Lifetime Achievement Award
Rock Gullickson
NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year
Eric Ciano
Buffalo Bills
The Champions Award
Barry Rubin
Kansas City Chiefs
Rock Gullickson spent 39 years coaching athletes in strength & conditioning, while 17 of those years were in the NFL. When Montana State hired him in 1982, he became the first full-time strength and conditioning coach in the history of the Big Sky Conference. His program helped lead the Bobcats to win the 1984 National Collegiate Division I-AA championship.
After coaching stints at Rutgers, Texas, and Louisville, Rock jumped to the NFL to lead the strength & conditioning for the Saints, Packers, and Rams. He was a source of stability for the Saints players as the team moved about the country without a home due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the New Orleans area. Similarly, he used his experience of adaptability to assist the ST. Louis Rams transition to their new facilities in Los Angeles.
In 2007, he was named NFL Strength Coach of the Year, when he helped to lead the Packers to the NFC Championship game. Rock finished his coaching career at the University of Tennessee.
Eric Ciano enters his tenth season in the NFL in 2019 after originally joining the organization in 2019. Ciano oversees the year-round strength and conditioning programs for the entire Bills roster. Prior to joining Buffalo, he spent five seasons at Georgia Tech overseeing strength and conditioning for all of Tech’s athletic teams and working primarily with the football team.
Ciano spent 2002-04 at Tennessee as the associate head strength and conditioning coach. He served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana Tech from 2000-02. He began his college career as a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 1997-99.
Barry Rubin enters his seventh season as the Chiefs strength and conditioning coach in 2019f. Rubin played a critical role during his first six seasons with the club, implementing and maintaining a strength and conditioning program throughout the year that prepared the team for five consecutive winning seasons including a 10-6 record in 2017, earning the club its first back-to-back AFC West Division Championships in franchise history.
He joined the Chiefs after serving the previous three seasons in the same capacity with the Philadelphia Eagles (2010-12).
Prior to being promoted to the Eagles Head Strength and Conditioning Coach in 2010, he was an assistant for two years (2008-09).
Before his move to Philadelphia, he spent seven years as the head strength and conditioning coach (1999-2005) and four years as an assistant for the Green Bay Packers (1995-98).
During his tenure in Green Bay, the Packers earned six division titles, two NFC championship titles and a Super Bowl XXXI victory under Head Coach Mike Holmgren. He also served as a strength coach at Northeast Louisiana (1982-83, 1987-90 and 1994) and LSU (1984-85).
Rubin was inducted into the Northwestern (La.) State Hall of Fame in 2014, where he played with former Chiefs great Joe Delaney, and the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003.