Malone Joins Bulldog Baseball Staff
January 26, 2023 | Baseball
ATHENS-----Jim Malone has been named the senior associate director of athletic performance for the Georgia Bulldog baseball program, Ike Cousins head coach Scott Stricklin announced Thursday.
A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Malone has more than 30 years of experience in the strength and conditioning field including 25 years in professional baseball. He has worked with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates. Most recently, he worked for Major League Baseball (MLB) as the director of strength and conditioning for the Appalachian League and helped plan and coordinate the physical testing at the inaugural 2021 and 2022 MLB Combines. He has been the Head Strength and Conditioning coach for the Mets (2002, '13-14), Padres (2006-12) and Pirates (2018-20).
"We're thrilled to have Jim leading our athletic performance program," said Stricklin. "He has a tremendous amount of experience in professional baseball including directing strength and conditioning programs at the Major League level. Our players are excited to start working with him, and we're looking forward to him joining our staff."
Along with his MLB experience, Malone has eight years of college coaching experience in football, wrestling and strength and conditioning, most recently as the Assistant Athletic Director for Physical Development/Strength and Conditioning at Campbell University in 2017. Also, he has spent time at Columbia University, Albright College, the University of Rochester and Princeton.Â
He is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and his credentials include being a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach with emeritus status (RSCC*E), USA Weightlifting (USAW) Sport Performance and Functional Movement System (FMS) Certified. He is a past president of the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society (2009-14) and served on numerous MLB professional committees involving Strength and Conditioning, Medical Advisory and Electronic Medical Records Advisory.
Malone remains active in weightlifting, competing as a Masters Weightlifter. In his career, he has claimed multiple titles and records at the national and international levels. He won gold in his age/weight division at the 2022 IWF Masters World Championships in Orlando, Fla. Also, he won gold at the 2019 Worlds, and the 2020 and 2021 Pan American Championships.
A four year-letterman as a defensive tackle for the University of Rochester, he earned NSCA All-America honors in 1988. He placed fifth in the 1989 US Powerlifting Federation Collegiate Nationals, also garnering All-America honors. He graduated from Rochester in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in economics and did post-graduate work in applied physiology at Columbia University.
Malone is married to Tracey B. Wilson, also from Buffalo.
