Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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80 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Matt Balis' role behind the scenes will be crucial to Notre Dame's rebound in 2017 BY LOU SOMOGYI T hree new on-field coordinators — Chip Long (of- fense), Mike Elko (defense) and Brian Polian (spe- cial teams) — were hired at Notre Dame this win- ter, but no new hire will be entrusted with more initial impact than director of football performance Matt Balis. "A lot of the important elements of building blocks take place for your football team," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said of Balis' role. "The mental toughness, the finish, things that obviously at times in the fourth quarter didn't show itself." The 4-8 record in 2016 was maybe most reflected in how Notre Dame consistently wilted in the second half, espe- cially the fourth quarter, when the offense scored a paltry 22 points in the final 15 minutes of the last eight games. In the advanced metric S&P+, Notre Dame's offense ranked No. 1 in the first quarter — and 96th in the fourth. The defense ranked 63rd in the fourth quarter and lost fourth-quarter leads in setbacks to Texas, Duke, Stanford, Navy and Vir- ginia Tech. Since 2004 at Central Michigan, strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo had been Kelly's right-hand man in his rapid ascent in the Football Bowl Subdivision. However, Kelly was candid that his longtime friend and colleague was no longer able to fulfill the immense demands of his role. It showed in 2016. "He is currently under a long-term disability right now, and he cannot fulfill the duties of this position," Kelly re- vealed of Longo. "… I won't get into too much detail other than [the players] really, really liked Coach Longo, but it was clear that he couldn't function in the manner he could in the first few years. "He couldn't get down in the trenches with them. He couldn't get in there and get after it the way he had the first few years." Upon further review and soul searching in December, Kelly noted other setbacks that hurt the infrastructure. "We made too many accommodations for [the student- athlete's] schedule, and used it in a manner that didn't allow them the opportunity to come over [to the weight room] and really let off steam, if you will," Kelly said. "We were making accommodations for all their schedules instead of saying, 'Listen, forget about it. This is what time you need to be here. Get over here and get after it!'" The hiring of Balis, a Chicago native who grew up a Notre Dame football fan and is a 1996 graduate of Northern Il- linois, comes with the mandate to develop an environment that demands the advancement of physical strength and, equally important, overcoming mental stress and fatigue. "It's a dream come true for him to come here to Notre Dame," Kelly said, "and you can see the passion that he has on a day-to-day basis for being here at Notre Dame is felt every single morning with our football team." Balis' hoarse voice befits his calling. "First you have to have energy," Balis said of his role. "Guys feed off your energy. If you come in excited and pas- sionate, they'll follow …" Bringing energy back into the operation was a top man- date from Kelly, including players competing against each other in some capacity in team groups so that "training to win" becomes intrinsic and a daily routine. Eight teams have been set up and mixed by position during the winter workouts. There are no scheduled workouts during the weekend, so when the body is the freshest on Monday, that is when Balis emphasizes the most intense speed work and fast move- ments for the central nervous system while concentrating on the upper body. "We do explosive power movement, a heavy power clean," Balis said. "And then it's a competition speed, com- petitive agility day." Tuesday is lower-body day with squats. It's not as heavy with explosive movements, but still done at a rapid rate. Wednesday is similar to Monday with the upper-body lifts, but the run this time is more conditioning based with general football agility work mixed in. Thursday is centered on running and team runs, and Friday is back to lower body emphasis. Balis, a Chicago native who grew up a Notre Dame football fan, has been mandated with creating a "training to win" mindset that becomes intrinsic and a daily routine for the Irish players. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN ENERGY BOOST DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE