Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly shocked the college football world Monday when he left a potential College Football Playoff-contending Fighting Irish program, only to accept the same position at LSU.

Since his departure, Notre Dame’s coaching and support staffs have been in limbo, as it remains unclear exactly who will stay and who will follow Kelly to Baton Rouge. In the meantime, though, one report from Blue and Gold reporter Mike Singer indicates that Notre Dame will retain at least one key off-field staff member: Matt Balis.

Balis is currently Notre Dame’s strength and conditioning coach, and Singer in his report indicates that the Fighting Irish “expect” to retain him in South Bend. Officially, Balis has held the title of Director of Football Performance since 2017, serving as a key component of Kelly’s staff. Before his arrival at Notre Dame, he held strength and conditioning coaching roles at Utah, Virginia, Mississippi State and UConn, while holding assistant roles at Houston, Utah and Florida.

The strength and conditioning coach is far from an on-field staff member, of course. But it should be a good sign for Fighting Irish fans, as it could indicate that the university will keep its support staff in tact.

Report: Notre Dame enters bidding war with LSU over Brian Kelly top assistant

With former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly now in the same position at LSU, the Fighting Irish are trying to keep their former head man from pulling away assistant coaches from South Bend and getting them to come to Baton Rouge.

According to Pete Sampson of The Athletic, Notre Dame is doing its best to keep offensive coordinator Tommy Rees with the Fighting Irish and not let him leave to join Kelly at LSU. Notre Dame is reportedly set to have a meeting with Rees in an effort to convince him to stay put.

A former Notre Dame quarterback, Rees has reportedly been offered $400,000 more than his salary with the Fighting Irish to join the Tigers’ program and reunite with Kelly in Baton Rouge.

Rees played for Kelly from 2010-14 and joined the coaching staff in 2017 as quarterbacks coach. He moved up to offensive coordinator in 2020 and stayed in the role this season.

Report: Kelly, LSU also targeting Notre Dame DC Marcus Freeman

Alongside Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, Brian Kelly and LSU are also working to get Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to make the move from South Bend to Baton Rouge and join Kelly’s staff. According to Sampson, Kelly would intend on making Freeman the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football.

Freeman played linebacker at Ohio State from 2004-08 and was chosen in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. After bouncing around NFL practice squads, he went back to Ohio State as a graduate assistant coach in 2010.

He worked his way up through the coaching rankings to become Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator from 2017-20. Freeman was rumored to head to LSU this past offseason, but Kelly brought him to South Bend to replace Clark Lea, who is now Vanderbilt’s head coach.

The Fighting Irish had the 11th-best scoring defense in the country this season, holding teams to 18.9 points per game. In fact, Notre Dame nearly went all of November without allowing a touchdown. Stanford scored in the second half of last week’s game to end that streak.