Year of the Strength Coach

Norwich University is renowned for producing leaders in both the military and civilian spheres. While the spotlight is usually on those leaders and their impact, there are faculty, staff, and coaches who are developing these young men and women into the leaders they become. One of those individuals is the award-winning Director of Strength and Conditioning Scott Caulfield who uniquely fills all of these roles at once.

Caulfield oversees hundreds of student-athletes on The Hill and has imparted his expertise upon those under his tutelage. His efforts have been highlighted not only by student success stories, but his own successes as well. Caulfield was named the president of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2024, making him the first full-time college strength and conditioning coach to hold the position. The NSCA wasted no time in honoring him again when he was soon named the 2025 College Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year, highlighting his commitment to professional leadership and coaching.

“Being elected as president of the of the foundation as a full-time coach is a big deal to me because a lot of coaches are too busy or may not have the bandwidth to take on other leadership responsibilities. I feel that this is an important role that can push this field forward and offer a voice for strength and conditioning coaches,” says Caulfield. “I think for me to be able to be president of the foundation’s board and win this award at the same time says a lot about these perceived limitations on coaches how they may think they can’t get involved. I hope I’m showing to other professionals that you can still be involved in leadership at a high level and be a coach.”

When thinking of his 2025 College Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year Award, he feels a deep personal connection to Norwich in the way he was able to earn the recognition. “Winning this award while at Norwich means a lot to me,” he says. “I learned to ski here in third grade, I went to basketball camps here, and trained Head Coach Sophie Doherty [women’s hockey] when she was in high school. There are so many connections to Norwich throughout my lifetime that winning the award here really makes it special.”

Caulfield’s first professional relationship with Norwich University began in 2003 when he spent three years as the men’s rugby strength and conditioning coach. The next decade-plus was spent honing his skills at a variety of institutions while also continuously involving himself with the NSCA. In 2021, he returned to The Hill as the director of strength and conditioning with a highly-respected philosophy both in the weightroom and classroom as an instructor in the Department of Health and Human Performance. “If you ask me, everything we do is about results and relationships,” says Caulfield. “Obviously, we have to get results in relation to improving sports performance and hopefully decreasing injuries; hopefully, that helps our coaches win more games.”

He sees the relationships that are built across campus as key to improving athlete success. “That’s really what it’s all about to me,” he says. “Having the ability to make strong relationships, whether on campus or outside of it, will help our student-athletes. Maybe it’s a connection for an internship, maybe it’s a future opportunity, or maybe it’s being able to leverage my relationships in Denver at the NSCA to help what we do here at Norwich on a daily basis.”

Teaching in the Department of Health and Human Performance allows Caulfield the chance to continuously hone his skills and leverage his expertise for the benefit of the student body. “I love teaching, I think it helps keep my skills up to date and my public speaking skills fresh through lecturing and talking to students about related topics,” he says. “It gives me an opportunity to influence more of our campus community on what proper strength and conditioning is, because a lot of our cadets are going to take these classes in exercise science and have leadership roles in the Corps that involve physical fitness.” He knows that many Norwich cadets will end up in leadership positions in their careers. “Once they commission and get stationed, someday they’re going to potentially be overseeing fitness. Giving them the tools that are going to make them more prepared to know what good training is and how to implement it is a huge plus.”

Though the student population skews towards the Corps of Cadets, Caulfield works with all students through his classes. “We have a mix of everything from student-athletes, to cadets, to civilian students who may or may not be playing a sport,” he says. “Sometimes we’ll even have interns who may not have been on an athletic team but are just interested in exercise science.” 

As a coach and classroom instructor, Caulfield is deeply ingrained in the Norwich culture of experiential learning. One of the places where that is constantly put on display is the Class of 1984 Fitness Center, which was funded by a $1 million donation from the class, highlighting the alumni’s belief in the Norwich mission. Caulfield was tasked with planning its development.

“As a strength and conditioning coach, you always have to be thinking ahead and working on designing facilities for when the opportunity comes up,” he says. “I already had a number of different plans in my mind and different sizes.” He says that he needed to be prepared for situations like this in his role and could not fathom asking for a few weeks to prepare when such an opportunity arose. “I’ve designed a number of gyms in the past, and once I know the layout of the facility, the amount of space we’re going to have, I already know what the needs of our student and campus community are.”

“I look at designing a program or facility just like I would look at developing an athlete,” says Caulfield, who considered the needs of specific sports and the greater campus community when designing. “I knew we needed a functional area with turf; I knew we needed multiple dumbbell areas for busy days to prevent one clogged up, congested area; I knew we needed a variety of equipment. Fortunately, the Class of 1984 came up huge for us and we were able to get everything we needed in a new facility.”

The Class of 1984’s belief in Norwich – and Caulfield – reiterates the importance of preparing students across campus for the life they will lead following graduation. He is able to connect with them not only because he is an expert in his field as a coach, but also because he has lived a similar life of service during his time as a sailor in the Navy, where he was aboard the amphibious assault ship, the USS Guam (LPH-9), working closely with the Marine Corps. “We carried helicopters and Marines,” he says. “It’s one of the reasons I have such a close place in my heart for Marines. We were taking a bunch of them with us whenever we deployed.” He spent his time in the Navy as a boatswain’s mate, and to those who may be unfamiliar with his former role, he describes it as “One of those guys in the colored shirts from ‘Top Gun’ that do all the directing of the aircraft.”

Coach Caulfield has proven that he is well-equipped to further the Norwich University mission through his work with all students on The Hill. He takes it to heart and has even added two additional members to his staff: his furry family members, Alfie the mini and River the golden. The pair of therapy dogs often escort him around campus and share his joy in committing himself to Norwich University and those who believe in its purpose.