David Ballou, Dr. Matt Rhea Talk For First Time About Leaving Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — David Ballou is a Hoosier through and through. He was a high school football star in Avon, played collegiately at Indiana and even married a local Bloomington girl who was an IU athlete as well.
And as a professional, he came back home three years ago for his dream job as Director of Sports Performance at his alma mater.
But there are dreams, and then there are bigger dreams. And when Nick Saban and the University of Alabama came calling in late February, Ballou and his sports performance partner, Dr. Matt Rhea, got an offer they couldn't refuse.
And they didn't.
Alabama is, without question, the pre-eminent college football program in the country. The Crimson Tide have won five national championships under Saban in the past decade-plus, and 17 overall.
So when Saban offers, you go. And you don't look back, even if it means leaving home to do it.
Because the COVID-19 pandemic rearranged the world right after their hiring, Ballou and Dr. Rhea haven't had a chance to meet the media yet in Alabama and talk about how their hiring came about. That finally changed though when the Alabama football program posted a 14-minute interview late this week with the pair on Instagram.
There were a lot of interesting tidbits, most notably:
- EYEING A MOVE: Even though Ballou and Rhea were very happy at Indiana, they did sit down in January and made a short list of schools they would consider leaving Indiana for. Alabama, naturally, was on the list. A month later, Alabama would be calling.
- SENSE OF URGENCY: Ballou said the first time he talked with Saban, he felt "a sense of urgency'' from the legendary coach and felt like "it was an opportunity I needed to pursue'' despite being happy in Bloomington.
- REPUTATION PRECEDED THEM: Ballou and Rhea have done great things everywhere they've been (IMG Academy, Notre Dame, Indiana) that as soon as Alabama associate athletic director for Sports Medicine Jeff Allen started his job search, all he kept hearing about from people was what Ballou and Rhea were doing — with great success — at Indiana. They were Allen's first choice all along, and Alabama got their men.
At Alabama, Ballou is the new Director of Sports Performance, while Rhea is the Director of Performance Sciences. Both had similar roles at Indiana, and were hired in early March. Their cutting-edge techniques with performance and data blew Saban away.
Last month, Saban said that during the interview process "there was no question that from a sports science standpoint and from a conditioning standpoint they were light-years in advance of what a lot of people have done in their programs for a long, long time, which we’ve done the same thing for a long, long time, too."
Allen, basically Alabama's head trainer, hosted the 14-minute interview. He gave some insight on how they became the latest additions to Saban's support staff.
“We really were excited about taking a deeper dive, and when we started this process again to make this hire, I started getting really great information about you guys,'' Allen told Ballou and Rhea during the online chat. "We were doing a little undercover work there. I felt like I was working for the FBI, getting some information from people across the country, and your names kept coming up. ‘Dave Ballou and Dr. Rhea. Dave Ballou and Dr. Rhea,’ kept coming back to us from everybody that we talked to.
“We were super excited about that.”
Rhea doesn't have Ballou's Indiana ties, but he loved in his time in Bloomington too. Still, you can't ever not wonder if something better might come along. They were both given huge raises prior to the 2019 season to keep them at Indiana when NFL teams and other coaches were trying to hire them away,
"Interestingly, in January, we were in a really good spot (at Indiana) and we were doing really good, but we kind of sat down in January and talked about a short list of places maybe that we leave that situation for. Obviously, Alabama was on the short list,'' Rhea said.
"It’s just an interesting irony and timing of all of this, but we are really excited to come here (to Alabama) and support very high-level athletes, a great program and the collaboration with a team of really, really good people that are behind the scenes, supporting athlete development.”
Ballou felt the same way. He really hated to leave Bloomington, but there was no way he could say no to this.
It's Nick Saban.
It's Alabama.
"The sense of urgency is really what caught my eye. It was an opportunity I felt like I really needed to pursue,'' Ballou said. "It was something that I really felt, deep down. We were in a good situation before (at Indiana), had some good people around us, but this was something, a good challenge, a good opportunity, and we really felt compelled to make the move.”
“Our passion is developing football players, specifically. That’s why we love the college level, and that’s why we love this kind of set up. That’s the challenge and that’s the fun stuff, and that’s where we all as a strength staff have to be very flexible and we’ve got to be on top of our game. We have a really good strength staff and brought a couple of guys (Matthew Clapp and Paul Constantine) with us down here who are really, really good strength coaches. So, it’s important for our team, our five to be in sync, as well.”
VIDEO: Full interview with Ballou, Rhea on Instagram
The strength and conditioning part of college football has become big business, and Indiana thought they had struck gold with Ballou and Rhea. They did, of course, and the program certainly is on the rise, as evidenced by last year's eight-win season, the first time that's happened since 1993.
But it's different at Alabama. They've had double-digit victories for 12 years in a row. They contend for division, conference and national titles every year. Indiana is ascending, of course, but nowhere near that level.
Indiana's financial commitment to strength and conditioning has been there for a while now, and it was proven again when Ballou and Rhea left. The Hoosiers quickly hired Aaron Wellman away from the NFL's New York Giants, and are hoping they won't miss a beat. Wellman is also an Indiana graduate.
Related stories
- WELLMAN HAPPY TO COME HOME: What it took to get Aaron Wellman to leave the New York Giants and return to Bloomington. CLICK HERE
- BREAKING NEWS: The story behind how Alabama was able to hire David Ballou away from Indiana. CLICK HERE
- DAVID BALLOU TAKEOUT: The long story about what makes David Ballou's methods so successful at Indiana. CLICK HERE
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