For obvious reasons, Notre Dame players are feeling very lost right now. That tends to happen when you suddenly find yourself without a head coach. Sometimes, you need a little reassurance that you will get through whatever adversity you’re going through and that everything is going to be all right. The Irish got it in director of football performance Matt Balis:
Built by Balis@CoachBalis_nd | #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/0IdGIv2Iql
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 30, 2021
Balis bounced around the strength and conditioning departments of several programs, even leading a few of them, before landing with the Irish in 2017. Of all the programs he’s worked for, Notre Dame is the closest to his native Chicago. It’s unlikely that the location is the main reason he’s deciding to stick around South Bend. From what we see in the video, he loves this job which has allowed him to dedicate his life to the players he’s speaking to, and that provided all the sincerity the players needed on this very difficult day.