GENEVA, N.Y.—Hobart and William Smith Colleges have hired Chris Gray to serve as the John J. Hogan '88 Strength & Conditioning Head Coach. He returns to his native New York State from Cincinnati, where he was performance operations manager at Ignition Athletic Performance Group.
 
"We're extremely excited to have Chris join our staff," Interim Hobart Athletic Director Brian Miller says. "He'll bring knowledge, passion and a genuine care for our student-athletes to the weight room. His competitive fire is infectious, and I'm really looking forward to the continued development of our top-notch strength and conditioning program."
 
"Chris is a tremendous addition to our HWS team," William Smith Athletic Director Deb Steward said. "His vision and leadership style will set a high standard in our Raleigh-Foley-Kraus Varsity Strength Training Center."
 
A National Strength and Conditioning Association certified strength and conditioning specialist, Gray brings close to a decade of experience to the Statesmen and Heron athletic programs. He joined Ignition APG in the spring of 2017 as a senior performance specialist and director of high school programming and was later promoted to oversee all of Ignition APG's trainer operations.
 
Gray has extensive experience working with collegiate student-athletes at both Division I and Division III institutions. He spent two years as the assistant director of strength and condition at the University of Cincinnati, working with the Bearcats' football, women's soccer, tennis and cross country teams. Before heading to UC, he spent one season at Villanova University as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for football.
 
His professional career began in coaching at the Division III level, first graduate assistant football coach at Ithaca College and then at Hartwick College. With the Hawks, he also served as the football program's strength and condition coach. Gray spent the next four seasons at Misericordia University, providing strength and conditioning coaching for all 24 of the Cougars' varsity teams while serving as an assistant football coach.
 
Gray earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in physical education from Ithaca. Gray was an offensive lineman for the Bombers, earning D3football.com All-America third team honors in 2008.
 
In addition to his strength and conditioning certification, Gray is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified fitness nutrition specialist and a USA Weightlifting certified coach.
 
"It's truly a great honor and privilege to be named the next head strength and conditioning coach at Hobart and William Smith Colleges," Gray says. "Growing up in New York I have always admired HWS' academic and athletic success from a distance and feel very fortunate to now be part of it. I'm very much looking forward to assisting in the development of the department and more importantly the great student-athletes here at HWS."
 
Gray will begin his appointment on Aug. 8.