ShayonGuest

Shayon Guest is in his first season in 2026 as a University of Kentucky football assistant strength and performance coach.

Guest arrived to the Bluegrass after spending last season as the director of strength and conditioning at D1 Training.

Prior to that, he was the director of speed and assistant director of football strength and conditioning at Mercer (2024-25). He also was a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at Mercer, working as the head strength coach for the women’s lacrosse, women’s track and field and softball teams in 2023.

For the Bears, he designed and implemented all speed, agility and plyometric training. While assisting in all areas of strength and conditioning training, he also played a role in developing graduate assistants and interns, recruiting and budgeting. Guest additionally served as the special teams sideline assistant on game days.

In two seasons at Mercer, his work helped propel both women’s lacrosse and football to conference championships, while also developing multiple FCS All-Americans, including TJ Moore, Brayden Manely, Xavier Jennings, Myles Redding, Brayden Smith, and Andrew Zock.

Guest began his collegiate coaching career at Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2001 as a strength and conditioning intern, gaining valuable experience working specifically with football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, softball and women’s soccer.

In 2022, he was promoted from intern to assistant and, during that time, became an adjunct professor, teaching courses in exercise and body development at MSUM.

Guest first entered the coaching ranks in 2017, when he became an assistant football coach at Greenbrier High School in Evans, Ga. (2017-19). His duties included working with the varsity running backs and returners and helping coordinate summer weightlifting sessions and film breakdown.

The Reidsville, Georgia, native earned his associate of arts degree in liberal arts and sciences from Minnesota State Community and Technical College in May of ‘21 and his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in May of ‘23.

Guest is a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).

He and fiancée, Holland Kennedy, have four children – Noelle, Shayon Jr., Seth and AJ.