Breaking News: As Strength and conditioning coach Justin Tress is promoted to Michigan

Ben Herbert, Tress, O’Connor, and Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore are all quoted in the complete announcement that follows.

Sherrone Moore, the head football coach at the University of Michigan, announced on Monday, January 29, that Justin Tress has been hired to serve as the program’s director of strength and conditioning. Ben Herbert, Tress’s longtime mentor, steps down. Moore also declared that Abigail O’Connor, the team’s director of performance nutrition, will stay on the program.

“I am grateful for Coach Sherrone Moore’s confidence in my skills and Coach Herbert’s support, and I feel honored to represent the football program in this new capacity,” Tress stated. Having these two influential people believe in me and my strength coaching abilities means a lot.

Tress continued, “I’m excited to be in charge of the strength and conditioning program with a very gifted group of coaches.” “We’ll keep collaborating to prepare our student-athletes’ bodies and minds for competitiveness. With the aim of placing our players in the greatest possible position to thrive on the football field, the road map has been developed, and we will work tirelessly to chase exceptional outcomes in the weight room.”

“I am thrilled that Justin and Abigail will continue to be essential components of our program,” stated Moore. They have been essential to our success, and we anticipate their leadership as our program advances. Ben Herbert, Justin’s longtime mentor, is handing him the reins, but we are confident that Justin, the strength team, and their work with Abigail will remain a key component of our player development. The championship culture that prevails at Schembechler Hall is largely due to the teamwork and collaboration of our strength, nutrition, and athletic training staff.

“I’ve worked closely with Coach Tress since 2017 and have known him since 2014,” Herbert stated. Justin and I have worked side by side through the greatest highs and the lowest lows for the past seven years. His dedication to me or to Michigan Football waiver has never once occurred to me. Justin is a fantastic example of intelligence, reliability, and dedication. He will undoubtedly carry on the tradition we have created with Michigan Football, I have no doubt about that.

“When there’s a change, wonderful people choose what’s best for their families,” Moore continued. “We are grateful for all of Coach Herb’s contributions to the program and wish him luck on his future coaching endeavor. He built a fantastic team that is still in Ann Arbor. We are confident this organization will succeed.

Tress joined the Michigan Football Strength and Conditioning staff in 2018 and has been a part of it ever since. She served as the associate director of the team in 2023. Prior to joining the Wolverines, he worked for Herbert at Arkansas for two years as well. Tress was a part of the University of Alabama strength and conditioning staff before joining the Razorbacks. The team participated in the CFP National Championship Game in 2015 and took home the title, but lost the following year.

The 28-year-old Tress was a defensive back at Kent State. In 2015, he graduated with a degree in exercise science from Kent State. Tress, a resident of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was a captain and an all-conference performer at Blackhawk High School. He earned two track and field lettermanships and three football lettermanships.

For the previous six seasons (from 2018 to the present), O’Connor has served as Michigan Football’s Director of Performance Nutrition, and she will keep up her position as the program’s head in that regard. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota staff in 2017, O’Connor worked as the football dietician at the University of Houston from 2016 to 2017.

After earning her biology undergraduate degree from Southwestern University in 2013, she went on to earn a master’s degree in nutrition sciences from Texas A&M University in 2015. O’Connor is a registered dietitian (RD/RDN) and a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD).

“I have collaborated closely with Sherrone Moore and Justin Tress since we entered Schembechler Hall in 2018,” O’Connor remarked. “Under all of our leadership, I am confident that we will continue to be elite in that area—fostering the development of our student-athletes is something that has always been a priority of our program.”