Northwestern’s new coach, a veteran and Team USA powerlifter, finds home in Rock Hill
Down a narrow hallway and across a freshly surfaced auxiliary gym floor, the newest hire of Northwestern athletics is at work.
“Take this leg, and kick it out just a little bit,” Donny Bigham says. His voice cuts through his blue facial mask and the hums of the weight room’s air conditioning units. He’s hunched over one of his athletes, instructing him on how to properly wring out a few more reps of a lower-body exercise. He’s wearing a royal purple polo with the Trojan emblem on it, khakis, New Balance shoes and a high-and-tight blonde haircut.
It’s a Friday afternoon, and it’s Bigham’s first day working with students as Northwestern’s strength and conditioning coach — his first day proving what many at Northwestern already know.
“First, you’re blown away by his resume,” Page Wofford, who’s going into his second season as Northwestern’s football coach, said of Bigham. “But then when you speak to him, you realize his passion for helping young people and his passion for the profession — the coaching profession and the strength profession.
“It became a situation where he could really help our program go on to the next level.”
Bigham’s resume is loaded. The 48-year-old strength coach — who Northwestern athletic director Jimmy Duncan said was chosen over more than 50 other applicants — is a five-time member of the USA Powerlifting team. He’s a two-time Raw World Masters powerlifting champion, and he most recently earned bronze at the World Classic Powerlifting Championships in June 2019.
He’s also a decorated military veteran: A retired major after 27 years of service, Bigham spent 48 months in combat and was the first ever uniformed strength coach in the U.S. Army, a role he had for six years. He was the Army Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017. He also helped design a new physical fitness test for the army, and served as the head strength coach for the Tactical Athlete Performance Center at Fort Benning, Ga. — which is where he trained more than 600 soldiers a day.
His career has taken him all over: He’s served in Kuwait and Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. He’s competed in Sweden, the Virgin Islands, South Africa and around America.
And now, he finds himself in Rock Hill.
Bigham finds a home in Rock Hill
In many ways, Bigham considers the introductory phone call from Coach Wofford a few months ago “an answered prayer.”
Not because he needed a job — Bigham had other offers, some from the collegiate level, he said — but because coming to Northwestern gave him a chance to grow what he was missing for much of his military and international competitor life: “Roots.”
“That was one of my biggest things that me and my family discussed,” Bigham told The Herald. “‘Do I want to continue to focus on my career, and reach higher, or do I want to establish more time with my family and have some roots?’ And that’s what allowed me to stay here: This door opened here for me to be able to still serve in the areas that I’m passionate about. It was a win-win for both sides.”
Bigham enlisted into the military at 19 years old. That’s about the time his interest in weight training blossomed — when it changed from a pastime, to a passion and then to an opportunity: He later earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at the University of South Carolina and got his Master’s at American Military University before accruing the aforementioned accolades and recognition.
“Nobody can take me off the ledge,” Duncan said. “We have the best strength coach in the state. Donny’s resume can stand next to anybody’s.”
Bigham is married to Kelly Merrell, a special education instructor who’s lived her whole life in Rock Hill and once worked for the Rock Hill School District. They have five children together.
“It’s unfortunate, you know,” Bigham said. “When you spend that many years in the military, you don’t get to stay in one place too long. And that’s why I said I wanted some roots.
“... That’s why it was an answered prayer, a blessing to be able to stay here.”
His plans for Northwestern football
Bigham looks forward to helping athletes from all sports succeed. But he has specific ideas for football, and he’s already expressed a few of them to Wofford. (Northwestern football, a program that has several alumni active in the NFL and has won three state championships since 2010, went 2-8 last season. The year before that, the team went 4-7.)
“I said, ‘I wanna know how many times you run. How many times do you run these routes? How many times do you throw this play?” Bigham said. “How often is a linebacker going to blitz? How often is a safety going to have to be a rover and float? How often is a corner going to have to play man to man versus zone?
“There’s a different set of what needs to be done inside the conditioning room versus what’s done out there.”
Although much of what Bingham is doing is new now — he’s in a new role; in a new place; growing new roots; exploring a new part of his life — people around him have confidence in what he’s doing.
“I think he’s got a very good opportunity to unlock and unleash our athletes’ potential,” Wofford said. “He’s got the background and qualifications to do just that.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 8:02 AM.
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