University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Doc Kreis Joins UCLA Staff
June 13, 2003
E.J. "Doc" Kreis has been hired as UCLA's head strength and conditioning coach, it was announced today. In addition to working directly with football, he will oversee all operations in UCLA's new 15,000-square foot weight room.
"Every team we field spends time in the weight room toward the end of strength, flexibility, power, and most importantly, injury prevention," said Associate Athletic Director Glenn Toth, who has oversight responsibility for this area. "We are both pleased and fortunate to have hired an individual with the demonstrated skill, experience and achievement as Doc Kreis. Not only a technical expert, Doc's reputation as a motivator, communicator, and mentor to student athletes will serve us well in our continuing efforts to improve our athletic eminence."
On June 1, Kreis was inducted into the U.S.A. Strength & Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame. He was selected in the Collegiate category by the Hall of Fame Board of Directors. A plaque commemorating the honor is displayed at the York Barbell Museum in York, PA.
Prior to coming to UCLA, Kreis spent over 10 years as an assistant athletic director and the head coach for speed-strength and conditioning at the University of Colorado. He joined the CU staff in January of 1993.
In 2001, Kreis was named one of 10 master strength and conditioning coaches by the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association. The award, of which Kreis and the nine others were the inaugural recipients, were earned based on expertise and individual experience of at least 12 years. It is deemed the highest honor a strength and conditioning coach can achieve.
The Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society has twice named Kreis the National Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year, in both 1991-92 and 1994-95.
The new Bruin coach was named the recipient of the 1995 Stan Jones Award, having met the criteria in six strength areas: performance of Colorado's athletic teams (placing in the top 10 of the Sears Directors Cup standings); the demonstration of high standards and discipline in the strength and conditioning; and unanimous ratification from the ISSA's Board of Directors. Kreis was the first ever recipient of the award, which honors the legendary strength coach after whom it is named.
Kreis, 50, moved to Colorado in January of 1993 following a seven-year tenure at Middle Tennessee State University. While at MTSU, he earned his first National Coach of the Year honor (1991-92).
He was also the strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Southern (1978-80), and Vanderbilt (1980-85), in addition to running his own business for a year prior to joining the MTSU staff in 1986. All told, he has won over two dozen awards during his professional career.
A 1976 graduate of Clemson University, Kreis earned his undergraduate degree in Therapeutic Recreation. He earned his M.S. degree from MTSU in 1987 in Physical Education, and received a Doctor of Arts degree in the same field from MTSU in 1989.
He also has traveled abroad extensively, earning three different degrees overseas in the early 1980s. He has diplomas from the Lenin Institute for Physical Culture (Moscow, Russia) from the German Institute of Physical Culture and Sports Science (Leipzig, Germany) and from the Institute of Physical Culture and Sports in Bulgaria.
He has also authored two books on conditioning athletes, "Speed-Strength Training for Football", and "Sports Agility", and even made a foray into television, co-hosting a 30-minute infomercial with "Body by Jake."
Kreis lettered three seasons in football at Clemson, playing linebacker for coaches Hotie Ingram and Red Parker. He also served in the U.S. Army.
Born Oct. 4, 1952 in Montgomery, Ala., he is married to the former Suzi Black, and they are the parents of four children, two grown, Jeremy and Ryan Black, and Taylor (15) and E.J. IV (12).