Stuart Hart enters his fourth season as the head women's basketball strength and conditioning coach at the University of Nebraska in 2020-21.
In his first year at Nebraska in 2017-18, Hart helped the Huskers make huge strides in all aspects of performance and conditioning. The Big Red produced the nation's top turnaround on the court, notching 14 more victories than 2016-17, while advancing to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Huskers tied for third in the Big Ten regular-season race with eight more conference wins than the previous season. NU also advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
Hart joined the Huskers after spending the 2016-17 season as the head strength and conditioning coach for the University of South Florida men's basketball program.
Prior to the past season with the USF men's program, Hart led the strength and conditioning efforts of the USF women's basketball program in 2014-15 and 2015-16, helping the Bulls to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
"We are thrilled to add someone with Coach Hart's background and experience to help develop our student-athletes at the University of Nebraska," Head Coach Amy Williams said. "Coach Hart not only has a track record of success as a strength coach, he also brings his experiences as both a basketball player and assistant coach."
Hart was a men's basketball player at Saint Leo University before graduating in 1998. Upon his graduation, Hart served as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Saint Leo Lions from 2008 through 2014. He was responsible for designing and coordinating in- and off-season workout programs for all of 19 sports. Hart hired, supervised and trained a staff of five at Saint Leo, and assisted the Certified Athletic Training staff with rehabilitation of student-athletes.
In addition to his role as a strength and conditioning coach, Hart also served as an assistant women's basketball coach for three seasons from 2008 to 2011, breaking down film for the team, coordinating travel plans and developing a recruiting base.
A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (SCCS) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), Hart supervised and managed a 4,500 square-foot Fitness Center at Saint Leo, assisting University members and community patrons, while overseeing 35 student staff during that same six-year period.
At Nebraska, Hart travels with the women's basketball team as the Huskers' primary strength and conditioning coach. His philosophy is to create a mentally and physically challenging environment to replicate and ready the student-athletes for the psychological and physiological demands of competition.
