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Brandon Roberts has been named Kentucky’s Director of Football Sports Performance, head coach Will Stein announced Monday.
Roberts joins the Wildcats after spending the last nine years at South Florida. He arrived at USF in 2017 as the associate head strength and conditioning coach before earning a promotion to assistant athletics director in 2020.
“Brandon Roberts is one of the best in the business when it comes to developing complete athletes,” Stein said. “He understands how elite performance, durability, and culture all work together. He brings high character, accountability, and a player-first mindset that will elevate everything we do in our program, and I’m excited to have him at Kentucky.”
Altogether in his career, he has mentored and trained more than 100 student-athletes to professional contracts, including 40 NFL Draft picks, 11 in the first round, and 44 MLB Draft picks, five in the first round. Those athletes have amassed more than $827 million in NFL earnings and $198 million at the MLB level.
Since 2020, he oversaw all 21 varsity sports with the Bulls, working specifically with the baseball team. Additionally, he oversaw the sports science position and a staff of nine coaches.
In 2021, USF baseball won the American Athletic Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, earning the first Super Regional berth in program history. In 2025, the Bulls charted 16 conference wins, the most since joining the AAC in 2013-14. They also reached the AAC Tournament semifinals.
“I’m very excited to join Will Stein at Kentucky,” Roberts said. “I see a place that can achieve greatness and make a real impact in this conference.
“I coached Will for two years at Louisville and immediately saw the fire and determination in him. No challenge was too big, no moment too high-pressure. He thrived in every situation. I later had the privilege of coaching alongside him for five years at UofL and Texas. He brought that same passion and ‘gunslinger’ mentality from his playing days into coaching. You can spend five minutes with him and know he has the ‘it’ factor. Even more, he genuinely cares about people and players. He’s not just running a football program; he’s building a culture rooted in trust, belief and family values. That’s exactly the kind of environment I want to be part of.”
Prior to USF, he spent three seasons (2014-16) with the Texas football team. He was charged with designing and implementing overall strength and conditioning programs, off-season speed and agility programs, and overseeing the budget and inventory of weight room supplies.
During his time at Texas, six players were drafted in the NFL, including first-rounder Malcolm Brown in 2015. He also trained Jordan Hicks (third round in 2015), Mykkele Thompson (fifth round in 2015), Quandre Diggs (sixth round in 2015), Geoff Swaim (seventh round in 2015) and Hassan Ridgeway (fourth round in 2016).
Roberts was a strength coach at Louisville from 2010-14, where he worked with the football, baseball and track and field programs. He was instrumental in designing and implementing strength and conditioning programs, speed and agility programs and mobility and rehabilitation programs.
With Louisville football, Roberts worked with eight NFL draft picks, including three first-rounders in Calvin Pryor (2014), Marcus Smith (2014) and Teddy Bridgewater (2014).
Roberts began his career at Florida, working as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for football from 2019-10. Eight of the players he trained were taken in the NFL Draft, including first-round pick and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow (2009), Joe Haden (2009), Maurkice Pouncey (2009) and Percy Harvin (2008).
A native of Millington, Tennessee, Roberts was a defensive lineman at Middle Tennessee State from 2005-07. He earned a spot on the Sun Belt Conference Commissioners List for academics in 2006 and 2007 and graduated with a degree in exercise physiology in 2009.
Roberts earned a “Master Strength Coach” distinction from the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA) in 2023. Additionally, he is SCCC certified through the CSCCA and NASE certified through the National Association of Speed and Explosion. He also earned Heart-saver CPR AED certification through the American Heart Association and Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) certification through Owens Recovery Science.
Roberts and his wife, the former Anna Capi, have one son, Landon.
One Response
I do know this Stein has already elevated Kentucky football and is still coaching at another school. He is going to finish what he started. I've heard some fans complain about it but to me it shows class. You don't walk away from a team you helped build. The relationships with the players and other coaches should motivate someone to finish what they started out with. I salute Will Stein. Bateman is doing what Bateman does and that's get the recruits. Sloan is also dominating on the recruiting trail. I'm excited about the future of Kentucky football. I do believe we will see a major upgrade in recruiting which will speak for itself on the field. I dont even think Marrow can keep up. Most of the players that are leaving the team would have never been recruited by Stein. The writing is on the wall for the players that stayed. Improve or get passed up on the depth chart. For such a supposed guru of defense. Stoops couldn't ever get the heavyweights on defense. Stoops couldnt recruit. Losing Marrow was the nail in the coffin. Letting Eddie Gran hang around also destroyed our program. We have life again. I'm excited. Maybe in the next couple years we will make a playoff run.