CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Army head strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess is joining Mack Brown’s coaching staff at North Carolina in the same role, sources confirmed to Inside Carolina on Thursday. UNC confirmed the news later in the evening.

Hess, who recently completed his third season as the head strength and conditioning coach at Army, worked alongside current UNC defensive coordinator Jay Bateman at West Point. Prior to joining Army’s coaching staff as an assistant in the summer of 2016, Hess served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Sam Houston State in 2014-15, which coincided with current UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s three-year stint in Huntsville.

“After recently asking our new staff members for strength and conditioning coach suggestions, both Phil Longo and Jay Bateman told me they knew of the perfect choice and it was the same guy," Brown said in a school release. "Phil worked with Brian Hess for two years at Sam Houston State and Jay worked with him the past two years at Army. They were effusive in their praise for Brian and said he was the best young strength coach in college football. As soon as I met Brian, I realized they were absolutely right. He’s high-energy, innovative and committed to helping our players achieve excellence. I’m thrilled he and his wife Janna have joined the Carolina football family.”

Hess played his college ball at Springfield (Mass.) College, starting his final two seasons at linebacker and serving as the team captain in 2007. He started his coaching career as an intern at Iowa under strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle. Hess spent another season as an intern at Georgetown before joining Harvard’s athletic department as an assistant director of strength and conditioning from 2009-11.

The Kingston, Mass. native took over the strength and conditioning program at Delaware in 2012-13 before taking the Sam Houston State job ahead of the 2014 football season.

“Brian Hess will be a tremendous addition to our football program," Bateman said in a release. "Watching him work the last few years at West Point has been nothing short of amazing. He’s truly a secret weapon. I can’t wait to see him work his magic as we become stronger, faster and tougher.”

"Think of a person in your life that pushed you further than you could have ever taken yourself," Longo said. "To the very edge, through discipline, exertion, exhaustion and pain, and then your response was to to thank and respect him for it. That is Brian Hess."

Hess earned his degree in applied exercise science and is a certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS) with the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association.

During his time at Sam Houston State, Hess laid out his philosophy in an interview with the school’s official site. He highlighted four pillars that define his program: (1) Year-round training, (2) four-year development, (3) transfer of training approach to include football-relevant lifts and conditioning and (4) injury management.