Charging into an exciting new position

Ben Rabe ’17, an exercise science major and former Cardinal football player, accepted a position with the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League in February 2024 as their director of performance analytics. He is part of the new staff brought to the Chargers by former head coach Jim Harbaugh. Ben is enjoying finding new ways to help his players maintain their bodies and minds, and he credits both his education and the network provided by North Central College with giving him the tools to succeed in his new role.

What do you do in your role?  

I am one of the four full-time strength and conditioning coaches on staff for the Chargers. My primary role is to train and develop the athletes on the roster both physically and mentally. Secondly, I am responsible for developing and building our systems that we use to track and evaluate our athletes’ performance in the weight room and their physical performance on the field. 

What are you most enjoying about the job so far? 

I am excited about experiencing the differences between what I have been accustomed to in college athletics and what I will be experiencing in the NFL. I really enjoy building new relationships with the rest of the staff and the athletes that I have met so far. It has also been great evaluating the different things we have used in the past to evaluate our athletes and finding the best way to tweak those things to best suit our new role with the Chargers. 

How did your time at North Central prepare you for this step in your career?  

It was the foundation of my career. There are several North Central alumni within college athletics, and specifically within college football, who have helped guide me along my journey. My first coaching experience came during my junior year when I missed a season due to injury, and I helped assist coaching in the weight room and with the defensive line. I learned so many lessons that year that I have carried with me every day since. On top of that, the education I received in the exercise science program was second-to-none in my opinion. I loved the smaller class sizes and my professors, many of whom went above and beyond to help me understand the material and how to apply it in real life scenarios. 

Learn more about exercise science at North Central.