Liane Blyn - Director of Sports Performance & Olympic Sports
Liane Blyn has over 20 years of experience as a strength coach, athletic trainer, business owner and international competitor. She is currently the Director of Sports Performance- Olympic Sports at Arizona State University. She directly works with Men’s Ice Hockey and Women’s Soccer and assists with Women’s Tennis and Track. Prior to her recent return to ASU, she was the Director of Olympic Sports at Appalachian State University. Liane has also been an assistant at Arizona State University, Boston College, University of Nevada-Reno and Director at Franklin High School & Parisi Speed school. She also founded and operated her own Sports performance business-Athletic Based Training in Holliston & Milford MA 2008- 2014. Liane has trained athletes at all levels including many past and current athletes in the NFL, NBA, NHL & MLB.
Liane is a 14x USA Powerlifting Drug free National Champion, 10x National team member, 4x IPF World Champion, 3-time World Games competitor as well as a world record holder in the bench, deadlift & total. Liane has also represented to United States in the 2003 ESPN’s World Strongest Woman Competition.
She is a graduate of Endicott College and Miami University (Ohio). She holds certifications from the National Athletic Trainers Association, National Strength and Conditioning Association, USA Weightlifting and is a USA Powerlifting certified National coach.
Rich Wenner - Head Coach of Sports Performance
Rich Wenner is a 1986 ASU alumnus receiving his BS degree in Physical Education and his MS degree in Exercise and Wellness from ASU in 2009. Rich has been a sports performance coach for more than three decades at ASU. After serving as an Assistant Strength Coach from 1987- 1995, he served as the Head Strength Coach from 1995-2000 where he was named the Pac-10 Strength Coach of the Year in 1996, he was the Head Strength Coach of Olympic Sports from 2000 until 2003 when he took the title of Associate Head Sports Performance Coach. In 2005 the National Strength and Conditioning Association named Rich as an Elite Strength and Conditioning Coach through its Coach Practitioner Program, a distinguished list of only 32 coaches across the US and around the world. In 2018 he was once again promoted to Head Sports Performance Coach of Olympic Sports. Wenner is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, a level 1 certified coach through USA Weightlifting and is level 1 Precision Nutrition certified. Wenner has authored a half dozen strength training articles and was a guest speaker at the 1988 NSCA National Conference. During his three-plus decades at ASU, Wenner has worked with 4 NCAA Championship teams, 15 individual NCAA Champions, 26 Pac-10/12 championship teams, 184 Pac-10/12 individual champions and All-Pac-10/12 first team selections and 181 First Team All-Americans. Some of these teams include the 1997 Rose Bowl team, 1988 Wrestling National Championship team, the 1988 and 1998 College Baseball World Series Championship game teams and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Elite Eight teams in 2007 and 2009. Rich is a 15-time national power lifting champion having competed in 35 national and international competitions. Rich was the 1986 IPF Junior World Power Lifting Champion as well as the 2014 IPF Master 2 Classic World Champion establishing new world records in the bench press and deadlift for his age group. He has set many American and national power lifting records including the Collegiate National Power Lifting total record as a member of the 1986 ASU Collegiate National Champion Powerlifting Team, a record which stood for 18 years. Rich serves as a national referee, a national level coach and is also part of the Club Coach Certification Faculty for USA Powerlifting.
Rich has been married to his wife Pauley for 28 years.
Pete Alosi - Assistant Head Coach of Sports Performance
Pete Alosi returned to Arizona State in 2016 for his second stint as an assistant sports performance coach for the football program after previously serving in the same role in 2007. In 2018 he transitioned over to the Olympic sports performance staff and in his current role works directly with the Women’s Lacrosse, Water Polo and Gymnastics teams. In addition to his team responsibilities, Alosi is also in charge of the implementation of technology into the sports performance department for assessment and monitoring protocols. The utilization of Dual Force Plates, Muscle Lab Contact Grid, GPS and GymAware systems has played an integral role in the overall development of Arizona State Universities Olympic sports athletes.
Prior to his return to ASU, Alosi most recently worked with the University of Buffalo and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) football teams each for a season. Before that he spent 8 years working as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Arizona Cardinals. In addition, he has completed internships with the New York Giants & Cleveland Browns to add to his NFL coaching experience. His coaching career first began in the private sector at Velocity Sports Performance after completing his first internship in 2003 at Hofstra University.
Alosi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Salisbury University where he played Division III football. He is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach, a Performance Enhancement Specialist & Corrective Exercise Specialist through the NASM and is Functional Movement Screen Level 1 certified through the FMS.
Pete was born In Massapequa, New York and currently resides in Chandler with His wife Celia and two children Isaac & Elijah.
Jason Robbins - Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Jason Robbins joined the Arizona State University Sports Performance Department in the fall of 2014. He is responsible for the development and implementation of sport specific strength, power, speed, agility, and mobility programs for the baseball team.
Prior to his arrival in Tempe, Robbins worked at Indiana University from 2009-14. During that time, he oversaw the strength and conditioning program for baseball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s diving, and women’s water polo.
Robbins spent two years at the University of Michigan as an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2007-09. During that time, he was responsible for implementing sport-specific strength and conditioning programs for men’s and women’s diving, men’s and women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, men’s soccer, women’s rowing and women’s water polo.
Robbins earned both his bachelor’s (2004) and master’s (2006) degrees in exercise science from the University of Toledo, where he was a four-year starter on the football team. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA-CSCS) and United States Weightlifting Level 1 Club Coach (USAW).
Daniel Marshall - Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Phoenix native Daniel Marshall joined the ASU sport performance staff in the summer of 2018 as an Assistant Sports Performance Coach and directly oversees the men’s basketball team as well as the women’s triathlon team.
Prior to ASU, he worked at the University of Rhode Island since 2014, serving as the strength coach for men's basketball, men's & women's cross country/track & field and rowing programs. In 2016 he was elevated to Director of Basketball overseeing all aspects of strength, conditioning and recovery for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. Marshall spent the 2013-14 season as a strength and conditioning intern with the NBA's Chicago Bulls. With the Bulls, Marshall was responsible for designing all aspects of strength and conditioning programs for Jimmy Butler, an NBA All-Defensive Second-Team selection. He also programmed and coached sprinting and lateral movement training sessions for Derrick Rose during his rehabilitation process.
Before joining the Bulls, Marshall spent nine months as a performance specialist in Shanghai, China. He was responsible for designing all aspects of strength and conditioning programs for Shanghai’s track and field athletes, shooting teams, and gymnastics teams. He also assisted with the women’s handball team, women’s volleyball, junior women’s basketball team, as well as women’s and junior women’s soccer. The athletes he worked with accounted for 10 medals at the Chinese National Games (three gold, four silver and three bronze). Marshall has also served as a performance specialist intern with Athletes' Performance (September 2012 through December 2012) and assisted with the Riso Scotti volleyball team in Pavia, Italy from August 2011 through April 2012. He was an assistant track and field coach at the University of Oklahoma in 2009-10, working with sprinters and jumpers.
Marshall earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Arizona in 2008 and a master's degree in athletic administration from the University of Oklahoma in 2011. He is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA.
Gavin Walker - Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Gavin Walker is in his fourth year as Assistant Sports Performance Coach for Arizona State beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, and men’s and women’s swimming. He is going into his fifth year overall with Sun Devil Athletics, as he was a graduate assistant who assisted with football and oversaw cross country, track and field, and triathlon along with his primary roles now.
In addition to coordinating and directing in-season and offseason training regimens for the Sun Devils, Gavin also oversees the internship program.
He graduated from Aurora University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Health and Human Performance Department and was a four-year letter-winner as a basketball athlete for the Spartans. He also spent time in the fall of 2015 as an intern at Clemson University’s Olympic Strength and Conditioning Department.
Gavin received his Master’s in Education from Arizona State University in 2017. He holds certifications through the NSCA (CSCS), USA Weightlifting (USAW L1), and Precision Nutrition (PN1).
Bailey Dawson - Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Bailey Dawson comes to the Sun Devil Sports Performance program from Peterson's Sports Performance in Lincoln, Nebraska where she served as the Head Sports Performance Coach for the past 3 years. She worked with athletes ages youth to collegiate designing and implementing year-round strength and conditioning programs for various sports. She also served as Dryland Coordinator for Heartland Aquatics Swim Team designing and implementing year-round strength and mobility programs for their Age Group, Junior, Senior and National teams. During her time at PSP she also served as a volunteer Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she worked with their volleyball, softball, gymnastics, rifle and bowling teams.
Prior to working at Peterson's Sports Performance, Bailey worked as a Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. While working as a Graduate Assistant Bailey was in charge of designing and implementing year-round strength and conditioning programs for Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Women's Rowing and Volleyball. She also assisted with Baseball, Men’s and Women's Soccer and Men's and Women's Basketball. Bailey received her master’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2012. Before attending graduate school, Bailey served as an intern in the summer of 2010 under Coach Rich Wenner at Arizona State University while assisting with Men's and Women's Basketball and Baseball.
Bailey is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as well as a USA Level 1 Coach by USA Weightlifting. She received her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science in 2009 while attending Creighton University where she also excelled on the softball field for the Bluejays and was a 2 time All MVC Honoree.
Dee Hernandez-Avalos - Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Dee Hernandez-Avalos joined the Sun Devils as an Assistant Sports Performance Coach in August 2018. She works primarily with the Arizona State track & field and cross-country teams and assists with Men’s Ice Hockey. Just before her start at Arizona State, she worked at the University of Miami as a football strength and conditioning graduate assistant pursuing a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology. Prior to her stint in Miami, she worked at her Alma Mater Humboldt State University as a student assistant strength coach for football, rowing, volleyball, and softball while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology.
During her time at HSU, Hernandez-Avalos was a 3-year rower and a part of the 2014 Division II National Championship team. Alongside those accomplishments, Hernandez-Avalos also took on the sport of powerlifting. Within her first year of the sport she became the 2015 Collegiate National Champion in the 72 kg. That lead her on to win the 2016 National Championship in the 72 kg, earning her a spot on Team USA Powerlifting. At the 2017 IPF World Championship Dee earned Team USA Powerlifting 2 bronze medals in the squat and total, contributing to a Team USA win. During her time in the sport she has earned 17 state records and 4 American records.
She holds certifications through the NSCA (CSCS) and USA Weightlifting (USAW L2).
Laura Serafino - Graduate Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Laura Serafino is going into her second year as a Graduate Assistant Sports Performance Coach working directly with Arizona State’s women’s soccer team while assisting with all other Olympic Sports training out of the SDSP facility.
Prior to ASU, Serafino coached soccer for the Ontario Player Development League and was the Head Strength Coach at SPEED Hockey Development for 4 years in Toronto Ontario, Canada, where she is originally from. Most recently she was a professional intern at the Citadel, her alma mater. Serafino graduated from The Citadel with a bachelor’s degree in Health Exercise Sports Science in 2012, excelling on and off the field as a Division 1 soccer player for the Bulldogs.
She will graduate from Arizona State University in the spring of 2020 with a Master’s of Higher & Post-Secondary Education. Serafino holds certifications through the NSCA (CSCS), USA Weightlifting L1), and Titleist Performance Institute (TPI L1).
Jacob Garrity - Graduate Assistant Coach of Sports Performance
Jacob Garrity is going into his second year as a Graduate Assistant Sports Performance Coach working directly with Arizona State’s women’s water polo team while assisting with all other Olympic sports training out of the Carson Student-Athlete Center. He also works with USA Triathlon’s Project Podium men’s developmental triathlon team through their partnership with ASU.
Before arriving at ASU in 2019, Jacob served as a volunteer sports performance intern for 5 months at Stanford University working with the baseball, men’s soccer, women’s swimming, women’s water polo, lightweight crew and synchronized swimming teams. In addition, Garrity worked under the Director of Applied Sports Science and assisted with the application of several technologies used to test and monitor student athletes for the Olympic sports teams.
Prior to Stanford, he also completed volunteer internships with the College of the Holy Cross assisting with the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams and at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning working with professional, college and high school level athletes.
Jacob graduated from Springfield College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Exercise Science. He will graduate from Arizona State University in the spring of 2020 with a Master’s of Higher and Post-Secondary Education. Garrity is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, and a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach.