Gerad Parker went from eight losses to eight wins in his Year 1 to Year 2 transition as head coach at Troy.
Now, after revamping his offensive staff with the hiring of FootballScoop 2025 Offensive Coordinator of the Year Adam Austin from Tarleton State, Parker is making a significant move atop his Troy Trojans strength and conditioning program.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Parker is hiring Ben Sowders, most recently the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Arkansas and a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach, to run the Troy strength and conditioning program.
Sowders is set to replace Darl Bauer, who was hired earlier this week as the new top strength coach in Sonny Dykes' TCU Horned Frogs program.
Troy played for the Sun Belt Conference Championship and advanced to the postseason as it doubled its win total in the year-over-year transition.
Prior to his more recent multi-year run at Arkansas, Sowders was the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Louisville and also notably worked as assistant strength and conditioning coach in Kirby Smart's University of Georgia Bulldogs program.