CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University Associate Director of Athletics for Sports Performance Medgar Harrison announced the return of Robert Harris as the Governors Associate Director of Sports Performance and the hiring of Ashanti Fraire and Fiona Donnelly as graduate assistant sports performance coaches.
Harris returns to Clarksville as the Associate Director of Sports Performance after serving as the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Syracuse from June 2025-April 2026. He was the strength and conditioning coach for the Orange's basketball team where he directed all aspects of physical performance with the program, while developing and leading comprehensive offseason, preseason, and in-season training systems.
Harris was the Governors' Director of Sports Performance from 2022-25. He bult and led performance programs for APSU's men's basketball team, while developing individualized and team-based training systems. He also oversaw return-to-play integration and injury mitigation strategies with the program.
Before arriving in Clarksville, Harris was the head strength and conditioning coach for Kentucky Basketball from 2014-22. In his first season at Kentucky, he helped the Wildcats maintain peak physical condition as they reeled off an unprecedented 38-straight victories to start the 2014-15 season. He was also responsible for the skills and athletic testing at Kentucky's annual pro day, where scouts and general managers across the NBA attend two days of UK practice for a basis of physical measurements for future professional evaluations.
Prior to Kentucky, Harris served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for football at the University of Arkansas. Before his stint at Arkansas, Harris worked as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals for three years. With the Bengals, Harris was responsible for assisting in the development of the programs and weight room operations.
Throughout his career, Harris has developed over 20 NBA Draft selections and has experience across the NFL, SEC Football, and both SEC and ACC men's basketball, in addition to his previous experiences gained at Austin Peay.
Fraire will serve as the APSU volleyball, beach volleyball, and softball sports performance coach for the 2026-27 academic year. She comes to Clarksville from Texas, where she worked with student-athletes across beach and indoor volleyball, cheer, and softball. Fraire assisted implementation of sport-specific strength and conditioning sessions, coaching proper lifting and movement mechanics, and providing real-time feedback to improve technique, movement quality, and training execution.
Before working with Texas Athletics, Fraire worked as a Senior Recreational Sports Specialist at the Fitness Institute of Texas where she designed and implemented group training programs combining resistance training and aerobic conditioning, and leading structured classes across varied fitness levels. Fraire additionally assisted with youth soccer coaching and as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Bowie High School.
Donnelly comes to Austin Peay from Arizona where she worked as a strength and conditioning intern. She will work with the Govs' volleyball, beach volleyball, and softball programs. At Arizona, she assisted with volleyball, baseball, swim & dive, and men's and women's tennis. Donnelly worked to setup and breakdown lifts, assist in the execution of return to play protocols, and operate VALD performance systems.
Prior to Arizona, Donnelly worked at Albany as a strength and conditioning intern working with football, men's and women's lacrosse, men's soccer, and track & field. She established off-season programming, optimized data-tracking spreadsheets to enhance the football team's organizational efficiency, and coached targeted exercises for specific needs.
Donnelly holds a bachelor's of Fitness Development from State University of New York, Cortland, where she worked at Rick Kompf Training Systems as an intern working with youth athletes to ensure proper lifting techniques and movement techniques as well as working to enforce program standards.
