By: Kevin Beattie, Associate Athletic Director
TROY, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Lee McElroy has announced the promotion of Justin Markley to the department’s head strength & conditioning coach. As the assistant coach for the past seven years, he has served each of Rensselaer’s 23 intercollegiate teams throughout his tenure.
“We are pleased to have Justin as our Head Strength and Conditioning Coach,” McElroy stated. “As an assistant he exhibited exemplary knowledge and commitment to our student-athletes that led to tremendous success. We are fortunate to have Justin’s continued leadership and professionalism, which is critical to the performance of our entire athletics program.”
“I am excited to take this next step in my career and humbled that I am able to do it at RPI,” Markley said. “After experiencing seven years of the RPI Athletics culture, I know there is no other place I would rather be.”
Since coming to Troy in September of 2014, Markley has developed and taught a four-year systemic approach that ensures year-to-year progress to a wide range of student-athletes, including those who compete at the Division I level as well as those in Division III. Injury prevention and conditioning are priorities, along with increasing athletic ability through both physical and mental training.
A native of Seekonk, Mass., Markley has also worked with Olympic sport athletes from 25 different sports, football athletes from the Big 10 and Southeastern Conference, and basketball athletes from the Big 10. He is Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified (CSCCa), a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA), certified at USA Weightlifting (USAW) Level 1 and Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR) Level 1 certified.
He is a national level Olympic weightlifting coach and competitor through USAW.
Before joining the Rensselaer staff, Markley coached at Michigan State University, where he worked with men’s basketball, men’s hockey, wrestling and men’s and women’s golf for two years. In addition to his direct role with the student-athletes, he also designed workout and recovery programs as well as maintained the equipment and the facility.
He spent the summer of 2013 at the University of South Carolina, where he worked with the Gamecocks football program. While in Columbia, Markley co-authored an article, Get a Grip, for Training & Conditioning magazine. He has also coached at Northeastern University, where he worked with seven different programs, including women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, baseball and track & field. He also assisted in designing programs.
Markley owns a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise Science from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. Cum Laude as an undergraduate, he went on to earn a Master’s in Kinesiology with a concentration in Strength & Conditioning from Michigan State, where he was a graduate assistant in the Kinesiology department.
