Nick Elicone is in his sixth season on the Illinois football strength staff in 2026 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Elicone came to the Illini in 2021 after serving as the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach at REEF Systems Corporation.
Elicone has helped elevate Illinois to new expectations in his first five seasons in Champaign, alongside head coach Bret Bielema. The Illini have 37 wins, 23 Big Ten victories, and bowl victories in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl since Elicone's arrival in 2021. Illinois' success has continued to even greater heights over the last two seasons with 19 wins from 2024-25, setting the Illinois record for wins in a two-year period and achieving the first back-to-back 9+-win seasons in program history.
Elicone has helped Bielema set the Illinois records for wins in a season (10, 2024), bowl victories coached (3), bowl games coached (2), and wins in a head coach's first five seasons (37). Bielema is the first head coach in Illinois history to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons, as Illinois beat #14 South Carolina in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and #23 Tennessee in the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl for the first two victories over SEC opponents in Illinois history. The lllini finished the 2024 season ranked #16 in the nation (AP/Coaches), then finished #25 in 2025 (Coaches).
The Fighting Illini program has enjoyed continued appearances in the AP Top 25, Coaches Polls, and College Football Playoff rankings, three bowl games, three national award finalists, 14 All-Americans, and 12 NFL Draft picks since Elicone's arrival. Illinois has had three national award finalists and seven top-100 draft picks during Elicone's tenure. Jer'Zhan Newton (2023, Nagurski), Chase Brown (2022, Doak), and Devon Witherspoon (2022, Thorpe) gave Illinois three finalists in National College Football Awards Association awards over a two-year span for the first time since 1994-95, while Illinois was one of five schools with three or more players drafted in the first three rounds in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts, along with Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State.
At REEF Systems Corporation, Elicone was the Lead Strength Coach for 4-27 Field Artillery Battalion for the United States Army at Fort Bliss, the Strength and Conditioning Coach for 1/1 Ready First Brigade, and the Head Strength Coach for 2-3 Field Artillery Battalion for the United States Army at Fort Bliss. He designed programs and trained rehabilitating and injured soldiers to increase soldier readiness, as well as communicated program and weekly reports to Chain of Command and conducted educational classes daily for form and technique regarding ACFT equipment.
Elicone did internships at four FBS institutions before moving to REEF, including a one-year stint with the football program at Michigan from May 2018-May 2019. Elicone helped the Wolverines to a 10-3 record and co-Big Ten East Division championship at 8-1 in Big Ten play. He previously interned at South Carolina, Alabama, and Connecticut.
Elicone was a two-year football letterwinner at Westfield State after a three-sport career at Hanover High School in Hanover, Massachusetts. He graduated from Westfield State University with a degree in exercise science and sports psychology.
He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and professional member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Elicone and his wife, Katie, married in July 2025. They welcomed their daughter, Juliana, in November 2025.
