Notre Dame Football Strength Coach Matt Balis Resigns for Personal Reasons

Matt Belis, who has overseen Notre Dame football's strength and conditioning program since 2017, has resigned from his position for personal reasons, the school announced Tuesday.

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

"While there is never a perfect time to lose a valuable teammate, we are thankful that Coach Balis was able to see us through our summer program and have our players physically prepared to head into the upcoming season."

Fred Hale, the program's associate director for football strength and conditioning, will take over "for the time being," per Freeman.

The news dropped just one month and one day before Notre Dame opens its season on Aug. 26 against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

Balis has overseen college football strength and conditioning programs in various capacities from 2001-2016. He's worked for Houston, Utah, Florida, Virginia, Mississippi State and UConn during that time.

Balis notably worked as the director of strength and conditioning at Mississippi State from 2009-2013 before becoming UConn's strength and conditioning Coordinator from 2014-2016.

Notre Dame has gone 63-14 with two College Football Playoff appearances during Balis' time with the program, and he appears to be a huge loss as the Fighting Irish get ready for the 2023 campaign with camp beginning Wednesday.

However, Hale still brings plenty of experience to his elevated role. According to Jack Soble of Blue and Gold, Hale worked on Eastern Michigan's strength and conditioning staff from 2014-2021, rising to the rank of co-director of sports performance in 2016. He left EMU for Notre Dame in 2021. Hale was also a strength and conditioning assistant at Tennessee and interned with the Buffalo Bills in 2012.

Hale was also a Division II All-American football player and wrestler at Mercyhurst University.