Packers Hire Strength and Conditioning Coach Aaron Hill From 49ers
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur has made the last huge addition to his coaching staff this offseason by hiring Aaron Hill as the team’s strength and conditioning coach.
The news was first reported by The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman.
Hill spent the last five seasons with the 49ers, joining the team alongside their head strength and conditioning coach, Dustin Perry.
It’s merely one person, but the 49ers acquired injury-plagued running back Christian McCaffrey at the 2022 trade deadline. With Carolina, McCaffrey played in three games in 2020 and seven games in 2021. With the 49ers in 2023, he played in 16 of 17 games and was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year with league-leading totals of 1,459 rushing yards, 2,023 total yards, 339 total touches and 21 total touchdowns.
Also of note: 49ers All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams has missed nine games in his four years with the team. In his final four years with Washington, he was sidelined for 15 games.
As a walk-on linebacker at the University of Minnesota, Hill tallied 192 tackles, five forced fumbles and four interceptions from 2009 through 2013. He competed for a spot with the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted rookie in 2014.
“I'm a positive guy,” Hill said in 2013. “I bring a lot of energy. I think that's one thing that's critical and important, especially during the season.”
Said then-Gophers strength and conditioning coach Eric Klein in the same story: “He's a natural leader. It’s never forced. It just comes out of him naturally, and it's really awesome to watch. I think he's got a good command of his own presence, and I think guys feed off of that.”
Having earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology sport and exercise science in 2013 and his master’s degree in applied kinesiology-sport and exercise science in 2014, he got his start as a strength and conditioning intern at Minnesota in 2014 and 2015 and as an intern with the Carolina Panthers in 2015. From 2015 through 2018, he served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Vanderbilt.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan hired him in 2019.
Hill is replacing Chris Gizzi. A former Packers linebacker, he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2014 through 2018 before being promoted into the lead role when LaFleur was named coach in 2019.
The Packers weren’t destroyed by injuries this season. In fact, they were rather healthy in some key spots. The offensive line started the final 13 regular-season games together and the five-man defensive line didn’t miss a single game. However, receiver Christian Watson and cornerback Eric Stokes had their seasons ruined by hamstring injuries.
“I do want to say Chris Gizzi’s an outstanding strength coach and couldn’t have more respect for him,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Feb. 1. “I think sometimes there needs to be a different voice. Certainly, that’s a big part of our process. Those guys have a lot of impact on our players, and certainly our players buying into what we’re doing here is very, very important, as well.”
