Lee Marks  
Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning  

Lee Marks begins his first season at Arkansas State as the Red Wolves' Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning.

Marks, an All-Western Athletic Conference running back at Boise State from 2002-05 while Harsin was on the Broncos coaching staff, comes to Arkansas State after most recently serving as South Dakota State's running backs coach in 2012.  Marks is replacing Jeff Jones, who recently accepted a similar position at another university, on the ASU strength and conditioning staff.

South Dakota State, ranked No. 21 in the latest Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, produced a 9-4 overall record and claimed a 58-10 victory over Eastern Illinois in the first round of the NCAA FCS playoffs during Marks lone season with the Jackrabbits.

Marks oversaw the efforts of All-America running back Zach Zenner, who rushed for 2,044 yards for 13 touchdowns while adding 28 receptions for another 197 yards.  He crossed the 100-yard mark in nine games and topped 200 yards three times, including a school-record 295 yards in SDSU's win over Eastern Illinois.  Zenner was honored on All-America teams selected by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, AFCA, Sports Network and Associated Press.

Prior to South Dakota State, Marks spent two seasons as the running backs coach and graduate assistant at the University of Sioux Falls. The high-powered Cougar offense ranked second in the NAIA for in total points (577) during the 2010 season and 18th in rushing yards (2,254).

Before joining the Sioux Falls staff, Marks spent three seasons at the University of Colorado, where he served as an assistant speed and strength and conditioning coach while working closely with current Arkansas State Director of Strength and Conditioning Jeff Pitman.

"Coach Marks has a history with Coach Pitman, and I know they will work well together to help produce outstanding results in our strength and conditioning and speed training programs," said ASU Head Football Coach Bryan Harsin.  "He brings experience as both a position and strength and conditioning coach, and can even go back to his time as an all-conference player while working with our team and, specifically, our speed training program."

During his playing career at Boise State, Marks led the Broncos in rushing two seasons.  He accumulated 1,773 rushing yards and eight touchdowns over his final two seasons as a starter. He helped lead BSU to four bowl games, was a two-time all-Western Athletic Conference selection and was the team's offensive MVP in 2005. Marks was also a standout sprinter on the BSU track and field team. He later played one season with the Boise Burn of the Arena Football League.
 

Jeff Pitman  
Director of Strength and Conditioning  

Jeff Pitman, a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) who has previous experience at Western Carolina, Colorado, Boise State, San Jose State and Montana State dating back to 1995, has begins his first season as Arkansas State's Director of Strength and Conditioning.

Pitman comes to A-State after spending the last three seasons at Western Carolina, where he served as the Catamounts' Strength and Conditioning Coordinator since January 2010.  He spent the previous five years as the director of speed-strength and conditioning at Colorado, but also worked closely with Harsin on the Boise State coaching staff for seven years from 2000-06.

"I had an opportunity to work with Coach Pitman at Boise State, and I was thoroughly impressed with his training program and how he communicated with the staff and players," said ASU Head Football Coach Bryan Harsin.  "He will be a great addition to our program, and his extensive experience will help us produce positive results that will have a big impact on our team's performance."

During his time at Colorado, he worked directly with the football program while also overseeing the speed, strength and conditioning needs for all the Buffaloes' varsity programs.  Prior to Colorado, Pitman was Boise State's head strength and conditioning coach and played an integral role in Boise State's emergence as a nationally-recognized program that won six Western Athletic Conference championships during his tenure.

Certified as a level one club coach by USA Weightlifting in 1994, Pitman took his first full-time position as a strength coach in 1995 at Montana State University.  He directed the Bobcats' programs specifically for football, women's skiing and women's track until 1997.  He moved to San Jose State in the fall of 1997, supervising the training programs for all the Spartans' varsity programs for a two-year period before joining the staff at Boise State, his alma mater.

A three-year letterman at center for Boise State from 1990-92, Pitman originally walked on to the team in 1988 before eventually earning a scholarship and becoming a two-year starter at center.  He was a member of the Broncos' 1990 team that finished 10-4, advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

Pitman was recognized as an NSCA Strength and Conditioning All-America in 1992, making him one of just 10 Boise State players in history to win the award.

He graduated from Boise State with a degree in health promotion in 1993, and immediately went to work as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach for the University of Minnesota.  While coaching for the Gophers, he earned his master's degree in education in the spring of 1995.
 

Brian Wilkinson  
Assistant Athletics Director for Football Operations  

Brian Wilkinson begins his first season at Arkansas State as Assistant Athletics Director for Football Operations.

Wilkinson brings over eight years of experience in football operations with him to Arkansas State, most recently serving the last two seasons as Wyoming's Director of Football Operations.  He also spent two different stints as the assistant director of football operations at the University of California, the first from July 2005 to March 2008 and the second from August 2010 until accepting his position at Wyoming.  In between his two tours of duty at Cal, Wilkinson worked with the Sacramento State coaching staff as the director of football operations from March 2008 to August 2009.

Wilkinson has been a part of five different bowl games during his career, including Wyoming's appearance in the 2011 Gildan New Mexico Bowl.  While he was on staff at Cal, the Golden Bears won the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl, the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl and the 2003 Insight Bowl.  Cal also competed in the 2004 Holiday Bowl during Wilkinson's tenure.

"We are excited Brian Wilkinson is joining our staff as our assistant athletics director for football operations," said ASU Head Football Coach Bryan Harsin.  "He has been associated with some very strong programs and will bring a great deal of experience with him to Arkansas State.  He is highly respected within the profession and will play a key role in not only our day-to-day operations, but what we're trying to accomplish as a whole."

While at Wyoming, Cal and Sacramento State, Wilkinson worked closely in areas such as team travel, administrative operations, budget, compliance issues, summer football camps and certain aspects of recruiting as it related to the football programs.

Prior to accepting his first assistant director of operations position at Cal, he served as the Golden Bears Equipment Manager from 2003-05.  Also while at Cal, Wilkinson was the Director of Softball Operations from 2005-06.

Wilkinson served in the United States Air Force from 1991-94. After the military, he served as a minor league clubhouse manager and equipment manager for the Oakland Athletics.  He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Belford University in 2009.