The following is a release courtesy Notre Dame athletics.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Two former members of the strength and conditioning staff
at the University of Cincinnati and one former assistant coach with the
Bearcats have been added to the University of Notre Dame strength and
conditioning staff, Irish head coach Brian Kelly announced Tuesday.
Paul Longo becomes Notre Dame’s director of football strength and
conditioning while Jacob Flint and Lorenzo Guess will serve as assistant
directors of strength and conditioning.
Longo has 23 years of experience with NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools
and has worked at Wisconsin, Iowa, Central Michigan and Cincinnati. He just
completed his third season at Cincinnati and has worked alongside Kelly
since 2004. Longo’s teams have been well conditioned and have been one of
the top closing teams in the nation. Since 2005, Longo’s and Kelly’s teams
are 42-1 when leading after three quarters and 39-2 when taking a lead into
halftime. Longo has helped produce more than 50 NFL draft picks in his
career, including a combined eight picks the last two years at Cincinnati – as many as the Bearcats had produced in the previous five years combined.
“Paul Longo has been an integral part of the success we’ve experienced over
the last six seasons,” Kelly said. “He has done an incredible job of not
only developing our players and getting them ready to play championship
football in our program, but also helping prepare them for the NFL. Paul
joins our offensive and defensive coordinators as leaders of this program.
“He cuts across the traditional strength and conditioning coach mold because
he builds relationships with all players and coaches and serves as a leader,
not just in the weight room, but throughout the program. Paul is a critical
addition to our program because, arguably, no coach will have more contact
with our players throughout the whole year than our strength and
conditioning coach. Based on his track record and what I have personally
witnessed, I can¹t wait to see how he¹ll make our team better moving
forward.”
Flint had been a member of Cincinnati¹s strength and conditioning staff
since 2007, helping the Bearcats to a 33-6 record during that time. He
played for Kelly at Central Michigan as a walk-on and eventually earned a
scholarship.
In his free time, Flint competes in the 85-kilogram weight
class at USA weightlifting events and is ranked 25th nationally.
Guess coached the Cincinnati tight ends in 2009 after previously serving on
strength and conditioning staffs from 2005-09 at South Florida, Alcorn
State, Kentucky State, Cincinnati and Tiffin. Guess played both football and
basketball at Michigan State, earning four letters with the football team
and receiving two letters from the basketball team.
“Jake Flint and Lorenzo Guess are great additions to our team because they
complement Paul well in the weight room and throughout our program,” Kelly
said. “Jake and Lorenzo are both young guys who played college football
recently and will help serve as strong leaders in our strength and
conditioning program.
“Jake played for me at Central Michigan, and he has
been on a steady rise in this profession since our days in Mount Pleasant.
Lorenzo has expertise in the weight room as well as the experience of being
an assistant coach at this level, as he worked with our tight ends last
year. I’m really excited to see our strength and conditioning staff get to
work with our guys.”
The remaining three assistant coaches should be announced in the near
future.