Brian Costa,
Rachel Bachman and Andrew Beaton:

The faces of America’s college football programs are its head coaches, many of whom are paid millions of dollars and wield enormous power within universities. But the authority figure that players see most while at school is one that most fans wouldn’t even recognize.

Strength and conditioning coaches have evolved from handy helpers in the gym to overlords of a season outside the season: off-season workouts. It is their domain—in weight rooms shielded even from the view of head coaches—that is increasingly under scrutiny after a series of player deaths and hospitalizations following grueling workouts.

These coaches have become among the most highly paid and influential on staffs. During the winter and summer months when NCAA rules keep head coaches and their assistants at a distance, players effectively report to the strength and conditioning coach. Those broad powers, coupled with the dangerous episodes, have raised questions about whether the coaches are sufficiently regulated.

“These guys become their own little fiefdoms,” said Rick Neuheisel, a former head coach at UCLA, Colorado and Washington.