Eric Sugarman has a decade of NFL experience under his belt and returns in 2007 for his second season leading the athletic training efforts for the Vikings under Head Coach Brad Childress. The pair worked together for six seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles (2000-05). With the Vikings, Sugarman supervises the evaluation and care of all injuries sustained. He and his staff will implement proactive treatment and rehabilitation programs.
The Vikings athletic training staff, including assistants Tom Hunkele and Rob Roche, have broad-based experience in athletic training and have trained under some of the most respected professionals in their field. The staff prides themselves on being proactive while using the most current concepts, modalities and principles. This off season, the entire athletic training staff became Performance Enhancement Specialists through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Sugarman enters his 11th full-time season in the NFL in 2007 after spending the 1997-99 seasons with the Chicago Bears and the 2000-05 campaigns with Philadelphia. Sugarman got his first taste of the NFL as a summer intern for the Bears’ athletic training staff from 1993-95.
Sugarman earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education with an emphasis in athletic training from West Chester University and went on to earn his master’s degree in sports management at the University of Richmond. During his tenure at Richmond, Sugarman served as the graduate assistant athletic trainer for the Spiders football team and head athletic trainer for the Spiders’ baseball squad. In 1994-95 Sugarman served as assistant athletic trainer at West Chester and worked as an instructor at the school. During the summers of 1993-95 he worked as a training camp athletic training intern for the Chicago Bears. In 1996 Sugarman served as an athletic trainer in the Chicago Cubs organization focusing on the rehabilitation of minor league and major league players.
Sugarman joined the Bears as an assistant trainer from 1997-99 before moving to the Eagles in a similar role in 2000 where he worked on Rick Burkholder’s staff. The Eagles were noted for progressive rehab programs. That athletic training staff played an integral part in helping Terrell Owens’ return from ankle surgery during the regular season in time for Super Bowl XXXIX.
An active member of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society, Sugarman is also an American Heart Association Basic Life Support, AED and First Aid certified instructor. In 2003 he received the PFATS’ “Big Heart” award for saving the life of a fellow Eagles employee by performing CPR.
Sugarman (9/3/69) and wife, Heather, reside in Victoria, MN with their sons Jacob and Benjamin.