JoePowell

Joe Powell enters his first season as an assistant strength and performance coach at Kentucky in 2026 after spending six seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Michigan State football team. He will work specifically in the area of speed development with the Wildcats.

Powell helped the Spartans experience championship-level success and steady NFL development during his tenure, highlighted by an 11-win campaign and a New Year’s Six bowl victory in 2021. From 2020–25, he trained 13 players who were selected in the NFL Draft, including first-round pick Derrick Harmon and second-round picks, running back Kenneth Walker III and wide receivers Jayden Reed and Keon Coleman. Seven of those selections came over the last four drafts.

Before joining the Spartans in 2020, Powell spent two seasons as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for Utah State’s football team, while also serving as the head strength and conditioning coach for softball and women’s basketball for the Aggies. Powell’s duties included assisting in the design and implementation of the year-round strength and conditioning program, along with the transitional rehab/return to play program for student-athletes. Utah State gained bowl eligibility both seasons, highlighted by an 11-2 finish and a No. 22 national ranking in 2018. Quarterback Jordan Love would go on to be a first-round draft pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

Prior to Utah State, Powell spent three years as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for Central Michigan’s football team, where they went to three straight bowl games. Powell also served as a football strength and conditioning intern at Michigan.

Before his time in Ann Arbor, Powell was a strength coach in the private sector at Total Performance Training Center, specializing in speed and agility training in athletes ranging from youth to professional.

The native of South Lyon, Michigan, earned both his bachelor’s degree in exercise science (2014) and master’s degree in exercise physiology (2016) from Central Michigan.

Powell is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), a Certified Functional Range Mobility Specialist (FRCms), a Metabolic Analytics Practitioner and is certified in CPR/AED.

He is married to the former Wendy Hillebrand of Waterford, Mich., and the couple has one son, Jack.