Tag: Matt Balis

Notre Dame football: Irish zeroing in on new strength coach

According to reports, Notre Dame football is close to hiring a new strength and conditioning coach. Details on the impressive candidate:

Just before fall camp started this past season, Notre Dame football was stunned by the sudden resignation of [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag], their strength and conditioning coach.  Balis was very highly regarded and was a big reason for Notre Dame turning things around since the year he arrived in South Bend, 2017.

The position was filled on an interim basis for this season but it looks like Notre Dame is close to making a new hire and its one that comes with decades of big-time experience.

According to Football Scoop, former Denver Broncos strength coach Loren Landow is in negotiations to join the Notre Dame staff.

Landow has trained some of the biggest-named Broncos in recent years including Von Miller and Peyton Manning.  He’s also trained several Olympic athletes.

According to the Football Scoop report:

Multiple sources told FootballScoop that Freeman & Co. talked about the Notre Dame position with, among others, Aaron Wellman, most recently at Indiana University but who also has helmed the programs at Michigan and for the NFL’s New York Giants; additionally, sources told FootballScoop within the past week to 10 days that Notre Dame engaged discussions with Alabama strength coach David Ballou.

I won’t pretend to know who’s a great strength and conditioning coach and who isn’t.  I am just pleased to see that Marcus Freeman and company seemingly went everywhere to try and bring in the actual best candidate – unlike how the offensive coordinator role went down last off-season.

Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman discusses Matt Balis resignation

Obviously a big topic of conversation on Wednesday.

Notre Dame football was met with a stunner on Tuesday when it was announced that strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis was resigning effective immediately.  The move came just two days before Notre Dame opened fall camp and obviously left many questions.

Marcus Freeman met the media on Wednesday following the first practice of fall camp.  While the first day was discussed at a significant amount, Freeman was asked a few times about Balis.  Here is what the Notre Dame head football coach had to say about the resignation, how it went down, and how the Irish will move forward.

Breaking: Notre Dame football director of performance, Matt Balis, has resigned

Interesting timing but we wish Matt the best!

In a shocking development for [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football, their Tremattera director of performance, [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag] has resigned from the position.

The resignation is effective immediately, as Balis has cited personal reasons for his departure from the program. Head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] thanked Balis in a press release “for all the work he put into elevating our program. I have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is as a coach and as a man.”

Balis had been at the position since 2017 and now Freeman has named [autotag]Fred Hale[/autotag] as the new leader of Notre Dame’s strength and conditioning program. It seems like Hale will continue to “implement” the plan that Balis had for the team.

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Watch: New Notre Dame football workout hype video

Let’s go!!

We’re roughly two weeks from spring football officially getting going and just under seven months until the 2023 season kicks off in Ireland.  We’re not in preseason hype video season yet but we are counting down until what promises to be a unique spring session.

What we do have though are workout videos that take us behind the scenes.  Notre Dame football’s media team released a new one on Monday evening.  As usual, it delivers as strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis was again at his best in challenging the team to grow.  Check out the video that was released on social media below:

Balis in action speaks for itself as does seeing the head coach helping push players to improve.  Another highlight was [autotag]Nana Osafo-Mensah[/autotag] digging into a leadership role a bit more.

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Notre Dame football: Watch ‘Choose Hard’ weight room video

Choose Hard!

We sit 188 days until Notre Dame football travels to Dublin and takes on Navy to kick off the 2023 season. It feels like forever. This offseason has already provided plenty of drama for the Irish, but the good news is the opener is just under 27 weeks from today.

If you’re in the need of Notre Dame football and Jack Coan and Elize Mack making their XFL debuts this Sunday afternoon aren’t enough, then Notre Dame has released a hype video from recent workouts that might get your blood flowing.

Strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis leads the Irish as you see plenty of the bigger names make appearances in the workout video. The message of the video?

“Choose Hard,” which Notre Dame using as a motto for 2023. Check out the video below:

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Notre Dame finds new assistant strength coach

Notre Dame Head strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis has found his new assistant and he went to the ACC to do so, hiring a somewhat local product.

Notre Dame recently lost their assistant strength coach, Robert Stiner, as he took a job out west with the rival USC Trojans.

Strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis has found his new assistant and he went to the ACC to do so, hiring a somewhat local product.

Kyle Seger, a former Ball State walk-on defensive end is headed to Notre Dame after spending the last few years at Georgia Tech.  According to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seger is one of three Tech strength coaches departing the program.

Seger spent 2019-2020 at Georgia Tech as a player development coach after having previously spent time at both South Carolina and Temple.

Seger is originally from Huntingburg, Ind.

Notre Dame continues hot recruiting, in-state 2024 athlete commits

The Irish start their Saturday with a verbal commit

We have seen stretches from [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] recruiting like this before, where multiple prospects verbal to the Irish in a short period of time.

On Saturday morning, it was in-state athlete [autotag]Brauntae Johnson[/autotag], who became the fourth commit in June for the Irish. The 6-foot, 3-inch and 170 pound two-way star is regarded as one of the best in the country, ranking as the 13th athlete and 168th overall prospect according to the 247Sports composite.

At this moment Johnson could end up playing either wide receiver or safety but could grow into a linebacker. All of this depends on how his body fills out once Irish strength coach [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag] can transform him.

Johnson becomes the 21st commitment for the Irish in the 2024 recruiting class that is ranked among the best in the country.

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Notre Dame football names their three warriors of the week

These three are taking winter workouts seriously

During the lead up to spring practice, [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag] and his strength and conditioning team have been awarding three members of the [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football team as their warriors of the week.

They are awarding one each to power, skill and big skill, all the winners taking home a championship belt. The belts are the coolest part of this but we also get to see the shape of the winners.

This weeks warriors all look like they have been taking conditioning seriously, each one of them looks like they have been living in the weight room and taking their diets seriously. Find out who won the weekly belts below.

Notre Dame football names their three Warriors of the Week

These three are excelling in the weight room

While the [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] coaching staff can’t officially work with the team at the moment, that doesn’t mean that strength and conditioning coach [autotag]Matt Balis[/autotag] can’t.

The team is Balis’ until spring football begins and each week they have been giving out the Warriors of the Week belts. One is given out for skill, big skill and power categories.

These awards are given out to players who are excelling in the weight room or conditioning during offseason training. It’s a good indicator of who might play a big role in the upcoming season. Find out below who won each award this week for the Irish.

The day after: Lasting thoughts on Notre Dame’s upset of Clemson

Still on cloud 9? Yeah, me too

It hasn’t even been 24 hours since the Irish dominated Clemson, getting their signature win of the year, 35-14 over the Tigers. If you are still feeling euphoric, join the club. It was one of those wins that you will remember for a long time, even though it was just a regular season victory. There are still plenty of thoughts going through my mind and here are a few of them (one of them deserves a bit more than a blurb and that will be coming tomorrow!).

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

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