Ryan Gearheart is in his first season as Nebraska's senior associate director of football strength and conditioning in 2025.
Gearheart came to Lincoln after spending 12 years as a strength and conditioning coach in the SEC. Gearheart was the associate director of strength and conditioning at Arkansas in 2023 and 2024 where he worked with the football team. Prior to Arkansas, Gearheart spent 10 seasons at Georgia. With the Bulldogs, he worked with multiple sports including baseball, softball, diving and cheerleading.
He began his time at Georgia as an assistant strength and conditioning coach before being promoted to senior associate director of athletic performance. While working with the Bulldogs, Gearheart helped Georgia win a national championship in swimming and diving. The softball team also made two Women's College World Series appearances during his tenure, while the baseball team made four NCAA Regional appearances.
As the director of athletic performance for baseball, Gearheart created a sport performance team that consisted of staff in the disciplines of strength and conditioning, athletic training, nutrition and sport psychology. His development of a holistic approach to training helped Georgia earn a top eight national seed twice.
Prior to Georgia, Gearheart worked as a strength coach at Ohio State, Eastern Michigan and Kent State. At Kent State, he helped the baseball team to its first appearance in the College World Series. In addition to his work with the baseball team, Gearheart also served as a nutritional specialist for multiple teams. Outside of collegiate athletics, Gearheart was a facility coordinator/head speed and strength coach at D1 Sports Training in Nashville.
A native of Columbia, Tenn., Gearheart earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science from Middle Tennessee State in 2009 and his master's degree in sport management from Eastern Michigan in 2013. Gearheart earned the distinction of Master Strength & Conditioning Coach in 2024 from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. He is also a certified nutritionist.
Gearheart is married to the former Paige Herring, and the couple has two daughters, Peyton and Taylor.