Greg Werner,
Senior Contributor

Greg Werner became the head strength and conditioning coach for Virginia Tech women's basketball in May 2016, and holds the title of senior director of strength and conditioning within the athletic department. He is responsible for the year-round development of the Hokies in all areas of athleticism and sports performance development. Werner has been the strength and conditioning coach for, head women’s basketball coach, Kenny Brooks’ team for 17 seasons (13 at JMU and 4 at VT).

Prior to Tech, Coach Werner was the head strength and conditioning coach for women’s basketball at Auburn University for one season where he helped the Tigers move up several spots in the SEC standings and make it to the NCAA tournament where they won their opening round game and had a 20-win season. For twenty years Werner was the head strength and conditioning coach at James Madison University. He began that role in 1995 after working as an assistant in the program the previous three years. While at JMU, Werner directed the program for all sports. He was inducted into the JMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014 with the 1994 NCAA national champion field hockey team. Before working at JMU, Werner was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for one year at the University of The Pacific in Stockton, California where he worked with football, volleyball, baseball, softball, tennis, swimming and water polo, and additionally taught classes in the sport sciences department.

Werner received his master’s degree in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise science from JMU in 1994. He became interested in the science of speed, strength and conditioning while earning his bachelor’s degree in human performance with an emphasis in exercise science at Austin Peay State University (’91). While at APSU he worked as an assistant strength coach for two years.

In his greater than 20 year tenure as the head strength and conditioning coach at JMU, Werner grew the program from himself and one part-time assistant, working with 28 teams out of two facilities, to its impressive current size, with six full-time coaches working out of five weight rooms serving 19 teams. In addition to directing JMU's strength and conditioning program Coach Werner was an adjunct professor for the School of Kinesiology where he designed and taught "KIN 425, Concepts of Strength & Conditioning," for 15 years. In 2014 he was awarded the Kinesiology Department’s Professional of the Year award.

Outside of the collegiate ranks Werner has instructed several NFL, MLB, MLS, WNBA, pro basketball and Olympic athletes. In 2011 he was elected by his peers to be a board of director’s member for the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, and again in 2015 he was re-elected to the board for a second term. In 2006, Werner received the highest professional honor by earning the title of Master Strength & Conditioning Coach (MSCC) from the CSCCa. That same year he was nominated by his peers to be one of three finalists for the NSCA's College Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year Award. In 2005 he received the highest honor from the National Strength & Conditioning Association and earned the Coach Practitioner distinction. In 1999 he was selected the National Strength and Conditioning Association, Colonial Athletic Association Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year, and was nominated by his peers to be one of three finalists for the national professional of the year award. Also, in 1999, he was selected to be the strength and conditioning specialist for the U.S. National Field Hockey team and he traveled to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. on several occasions to train the team.

Werner has been active in the National Strength and Conditioning Association for several years. He served as the Virginia state director for the maximum term, and has been an active speaker at the NSCA sport specific training conference, CSCS symposium and several other coach’s clinics and camps. In 2014, the NSCA honored Werner with the Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach Emeritus (RSCC*E) distinction and awarded him the honorary 20-year ring. In addition to coaching and teaching, Werner has published over 30 articles in various coaching journals, magazines and websites. Werner is a National Strength and Conditioning Association certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and is certified through the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (SCCC). He is also an American College of Sports Medicine certified health/fitness instructor. Werner and his wife Cyndi have two grown children, Hans and Heidi.