A strength and conditioning coach from the Notre Dame football program is going to the NFL.
Just not that one.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that longtime Irish veteran assistant strength coach Fred Hale is departing Notre Dame after five years to take a spot on Nick Siriani's Philadelphia Eagles staff in the NFL. Sources said that Hale, a former two-sport player at Mercyhurst, will be the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Eagles.
Head Irish strength leader Loren Landow had been approached by multiple NFL organizations the past several weeks, multiple sources told FootballScoop, but he indicated to people within the Notre Dame program last week that he intended to remain in college football. Landow had an enduring run atop the Denver Broncos strength and conditioning program and also operated multiple training facilities in the greater Denver area.
In Hale, the Irish lose a consistent model of stability within the program.
After all, it was just less than three years ago that Hale was thrust into the role of Notre Dame's interim director of strength and conditioning for the football program following the abrupt resignation of former top strength coach Matt Balis.
Hale took over the Irish football strength program just at the outset of fall camp in 2023, Marcus Freeman's second year leading the program. Notre Dame closed that season with a 10-3 mark punctuated by a blow-out win against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.
Prior to Notre Dame, Hale had an extended run at Eastern Michigan University, where he arrived in 2014 and rose to the post of co-director for EMU sports performance and worked extensively with the football strength program.
Hale's wife, Valerie, also works in Notre Dame's strength and conditioning department as an assistant coach specializing in helping the Irish's Olympic sports programs.
In addition to Landow in the top oversight position of Notre Dame football's strength program, the Irish also have remaining assistants Richard Guarascio, Miles Axtell and Tony Fusco.
Coming off a 10-2 season and just a year removed from a run to the College Football Playoff Championship game, Notre Dame is set to open its fifth spring camp under Freeman in late March, with the Irish culminating their 15-session, five-week camp with the annual Blue & Gold Game April 25 inside Notre Dame Stadium.
Notre Dame returns numerous key starters on both sides of the football, added a consensus top-five national high school recruiting class and a top-10 NCAA Transfer Portal haul since it was the first team left out of the 2025 CFP field.
The Irish open their 2026 season Sunday, Sept. 6 against Luke Fickell's Wisconsin Badgers inside Lambeau Field, home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers.