Villanova hires Jake Cox as Strength and Conditioning coach

When Justus Galac left the Main Line to try his hand at working in the New York Jets' weight room, understudy and Villanova football alumnus Phil Matusz stepped up to the challenge to lead the program forward. Galac had coached Matusz and the 'Cats as they worked toward the 2009 FCS title, and shortly afterward, the former defensive lineman and team captain was hired to work in the Powerhouse as well.

When Galac left, Matusz was the obvious choice to lead the strength program.

"We moved Phil Matusz up," head coach Andy Talley said at the time. "Phil was a captain of our National Championship team, a starting nose guard for four years - so he worked under Justus [Galac] for four years - and then was his assistant strength coach for two, so he knows our system."

Just two years later, bigger programs took notice of the Villanova coach's successes and it wasn't long before he was lured away to Columbus, Ohio, to work for the Buckeyes.

To replace him, Villanova reached across town to pluck Jake Cox from Temple University's football weight room. Cox, who played on the offensive line at Kansas from 2005 through 2008, has been an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Akron, and Colorado in addition to Temple, where he spent just one season. At Colorado, Cox was also the director of nutrition.

Cox has a Bachelor's degree in Health Science from Kansas and a Master's degree is Kinesiology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.