SOUTH BEND — Fred Hale Jr., associate director of strength and conditioning for Notre Dame football, is reportedly leaving for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
According to Football Scoop, Hale will fill a similar position with the 2024 Super Bowl champions.
Hale marked his five-year anniversary at Notre Dame last month. Retained when Loren Landow was hired as director of football performance after the 2023 season, Hale served as interim director that season following Matt Balis’ abrupt resignation on the eve of fall training camp.
A standout wrestler and second-team all-state football player at Mentor (Ohio) High School, Hale competed in both sports at Division II Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.
“I think he’s got a lot of respect from the players,” former Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon said in July of 2023. “You look at him and hear him talk, he’s very easy to respect. He knows how to push us all.”
A 6-foot-2, 241-pound defensive end for the Lakers from 2007-10, Hale had 11.5 total sacks his final two years as he earned first-team honors in the West Division of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Hale earned a master’s degree in exercise science from Mercyhurst in 2012.
Before Notre Dame hired him, Hale previously spent 4 ½ years as co-director of sports performance at Eastern Michigan. That followed a stint at Tennessee and a brief internship with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
Valerie Smith-Hale, the coach’s wife, joined Notre Dame’s Olympic-sport strength and conditioning staff in May 2021. She directed those programs for women’s soccer, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s throwers.
With the Eagles, who have missed the playoffs just once in the past nine seasons, Hale will work alongside Fernando Noriega, the team’s director player performance and sports science. Noriega joined the Eagles in 2021 as head strength and conditioning coach.
Nick Sirianni recently completed his fifth season as Eagles coach. The team also reached the Super Bowl in 2022, losing to Kansas City to close out Sirianni’s second season at the helm.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football losing strength staff member to NFL | Report
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
