Florida Football: Who is new strength coach Tyler Miles?

It was a massive blow for Florida Football when newly hired strength coach Craig Fitzgerald opted to leave after just one month in Gainesville to join his friend Bill O'Brien at Boston College. Even though Mark Hocke was still on staff, there was zero chance Billy Napier was going to repromote Hocke after demoting him following the 2023 season.

And while Hocke wasn't tabbed, the Gators still stayed in house to find their new strength coach.

Florida Football: Lift Heavy

Based on a report from Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel, the Gators are going to promote Tyler Miles to be their new head strength coach.

Miles spent last season as the Director of Player Athletic Performance at Florida, but he is still relatively new within the industry. He graduated from Tennessee in 2018 and has had stops at South Carolina, Northwestern State, Tennessee State, the New York Jets, Miami, Duke, and Boost Performance in Nashville.

There isn't much in the public space yet about his philosophy, but one interesting nugget is that while at Tennessee he did cross paths with Fitzgerald.

As we chronicled when Fitzgerald was hired, part of his philosophy is a focus on heavy weights compared to the philosophy of Hocke, which was more speed-based.

Former Gators Princely Umanmielen and Richie Leonard IV have publicly panned Florida's strength program under Hocke, so even though Miles is still learning the ropes in the industry, it's hopeful that he maintains the same philosophy that Fitzgerald believed in.