SAN ANTONIO — UTSA head football coach Frank Wilson announced Monday that he has hired Ryan Filo as head football strength & conditioning coach and Spencer Ross as assistant football strength & conditioning coach.
Filo comes to the Alamo City after spending seven years in various roles on LSU's strength & conditioning staff, including the last nine months as the associate director.
“Ryan Filo possesses the leadership qualities and outlook to develop the culture we envision," Wilson said. "The head strength & conditioning coach is a vital component to the success of any major college football program. At LSU, Ryan demonstrated an ability to elevate the strength, speed and toughness of our players. We needed a leader who will foster camaraderie, discipline and accountability and set the standard. We wanted to give our players at UTSA the best, and I think we’re doing that with Ryan Filo. He is a rising star in this profession.”
"I have been blessed with the opportunity to work beside Coach Wilson for the last six years," Filo said. "Coach Wilson has superior abilities for developing football players into elite athletes, as well as accomplished young men. I am honored and excited to be Coach Wilson's head football strength & conditioning coach and cannot wait to get to work. UTSA has a beautiful campus and I can’t wait to explore my new home of San Antonio.”
Filo began his LSU career as an intern in January 2009 and spent his first year working with the nationally-ranked football and baseball teams.
In 2010, Filo moved into a graduate assistant position, where he served as the head strength & conditioning coach for women's soccer while continuing to help with the football and baseball teams.
He was the head strength & conditioning coach for men's basketball during the 2011-12 season and he also began a four-year stint as an assistant strength & conditioning coach for football in 2011. Filo was promoted to associate director of strength & conditioning for football in May 2015.
During his LSU tenure, Filo coached, designed and implemented annual training programs for six first-round NFL draft picks and 40 NFL players. He also was the internship coordinator and academic liaison for the football strength & conditioning staff.
Filo is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a member of the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) and Certified Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA). He also has a Level 1 Sports Performance Coach Certification from USA Weightlifting (USAW).
A native of Richfield, Wis., Filo was a four-year letterwinner in football and member of the dean's list at Wisconsin-La Crosse from 2005-08.
Filo earned his bachelor's degree from Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2009 and his master's degree in kinesiology from LSU in 2014.
Ross joins the UTSA staff after a one-year internship with the strength & conditioning program at LSU.
Prior to his time at LSU, Ross spent more than 20 years as a football coach and teacher in the state of Louisiana.
He started his prep coaching career as an assistant coach for linebackers at Edna Karr High School in his hometown of New Orleans. He helped the Cougars win their first state high school championship in 1993.
Ross was head football coach at Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School, where he guided the Bulldogs to their first playoff appearance in more than 44 years in 1999.
He also was dean of students and a special education teacher in the Louisiana Recovery School District from 2009-12.
Ross was strength & conditioning coach at Peabody Magnet High School, a perennial basketball powerhouse in Alexandria, La., from 2012-14.
A linebacker for Southern in the early 1990s, he earned his associate's degree in criminal justice in 1991 and his bachelor's degree in sociology in 1992, both from Southern. Ross received his master's degree in education from Duplichain University in 2013.
Ross and his wife, Dr. Camacia Smith-Ross, have one son, Jacoby Spencer.