Merino joins the Engineers following two-and-a-half years at Canisius College, a Division I institution with 20 programs. He started at Canisius as the assistant director of athletic performance and was promoted to director of athletic performance in September 2014, just two months after he joined the staff. Merino helped create and oversee all student-athlete development programs and athletic performance-related activities while working directly with the baseball, men and women's basketball, men's hockey, women's volleyball and women's lacrosse programs.Â
Before going to Canisius, Merino spent two years as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Quinnipiac University, where he oversaw strength & conditioning efforts for men and women's lacrosse, men's soccer, baseball and the school's acrobatics and tumbling teams. He developed and implemented strength & conditioning programs, while also monitoring training readiness and recovery of student-athletes. He also oversaw, managed and educated interns.
Merino spent two years working for Ranfone Training Systems in Hamden, Conn. and he also gained experience at the Moore Center for Rehabilitation, where he oversaw daily operations and assisted in the development of the center's training process for new hires.
A 2009 graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, Merino earned his master's degree in exercise science and health promotion and sports psychology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2013. He is a certified strength & conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)Â and is a Precision Nutrition Level 1 coach. He also earned certification in functional movement, functional range conditioning and as a Russian kettlebell instructor.s named the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach in the fall of 2016.
 Justin Markley Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
Justin Markley was announced as the assistant strength & conditioning coach in September 2014. He works with all the student-athletes who make up Rensselaer's 23 intercollegiate teams as well as others within the campus community.
A native of Seekonk, Mass., Markley has experience from a variety of programs, most recently Michigan State University, where he worked with men's basketball, men's hockey, wrestling and men's and women's golf over the past two years. In addition to coaching student-athletes, he also designed workout and recovery programs as well as equipment and facility maintenance.
He spent the summer of 2013 at the University of South Carolina, where he worked with the Gamecocks football program. While in Columbia, Markley co-authored an article, Get a Grip, for Training & Conditioning magazine. He has also coached at Northeastern University, where he worked with seven different programs, including women's basketball, women's volleyball, baseball and track & field.
Markley owns a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education with a concentration in Exercise Science from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. He earned a Master's in Kinesiology with a concentration in Strength & Conditioning from Michigan State, where he was a graduate assistant in the kinesiology department.
Â
Â
