Taylor Summers was named Director of Strength & Conditioning at Chicago State on May 16, 2024.

He joins the Cougars following two years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Dakota Wesleyan where he worked with both male and female athletes of all 14 sports at DWU.

Summers has been an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist since 2015. He completed his undergraduate work at Linfield University in 2008 after competing as a NWC Defensive Conference Player of the Year and D3football.com All-Region football athlete during the program's 63rd consecutive winning season.

He completed his graduate work at Bemidji State University (NCAA-DII) in 2015 after helping the football team to an NSIC North Division championship as an assistant football and strength coach. After finishing his stint as a graduate assistant coach at BSU in 2015, he served at the University of Minnesota-Crookston (NCAA-DII) as the strength and conditioning coordinator and assistant football coach for two years, developing multiple all-NSIC performers.

Summers interned with the Olympic Sports department at the University of Washington (NCAA-DI), working with men's and women's soccer, men's crew, men's basketball and baseball.

He moved to the private sector in 2017 and worked as a consultant for Volt Athletics, advising clients on best fit practices for implementing strength training protocol and using technology in the weight room, while assisting with O'Dea High School's 3A Washington State championship football team.

Prior to working at DWU, Summers was the associate head football coach and defensive coordinator for three years at Simon Fraser University (NCAA-DII) in Burnaby, BC, Canada, helping that team to its first win in three years and first conference win in over five years.