Bill Gillespie returned to the Liberty University campus during the winter of 2005 and serves the athletic department as the director of strength and conditioning program, including the oversight of the weightlifting and conditioning efforts for the football program.

Gillespie has over 20 years of experience in collegiate strength and conditioning and most recently two years of experience at the professional level after serving as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks from 2003 to just prior to his return to Liberty.

Gillespie got his coaching start at the collegiate level here at Liberty. He served as assistant strength and conditioning coach from 1983-91, while also serving the university as assistant track and field coach in 1983-85 and 1987-91 and head track and field coach in 1986.

After leaving Liberty in 1991, Gillespie spent 11 years as a member of the strength and conditioning staff at Washington. Gillespie joined the staff as assistant coach strength and conditioning coach in 1991 and was promoted to Director of Strength and Conditioning in 1999.

Gillespie helped the football program make nine bowl appearances during his tenure, including three-consecutive trips to the Rose Bowl, which included a 34-14 victory over Michigan on January 1, 1991, to cap off an undefeated 12-0 season and help the Huskies earn a number two national ranking in the polls.

Gillespie was named Pac-10 Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 1991, while finishing as a finalist for National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 2001.

Before joining the Seattle Seahawks’ strength and conditioning staff, Gillespie served as the defensive line and strength coach at Decatur High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2002.

Gillespie is a world-renowned weightlifter as he is a 26-time world record holder in the bench press after a lift of 800.1 lbs. at the WABDL Southern U.S. Bench Press and Deadlift Championships in May of 2005. He is also a 13-time world champion in the bench press.

Gillespie received his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Liberty in 1983. While at Liberty, Gillespie was a four-time All-American and two-time small college national champion in the shot put and a two-year letterwinner on the football team. Gillespie still holds the school record for shot put with an outdoor mark of 55’ 8 ½”.

The native of Tacoma, Wash., and his wife, Anita, have two children – Cameron, who is a member of the football team this year, and Rachel. Gillespie and Cameron are the strongest father/son combo in the bench press of all time in the world.