Iowa State hired Clayton Oyster of Rice as the Cyclones’ assistant strength and conditioning football coach in February. Oyster worked at Rice under Yancy McKnight, now ISU’s director of strength and conditioning for football.

At Rice, Oyster designed and implemented comprehensive year-round speed, strength and conditioning programs for baseball and assisted in the same role for the Owl football program. Oyster was on the staff of three Rice teams that qualified for the College World Series. The Owl football team went to two bowl games while Oyster was at Rice. Oyster worked two years as a full-time member of the Owls strength and conditioning team after spending a year as a volunteer assistant.

Oyster worked with the Owls’ golf, volleyball and women’s basketball teams in addition to assisting with football. A 2002 graduate of Otterbein (Ohio) College, Oyster began his coaching career at Gahanna High School in Columbus, Ohio. He also worked as a Co-Director of Strength and Conditioning for Performance One Athletic Development in Columbus and as a Sports Performance Coach for Velocity Sports Performance in Houston.

He is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and by USA Weightlifting as a Level 1 Club Coach (USAW). He earned a master’s degree in kinesiology at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in 2005.