Scott Bird is the Director of Athletic Performance for baseball, a role he has served since 2014. This is Bird’s second stint at Mizzou when he returned as Director of Athletic Performance for football in February of 2012 after spending six years at Kansas State University. Bird, who has over 27 years of proven success in the field of Strength and Conditioning, has worked with a variety of men's and women's sports at some of the country's highest ranked universities and has been a part of many successful teams along the way including the 2014 and 2015 SEC East Division Football Champions. Bird has coached 37 All-Americans, seven conference players of the year and has had 65 players go on to play professional baseball including 2017 1st round pick Tanner Houck and three time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, as well as numerous others go on to play professionally in their respective sport. Bird has also had the opportunity to coach players who have won the top honors in college football (Heisman, Outland, Biletnikoff, Butkus, Davy O’Brien and more) as well as 10 top 5 round NFL picks the past 4 years at Missouri. At Kansas State Bird was part of the baseball program that had the 3 best win totals in the programs history including a school record 43 wins in 2009. In the 6 years at K-State the program had 22 players drafted in the MLB draft and 6 of those were drafted in the top 10 rounds as well as two Big 12 players of the year.
In 2010, Bird received his profession's highest honor by being named Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association (CSCCa).
Prior to his time in Manhattan, Bird spent the previous four seasons as an Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Missouri. Bird's responsibilities at Missouri included assisting with the player development program for football as well as being responsible for the development of Tiger baseball. Bird was also the Director of the Mizzou Performance Club.
Prior to Missouri, Bird spent four years at the University of Oklahoma, working with the Sooner football program, including the 2000 Big 12 and National Championship team. Bird also directed the program for the nationally-ranked women's basketball team that won two Big 12 Championships and made two Sweet Sixteen appearances. In addition to football and women's basketball, Bird worked with the OU baseball squad.
Bird attended Oklahoma and was a member of the school's 1985 national championship football team under coach Barry Switzer. He returned to Oklahoma four years later as a graduate assistant (1989-92) before serving a one-year stint at Texas Tech (1992-93).
The McLoud, Okla. native, then spent three years (1994-97) on the strength staff for The Ohio State University strength staff where he was in charge of 10 sports, including the Buckeyes' women's volleyball team that won the 1994 Big 10 Championship and advanced to the 1994 NCAA Final Four and the 1995 and 1996 regional finals. He also assisted with the OSU football program, which was co-Big 10 champions in 1996.
Following the 1985 season at Oklahoma, Bird transferred to Northeastern State University, where his football team won the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference in 1987. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education with a double minor in education and journalism from NSU in 1987. Bird is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist as well as a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach Emeritus through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is also certified by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.
Bird is married to the former Elizabeth Townsend of Columbia, Missouri.
