Strength and Conditioning adds pair of coaches

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Matt Riley, head of the Strength and Conditioning program for Middle Tennessee, has announced the addition of two staff members, Bethany Gainey and Jason Vest, to assist in various areas of the Blue Raiders' strength and conditioning department. They have already begun work with the Blue Raiders in eight different sports.

Vest will be in charge of men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, along with assisting Jason Spray with football.  Gainey will be handling volleyball, softball, and soccer.

Riley, who has been part of the Blue Raider strength and conditioning program since 1993, used his vast network of contacts and friends to come up with two highly-qualified assistants.

Vest comes to Middle Tennessee from Troy, where he was the number one assistant.  He has also been at James Madison, Wagner College, and Auburn.  At Troy, Vest was the top assistant for football, the head strength coach for men's basketball and both men's and women's track and field teams. He also filled in as interim head strength coach on one occasion.

 "We had some good references on him," Riley said. "We liked him, and everybody we contacted had nothing but great things to say about him."

Vest had also met Spray at the strength and conditioning conference earlier this year. He is a certified strength and conditioning coach and is also a Second Degree Black Belt in Okinawan Kenpo.

Gainey has worked in a wide assortment of venues, including professional body building and fitness.

She began her career as an intern at Wake Forest University, then had a stop UNC-Charlotte before joining Georgia State as the strength and conditioning coach. After Georgia State she spent two years training Military Police at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and then went to Troy, where she was the first assistant in strength and conditioning for football and several other sports.

Gainey's next move was to the professional level, where she joined the International Federation of Body Builders and Fitness, competing in such events as the Fitness Olympia and the Arnold Classic.                        

Prior to coming to Middle Tennesee, she worked at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, N.C., where she taught health and fitness classes and trained off-season athletes and other clientele. 

"She comes to us with incredible credentials and work ethic," Riley said. "There is no question we got two very good ones."

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