Ben Hilgart Retained as Boise State Director of Sports Performance for Football

BOISE, Idaho – Veteran strength coach Benjamin Hilgart will remain in the Treasure Valley and on staff at Boise State as the Director of Sports Performance for Boise State football, head coach Spencer Danielson announced Friday.

Hilgart had just completed his first year at Boise State following 20-plus years of experience in the industry with stops at Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, Ohio State, UTEP and Western Illinois.

"To be able to keep Ben Hilgart in the Treasure Valley is such a treat for our student-athletes," Danielson said. "He is one of the best I've ever been around, and the past year has shown what an impressive impact he has made on this program. I am very excited he is staying at Boise State because Ben's knowledge and experience is a critical piece of winning championships."

Hilgart was an important piece of Boise State's championship success in 2023, making an impact in his first year at Boise State. The Park Falls, Wis., native came to Boise State after spending the 2022 season at Arizona as an assistant strength coach.

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. Entering the 2023 postseason, Hilgart had a total of 16 players on NFL rosters that had trained under his tutelage.

He has also trained numerous players who have gone on to play in the NFL during previous stints at Virginia Tech, New Mexico, Arizona State and Ohio State. While at Virginia Tech, his student-athletes garnered 58 All-ACC honors. 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.

Before stints at Arizona and Virginia Tech, he spent four seasons at New Mexico, including the 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 what was then 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.

He 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.

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--BroncoSports.com--

Ben Hilgart Retained as Boise State Director of Sports Performance for Football

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