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Dave Puloka (pronounced Poo - low - kuh) comes to Falcons after a stint at the collegiate level at the University of Virginia. Puloka and new Strength and Conditioning Coach Evan Marcus worked together in Charlottesville for two years. Puloka, Marcus and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson make up the team that is in charge of all of the strength and conditioning needs for the Falcons in 2007.
Puloka is a former defensive end and track athlete at Holy Cross. This four-year letterwinner and two-year captain for the Crusaders football team earned All-New England honors in both football and in track, throwing the discus and shot put. Puloka was signed as a college free agent linebacker by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001.
This 28 year-old Massachusetts native and product of Tonga in the south pacific began as an assistant track coach at Stevens Tech in Hoboken, New Jersey and as a Strength and Conditioning Coach in the Austrian Football League after his playing days were over on the gridiron.
During his time at UVA under head coach Al Groh, he worked alongside future NFL players such as T D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Jets), RB Wali Lundy (Texans), and WR Marques Hagans (Rams). Puloka also welcomes 2007 seventh round draft pick and ex-Cavalier Jason Snelling to the Falcons fold this year.
Puloka holds a psychology degree from Holy Cross and a Masters in exercise physiology from Virginia. He was a two-sport star in football and track at Arlington (Mass.) High School in the Boston area and is a former state record holder in the discus.
His half brother, Richard, won a silver medal in rowing for the United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. | 