Marcus Freeman And Notre Dame Strength Coach Loren Landow Share A Common Vision
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has had a busy December, and that continued this week with the hiring of Loren Landow as Notre Dame’s new Director of Football Performance. The position opened in July when Matt Balis abruptly resigned on the eve of the start of fall training camp. Fred Hale was on Balis’s staff and filled the role throughout camp and the regular season.
Freeman announced Landow’s hiring on Tuesday and then addressed it publicly for the first time the next day as he opened his early signing day press conference.
"I could not be more excited for him to join our program,” Freeman said of Landow. "We had the luxury of time since Coach Balis decided to resign. I want to make sure I credit and thank Fred Hale and our strength staff for being able to continue to have our guys ready to play games this year.”
Landow has 25 years of experience in the field of training elite athletes. He was most recently the head strength and conditioning coach for the Denver Broncos from 2018-2023. He also owns Landow Performance, where he has trained thousands of elite athletes to compete in the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and the Olympics.
"We talked to probably over 30 guys in the field and ultimately decided that we wanted Loren to lead this program,” Freeman explained. "I was looking for someone that can one, reinforce my vision as the head coach in the weight room. Our athletes spend a tremendous amount of time in the weight room and we have to make sure our messaging is the same but also uphold those standards that I believe it takes to win a championship and it’s built in the weight room. The standards of discipline, the toughness. All those things that I truly believe that can be created in the weight room. I was looking for somebody to continue to instill that.”
In addition to creating programs for amateur and professional athletes, Landow also developed the ACL prevention program and the ACL return to sport protocols. He has also prepped NFL draft prospects for the NFL Combine and Pro Days, and worked with NFL veterans on off-season training. He has coached more than 70 NFL All-Pro players, including former Bronco Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning and current San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
"He has a history of being in the field, of leading a large group of people, but also he has experience in really individualizing a training program to attack specific needs of individuals and that’s important,” Freeman remarked. "That’s what I believe we needed. When you talk about training 120 athletes, there has to be organization and structure into what you’re doing but I really wanted to find somebody that truly understood how to utilize the science, how to truly attack an individualized approach to making sure every athlete truly can reach their full potential. I am truly happy that he will be leading our strength and conditioning program.”
Hale is one of four assistants who worked under Balis before he moved into the interim role leading the football team’s performance efforts this season. Whether or not any of those four remain on staff under Landow is yet to be determined.
"Loren will be able to put his staff together,” said Freeman. "I know he’s going to have conversations with everybody on our staff. I’ve spoken very highly of everybody we have in that weight room and our staff and what they’ve done. But I want to make sure Loren Landow is in a position where he feels like he can be successful and that is going to entail him making decisions on the staff that he hires.”
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