In March 2022, TJ Lavigne was named the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Daemen.  In this role, LaVigne serves as the primary strength and conditioning professional, providing essential services to student-athletes from each of Daemen's 17 intercollegiate athletic programs. LaVigne brings an extensive background in the planning and implementation of physical preparation and nutritional eduction to his post at Daemen. 

LaVigne comes to Daemen from the University at Buffalo where he served as the Assistant Sports Performance Coach for Olympic Sports. In addition to his work with UB's women's basketball men's and women's track and field/cross country and softball student-athletes, he assisted in the operational functions of the Sports Performance Department and sat on the H3H Mental Health Committee with the goal of destigmatizing the conversation around mental health in collegiate athletics.  

Prior to his stint at UB, Lavigne was the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Rochester Institute of Technology. While there, Lavigne oversaw all programming and strength training for the women’s lacrosse, women’s crew, and cheerleading teams, while also acting as supervising strength coach for all of track and field student-athletes.

In addition to his work at UB and RIT, Lavigne completed a strength and conditioning internship at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, assisting in the physical preparation for over 50 professional fighters as well as five teams from the Chinese Olympic Committee.

A Buffalo native, Lavigne earned his bachelor’s degree from Baldwin Wallace University and is pursuing his Master’s degree at Southern Utah University. Lavigne is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and is Precision Nutrition Level 1 certified. Additionally, Lavigne holds certifications with USA Weightlifting and Functional Movement Systems. 

Lavigne lives in Buffalo with his wife, Corrin, and their dog, Owen.