Cade Rickford is in his second season as the assistant athletic performance coach at St. Olaf in 2025-26 after being hired in July 2024.
Along with Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Performance John Waters, Rickford is responsible for the strength and conditioning programming for each of St. Olaf's 26 NCAA Division III varsity sport programs.
Rickford came to St. Olaf after serving as the strength and conditioning graduate assistant and interim head coach at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa during the 2023-24 academic year. After starting as a graduate assistant working primarily with women's basketball, volleyball, golf, softball, and soccer and assisting with football, men's soccer, basketball, baseball, and wrestling, he moved into the interim head coach role in February, adding guidance for men's basketball, football, and wrestling.
In 2022-23, Rickford was a strength and conditioning intern at the University of South Dakota, working directly with NCAA Division I student-athletes in swimming and diving, basketball, track and field, Olympic lifting group, volleyball, softball, and football. He also gained experience as a strength and conditioning coach at Mount Marty College and Rozy's Performance from 2016-23.
An active section leader in the National Guard, Rickford graduated from the University of South Dakota in 2023 with a bachelor of science in kinesiology and sports management. He is currently pursuing a master of science in sports management from Briar Cliff University. Rickford is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and is certified in Adult First Aid/CPR/AED through the American Red Cross.
