Colleen Grugan (left) assists athletic trainer Samantha Santos (right) with using an ultrasound machine on an athlete's hamstring. (Rowan Blog)
In 2002, a Rowan Prof graduated with a degree in health and exercise science. Now, 22 years later, the same woman has the role of Rowan’s head athletic trainer.
Colleen Grugan has been Rowan’s head athletic trainer since 2012, building on her experience as Rowan’s assistant athletic director, a position she took on in 2005. In her role, Grugan focuses on preventing as many injuries as possible from happening to athletes. She works to care, treat, evaluate, and rehabilitate injured athletes.
“I call myself the navigator sometimes because I think one of my big jobs is if you get hurt, I take you to the doctors, to the physicians, to the specialist that will help get you back just as fast as I can, too,” said Grugan.
Grugan grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, where she was surrounded by an athletic family, with both her father and uncle as coaches. Inspired to stay in the world of athletics, Grugan discovered her passion for sports medicine and athletic training in undergrad. After graduating from Rowan, she went down to Georgia Southern University, where she received her master’s degree in kinesiology. After graduating in 2004, she worked at Shawnee High School for a year.
“I wanted to go see what that big Division I hype was all about, and it wasn’t anything I liked or cared to stay in, plus it was way too hot in the South,” Grugan said. “So I went back up here, I worked at Shawnee High School for one year. I didn’t really like the high school world either.”
In the summer of 2025, Rowan’s former Head Athletic Trainer, Chuck Whedon, offered Grugan the position of assistant athletic director. The two worked together for about seven years until Whedon retired and Grugan stepped into her current role.
“Chuck Whedon was here [Rowan] for 25 years prior to me coming, and you know he’s probably my biggest professional mentor that I have here at the university,” Grugan said.
While Grugan credits Whedon’s influence in her career, she also claims the students she works with have an impact. Grugan is actively involved in the Athletic Education Program and serves as a preceptor. She works very closely with professors in James Hall and the Wellness Center staff to ensure policies and procedures are up to date for the safety of Rowan’s student athletes.
“One of the reasons I love Rowan is because I get to work with student athletes, but then I also get to help these students in our program become successful athletic trainers,” Grugan said. “So I think that’s one of the biggest impacts that I feel I get to have on campus.”
“I’ve gone over to the SOM and to Cooper several times and talked to those classes of future doctors so that they understand the role of what athletic trainers are, so that when they become physicians one day, they then can respect and understand what athletic training is,” Grugan said.
Grugan is assisted by students in the athletic training program, with whom she works hands-on at games. Students pursuing their M.S. in Athletic Training in their fourth year take classes and do clinical hours. Fifth years are in an immersive program where they spend about 35 to 40 hours in a clinical setting.
“They are here all the time assisting and helping, we have four on football and they’ll go with the team this weekend and travel,” Grugan said.
Grugan’s school days change day to day, though her mornings usually start off with her getting into her office and doing insurance claims and paperwork. Patients begin to come into the office around noon, and practices are held from 12:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. Five full-time certified athletic trainers are on campus and split up to cover games and practices throughout the day as well.
“I love working with student athletes. I think that the most exciting part of my job is to get to see those students come in as 18-year-olds before they are hurt,” Grugan said. “So I get to be that person that gets to support them throughout that after their injury. Then obviously, when they get back to the field, it’s like the most exciting thing when you can look at them and say, yeah, you did it.”
Coaches, strength and conditioning staff, and medical personnel’s communication with Grugan is key for the Rowan Athletics department to stay on top of sports injuries. The athletics department also has a team of physicians from Cooper Bone & Joint Institute that see patients on campus twice a week in-house.
“Some of the coaches, I mean, I literally text more than probably anybody else, you know, because sports injuries are living, breathing things that are happening in real time,” said Grugan. “I’ve had four conversations already this morning with our coaches. So a lot of the time that’s just daily regular communication.”
Grugan also works with students as a guest lecturer, speaking to future physicians at the Cooper and SOM medical schools. She also guest lectures in the master’s level program for athletic training. In the summer of 2025, she taught a class about how to treat fractures on the field.
“I’ve gone over to the SOM and to Cooper several times and talked to those classes of future doctors so that they understand the role of what athletic trainers are, so that when they become physicians one day, they then can respect and understand what athletic training is,” Grugan said.
With all teams under Rowan Athletics training at the beginning of the fall semester, and 600 student athletes combined, Grugan prioritizes communication and teamwork to extend beyond treating injuries. While Grugan treats her patients throughout their chaotic time of an injury, the biggest takeaway from her decades of work in sports medicine and athletic training is ultimately the relationship between her and the athletes she treats.
“I would say the students I work with have such a huge impact on how I do things I do. I have the expertise and the years of experience, but they come in saying, ‘Oh, I just learned this, or I just saw this, or what do you think about that?’” Grugan said. “I think those things help to keep me on my toes and push me to make sure I’m at the top of my game.”
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