Taylor Gish is entering his 4th season as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Northwestern. In addition to his role in strength and conditioning, Gish has lectured in the Kinesiology department as an adjunct professor since 2014.
Coach Gish works with a wide variety of sports at Northwestern and has a wide range of expertise. Gish’s responsibilities leading the strength and conditioning department include designing, implementing, and monitoring sports performance programs for all 20 varsity sports teams. Coach Gish works with the coaching staff of each sport to train the athletes in season in addition to their scheduled practice times. He also works with these athletes in the offseason. Gish will schedule times and lead the workouts for the respective teams all throughout the offseason. Many coaches at UNW attribute a large portion of their success to the work that Coach Gish puts in with their teams.
In addition to working in the weight room with the student athletes, Coach Gish also does work with injury prevention. He works closely with the sports medicine staff and helps coordinate both student athlete rehabilitation and injury prevention.
Coach Gish oversees both weight room facilities on the UNW campus. In the spring and summer of 2021, UNW began construction on a secondary weight room facility. Coach Gish designed this weight room, and did the heavy lifting that goes along with setting up a weight room.
Gish is a graduate from Northwestern, earning his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology with a minor in coaching in 2012. Before arriving at UNW as strength coach, he held internships at Sport Performance Centers and the University of Minnesota. He then transitioned into the sports and conditioning private sector from 2012-2018. Coach Gish was also an outstanding athlete during his time at UNW. During his prestigious career he racked up seven All-Conference Titles, six UMAC Championships, three NCCAA National Championships, was named an NCCAA All American, and had four top-25 event finishes in DIII National Rankings. Coach Gish still holds Northwestern’s school records in the discus, weight throw, and hammer throw. Gish is professionally certified through the NSCA (CSCS), USA Weightlifting (Sport Performance Coach), and Functional Movement Systems.
Coach Gish currently resides in New Hope with his wife Ally and their three children.
