Iowa Wild adds S&C coach, assistant AT

The Iowa Wild added two performance and medical staff members on September 1, naming Cory Chapp head strength and conditioning coach and Nick Peyton assistant athletic trainer. General manager Matt Hendricks announced the hires in a team release from Des Moines. The American Hockey League club said Chapp will oversee strength and conditioning work, while Peyton joins the hockey operations group after a season in the ECHL. The moves come ahead of Iowa’s 2026-27 season under first-year head coach Stu Bickel. ### Who did Iowa Wild hire, and when did the team announce it? Matt Hendricks announced the staff changes on September 1 in a release on the club’s website. The team said Chapp was hired as head strength and conditioning coach and Peyton as assistant athletic trainer. Des Moines is the base for the Iowa Wild, the Minnesota Wild’s primary AHL affiliate. (iowawild.com) The club framed the hires as updates to its hockey operations staff rather than changes on the coaching bench. ### What is Cory Chapp’s background? Cory Chapp arrives after serving as head of strength and conditioning at the University of Minnesota Duluth. (iowawild.com) The Iowa Wild said he managed training program development and implementation for 12 varsity sports there. More than a decade of work across professional, college, Olympic and elite athletes is part of Chapp’s background, according to the team. (iowawild.com) The club said he also spent three seasons with the Chicago Cubs organization as a minor league strength and conditioning coach and previously worked at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Minnesota, Boston University and Merrimack College. A Master of Science in exercise and sports science from Merrimack College and a kinesiology degree from Wisconsin-Oshkosh are listed in Chapp’s bio. The team said he also holds Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist credentials through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, along with certifications from USA Weightlifting, Precision Nutrition and Reflexive Performance Reset. (iowawild.com) ### What experience does Nick Peyton bring to the athletic training role? Nick Peyton joins Iowa after one season with the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL as the team’s athletic trainer. The Iowa Wild said the Independence, Iowa, native also worked for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers and the Des Moines Capitals high school hockey team. (iowawild.com) The University of Northern Iowa graduate later served as a graduate assistant at Buena Vista University, according to the team release. Iowa said Peyton also earned a master’s degree in sports management from the University of South Dakota. ### How do these hires fit into Iowa’s current hockey operations staff? (iowawild.com) Stu Bickel was hired as Iowa’s head coach on June 29 after five seasons as an AHL assistant, including four with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The team’s hockey operations page lists Hendricks as general manager and alternate governor, with Bickel entering his first season as head coach. (iowawild.com) The September 1 additions extend changes around a club preparing for Bickel’s first year behind the bench. Iowa’s official site identifies the team as the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. ### What do the hires say about day-to-day player support? The Iowa Wild release assigns Chapp to the strength and conditioning side and Peyton to athletic training, placing one hire on performance programming and the other on medical support. (iowawild.com) The club did not publish contract terms or additional staffing changes in the announcement. A 2024 Iowa Wild release showed the club previously paired additions in the same two areas, when it hired Bryan Rohrbach as strength and conditioning coach and Jason Geisler as assistant athletic trainer. That earlier announcement suggests the team has continued to staff those functions as distinct parts of hockey operations. (iowawild.com) ### What comes next for the team? Season tickets for the 2026-27 Iowa Wild season are already on sale, the team said in the September 1 release. The club directed fans to its website and press box page for further roster, statistics and team updates as the season approaches. (iowawild.com 1) (iowawild.com 2)