Portland State University Athletics

Alec Olson has been hired as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for Portland State Athletic. Olson works with all 15 Viking Athletics teams but specifically with the football program.

“This was a great opportunity to help push the Portland State program forward to more success in the Big Sky,” said Olson. “The skill set and experiences I have can help achieve that.”

Olson spent the past three years as Assistant Sports Performance Coach at Western Oregon. He directed sports performance for women’s volleyball, track and field and women’s basketball while also involved with all other sports, operations and implementations.

During his time at WOU he added an athlete load program for all teams to track daily wellness and stress to optimize performance.

Prior to WOU, Olson spent time as a football strength and conditioning intern at the University of Iowa during the summer of 2020 assisting in the implementation and execution of all aspects for football strength and conditioning.

Olson received an undergraduate degree at WOU with a bachelor’s in social science and exercise science in 2015. He went on to complete his master’s degree in biomechanics at Illinois State. While at Illinois State, Olson directed all aspects of strength and conditioning for women’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and women’s golf. He also was the primary assistant to the operations and implementation for football. Olson served as the primary assistant in monitoring and the execution of softball, throwers and jumpers program training sessions. Olson designed and implemented a recovery survey for women’s gymnastics to track sleep, nutrition and stress variables.

Olson is strength and conditioning coach certified through CSCCA and advanced sports performance coach through USAW.

Originally from Albany, OR, Olson played football at Western Oregon for three seasons.