Robert Stiner, who helped Notre Dame to a pair of College Football Playoff appearances in three seasons and also has been on the strength & conditioning staffs at USC, Cincinnati, LSU and Mississippi State, has been named Georgia Southern football’s head strength & conditioning coach by head coach Clay Helton.
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Robert Stiner as our new head strength and conditioning coach for football,” Helton said. “Bobby is a master of his craft, having laid the foundation of success at such places like LSU, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and USC. He is known for his ability to train student-athletes at the highest level and set a culture that is based on toughness, discipline, accountability, leadership, and being united with one another. His training methods are innovative and are on the cutting edge of college football today. Bobby was born and raised right here in south Georgia and has tremendous respect from the high school coaches in our state. The future of the program is very bright with Coach Stiner leading our strength, conditioning and speed programs.”
“I am extremely excited and thankful for the opportunity that Coach Helton has provided to be at Georgia Southern,” Stiner said. “Georgia Southern has a standard of excellence, and I look forward to upholding that standard every day.”
Stiner was the director of football sports performance with Clay Helton at USC in 2021 after serving as an assistant director of football strength and conditioning at Notre Dame for three seasons (2018-20). During his time there, the Irish went 33-5 and earned CFP berths in 2018 and 2019 while finishing fifth in the final AP poll both seasons. Notre Dame players had 47 top-10 placings in running, jumping and lifting drills over a two NFL Combine stretch, more than it had in the previous five Combines, and eight of those were No. 1 finishes.
He spent 2017 at Cincinnati as an assistant director of football performance, helping set the foundation for the Bearcats’ standout stretch that culminated with a berth in the CFP Playoff in 2021.
Stiner was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Florida International in 2016 after serving as director of strength and conditioning at Central Arkansas for three years (2014-16). He was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Mississippi State for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Stiner began his coaching career in 2008 as a volunteer assistant at Belhaven, his alma mater. He then served strength & conditioning internships at Valdosta State in 2008, the U.S. Olympic Training Center in 2009 and Baylor in 2010. He was a strength & conditioning graduate assistant at Valdosta State from 2009 to 2011 and was a strength & conditioning intern at LSU in 2011 and 2012.
He is a certified strength and conditioning coach through the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.
He was a four-year (2004-07) starter at defensive end and a team captain at Belhaven, where he earned All-Mid-South honors in 2006 and 2007. He won Belhaven’s Strength & Conditioning Athlete of the Year Award in 2007.
He received his bachelor’s degree in sports administration from Belhaven in 2008 and a master’s degree in health and physical education/fitness from Valdosta State in 2011.
He is married and his wife’s name is Briana. He has competed in amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) events.
