Earlier this month Todd Lyght left his post as a Notre Dame assistant coach, leaving an opening on the coaching staff.
That spot remains open as of this posting but according to SI’s Irish Maven, that job may not be open much longer.
Former Cincinnati Bengals cornerbacks coach Daronte Jones is said to have recently been on campus to go through a formal interview and the SI report goes on to say that Jones met with multiple players and that “it is looking like he could very well be the ultimate choice”.
Now to your next question: who the heck is Daronte Jones?
If you’re a fan of people who bet on themselves you’re going to love the story of Daronte Jones.
Jones played football at Morgan State and began his climb to be an NFL assistant coach right after.
The bottom of that climb began coaching high school football in Louisiana before spending time in the collegiate Division II ranks at Lenoir-Rhyme and Bowie State.
From there he had a one-year stop with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL before taking a job on the Hawaii coaching staff.
Jones spent three seasons in Hawaii before joining the Wisconsin staff in 2015.
From there he made the leap to the NFL, serving as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2016 and ’17.
Jones then took the cornerbacks coach job with the Bengals previous to 2018 and spent the last two seasons there.
Regardless of if Jones is ultimately hired onto Brian Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame or not, it’s already a successful tale of a young coach betting on himself and making an incredibly steep climb.