Rich Pruett is in his first year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Cardinals after spending the past three years (2023-25) as the director of performance at Exos in Phoenix, AZ.
While at Exos, Pruett led a multidisciplinary performance team and contributed to many facets of the performance center including sports science, research, education and innovation.
Pruett served as the director of sports performance at the University of North Georgia for 11 years (2012-23) where he oversaw the performance development of all the athletic program's 13 sports. He specifically led the performance development for men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball and men's and women's soccer. At North Georgia, Pruett also was an adjunct professor for the kinesiology department teaching strength and conditioning.
During his eleven-year tenure at University of North Georgia, Pruett earned a doctorate in Leadership and Higher Education. Before UNG, he was a sports performance intern at the Exos Gulf Breeze location in Florida in 2012. Pruett made his debut in collegiate athletics as an assistant running backs/quality control coach at his alma mater, Georgia State, for one season (2009-10). Pruett began his coaching career with the AFL's Georgia Force for two seasons (2006-08) as a defensive quality control coach.
A Gainesville, GA native, Pruett earned his bachelor's degree from Georgia State in Kinesiology and Exercise Science in 2012 with magna cum laude honors and later earned his master's degree in Health and Physical Education from University of North Georgia in 2013 with summa cum laude honors.
Pruett is SCSC certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and holds a doctorate in leadership and higher education from the University of North Georgia.
