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Report: Saints to hire Alabama sports science director Matt Rhea

ross jackson
·1 min read

Here’s the last piece of the puzzle: the New Orleans Saints are set to hire Alabama director of sports science Matt Rhea, per CBS Sports’ Josh Pate. He will likely be named the team’s strength and conditioning coach after the Saints moved on from longtime coach Dan Dalrymple.

Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reported the interest New Orleans had in Rhea as well as his colleague David Ballou, Alabama’s director of sports performance. Rhea’s bio on Alabama’s website describes his responsibilities with the Crimson Tide as:

“Rhea has worked as a football strength and conditioning coach for 13 years. Including five years with NFL Combine training, five in high school football and three at the collegiate level. He came to Alabama from Indiana University, where he spent the previous two years as IU’s High-Performance Coordinator while working with the Hoosiers’ football program.”

Rhea is also credited with bringing a “scientific approach” to the Crimson Tide. Alabama head coach Nick Saban told Touchdown Alabama’s Stephen M. Smith last summer that Rhea’s methodology helped cut the team’s soft tissue injuries by half once they bought into his cutting-edge approach.

The Saints have led the way in many cases when it comes to innovative approaches to player health and preparation. Former head coach Sean Payton was among the first to partner with Zebra Technologies and their practice monitoring solutions. This allowed the Saints to track a player’s practice load to make sure they were not being overworked. If Rhea plans to bring similar new and progressive approaches to the team’s preparation and training, he should fit right in. It’s an interesting direction for new head coach Dennis Allen to steer his support staff.

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