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Wagle Named Associate Athletics Director For Sports Performance

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — John Wagle has been named the University of Notre Dame’s Associate Athletics Director, Sports Performance. Wagle joins the Irish after spending the past four years working with Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals, most recently as the Director-Performance Science/Player Development. 

“We could not be more excited to have John and his fiance, Katy, join our Fighting Irish family,” Deputy Athletics Director for Competitive Excellence Jody Sadler said. “As the strategic leader in elevating all aspects within sports performance, this position is a game changer for our department. John’s hire would not have been possible without the incredible work and support of so many, including Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick, our sports performance team as well as our Gold Standard advisory group made up of coaches, scientific advisors, subject area experts and stakeholders, young alumni and our athletics advancement team.”

“I would like to thank Jack Swarbrick, Jody Sadler and the hiring committee for the opportunity to be part of the Notre Dame community,” Wagle said. “I look forward to working alongside world-class practitioners and coaches in pursuit of being the standard for competitive excellence and sports performance in college athletics. I would also like to thank J.J. Picollo, Austin Driggers, and the rest of the Kansas City Royals organization for their leadership, mentorship, and belief in me over the past four years.”

At Notre Dame, Wagle will be charged with maximizing the relationship within sports performance areas to impact Fighting Irish student-athletes on a daily basis through a progressive and excellence-driven program. By enhancing the collaborative efforts between strength and conditioning, nutrition, athletic training and sports psychology, Wagle will aim to increase Notre Dame’s competitive excellence. 

Wagle and the Fighting Irish sports performance staff will produce outputs based on data using state-of-the-art technology, working in lock step with coaches, student-athletes, and data analytics and strategy led by Leigh Wojkiewicz. By fostering academic and existing partnerships for research and development, technology and performance, Wagle will further Notre Dame’s industry-leading efforts.

In addition to his work with the Royals, Wagle earned his PhD in sport physiology at East Tennessee State University in May of 2019 after serving as a doctoral fellow. He also holds a master’s in exercise science from Western Illinois University, an MBA from Loyola University in Chicago and a BA in physics from Augustana College in Illinois. Wagle also worked at DePaul University for three years, including his final two years as the Blue Demons’ Director of Sports Performance.

In January of 2020, Wagle was promoted to Kansas City’s Director of Performance Science and Player Development after serving the previous season as the Royals’ Minor League Strength & Conditioning Coordinator. 

As the Director of Performance Science and Player Development, Wagle provided leadership, direction and support for all operational needs of Royals’ player development, including the acquisition and application of new performance technologies. He also oversaw the cross-disciplinary collaboration between the behavioral science, research and development, and medical staffs to identify and solve performance problems. He assisted his staff with leveraging performance technology, data visualization, and quantitative reports to create individual development plans to improve each athlete’s on-field performance. Wagle also directed and managed the strength and conditioning staff, including hiring and training. 

Prior to his promotion with the Royals, Wagle served as the Coordinator, Strength and Conditioning where he oversaw the physical development of over 250 athletes across seven national and two international affiliate clubs, aiming his efforts at reducing injury risk and enhancing performance. 

Before joining the Royals organization in October of 2018, Wagle was a Doctoral Fellow at East Tennessee State University. As a Sport Scientist/Strength and Conditioning coach, he provided strength and conditioning services for world-class athletes, including Winter Olympians and NFL players. He designed and supervised acute and chronic athlete monitoring strategies for Olympic training and also designed a training program for a collegiate baseball program alongside integrated athlete monitoring platform that led to 99.35% athlete availability rate.

Also during his time at East Tennessee State, Wagle was an Athletics Weight Room Supervisor/Internship Coordinator. He managed all operations of the Olympic sport strength and conditioning facility, reviewed and approved annual training plans for all athletic teams and oversaw the internship program. 

Wagle was the Director of Sport Performance at DePaul University from June 2014 to July 2016. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of the Sports Performance department. He launched an innovative athlete monitoring platform for all student-athletes while providing strength and conditioning services for the men’s basketball, softball and men’s tennis teams. He also oversaw the internship program curriculum. Prior to being named the Director, he served as Assistant Director of Sport Performance for the Blue Demons for one year. 

Before joining the Blue Demons staff on a full-time basis, Wagle was a Graduate Intern Strength & Conditioning Coach with the football program at Western Illinois University, a Sports Performance Intern at DePaul, the head assistant coach/strength and conditioning coach/recruiting coach for Dominican University’s baseball team and a graduate assistant baseball coach at North Park University. 

Wagle has extensive consultancy experience across a wide range of sports, having previously worked with the University of Arizona College of Medicine, the San Francisco 49ers, Penn State University, the University of Washington (Athlete Profiling), the Orlando Magic, the Leicester Tigers and DePaul University. 

Wagle also has several professional certifications, including as a Registered Strength & Conditioning Coach (National Strength and Conditioning Association), Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with Distinction (National Strength and Conditioning Association), Sport Science Certification Committee Member (National Strength & Conditioning Association), Level 2 Weightlifting Coach (United States of America Weightlifting), Level 1 Track & Field Coach (United States Track & Field) and Level 1 Anthropometrist – International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. He is also an accomplished author of numerous peer reviewed journal articles, books and has taken part in many invited public speaking engagements

– ND –