Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/114977
when the Fighting Irish toiled to back-to-back 8-5 records. It���s only now, which is sooner than most expected, that the Irish ripened. ���It���s just a matter of we���re starting to show the fruit of the labors of the last two years,��� he explained. ���It���s our third [time] around, as you know. We���ve been lifting and training at a very high level for three years as opposed to just one year. You better be getting incrementally better. We���re at that point.��� Examples of Longo���s e ff e c t i v e n e s s a re n ��� t hard to find. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who suffered through mononucleosis as a freshman in 2011, had an uninterrupted year with the Irish strength and conditioning staff this past season with noticeable results. The 6���6, 303-pound monster ���still has a lot of room for improvement,��� Longo said, ���which is exciting.��� Kelly and Longo hit the lottery when they came to Notre Dame at the end of 2009, both in terms of salary increases and the type of talent attracted to the storied program. But both sharpened their improvisational skills in the lower ranks, having been forced to create players out of scrap material. It���s a mindset that hasn���t changed now that Kelly can bring in fourand five-star players at Notre Dame. ���The thing that made Brian unique was the fact that he was coming from Division II [Grand Valley State], so he was all about making players better rather than going out and finding the best players,��� Longo said. ���A lot of it was a matter of making sure that these guys get better each year no matter how good they are when they came in. Manti [Te���o] is a great example. He���s gotten better every year that he���s been here. That���s a credit to him and the effort he���s put into the strength and conditioning program, as well as the football program.��� Moving Testimonials G r a d u a t e d o ff e n sive right guard Mike Golic�� Jr., like many of his teammates, wasn���t immediately sold on the new regime when it arrived in 2010. It took time, and most importantly results, for Kelly���s staff to win over the locker room. The same went for Longo, whose approach includes cracking the whip far more often than jokes. ���Coach Longo has always been tremendously confident in the fact that, if we take care of business the right way, and the way we���ve been coached ��� because these guys have been so many places together and have been winning for so long, they know how to get this done ��� the more we���ve bought in and the harder guys have worked, it would all add up and eventually turn into good things,��� Golic said. Easy to say after Longo helped Golic and the Irish reach the title game. But it seems to be a reoccurring theme with former Longo disciples, some of who needed extra persuasion before putting their full faith in him. Long before San Francisco 49ers starting left tackle Joe Staley made an immediate impact in the NFL as a rookie in