Ben Hilgart

Ben Hilgart enters his sixth season as associate AD for strength and conditioning at Virginia Tech. He works directly with head coach Justin Fuente and the football program after joining the Hokies in January 2016.

Named a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association?—?the highest given in the profession?—?Hilgart owns an impressive resume of developing talent for the National Football League. A total of 17 players on NFL rosters heading into 2021 camps trained with Hilgart and his staff in Blacksburg. That pro contingent includes 12 players who were selected in the NFL Draft, including four first-round selections: LB Tremaine Edmunds (Buffalo), S Terrell Edmunds (Pittsburgh), CB Caleb Farley (Tennessee) and T Christian Darrisaw (Minnesota). In addition to Farley and Darrisaw, Tech also boasted a pair of other 2021 NFL picks in S Divine Deablo (Las Vegas) and RB Khalil Herbert (Chicago).  

Hilgart has also trained numerous players who have gone on to play in the NFL during his previous stints at New Mexico, Arizona State, Ohio State and UTEP. In his seven years at Arizona State, 10 players earned first-team all-conference recognition, including tight end Zach Miller, who would go on to earn All-America honors in 2006.

The Park Falls, Wisconsin native oversees the Hokies’ entire football strength and conditioning program, which includes all phases of strength, conditioning, rehabilitation, and injury prevention.

Before coming to Tech, Hilgart spent four seasons at New Mexico, including the his last two as the director of athletic performance. He was in charge of the entire athletics performance initiative for the Lobos and he was also responsible for a redesign of the Athletic Performance Center, revamping the 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 of Arizona State’s sports.

Before arriving at Arizona State, Hilgart spent two seasons at Ohio State. He started as the assistant strength and conditioning coach before being promoted to associate strength and conditioning coach. He 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 in 2001, and he earned his master’s degree in kinesiology from UTEP in 2003. Hilgart also once 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.