Head Strength & Conditioning Coach
Lou Hernandez is in his seventh season as North Carolina's head football strength and conditioning coach.
During his tenure in Chapel Hill, Hernandez has helped the Tar Heels become bigger, stronger and faster with his workout philosophy and techniques. Over the last six years, an average of 45 student-athletes per season have power cleaned 308 pounds or more, one of the many quantitative measurements used in Hernandez's program.
Hernandez's strength program played a key role in Carolina's success over the last three seasons as the Tar Heels have won 22 games, including a school-record-tying 11 in 2015. That season Carolina captured the ACC's Coastal Division crown with a perfect 8-0 record, and finishing 15th in the country in the top 25 polls. Carolina made its first appearance in the ACC Championship Game, swept its in-state opponents, and set more than 60 team and individual records.
During a career that has included stops at Carolina, Illinois, Florida and Houston, Hernandez has helped train several successful NFL players and nine first-round draft picks.
In 2017, six Carolina players were selected in the NFL Draft, including first-round quarterback Mitch Trubisky, third-round defensive tackle Nazair Jones, fourth-round wide receivers Mack Hollins and Ryan Switzer, fifth round running back T.J. Logan and seventh-round running back Elijah Hood.
The Tar Heels ranked second in the league and eighth in the nation with six picks. Another four players signed free agent contracts.
Carolina players have consistently proven their training abilities at the NFL combine workouts leading up to the NFL Draft. In 2017, Logan was the fastest tailback at the event, running the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds. In 2013 center Russell Bodine, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, had the most bench press reps (42) of any player, a mark achieved by only 15 players previously. Bodine also had one of the top five vertical jumps for an offensive lineman. Tre Boston was among the top safeties in bench and 40-yard dash, while defensive end Kareem Martin had the best broad jump of any lineman. Boston was a third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers.
Hernandez helped develop tight end Eric Ebron into a first-team All-America and a first-round draft pick. Ebron had the second fastest time in the 40-yard dash of any tight end at the NFL Combine and the third-best broad jump. He set ACC records for a tight end in receptions and receiving yards in 2013. Ebron was selected No. 10 overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Trubisky was the fourth first-round draft choice Hernandez has tutored in Chapel Hill. After a record-setting junior year at UNC, Trubisky was picked No. 2 overall by Chicago, matching the highest draft pick in UNC history, and became the Bears' starting quarterback as a rookie. Hernandez also helped train offensive guard Jonathan Cooper and defensive tackle Sylvester Williams in 2012. Cooper, considered one of the most athletic guards in the recent history of the draft, improved his draft stock significantly after returning for his senior season under Fedora's staff and working with Hernandez. Cooper was taken No. 7 overall by Arizona and Williams was picked 28th overall by Denver and has played in two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos.
Hernandez was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Florida from 2002-04 when Fedora was an offensive assistant under Ron Zook. Prior to coming to Chapel Hill, Hernandez spent seven years on the Illinois staff as the head strength coach under Zook. He coordinated the entire strength program for the football team as well as assisting with nutritional aspects of the players diets. Illinois won back-to-back bowl games in 2010 and 2011 for the first time in school history.
During his time at Illinois, Hernandez turned around the strength program. When he began in 2005, there was just one player with a 300-pound or better power clean. Five years later, the team averaged close to 35 a year. Only one player in 2005 could bench over 405 and by 2010 that number was in double figures.
Hernandez helped train five first-round NFL Draft picks in Champaign, including Rashard Mendenhall (Pittsburgh) in 2008, Vontae Davis (Miami) in 2009, Corey Liuget (San Diego) in 2011 and Whitney Mercilus (Houston) and A.J. Jenkins (San Francisco) in 2012. That marked the first time Illinois had produced five first-round draft picks in a five-year span.
Hernandez worked for three seasons at Florida as the assistant director of strength and conditioning from 2002-04. He moved to Florida after serving on the New York Jets staff. Prior to his one-year stint with the Jets, Hernandez spent 10 years at the University of Houston, including five years as the director of the program.
A native of Alice, Texas, Hernandez earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science from the University of Houston in 1992 and his master's degree in exercise and health-related fitness from Houston in 1994. Hernandez is a member of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Hernandez and his wife, Kristin, have two daughters, Romy Ella and Katirena Rose.
