Notre Dame adds two strength coaches to Loren Landow's staff
Notre Dame took a big step toward filling out its football staff for the 2024 season Friday afternoon. According to FootballScoop’s John Brice, new Irish director of football performance Loren Landow has made two hires to his strength and conditioning staff.
Travis Duffle has joined Notre Dame as an assistant coach of football strength and conditioning, while Rich Guarascio will become an associate director. Both positions are officially listed on Notre Dame’s football strength and conditioning website.
Fred Hale, who took over as interim director of football performance when Matt Balis resigned from that job the day before fall camp started, held the position of associate director. Hale remains listed as such on Notre Dame’s website, as does assistant football strength and conditioning coach Tony Fusco.
“I retained two of the former staff members, and then I brought two with me,” Landow told reporters Feb. 2.
Irish head coach Marcus Freeman commended the job Hale did throughout the season, but he said Dec. 20 that Landow would be given autonomy in filling out his staff.
“I know [Landow is] gonna have conversations with everybody on our staff,” Freeman said. “I’ve spoken very highly of everybody we have in our weight room and our staff, 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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Guarascio most recently worked with Landow for the Denver Broncos, and his resume includes Power Five stops at Washington State, LSU, South Carolina and Colorado. He’s also worked at Sioux Falls and Northwestern State. He is both a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a Level 1 Sports Performance Coach for USA Weightlifting.
As a player, Guarascio was a three-time academic all-conference player at Sioux Falls.
Duffle — also a CSCS — spent over eight years working as a sports performance coach at Landow’s private strength and conditioning clinic, Landow Performance. He began there as an intern in 2015, according to his LinkedIn.
While working with Landow in Denver, Duffle also served as the head trainer of FIT36 DTC in Greenwood Village, Colo. He’s held that position since October 2016.
With his staff complete, Landow’s sole focus is now on building his strength and conditioning program and getting the Irish ready for spring camp. Notre Dame will be back on the field for practice starting in March.
