Mike Sirignano is entering his fifth year at Appalachian State and his second as Assistant AD of Athletic Performance.

In his role, Sirignano works primarily with Appalachian State football while overseeing the strength-and-conditioning programs for all 20 of Appalachian’s varsity sports. He also oversees App State’s department-wide nutrition program.

In the 2015-16 academic year, Sirignano was also a big part of the Mountaineers’ new phase of commitment to nutrition as part of strength and conditioning: AppFuel. With two fueling stations located in the Appalachian Athletics Center and Owens Fieldhouse, athletes now have access to the fuel they need for morning lifts and recovery after afternoon practices.

Sirignano came to Appalachian State from South Carolina, where he served as assistant director of football strength and conditioning from 2012-14. In addition to his work with the Gamecocks’ football program, which went 22-4 and won two New Year’s Day bowl games in his two seasons at USC, he also directed the school’s men’s and women’s track and field strength programs.

His two years at South Carolina followed a brief stint at Elon, where he was the head of football strength of conditioning in January 2012. During his short time at Elon, he oversaw the strength-and-conditioning programs for the Phoenix’s football, volleyball and men’s and women’s golf teams.

Before he made his way to the Carolinas, Sirignano spent his entire career in his native New England, highlighted by two years as the director of strength and conditioning at Rhode Island (2010-12).

He oversaw 500-plus student-athletes and two assistant directors at URI while working primarily with the Rams’ football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, women’s soccer, swimming and men’s track and field programs. He also oversaw the design of Rhode Island’s new $2 million, 8,000-square-foot strength and conditioning facility.

Prior to his time at URI, he served as an assistant strength coach at Northeastern (2009-10) and Bryant (2009).

Outside of the college ranks, Sirignano was the president and director of his own company, Next Level ELITE Training Center, from 2007-09 and served as the defensive coordinator/strength and conditioning coach at Woonsocket (R.I.) H.S. in 2008-09.

The list of notable student-athletes that he has trained includes more than 15 football players that have gone on to play in the National Football League and four track-and-field Olympians.

Sirignano played football at Bridgewater (Mass.) State from 2003-06, where he was a two-time NCAA Division III all-American, three-time all-New England honoree and three-time Eastern College Athletic Conference all-star as a defensive lineman. He served as team captain as a senior and also found time to work as a strength-and-conditioning intern at Holy Cross (2006-07) and offseason strength-and-conditioning consultant and volunteer offensive/defensive line coach at Duxbury (Mass.) H.S. (2006).

A 2007 graduate of Bridgewater (B.S. — physical education), Sirignano is married to the former Karolina Bakowska. They have a son, Dominic.