Tag: assistant coaches

Notre Dame football: Frontrunner emerging for offensive coordinator replacement?

Will it happen?

Could a frontrunner be emerging for Notre Dame just days into their search for a new offensive coordinator?

According to Pete Sampson and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, LSU offensive coordinator [autotag]Mike Denbrock[/autotag] has “legitimate interest” in returning to Notre Dame in the same role.

Denbrock has coached at Notre Dame twice before.  From 2002-2004 he oversaw the tight ends and offensive tackles on [autotag]Tyrone Willingham[/autotag]’s staff while he filled a number of roles under [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] from 2010-2016, including being the primary play caller.

Denbrock spent 2017-2021 at Cincinnati where he coached with Marcus Freeman for four seasons.

Denbrock has had an incredibly strong run of late including this season where he helped turn quarterback Jayden Daniels into the third Heisman Trophy winner in LSU program history.

More on this as it develops and if you’re interested, we took a deeper look at Denbrock late Thursday morning.

Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator takes new job

He’s returning to where he once coached, but it’s not at Notre Dame

Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator [autotag]Brian VanGorder[/autotag] is taking over a job he once already held.  Don’t worry though Irish fans, it’s not in South Bend.

VanGorder, who was Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator from 2014 through the first few weeks of 2016, VanGorder is now the defensive coordinator at Gulf Shores (Ala.) High School.  It’s a job that he held previously in 2021 as he spent last season coaching at national powerhouse American Heritage in Hollywood, Florida.

VanGorder was the 2003 recipient of the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.  He won the award while being the defensive coordinator at Georgia.

Since being forced out at Notre Dame following the rough start to the 2016 season, VanGorder has been on the move frequently.  He had stops again at Georgia and then Oklahoma State before spending 2018 as the defensive coordinator at Louisville.  He then spent 2019 and 2020 at Bowling Green before coaching one year previously at Gulf Shores in 2021.

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Notre Dame football: Key assistant to remain with Irish despite NFL talks

Notre Dame will retain a solid up-and-coming assistant…at least for now!

Notre Dame has had a busy off-season not just on the recruiting front but also in searching for new coaches.  One that they won’t need to address however, at least for now, will be their wide receiver coach.  According to Irish Breakdown, Notre Dame wide receivers coach [autotag]Chansi Stuckey[/autotag] will remain with the Irish after interviewing in recent days with the Baltimore Ravens.

Stuckey has only been at Notre Dame one season but has already made a significant impact regarding the future of the Fighting Irish.  He has helped in developing a thin wide receiver room and has been vital in Notre Dame’s recruiting efforts – specifically in bettering the wide receiver position and the team’s footprint in the state of Texas.

Stuckey played his college football at Clemson before spending time in the NFL.  He got into coaching as a graduate assistant under [autotag]Dabo Swinney[/autotag] before coaching the Baylor wide receivers in 2021.  Although it doesn’t mean Stuckey will be at Notre Dame long term as other NFL or college teams will likely continue to take looks, it certainly helps the immediate outlook to have an on-the-rise assistant like him around.

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Former Notre Dame assistant moved away from on-field role at LSU

LSU just got better by default.

Notre Dame fans that have an appreciation for good special teams play may enjoy hearing this.  The other day I woke up a bit early and on my YouTube recommended videos was the 2018 Notre Dame-Michigan game.  So of course, I hit play and watched parts of it as it was mostly a tremendous way to start the eventual 12-1 season for the Irish.

Just minutes before halftime, Notre Dame took a 21-3 lead on what was [autotag]Jafar Armstrong[/autotag]’s second rushing score of the first half.  It felt like game over.  It seemed like the rout was on as Michigan had virtually done nothing up to that point.

But just moments later, Notre Dame’s brutal special teams play showed its ugly head.  Ambry Thomas returned the following kickoff 99-yards for a touchdown and that was it for the blowout, instead the Wolverines had new life and the Irish spent the second half hanging on to win 24-17.

That was one of countless special teams miscues for Notre Dame from 2010-2021.  Jokingly called “Fair Catch U” for the better part of the last two decades, [autotag]Brian Polian[/autotag] headed the Fighting Irish special teams from 2005-2009 and again from 2017-2021.

Polian left with [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] to LSU following the 2021 regular season and it’s hardly a surprise that it didn’t take even a year for Notre Dame to go from “Fair Catch U” to “Punt Block U” under Brian Mason.  Polian and LSU suffered their very unsurprising pile of special teams miscues this year that cost them severely in a few of their biggest games.

Tuesday saw Brian Polian in the news and in this longtime college football observer’s eyes, LSU got better as a result.  Polian will no longer serve as special teams coordinator for the Tigers, instead being moved to an off-field role that will help in roster management and not for running special teams.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan you’re probably thinking “Wow, what took Brian Kelly so long to do this?”

And if you’re an LSU fan, you can take it from me that you should be thrilled because the unit that was a liability on the SEC West champions a year ago just got markedly better by this move.

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Notre Dame offensive coordinator candidate: Brian Johnson

On a list of dream candidates, would Johnson be No. 1?

Notre Dame has a vacancy at offensive coordinator after Tommy Rees took the same position on Nick Saban’s Alabama staff in early February.  Where will Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame turn for their new offensive coordinator?

Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’ll be giving you a bio and summary of the career of some of the names that emerge as candidates.  We’re also making an effort for some guest contributors who have either followed or covered each potential candidate’s coaching careers.

In the third edition we will take a look at Brian Johnson, the current quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. According to Football Scoop, Notre Dame has vetted the interest of the up-and-coming offensive mind.  Could he be the next offensive coordinator of the Fighting Irish?

Here is what you need to know about Brian Johnson.

Notre Dame offensive coordinator candidate: Sean Lewis

Are Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman comin’ for Coach Prime’s OC?

Notre Dame has a vacancy at offensive coordinator after [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag] took the same position on Nick Saban’s Alabama staff in early February. Where will Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame turn for their new offensive coordinator?

Here at Fighting Irish Wire we are giving you a bio and summary of the career of some of the names that emerge as candidates. We’re also making an effort for some guest contributors who have either followed or covered each potential candidate’s coaching careers.

In this second installment, we take a quick look at Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and his football career. Word is Notre Dame is extremely interested in Lewis as a candidate, so let’s take a look at what the Irish are intrigued by.

Assistant coaches named ahead of 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup at Laurel Valley Golf Club

The U.S. leads the Palmer Cup series, 13-12-1.

The coaching staffs for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup at Laurel Valley Golf Club are coming together.

Kortnie Maxoutopoulis Barrett and Matt Clark will serve as the United States assistant coaches in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and the International assistant coaches will be Rhyll Brinsmead and Brennan Webb.

Barrett joined San Jose State in January 2021 as an assistant coach. She was instrumental in their success in 2021-22, as the Spartans won the 2022 Mountain West championship and were the only school outside of the Power 5 to advance to the NCAA Championships, where they finished seventh in stroke play and advanced to match play for the first time in program history.  The Pleasanton, California, native played at TCU for three seasons after one year at Rutgers. While at TCU, she competed in 24 events and earned three top-10 finishes, including third at the 2015 Big 12 Championship. Barrett was a 2011-12 Big East All-Academic honoree and had seven top-10 finishes at Rutgers, including three wins.

Clark won the 2022 Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award presented by TaylorMade in his sixth season in Chapel Hill and first as associate head coach. North Carolina won three tournaments, including its first two tournaments of the season, for the first time since 1996, and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second-straight season in 2021-22. After a playing career at South Florida (1993-94) and Alabama (1995-97), Clark began his coaching career as an assistant for six seasons in Tuscaloosa, where he worked for Palmer Cup alumni and GCAA Hall of Famers Dick Spybey and Jay Seawell.

Brinsmead is the head women’s coach at Minnesota, where she started in January 2021. In her first two seasons, she led the Gophers to two top-five and eight top-10 finishes while four individuals picked up their own top-10 finishes. This fall, Minnesota captured second place at the Evie Odom Invitational after rallying in the third round with a record-breaking 17-under par performance in which all five players shot par or better for the first time in program history. The Melbourne, Australia, native, was also a P.J. Boatright intern through the USGA with the Central Texas Junior Golf Association, launching the region’s LPGA-USGA Junior Girls Golf Club and leading the ‘Hook a Kid on Golf’ junior camp.

In four and a half seasons at Tennessee, Webb has led the Volunteers to seven tournament victories, including the 2022 SEC Match Play Championship, their first NCAA Championships berth in eight years in 2021, and three PING All-America honorees. A Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, native, Webb played collegiately at East Tennessee State, winning three Southern Conference championships and helping the Bucs finish third at the 1996 NCAA Championship. He then competed professionally in 11 different countries and as a fully-exempt member on the Web.com Tour.

The 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup head coaches were announced last month.

The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s college golfers matching the United States against a team of International players. The U.S. leads the Palmer Cup series, 13-12-1.

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Notre Dame offensive analyst appears to be on the move

Taylor must have liked what he saw from him…

Former Notre Dame running backs coach [autotag]Lance Taylor[/autotag] was recently named the head coach at Western Michigan.  This came after Taylor spent one season as Louisville’s offensive coordinator.  He had previously worked at Notre Dame from 2019-2021, helping to improve the Fighting Irish backfield.

Taylor is working to assemble his first staff as a head coach and it appears one Notre Dame employee is about to be joining him.  According to John Brice of Football Scoop, Taylor will be hiring Notre Dame senior analyst Trevor Mendelson.  Mendelson played on Marshall’s offensive line before getting into coaching.  He spent time at Wake Forest previous to Notre Dame and is said to have spent the majority of this season working with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.

Although not a glaring hole, it’s still one that will now looked to be filled by Marcus Freeman and Tommy Rees.

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Alabama football all-time roster: Coaches, kickers and specialists

See which coaching and special teams legends made the cut in our all-time Alabama football roster.

In the final installment of Roll Tide Wire‘s all-time roster series, we take a look at some of the best special teams players and coaches in Alabama’s history.

The Crimson Tide program is unique from others in that there are multiple all-time greats at numerous positions on the field, and coaches on the sideline. Two of college football’s greatest coaches came through Tuscaloosa.

Though it was a daunting task and not all fans will be content with how things shook out, here’s the all-time roster for Alabama’s coaching staff and special teams.

See Ohio State’s all-time offense and all-time defense. 

Check out our other College Wire all-time lineups:  Arkansas / Auburn / Clemson / Colorado / Florida / Georgia / Iowa / LSU / Michigan / Nebraska / North Carolina / Ohio State / Oklahoma / Oregon / Penn State / Rutgers / Tennessee / Texas / Texas A&M / USC / Wisconsin

Brian Kelly offers high praise for OC Mike Denbrock: ‘I believe he’s the best in the country’

Denbrock comes to the bayou after helping lead Cincinnati to a CFP appearance in 2021.

There’s a lot of optimism in Baton Rouge surrounding the Brian Kelly hire.

Kelly comes to the bayou after a very successful 12-year stint at Notre Dame, and he’s expected to reverse the disappointment from the last two seasons. However, just as important as Kelly’s addition are the assistant coaches he brought with him.

LSU has struggled to find a competent offensive play-caller since [autotag]Joe Brady[/autotag] left for the NFL after the 2019 season, but it hopes to have found one in [autotag]Mike Denbrock[/autotag], who comes in from Cincinnati after developing an NFL quarterback in Desmond Ridder, who led the Bearcats to a College Football Playoff appearance last season.

“I just think that he’s always been a really smart, intuitive play-caller,” Kelly said. “That’s why I’ve asked him to be my play-caller here at the top of the top. This is LSU. We’re here to win a national championship. So I get the chance to pick the best play-callers in the country. I think he’s the best play-caller. I’ve been together with him for a long time. I just think he’s intuitive. He’s smart, he knows football, he knows the offense I like to run and what I like to do.

“That’s obviously really key because our conversations are on point. I don’t have to explain a lot to him. He can go and go, ‘I know what you’re looking for there. Let’s go ahead and do that.’ I don’t know that there’s been this epiphany of he’s changed as much as he likes to do what I like to do. We like to control the line of scrimmage, we want physicalness within the offensive structure, we want to use a tight end and three wide receivers and we want to push the ball down the field. We want big chunk plays. I think that’s kind of stayed consistent with his philosophy.”

Kelly and Denbrock have a long history of working together. Before joining Cincy, Denbrock spent seven seasons as an assistant with the Fighting Irish in varying capacities. The pair also spent time together during the late 1980s and early 1990s at Grand Valley State, where Kelly landed his first head coaching job.

This is high praise from Kelly, but as he said, he took the LSU job with the hopes of capturing his first national title. He clearly thinks Denbrock is the play-caller to put the team in that position, and Denbrock should bring a schematically improved offense to the table that will look very different from what Tigers fans are used to seeing over the past couple of seasons.

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