Dr. Timothy Baghurst, Director
Timothy Baghurst is the Director of FSU COACH: Interdisciplinary Center for Athletic Coaching at Florida State University. His research has evolved from exploring body image to examining health modeling in sport and health professions, stress and burnout in coaching, and methods for coach evaluation and certification. He has authored over 125 peer-reviewed articles, seven books, and numerous book chapters. A sought-after speaker on coaching and leadership, he is a Fellow of SHAPE America, the National Academy of Kinesiology, and the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education.
An avid player, coach, and commentator for racquetball, squash 57, and pickleball, Tim has represented England internationally and previously served as Head Coach of the USA Racquetball Junior National Team.
Dr. Megan Buning
Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Interdisciplinary Center for Athletic Coaching (FSU COACH). She serves as the master’s degree and certificate program coordinator. She earned her doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Mississippi, her Master of Science in sport psychology from Florida State, and her Bachelor of Science in exercise science from the University of South Carolina. Megan holds the Certified Mental Performance Consultant certification that is a nationally recognized credential supported by the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). She is also listed on the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Sport Psychology Registry. She works with various athletes, coaches, teams, and game officials on training the mental game.
As a previously tenured faculty and researcher, Megan established a line of research focused on the cross-over of sport and classroom concepts and strategies to improve coaching and teaching practices. She has published and presented both nationally and internationally in the coach education and sport psychology fields. During this time, she designed and taught graduate-level research methods courses and was heavily involved in designing, launching, and leading a new doctorate program. Now with FSU COACH, Megan’s teaching is a combination of both her athletic, coaching and faculty experiences guided by literature. She puts her research to use as she uses what she has learned about merging coaching in the classroom to help aspiring and experienced coaches and staff learn about the coaching profession in a structured learning environment.
Megan is married to Shaun Buning, D.PT, and they have two daughters. Their household is kept lively with five pets including a horse that serves in the TMH Animal Therapy program. Megan was an All-American softball pitcher at the University of South Carolina and went on to play both professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch league and internationally with the British National Team. She was inducted into the University of South Carolina’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 followed by induction into the Southeastern Conference’s (SEC) Women’s Legends class of 2017. She served as a talent analyst for the SECNetwork+ digital station and ACCNx digital station from 2015 – present. Megan covered over 250 softball games primarily for the University of South Carolina in addition to Clemson and Florida State. She has also covered the Little League Softball World Series West Regional for ESPN.
Dr. Ben Freakley
Dr. Ben Freakley is the CEO and founder of Ready|Set|Resilient, a coaching business that uses best practices in sport, performance, and counseling psychology to help individuals and teams optimize performance. His experiences include working as a collegiate soccer head coach, professional soccer general manager and coach, and mental performance coach for Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball teams. He has also consulted for other entities such as Google and the military. Ben is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), certified coach developer through the International Center for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) and member of the American Counseling Association (ACA). His doctoral concentration was on performance and sport psychology with a clinical mental health specialization.
Dr. Steven Orris
Steve has worked as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach for over 20 years. Throughout his career, he has designed programs and helped coach student-athletes to 16 conference players of the year awards, 7 conference championships, and 1 national championship. Steve also serves as a professor and lecturer on topics of strength training, nutrition for athletic performance, and health and wellness for athletes. Coach Orris is certified as a sports nutritionist by the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) and is recognized as a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach (MSCC) by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa).
Dr. Cecile Reynaud
Coach Reynaud is a former NCAA volleyball coach at FSU who won 635 career matches and seven conference championships. She is a member of FSU’s Women's Athletics Hall of Fame and was recently elected Chair of the Board of Directors for USA Volleyball. She has written several books and coaching videos on volleyball and has served numerous boards and organizations spanning a 40-year career.