Colorado State University Athletics

Football

Shelton Gaffney
Shelton Gaffney
Shelton Gaffney joined the CSU staff in February 2019 as assistant football strength and conditioning coach. He joined the Rams after spending the previous two years at High Point, where he worked with women’s lacrosse, baseball, men’ soccer, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s lacrosse and men’s basketball as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. 

Gaffney's previous intercollegiate experience includes two years with the Temple football program (2013-14) and three years with the Tennessee football program (2008-10).

In Gaffney's experience at High Point, his work included helping the women’s lacrosse team to back-to-back Big South championships as well as back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances and a top-20 finish. In addition the baseball program competed in the Big South tournament championship game and men’s soccer won back-to-back Big South regular season championships and made an NCAA tournament appearance.

Between his posts at Tennessee and Temple, Gaffney spent two years as a strength and conditioning coach at Johnny Long’s Training Academy in Knoxville, Tenn., where he oversaw the development of football athletes and trained high school athletes and current professional athletes in various sports.

Gaffney started in the strength and conditioning profession in the spring of 2007 while at his alma mater, Western Carolina. He served as an apprentice in the weight room before serving an internship at Tennessee in the summer of 2007.

Gaffney was a four-year letterman linebacker at Western Carolina. He was a key contributor to the Catamounts' defense and special teams, and served as a team captain his senior year. Gaffney earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management with an emphasis in exercise science in 2007.

While at Tennessee he completed a master's degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in sport psychology in 2010. He is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), USA Weightlifting Level-2 (USAW-2), and USA Track & Field Level 1 (USAT&F-1).