About the Author

Mike Gentry is in his 26th season directing the Hokies’ Strength and Conditioning Program. As Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Performance, his duties include the oversight and administration of the strength and conditioning programs for all 21 varsity sports at Virginia Tech. He is directly responsible for the physical training of the football team and is the administrator for the Virginia Tech Sports Nutrition and Sports Psychology programs within the athletics department. Under Coach Gentry’s strength and conditioning tutelage, the Hokies have appeared in 20 consecutive Bowl games and have won the ACC conference football title four out of their seven years in the league. Gentry previously worked as an assistant strength coach at UNC and was the Director of Strength and Conditioning at East Carolina University from 1982 to 1987. He was inducted into the USA Strength and Conditioning Hall of Fame, Collegiate Category, in 2011. Gentry is married to the former Wendy Ann Williams and has a son, Bo, who is a former Hokies football player. Dr. Tony Caterisano has served 30 years as a Professor of Exercise Physiology in the Department of Health Sciences at Furman University in Greenville, SC. He currently serves on the College Strength and Conditioning Association’s Written Examination Board. Caterisano was previously the Head Wrestling Coach of the varsity wrestling program at Furman (1984-1991) and for Spartanburg Methodist College (2003 – 2010). As a competitive powerlifter, Dr. Caterisano has won 16 straight South Carolina state titles at the Masters level in powerlifting as well as several National titles in powerlifting at the Masters level. Caterisano took Gold medals each year in the past 10 years in the World Championships in the drug-free, World Natural Powerlifting Federation (2002 – 2012). In 2007, he won two gold and one silver medal in the WNPF World Championships, leading the Furman University powerlifting team to the championships that year. Currently Caterisano is Head Wrestling Coach at Wade Hampton High School, where he coaches his son Mike. Frank Beamer is the legendary head coach of football at Virginia Tech. He is currently the longest-tenured coach and winningest active coach in Division 1 FBS.

Reviews

I was not that strong when I got to Virginia Tech, but I realized that training hard was important in staying injury-free and developing as a player. I really exploded strength and speed-wise under the direction of Coach Gentry. --Michael Vick