Brandon Haygood enters his first season as an assistant coach on the Bulldog baseball staff after being hired in the fall of 2013 by head coach Wade Simoneaux. Haygood makes his return to Louisiana Tech after starring as a fouryear letterwinner for the Bulldogs from 2001-2005. As a shortstop for the ’Diamond Dogs during those years, Haygood played a total of three seasons under Simoneaux. “Brandon Haygood is a tremendous addition to our coaching staff,” Assistant Coach head coach Wade Simoneaux said. “He is very wise in many departments. We let him float around because he can help us with infielders, outfielders, hitters and base runners. I want him to also share comments with pitchers or catchers. Our policy as a coaching staff is that we have people in charge of each area, but we want all four coaches to coach everyone on the field. Brandon is also a tremendous addition in the strength and conditioning department. On our roadtrips, Brandon will be able to take similar workouts that Dr. Szymanski has prepared and put the guys through workouts while we are traveling. He is a tremendous family guy who is married with two kids with his wife, Adasha. Overall, he is a great addition to our staff.” Prior to joining the Bulldogs’ staff, Haygood was a graduate assistant for the UT Arlington baseball team from 2011-2013 while working toward his master’s degree. He also spent a season as an assistant coach for Loyola Prep in Shreveport from 2010-11. A native of Shreveport, La., Haygood graduation from Airline High School and went on to become a four-year starter as a shortstop for Louisiana Tech from 2002-05. The four-year letterwinner continues to rank second in school history for doubles in a season, as he totaled 20 as a senior for the Bulldogs. In his playing days with the Bulldogs, Haygood led the team in stolen bases (21), runs (49), at bats (233) and games played (58) as a junior, while leading LA Tech in runs (41), doubles (20) and triples (2) in his senior season. After completing his collegiate career at Louisiana Tech, Haygood went on to play two years of professional baseball with Shreveport and El Paso in the American Association League. Haygood earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana Tech in kinesiology and health promotions, while also attaining his master’s degree in exercise physiology from UT Arlington. Haygood is married to his wife, Adasha, and the couple has two children, Zoey and Zane.
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Dr. David Szymanski begins his seventh season as a member of the Bulldog baseball staff after joining in 2007 as a volunteer assistant. He is now the strength and conditioning coach for the Bulldogs. He is a full-time assistant professor of exercise physiology in the Department of Kinesiology at Tech. “It would be hard to replace what Coach Szymanski does with our players in the weight room and with their run techniques,” Tech head Wade Simoneaux said. “He does an outstanding job year-round.” Strength & Conditioning Coach coachSzymanski is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with distinction through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and has been involved in training baseball players since 1992. Before coming to Tech, he served as the exercise physiologist for the Auburn University Baseball Team where he trained, tested and evaluated the players’ athletic performance. Through his evaluation, Szymanski established baseball-specific workouts and training methods. He has continued the same regime with the Bulldogs. This year, the Bulldog batters will also perform vision training using Vizual Edge® Performance Training software in attempts to further enhance their “on-field” hitting performance. Szymanski played at Texas Lutheran and later served as an assistant baseball coach and recruiting coordinator for the Southwestern Athletic Conference school for four years. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the NSCA. He has had multiple articles published on ways to improve baseball performance and has given presentations on sport-specific training and ways to improve throwing and bat swing velocity. In the fall of 2006 he completed a 12-week training study in which players from five local high schools participated. Szymanski also has been collecting baseball-specific data, including strength, power, speed, agility, body composition, and throwing and bat velocities for the last three years with the players on Tech’s team. He presented his findings at the NSCA’s National Conference in Las Vegas last summer. He completed his bachelor’s degree in fine arts and kinesiology at Texas Lutheran and completed his master’s in physical education at Texas State, before earning his doctorate in exercise physiology at Auburn. A native of LaGrange, Ill., Szymanski is married to the former Jessica Gaytan of Seguin, Texas. Jessica was an All-American middle blocker for the Texas Lutheran volleyball team and is an interim instructor in the Department of Kinesiology. The couple has two sons, Dawson (6) and Justin (4).
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