NOTRE DAME -- Notre Dame ranked in the bottom 20 nationally in rushing in 2008, averaging just over 100 yards per game as a team.

Enter Tony Alford as the new running backs coach, whose enthusiasm alone might be enough to revive the Irish rushing attack.

"Coach Alford is great," admits junior runningback Armando Allen. "He has a lot of energy..."

Fellow junior back Robert Hughes agrees. "He's very intense. It's like he still wants to play. He's a high energy guy."

Tony Alford's goal as the new running backs coach at Notre Dame is to get his high energy coaching style to translate into a high energy rushing attack. And it doesn't matter who gets the ball!

"It doesn't matter if every guy gets 20 snaps, or if one guy gets 40 snaps and the others get 10," Alford says. "I don't care. I just want to win."

Winning is something Alford knows won't happen often enough, if the Irish can't run the football better than they did before he arrived.

"Teams that win are teams that run the football."

The Irish rushing attack figures to start with junior Armando Allen. Notre Dame's returning leader in yards (585) and carries (134). In addition to 355 receiving yards out of the backfield, the Irish are hoping Allen can take his game to another level in 2009.

"(I'm working on) not going down on first contact. And when I get to the open field, taking it the distance," Allen says.

One place the Notre Dame backfield may look different is at fullback, where Alford and Charlie Weis have talked about shifting senior tailback James Aldridge, to maximize their depth, and give Aldridge more playing time.

"Its an opportunity to get on the field. Whatever they say I'm going with it," says Aldridge. "I like it a lot. Whatever (the coaches) wanna do ... let's do it!"

Throw in junior Robert Hughes, who carried for 382 yards and a team leading four touchdowns in 2008, and the Irish have three veteran backs to lean on.

Now it's Alford's job to turn those three into a top tier backfield.

"Don't think too much. This isn't rocket science. Just go play, and react, and make plays."