harimont@lopers.unk.edu

After waiting in the wings for more than five years, Shane Stock is getting his shot to lead UNK strength and conditioning.

While UNK athletes can anticipate change, the strength program will stay true to its roots.

“I don’t want to get too far away from what has made our programs so successful here,” Stock said. “We’re rooted in old school principals, but we have that new age system and we’re getting the best of both worlds.”

The best of both worlds includes combining aspects of traditional strength training like Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding to ensure that athletes can handle the rigors of their sports.

Stock came to UNK in 2013 to play baseball. However, a few years into his college career, a knee injury led him to step away from the sport.

A step back that ended up being a professional step forward.

“They say when you can’t play anymore that’s when you get into coaching,” Stock said. “I was still finishing my undergrad when coach Day approached me and asked, ‘Would you be interested in running our strength and conditioning stuff for the baseball program?’ and I jumped at the opportunity.”

He would work with the baseball team until the program was cut in 2018. Stock then transitioned to working in the strength and conditioning program under Steve “Sarge” Schulz.

He would be an assistant for Schulz for more than five years, learning from a man with an impressive resume.

“He went from Nebraska to Stanford and rectified a strength and conditioning program,” Stock said. “Built it from the ground up, working with Ed McCaffery, Bill Walsh and Jack and John Elway, he’s a real legend in the field of strength and conditioning.”

Schulz spent six years at the helm of the strength and conditioning program until retiring in December, ending a 45-year career.

Stock earned a promotion in December and assumed his new duties in January. 

He says that while wins and losses are an easy way to determine success as a strength coach, it’s not the whole picture. 

“I think the relationships are really huge too,” Stock said. “It’s huge if we can touch them outside of their sport while also helping them be better at their sport, and I think we’re doing everything we can to provide to that student-athlete experience.”

One of these relationships was on display Saturday morning. Former UNK football player Corey Hoelck came in to train with Stock while preparing for the upcoming USFL season.

Hoelck never experienced Stock as a head strength coach but did as an assistant, and has a strong opinion of him.

“Coach Stock, in my opinion, is one of the great young minds of strength and conditioning,” said Hoelck, now of the USFL’s Michigan Panthers. “UNK really got a steal with him with his age and everything, and stepping into this program with Sarge leaving it the way it is, I think he is just going to really thrive.”