Winning in the 4th Quarter
The 2013 football season will serve as Paul Longo's third year at Notre Dame as director of football strength and conditioning. Longo joined Notre Dame in December 2010 and has 27 years of experience at various NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
Longo has instilled a grueling strength and conditioning program that has helped the Fighting Irish become one of the top closing teams in the nation. Notre Dame has secured a 23-3 record when leading after three quarters and when entering halftime with a lead. In the two seasons prior to Longo's arrival, the Irish were only 9-6 in games it led at halftime. Notre Dame is also 9-1 in the month of November. The Irish had lost eight of their last nine November games before his arrival.
Longo worked in a similar capacity from 2007-09 at the University of Cincinnati and has worked alongside current Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly as his strength and conditioning coach since Kelly's first season at Central Michigan in 2004.
The Bearcats were 32-0 when entering the fourth quarter with a lead and 29-2 when leading at halftime during Longo's tenure at Cincinnati. Since 2005 at Central Michigan, teams are 65-4 when leading after three quarters and 64-5 when taking the lead into halftime under Longo's tutelage.
Longo has developed more than 75 National Football League draft picks, including his previous stops at Wisconsin (1987), Iowa (1988-98), Central Michigan (2004-06) and Cincinnati (2007-09).
