Josh Schuler enters his ninth season with the team and fifth as the Lions' head strength & conditioning coach. Schuler was promoted to the role in 2020.
Schuler works closely with Director of Sports Performance, Mike Clark, Director of Sports Science, Jill Costanza, and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach, Corey Smith. Under the direction of Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell, Schuler and the performance staff creates comprehensive, individualized training programs so that players can achieve a high level of success.
Since coming to Detroit in 2016, Schuler has also served as the team's strength & power coordinator (2019) and assistant strength & conditioning coach (2016-18). Before coming to the Lions, he worked as a human performance coach at EXOS.
Schuler was an integral part of a Lions coaching staff in 2023 that helped the club to a 12-5 record, tying the single-season franchise record for wins in a season. The 2023 coaching staff was the club's third coaching staff in team history to win multiple playoff games, and the first coaching staff to do so since 1957. Schuler's work in the player performance department helped Detroit clinch their first Division Championship since 1993 and advance to their first NFC Championship since 1991.
From 2012-15, Schuler worked three seasons, along with the spring of 2015, as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for football at the United States Naval Academy. Prior to his stint at Navy, Schuler served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Colorado for two years (2010-2012) and worked with the football, track and field, women's tennis, and men's golf programs.
Schuler was a graduate assistant strength coach for Auburn University during the 2008-09 seasons, along with the Tigers' 2010 spring practices. A Muscatine, Iowa native, he attended Iowa State University and earned a bachelor's degree in health and human performance. As an undergrad, Schuler was a student intern strength and conditioning coach for Olympic sports for three years (2004-07).
Immediately following his graduation from Iowa State, he interned for five months at the University of Colorado and went on to earn a master's degree in adult education from Auburn.
Schuler is married to his wife, Jackie, and together they have three children, a son, Walker, a daughter, Adeline and another son, Boone.
