Tag: Strength Coach

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.

NFL Combine Show’s Why Notre Dame Strength Coach Matt Balis is One of the Best in the Country

Notre Dame Director of Football Performance Matt Balis is one of the best in the country.

The NFL combine finished last weekend and what the eight former Notre Dame stars did was impressive as a whole. A lot of that credit has to go to Matt Balis, the Director of Football Performance AKA strength coach for the Blue and Gold. Balis is responsible for getting the players in optimal playing shape, and those skills translated to many performing extremely well for NFL personnel.

Charles Power, of 247Sports looked over some of the data after the combine and some strength coaches stood out to him. Balis was one of them, as he has made many players improve their athletic traits. Power had a very interesting stat to go along with the success Balis has had “noting the Fighting Irish are 33-6 since Balis arrived in South Bend.”

In Olympic style scoring, the Irish would have taken the crown as they finished inside the top three in 7 different events. Individually it was TE Cole Kmet that stood out as he was named to NFL.com’s All-Combine Offensive Team.

Kmet and WR Chase Claypool were two of the former Irish star’s that made noise during the workouts and that is a direct reflection of the work that Balis has put in with those players. It’s safe to say his methods are among the best in the country, giving Brian Kelly’s team a leg up against many opponents.