The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has hired Dr. Jeremy Bettle as its new Director of Sports Science & Performance. In his role, Bettle will oversee all areas of the Maple Leafs, Marlies and prospects as it relates to strength and conditioning, nutrition, injury prevention, injury rehabilitation and all factors pertaining to athlete performance optimization.

“We are thrilled to add Dr. Bettle to our program today and name him Director of Sports Science & Performance for all of our hockey entities,” said Kyle Dubas, Toronto Maple Leafs Assistant General Manager. “We would like to thank Billy King and the Brooklyn Nets for affording us the opportunity to approach and hire Jeremy away from them. We would also like to thank the Toronto Raptors and their Director of Sports Science Alex McKechnie for allowing us to glean valuable insight from their world-class Sports Science & Performance department.

“In hiring Dr. Bettle, our sole objective is to be able to have our players know that as a program, we are doing everything we can in all aspects to optimize their performance and maximize their potential as a hockey player, regardless of what stage of their career they’re at.”

Bettle has spent the previous four seasons as the strength and conditioning coach and director of nutrition for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association. Prior to joining the Nets organization, he was a strength and conditioning coach for Team USA Men’s Basketball at the 2012 London Olympic Games. From 2009-2011, he served as the assistant director of sports performance at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he managed a team of sports performance coaches as well as over 450 Division I collegiate athletes from 11 different sports.

Bettle holds a Ph.D in human performance from Middle Tennessee State University. He also has a M.S. in exercise science from Middle Tennessee State and earned a B.S. in sport and exercise science from Leeds Metropolitan University (England). He is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Bettle, 34, is married to his wife, Michelle.