca College,' said Susan Bassett '79, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. "Vic brought high level scientific research to our training programs with an eye toward building a positive weight room culture for all 27 IC Teams. Vic applied theory to practice and positioned the Bombers to achieve athletically."

Brown was Bassett's first major hire after her appointment as Director of Athletics and he began his tenure at Ithaca in August 2014. Over the past 10 years, Brown, who was the first-ever full-time strength and conditioning coach at Ithaca, has developed a comprehensive workout program from all 27 intercollegiate teams at Ithaca College, which has played a major role in the Bombers' athletic success.

"I'd like to thank Susan Bassett for the opportunity to launch the strength and conditioning program in the department of athletics in 2014," said Brown. "I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to teach, coach, and lead Bombers academically and athletically during my tenure."

Since the 2014-15 academic year, Ithaca College has won 75 conference championships, 24 individual national championships and more than 200 All-Americans.

"I am lucky I had the opportunity to work with Vic over the past seven years," said Kaitlyn Wahila, head field hockey coach. "Vic's knowledge, professionalism and work ethic are all next level. His priority here at Ithaca was the student athlete experience and creating a strength & conditioning program where our Bombers could strive for greatness. Not only did Vic develop our student-athletes, but he also worked tirelessly to mentor and lead our graduate assistant S&C coaches as well. Our IC coaching staff is grateful for all the time and effort Vic put into managing a high-level strength & conditioning operation. I wish Vic and his family all the best in their future endeavors."

"Vic has been tremendous to work with and has propelled our athletes training experience to the elite level it is today," said head football coach Michael Toerper. "Ithaca's commitment to strength and conditioning separates us from many of our competitors and plays a major role in driving our program's culture. We appreciate all Coach Brown has done to help our athletes perform at their best year-round while also developing outstanding assistants, GAs, and interns of his own!"

Outside of athletics, Brown has worked directly with the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance to fill out his staff with three-to-six undergraduate student and graduate student assistants each year. Brown's position was established to create, foster and promote integrative learning opportunities for exercise science majors who specialize in strength and conditioning.  Together with Associate Professor of Exercise Science and Athletic Training, David Diggin, Brown helped to create undergraduate and graduate student practical experience for exercise science majors. Graduate students coached teams under Coach Brown's direction, gaining valuable experience while helping teams and athletes achieve a high level of competitive success.

"It was a role I met with deep care and responsibility collaborating with many amazing colleagues and students across campus including athletic administration, athletics staff and coaches, student athletes, athletic training, academic faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance," Brown continued. "I appreciate and am proud of our work together creating meaningful student experiences in the pursuit of academic and athletic excellence, and wish Ithaca College continued success."

Brown came to South Hill after a 10-year stint at Boston University. He earned his undergraduate degree from Springfield College in 2000 and his master's from Appalachian State University in 2004.

"Vic has been a great colleague, mentor, motivator, and coach for IC Athletics," Bassett continued. "We thank him for all he helped us to achieve and wish him well in his next chapter. He has left an indelible mark with the Bombers."

Ben Fleet will serve as the interim head coach for strength and conditioning for the remainder of the semester and a national search will commence in the spring.