In the Marcus Freeman era, Notre Dame has been known to be a team that could out-muscle any team they played. While many would credit Freeman for that, assistant strength and conditioning coach Fred Hale should actually be the one to take credit. For the last five years, Hale has been with the Irish, but now he is taking his talents to the next level.
With the NFL coaching carousel moving swiftly since the end of the season, coaching staffs are being steadily built, and Notre Dame has certainly been a pipeline for the pros. Hale is moving on from Notre Dame and taking a job with the Philadelphia Eagles as the assistant strength and conditioning coach, as reported by John Brice on FootballScoop.
Fred Hale was a familiar face all over — in practices, at games, etc. — for the Fighting Irish for five years.
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) February 17, 2026
The longtime Notre Dame strength and conditioning assistant is moving on to take a job with the Philadelphia Eagles, @JohnDBrice1 reported.https://t.co/UIA5GMTWqX pic.twitter.com/wfnGA9UX9r
Hale was serving as the interim director of strength and conditioning for the last two years after the sudden resignation of Matt Balis. Freeman knew that the program was in good hands with Hale at the helm, and it has shown over the last couple of seasons.
This is not Hale's first stint in the NFL as he served as an assistant ont he Buffalo Bills' offseason staff in 2012 before taking the strength and conditioning job at Eastern Michigan, where he coached from 2014 to 2021. Hale joined Notre Dame in 2021 and spent the last five seasons in South Bend.
Hale is not the first coach to head to the NFL this offseason, as Notre Dame has lost a couple of assistants to the pros, showing that Freeman is building quite the pipeline. Freeman knows how to find good coaches, and his coaching tree is spreading not just to the rest of college football but up to the NFL ranks as well.