Jordan Downes staff head shot. (Rowan Athletics)
Jordan Downes is the head strength and conditioning coach at Rowan University, who started in his role in the spring of 2025. Downes has been working in Athletics for the past seven years and attended King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he played Division III football.
Being a student-athlete is where Downes first thought about going into athletics as a work field. This is not something he has always wanted to do, but something he knows now that he was made for.
“I didn’t know how big my dreams were until they became big dreams,” Downes said.
Being an athlete in college was one of the aspects of his life that led him to the career he is in now. Understanding the needs of college athletes when working with them is incredibly important. To build that trust with them, one needs to understand what they need not only physically, but mentally as well.
Downes has only worked in college athletics since graduating from his alma mater. Prior to coming to Rowan, he worked at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and then Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. While working at Widener, Downes developed a comprehensive science-based sports training program.
“I am using guaranteed results when it comes to strength performance or speed performance,” Downes said. “I’ve never been someone to guess when we are in the weight room. I like to go with solidified methods.”
Here at Rowan, Downes works with the majority of teams under the Athletics department. However, the teams he works with the most are football, women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s basketball. Downes coaches these teams directly in their strength training along with his three staff members.
“I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without my staff,” Downes said. “They’re like the batteries of this strength department and help me do what needs to be done.”
Downes hopes to make an overall positive impact on the students he works with throughout his career, working with student athletes. The coaches in his life when he was an athlete guided him to where he is now, and now he feels it’s his turn to do the same for the students he works with.
Downes hopes to inspire student-athletes to dream bigger and understand that there is no limit for them and that they can do anything.
“Granted, I do think at first it will be physical. An athlete will have a number of weights they want to lift, and once they achieve that number, they think ‘oh I can do anything’ … I hope to inspire that in them,” Downes said.
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