GAINESVILLE — Florida coach Will Muschamp called his team "soft" this year. Jeff Dillman's job is to fix that.
The Gators announced Tuesday they hired Dillman as their new Director of Strength and Conditioning, replacing Mickey Marotti. Marotti came to Florida with former coach Urban Meyer in 2005 and joined him at Ohio State last month.
Dillman comes from IMG Performance Institute, where many college players train for the NFL Draft, and has worked at LSU, Appalachian State and Louisiana-Monroe.
He was on staff with Muschamp at LSU during the program's 2003 national championship season and was the head strength coach at Appalachian State when it won FCS titles in 2006 and '07.
"He has a championship pedigree and his results speak for themselves," Muschamp said in a statement released by the University Athletic Association. "He will be the catalyst for kick-starting our off-season program with the number one goal of making our football program a tougher program. We will be a blue-collar program built with toughness and Jeff is the man to lead that charge."
Dillman, 35, will launch Florida's off-season program Monday and hold one of the most important roles on the team. During periods where the official football coaching staff is not allowed to work with players, the Director of Strength and Conditioning runs the team.
Prior to his training career, Dillman played football at Elon College and Appalachian State.
