Todd Hunt enters his fifth season with the Bengals, after joining Cincinnati in 2019 as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Since arriving in Cincinnati, Hunt and the strength and conditioning staff have led the physical development of an influx of new and young Bengals players. Multiple key players returned from injuries to help lead the team to an AFC North Division title, an AFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl LVI in 2021-22, highlighted by second-year QB Joe Burrow, who was named the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year after missing the final six weeks of his rookie season with a knee injury. Burrow set single-season franchise records in passing yardage (4611), TDs (34) and passer rating (108.3). TE C.J. Uzomah, coming back from an Achilles injury suffered in Week 2 of the 2020 campaign, recorded career highs in receptions (49), receiving yards (493) and TDs (five).
The strength and conditioning staff's efforts with Hunt on board were particularly evident in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited training at the team facility during the offseason and limited it during the regular season. Hunt and the strength staff adjusted and helped onboard a wave of new additions, including the team's seven-player draft class that went on to play 96 combined games as rookies, tied for the second-most by a Bengals draft class since the draft sent to seven rounds in 1994.
In 2019, Hunt helped power a Bengals strength and conditioning program that guided Cincinnati to a late-season surge, with vast improvements on both offense and defense the second half of the year. Offensively, the Bengals averaged 70.6 more rushing yards per game in the second half of the season (130.1) compared to the first (59.5). The team's average rushing yards per attempt also jumped 1.26 yards (3.17 to 4.43) over the final eight games, and it allowed 10 fewer sacks. Defensively, Cincinnati notched 11 more sacks the second half of the year, and allowed 84.1 fewer yards per game (57.5 fewer rushing, 26.6 fewer passing yards).
Hunt joined the Bengals after spending the 2018 season at the University of Illinois, where he served as assistant strength coach for the football team. At Illinois, Hunt worked under Bengals head strength and conditioning coach Joey Boese and alongside fellow Bengals strength and conditioning assistant Garrett Swanson.
In 2018, Hunt and the Illini strength and conditioning staff helped mold one of the Big Ten Conference's most dominant rushing attacks. The team averaged 244.2 yards per game on the ground (second in the Big Ten), and RB Reggie Corbin led the conference in yards per attempt (8.5) en route to third-team All-Big Ten honors.
Prior to his time at Illinois, Hunt served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Fresno State University, from 2016-17 and worked with the Bulldogs' defensive linemen.
Prior to coaching, Hunt was a standout defensive end at Fresno State from 2012-15 (redshirted in '11). He played in 47 career games for the Bulldogs, with 27 starts, and recorded 136 tackles, including 17 for losses and 7.5 sacks. He served as a team captain as a senior in 2015, and he also was the recipient of the team's outstanding lineman of the year award for defense. Over his playing career, Hunt helped lead the Bulldogs to two Mountain West Conference championships (2012 and '13) and a MWC West Division title in 2014.
Hunt was born on in Stamford, Conn. As a high school senior, he moved to Southern California and attended Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, Calif.), where he was an Orange County All-Star at defensive end. He and his wife, Michelle, have two sons, Jackson and Titus, and a daughter, Brooklyn.
