Markus Paul

Markus Paul (born April 1966) is an American football Head Strength and Conditioning coach for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

High school

Paul attended Osceola High School in Kissimmee, Florida, where he played football as an All-State quarterback and defensive back.

College

Paul attended Syracuse University, where he played football as a safety from 1984 to 1988. As a senior, he earned first team All-American honors by The Sporting News and set a school record with 19 career interceptions.

NFL

The Chicago Bears selected Paul in the fourth round of the 1989 NFL Draft. In five seasons with the team, he started 30 games, 15 at each safety position. He spent the final game of the 1993 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In 1998, Paul rejoined his strength and conditioning coach at Syracuse, Mike Woicik, then serving the same position with the New Orleans Saints, as the Saints' assistant strength and conditioning coach. Paul followed Woicik to the Patriots in 2000, again serving as the assistant strength and conditioning coach under Bill Belichick. After winning Super Bowl XXXVI, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and Super Bowl XXXIX with the Patriots, he left the team for the New York Jets following the 2004 season. He spent one year under Herman Edwards as the Jets' director of physical development, then a year under Eric Mangini as the team's strength and conditioning coach. Paul was fired by Mangini after the 2006 season, and was hired by the New York Giants as their assistant strength and conditioning coach.

On November 24, 2020, Paul was taken to the hospital after experiencing a medical emergency. The Cowboys organization gave their well wishes to Paul and said "additional information will be made available at the appropriate time". Prior to the Cowboys' statement, Paul's death had been erroneously reported by media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, based on condolence tweets from several current and former players, among them former Giants offensive lineman David Diehl.