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Ben Hilgart joined Virginia Tech as Associate Athletics Director for Strength and Conditioning on Jan. 11, 2016. Hilgart works directly with head coach Justin Fuente and the football program.  

In his prior 14 seasons working in the profession, Hilgart has trained a total of 32 NFL players that came from New Mexico, Arizona State, Ohio State and UTEP. In his seven years with the Sun Devils, 10 football players earned first team all-conference recognition, which includes working with consensus All-America tight end Zach Miller in 2006.

“Ben will be a key member of our team at Virginia Tech,” Fuente said. “Mike Gentry and his staff established a great standard for strength and conditioning at Virginia Tech and Ben will help set our expectations and as he pushes as our student-athletes to reach their full potential.”

Highly regarded by his peers across the country and in the football community, Hilgart spent the last four seasons at New Mexico, the last two as the Director of Athletic Performance. He was in charge of the entire Athletic Performance initiative for the Lobos, which included all phases of strength, conditioning, rehabilitation and injury prevention. He was also responsible for a redesign of the Athletic Performance Center, revamping UNM’s area into one of the top performance centers in the West.

Prior to working at New Mexico, Hilgart spent seven years at Arizona State, which included the final four seasons as the Head Sports Performance Coach. He worked directly with the Sun Devils’ football program, in addition to overseeing the sports performance programs for all 20 ASU sports.

During his tenure at Arizona State, Hilgart worked with respected performance expert, Joe Kenn, who joined the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in 2011. Kenn was named the Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 2014 and earned the distinction of being voted by his peers as the NFL Strength Coach of the Year following the 2015 season which saw Carolina earn a berth in the Super Bowl.

Before arriving at ASU, Hilgart spent two seasons at the Ohio State University. He started as the assistant strength and conditioning coach before being promoted to associate strength and conditioning coach. Hilgart also spent two years at UTEP as the graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach. He served as the head strength coach and assistant defensive line coach at his alma mater, Western Illinois, in 2001.

Hilgart was a two-year letterman at Western Illinois, earning his bachelor’s degree in Physical Education. He earned his master’s degree in Kinesiology from UTEP in 2003. Hilgart has also served as the head strength coach at Deer Valley High School in Glendale, Arizona.

Hilgart and his wife Jamie have two daughters, Riley and Reagan.