When Mark Bless chose to leave Mooresville (Ind.) High School for Avon, David Ballou being at the latter was “a big reason” he ultimately decided to make a move within the conference.

“Avon football traditionally was strong, but him coming back and taking over the weight room as well as coaching, he made Avon much better,” Bless told BamaOnLine. “I was at Mooresville for 15 years, so things weren’t broke where I was at before. But once I had an opportunity to talk with Dave about the head coaching position at Avon, it definitely helped me want to take the job, knowing that he was the guy in charge of the strength program.”

Since then, Ballou has been on a meteoric rise through the profession, going from the strength coach at Avon to the director of sports performance at Alabama in a 6-year span. The Crimson Tide officially announced his hiring on March 3, along with Dr. Matt Rhea as the director of performance science, after Scott Cochran left for an on-field coaching job at Georgia.

A rising star in the strength and conditioning community, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has received rave reviews since adding Ballou to his staff this offseason. His ascension has been quick, which hasn’t surprised Bless, who worked with Ballou at Avon for five years.

“Knowing his passion and his drive, he’s determined in his profession, and now he’s become very well-respected, obviously, being at Alabama,” Bless said. “But I know in talking to the IU coaches that the two years that he and Dr. Rhea were there, it made a huge impact on their strength program and their athletic performance, and people notice that.

“I think his work’s going to speak for itself.”

Bless first met Ballou during his first year at Mooresville in 1995 when Ballou was a senior at Avon. Ballou played running back and linebacker and was bigger than most of Mooresville’s linemen, according to Bless. “We didn’t have a lot of success against his Avon team.”

Ballou went on to play fullback at Indiana from 1997-99 and has always had a passion for the game, according to those close to him. When he returned to Avon as the strength coach from 2002-14, he also coached on the field. Under Bless, Ballou oversaw the linebackers and was active in the game-planning on defense and the day-to-day football operations.

After 13 years at his high school alma mater, Ballou moved on to IMG Academy. The two years he was the head strength and conditioning coach, the program never lost a game. He spent the 2017 season at Notre Dame as a strength and conditioning assistant coach before returning to Indiana as the director of athletic performance for football for the last two years.

“He loves Indiana University football,” Bless said. “Obviously, he played there, and getting to go back there, it meant the world to him. But I think that once he got the offer from Alabama, he realized the level of athletes that he’s going to get to train, the access to the facilities and equipment that he’s going to need, it’s going to be there.

Alabama director of sports performance David Ballou

“You’re going to train some of the best athletes in the country with probably some of the best resources in the country, and I think that’s just a great opportunity for Dave. As hard as it was for him to leave Indiana, obviously there’s bigger and better things out there, and it’s what he’s looking at.”

Ballou’s longest tenure of his career was at Avon, which won six state championships in multiple sports and seven others were finalists. He assisted in the development of 80 Division I athletes and in 2014, was a finalist for NSCA National High School Strength Coach of the Year.

A sometimes overlooked aspect of a strength coach’s job is providing motivation for the athletes, and Ballou was not lacking in that area while coaching at the high school level.

“When you meet him and just hear him talk a little bit, you’ll understand why,” Bless said. “He still trains and works out. He’s a massive person and moves a lot of weight. But I know that our players had a lot of high regard for Dave’s opinion, whether it had to be in the weight room or on the football or just in life in general. Dave’s an ultimate motivator.

“We’ve had a lot of young men that needed a good talk to help straighten a person out and get him focused on what he needs to be doing. You can do it as the head coach all the time, but I think when you get the reinforcement of your strength coach -- or it starts with your strength coach, someone like Dave Ballou -- it’s going to get straightened out pretty quickly.”

Ballou has not yet had a lot of time with his new pupils in Tuscaloosa, Ala., because of the coronavirus crisis. SEC teams cannot practice, meet or gather until at least April 15, and after that point, there will likely be limitations placed on the facilities around UA’s campus.

So, what should the Crimson Tide players expect from Ballou when they finally get to work with him on a daily basis? Asked that exact question, Bless started his answer with a laugh.

“He’s going to bring a lot of intensity,” he said. “He’s going to push them probably harder than what they’ve been pushed before physically. He’s going to get after them, but I think the players are going to find out he wants what’s best for them by getting their best every day.”

Contact Charlie Potter by personal message or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).