Hoosiers Football Finalize Strength and Conditioning Staff

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti and director of athletic performance for football Derek Owings have finalized the addition of four staff members to guide the program’s strength and conditioning efforts.

Owings was announced as the head of the football athletic performance efforts on Dec. 13 and now adds the expertise of Nate Adams, Carl Miller, Jared Myatt and Julian Whitehead.

Adams joins the Hoosiers after working with Owings at James Madison for the past three seasons. He helped the Dukes transition from the FCS level to FBS play after his first season and earn the program’s first FBS bowl berth in 2023.  JMU was 31-7 overall during that span with a pair of Sun Belt East Division titles and an appearance in the FCS Playoff semifinal in 2021. Prior to JMU, Adams spent time at The Citadel and with the New York Football Giants. 

Four seasons at the University of Wyoming, Miller helped the Cowboys to three-straight winning seasons, three-straight Bowl appearances, and three victories over Colorado State in the Border War. A victory in the 2023 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl accounted for the ninth win of the season, the program’s most since 1996 (10). Prior to UW, he spent time at Colorado State and Mercer.

Myatt spent one year with Live Oaks High School in Watson, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, as the director of athletic performance. He worked with the football and baseball programs at the school and developed and installed training systems for both programs. A one-year stop at Texas Tech as the assistant strength coach for football followed three seasons at Northwestern State as the director of strength and conditioning from 2017-19.

A trio of bowl appearances, the program record for victories in a season (11) and a Mountain West Conference championship highlighted Whitehead’s three seasons at Utah State. Three Aggies earned All-America honors during his time at USU and five were named first-team All-Mountain West during his tenure. A two-year letterwinner at Ole Miss, he also spent time on staff at South Carolina and Ole Miss prior to his time at USU.