Gabriel Joins Strength & Conditioning Staff
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Brian Gabriel has been hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach with oversight of the University of Miami Hurricanes baseball program.
“We’re very excited, and I think he’s going to add a lot to our program,” head baseball coach Jim Morris said. “He comes with high recommendations from people I trust. The goal is to get our guys bigger, faster, and stronger – both physically and mentally. It’s a very important role.”
Gabriel comes to Miami after serving for six years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Coastal Carolina University. From 2006-09, Gabriel was the director of strength and conditioning for the Chanticleers’ Olympic sports teams. In December 2009, he was promoted to director of speed, strength and conditioning for all sports, including the Chanticleers baseball and football teams.
Gabriel’s strength and conditioning programs helped impact a Chanticleers baseball program that captured six consecutive Big South Conference Championships, six NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Regional host spots, and two NCAA Super Regional appearances.
“I’m coming to a program where there is a lot of tradition and history, and I’m coming to help student-athletes get better,” Gabriel said. “Coach Morris has trusted me with his student-athletes, to help them get to Omaha, and I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity.”
Certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association, Gabriel arrived at CCU in 2006 from Columbia University, where he served as an assistant strength coach and director of football strength and performance for four years. Prior to his time at Columbia, Gabriel had spent one year at Trinity (Texas) University as head strength and conditioning coordinator, as well as one year in the same position with the Detroit Dogs of the American Basketball Association – who won the ABA’s World Championship that year.
“I know that coming from Coastal, which is a smaller but very successful program, and going to what is considered among the top five baseball programs nationwide is something that will be challenging,” Gabriel said. “But I’m so blessed and so grateful for this opportunity.”
A 1996 graduate of the University of Incarnate Word with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Gabriel earned his master’s degree in biobehavioral science-physical education from Columbia in 2006.
Gabriel and his wife Guadalupe have a son named Zion.
