River Hawks Add Craig Nolan and Chris Vitullo to Sports Performance Staff – UMass Lowell Athletics

LOWELL, Mass. – Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Performance Marcus Williams has recently announced the addition of Craig Nolan and Chris Vitullo to the sports performance staff.
 
“I am extremely excited about Craig and Chris joining the sports performance team”, said Williams. “They both possess a wealth of knowledge in the field of athletic performance, and I am confident that they will both be tremendous additions to River Hawk nation.”
 
Nolan, who joins as a sports performance assistant, brings four years of experience to the River Hawk staff. Most recently, he spent a year as a strength and conditioning coach at Achieve Sports Performance, where he was directly responsible for the strength and conditioning programs of over 50 high school and collegiate athletes in a variety of sports. During his time there, his responsibilities included instructing and coaching athletes on strength training forms, as well as monitoring the progress of athletes through periodic testing.
 
Before Achieve Sports Performance, he spent a summer working as a strength and conditioning coach intern with Boston College Football. With the Eagles, he was responsible for helping injured athletes return to play, monitored athletes daily using sports technology, assisted in daily workout set up and facility upkeep, and adjusted coaching techniques to meet athlete needs while addressing strengths and weaknesses.
 
Nolan also worked as an assistant director of strength and conditioning at North Shore Revolution and began his career as a scouting intern for Touchdown Alabama Magazine.
 
Nolan earned his master’s degree in sport and fitness management from Missouri Western State University in 2023 and graduated from the University of Alabama with his bachelor’s degree in 2020.
 
Joining the River Hawk staff as a graduate fellow, Vitullo comes to Lowell after serving as a strength and conditioning graduate assistant for a year at Fairleigh Dickinson University. While there, he oversaw full strength and conditioning responsibilities for the men’s and women’s volleyball teams, men’s soccer, and softball. Alongside that, he also assisted the head strength and conditioning coach with men’s and women’s basketball programming, and training sessions, and traveled for gameday warm-ups and post-game sessions.
 
Before his time at Fairleigh Dickinson, Vitullo started as a strength and conditioning intern at Brown University, before earning the title of assistant strength and conditioning coach club sports. While with the Bears, he worked with a variety of teams, implementing programs for the men’s and women’s diving and women’s fencing teams while also assisting with women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s ice hockey, and women’s soccer alongside 11 club teams.
 
Vitullo also spent time as a tier 3 personal trainer for Healthtrax East Greenwich and as a strength and conditioning assistant coach for Northeast Sports Training.
 
Vitullo earned his bachelor’s in kinesiology from the University of Rhode Island in 2019.