BREAKING | Matt Balis Resigns as Notre Dame Director of Football Performance

Notre Dame is set to open fall practice on Wednesday, but on Tuesday, the program is dealing with a significant development as Director of Football Performance Matt Balis has resigned and is no longer with the program per the university. 

“I want to thank Coach Balis for all of the work he put into elevating our program,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is as a coach and a man.” 

Freeman appointed Fred Hale to lead the S&C program as the Irish move into preparations for Navy on August 26th.

“For the time being, Fred Hale will lead our strength and conditioning program,” said Freeman in a statement. “We have an innovative sports performance team who collaborated with Coach Balis and me in designing our program and Fred will continue to implement that plan.” 

The 2023 season was set to be Balis’ seventh season with Notre Dame program after joining the Irish in 2017 after two years as the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator at UConn under Bob Diaco. 

Balis, a native of Chicago, called Notre Dame his dream job last spring, so the news of his departure is shocking to say the least, especially considering the timing as it relates to the season. 

"I've felt blessed to be here since the day I found out I had the opportunity to interview here,” Balis said in April of 2022. “It was a dream of mine. This is my dream job. Notre Dame is where I've always wanted to be. I was a fan growing up, so I love it here. 

"If you said 25 years ago, ‘Where do you want to be if you had your choice,’ it would be here in this situation. It was pretty easy." 

While Balis arrived during the Brian Kelly era, Marcus Freeman’s first point of business was to keep the long-time strength coach in the build. ‘The Golden Standard’ was created by both during the first few weeks of Freeman’s tenure. 

"There is always conversation in terms of the vision of what he wants to see,” stated Balis. “That starts with The Golden Standard and challenge everything, unit strength and competitive spirit. We're going to do everything in that manner.” 

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