Tag: Coaches

Notre Dame to add former Texans assistant

Notre Dame adds an up-and-coming offensive coach

Notre Dame is making another addition to their coaching staff as former Houston Texans offensive assistant coach John Aylward is on his way to South Bend.

According to FootballScoop.com, Aylward will replace Pat Kramer at the University as Kramer recently took a job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Aylward started with the Texans as an intern in 2018 before being added into a full-time role on the offensive side of the ball for the 2019 season.

Said Brian Kelly of the Aylward and Chad Bowden hirings:

“We added offensive and defensive analysts, that are focused primarily in recruiting efforts,” Kelly said. “I guess the best way to put it is that they’re offensive and defensive coordinators in recruiting.

“They get the whole staff together, coordinate the efforts in terms of recruiting. Making sure that they’re touching base with recruits, daily. That’s not a 9 to 5 job; that’s late at night.”

Chiefs could ally with Bills on coaching, front office interview rules change proposal

The Kansas City Chiefs would likely be among the teams to support the Buffalo Bills’ latest rules change proposal.

The NFL’s Competition Committee will soon meet virtually in order to review the 2020 NFL season and submit new rules change proposals. Some information about the several proposed rules changes has begun to trickle in. One proposal that the Buffalo Bills have submitted is likely to receive support from the Kansas City Chiefs.

According to The MMQB’s Albert Breer, the Bills submitted a proposal barring interviews for coaching and front-office positions until after conference championship games. The proposal would also ban any hiring announcements until after the Super Bowl.

Breer also says that the owners could vote on this proposal this offseason.

The Bills, of course, lost to the Chiefs in AFC Championship Game. Their offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, interviewed with both the Los Angeles Chargers and the New York Jets ahead of the game. Their defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, interviewed with the Houston Texans ahead of the game. Neither Daboll or Frazier ended up landing a head-coaching job, but the interviews happened ahead of the most important game of the season— a game that they lost. It’s easy to connect the dots on the perceived issue here.

So why would Kansas City potentially agree with this proposal if the current rule perhaps benefitted them last year? Well, they’ve now spent the past three seasons in contention for a Super Bowl title and in each of those three years, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has interviewed for head-coaching jobs with other teams. He’s yet to be hired for a head-coaching job and one perceived issue has been that he’s still coaching when teams are ready to make a hire.

If this rule change were to pass, it could do one of two things. It could help Bieniemy land an opportunity that everyone in Kansas City knows that he deserves. It could also perhaps dispel the myth that Bieniemy hasn’t been hired because he’s consistently been one of the last coordinators left coaching.

Whatever the case, this will be a polarizing issue and teams will likely have differing opinions on how to address it. In order to change any rule, the committee needs 24-of-32 teams to vote yes on the proposal. We’ll see if it comes to vote later this season, but it’s certainly something to monitor with Bieniemy in mind.

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Packers officially announce changes at defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator

The Packers dismissed special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga and parted ways with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

The Green Bay Packers are drastically changing the leadership structure under Matt LaFleur following the 2020 season.

The team announced the dismissal of special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine on Friday, five days after LaFleur’s team lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field.

The Packers thanked both coaches and spent well wishes to the families of both men.

Mennenga is out after two disappointing seasons running the special teams. Hired by LaFleur in 2019, he led the Packers to a pair of below-average years for the third phase. According to Rick Gosselin’s highly-respected special teams rankings, the Packers finished 26th in 2019 and 29th in 2020.

The Packers didn’t announce the move, but it’s expected that Maurice Drayton, Mennenga’s assistant the last two years, will be promoted to special teams coordinator.

On defense, LaFleur is moving on after Pettine’s contract expired following the 2020 season. Despite some overall improvement and especially some late improvement this season, Pettine’s defenses never took big steps and were routinely out-witted by veteran quarterbacks despite loads of draft capital and cap space continuously poured into his side of the ball. LaFleur didn’t hire Pettine, but he did retain him after both the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

The Packers will begin the search for a new defensive coordinator.

Under LaFleur, Pettine and Mennenga, the Packers won 26 regular-season games, two NFC North titles and two divisional round playoff games. They were bested in the NFC Championship Game each of the last two seasons.

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Lions have no new positive COVID-19 results on Wednesday, outdoor practice scheduled without identified coaches

The Detroit Lions announced they have no new positive COVID-19 results on Wednesday, and an outdoor practice is scheduled for the afternoon without contact tracing identified coaches.

The Detroit Lions had two positive COVID-19 results on Tuesday — one player and one coach — and were forced to close their Allen park practice facilities. Today, the team announced that they had no new positive COVID-19 results and were proceeding with an afternoon outdoor practice.

Unfortunately, due to contact tracing, several of the Lions coaching staff have been identified as close contact exposures — including interim coach Darrell Bevell, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport — and will stay away from the training facility, meeting only virtually with the team.

The Lions released the following statement:

This morning our COVID-19 test results yielded no new positive tests. As a result of the contact tracing process, several coaches will remain away from the team facility until further notice. We anticipate conducting an outdoor practice this afternoon and our players and coaches will continue to meet virtually this morning.

As of now, the Lions still appear to be on schedule to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EST. On a short week, today’s practice will be their second of the week, with the third and final practice taking place on Thursday.

Stay tuned to Lions Wire for more updates on this situation as it continues to unfold.

Chiefs coaches reflect on Week 5 loss to Raiders

Steve Spagnuolo, Eric Bieniemy and Andy Heck explained what went wrong in Week 5.

The Kansas City Chiefs suffered their lone loss of the season in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

On the defensive side of the ball, the coverage on the back end failed, surrendering a number of long touchdowns to various Raiders receivers. When Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo went back to review the tape and adjust, he didn’t identify a specific problem. Instead, he identified a number of things that snowballed into the most points ever scored on his defense in Kansas City.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Spagnuolo explained. “It wasn’t one specific item. I told you guys this before, after the game, I hold myself personally responsible for at least one of them because I just didn’t think it was a good call and I put CW (Charvarius Ward) in a bad down. But look, if that was nine plays, 214 yards if I remember correctly, and it kind of changed the whole game and it did not help our football team. So, the emphasis has been not to allow explosive plays, it’s that every week. I’ve got to be a little bit smarter with the calls that I make and everybody’s eyes and what they’re doing, and everybody does their job a little bit better and hopefully, that doesn’t happen.”

This time around the goal is for the defense to not allow those explosive plays. It’ll take a combination of Spagnuolo doing a better job calling the defense on a play-to-play basis, but he also challenged his players to improve as well.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Chiefs allowed 22 total pressures against the Raiders in Week 5. It’s the single most they’ve allowed in a game all season. Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck explained how his group felt after the game and how they’ve prepared ahead of this game.

“With regards to the game against the Raiders previously, we came out of that thinking, ‘We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to put our nose to the grindstone and get to work,'” Heck said. “We got outplayed there. Those guys got the win. They did a nice job. It’s a young, aggressive, talented, well-coached group and they came to play. They played the game the way it was supposed to be played and they got us that day. We know the challenge that’s in store for us. We know what we’re capable of. We’re working our tails off to go out there and compete and get a win.”

Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy was a little blunter with his comments on Week 5, but no one would expect anything less. He says that this game will be all about his players being better prepared, mentally and physically.

“Well, I just thought it was obvious, they played better than what we did,” Bieniemy said. “And at the end of the day, kudos to them. They did an outstanding job of coming in here and doing what they needed to do. I’ve said this before, we got exactly what we deserved. Now it’s up to us to make sure that we’re mentally and physically ready for the battle in which we’re about to face.”

One common thread between all of the Chiefs’ coaches — no one was content with the performance from their unit during the Week 5 loss. That fact alone has been a source of motivation from the coaching staff heading into this pivotal Week 11 rematch with Las Vegas.

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Notre Dame football: Ranking Brian Kelly’s wins 1-100

Brian Kelly won his 100th game at Notre Dame last weekend so we went and ranked all 100 of them for you to enjoy and to debate.

With Saturday’s 45-31 victory for No. 2 Notre Dame over Boston College the Irish moved to 8-0 on the year and one step closer to their goal of reaching the College Football Playoff for the second time in three seasons.

The win also marked the 100th for Brian Kelly since he took over as Notre Dame’s head football coach.

Looking back at the program he took over in 2010 compared to the program he is leading now is the a night and day difference, even if the ultimate goal of a national championship has yet to be reached.

What was Brian Kelly’s best win at Notre Dame?  What were his least significant victories?  And what made them so big or insignificant?

After Notre Dame’s victory Saturday I started thinking a bit about that myself and decided to rank all 100 of Brian Kelly’s wins with the Irish from least-significant to the biggest.  Here is what I came up with:

First up 100-91…

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11

Notre Dame football: Brian Kelly wins 100th, ties Holtz

Brian Kelly joined rare air for Notre Dame head coaches on Saturday. More on his accomplishment right here.

With Notre Dame’s 45-31 win over Boston College on Saturday, Brian Kelly joined a club that only only two other Fighting Irish head coaches have membership to.

The win was Kelly’s 100th at Notre Dame, tying him for the second most all-time in program history with Lou Holtz who went 100-30-2 between 1986 and 1996.

Kelly now sits at 100-39 since taking over the Notre Dame job in 2010 and is just five away from tying Knute Rockne for the most ever in program history.

Ara Parseghian sits fourth all-time with 95 career wins while Frank Leahy finished his illustrious career with 87 wins heading the Irish for fifth most.

In case you were wondering, Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, George O’Leary and Bob Davie combined to win 92 games during their runs of head coach from 1997-2009.

Chiefs coaches staying flexible with game delays due to COVID-19

Chiefs coaches are working hard to remain “calm and poised” despite scheduling changes.

The Kansas City Chiefs have already dealt with one game postponement this season due to positive COVID-19 cases. The news came down yesterday afternoon that the Chiefs’ Week 6 game against Buffalo Bills on “Thursday Night Football” has tentatively been moved to Sunday.

Given all the uncertainty surrounding potential game delays and the 2020 season in general, the coaching staff in Kansas City has learned to be adaptive. For defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, he’s essentially forgotten about what’s considered a routine week in the NFL.

“I’m smiling because there’s been nothing routine about this year,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “The defensive coaches and I were talking about how we have not had a normal Sunday to Sunday game week. We haven’t had one. Not even going back to training camp and with that Thursday night game. It’s just exactly what you said. I’m not sure what normal is. You could say normal from last year. I guess maybe we’re kind of getting used to it. We’re in the chaos. Be calm and poised in the chaotic circumstances we’re in and be ready to roll. Just have to stay flexible, right?”

As for Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, he has some experience with games being rescheduled. He was on the Minnesota Vikings staff back in 2010 when they had a number of reschedules due to severe weather. There was a Sunday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles that was delayed until Tuesday due to a massive snowstorm in Philadelphia. He’s learned to keep an open mind about these things since then, he’s also learned to take advantage of the extra time by getting some rest.

“One thing you learn in this profession is to always remain flexible, especially with everything that we’re dealing with,” Bieniemy explained. “With what happened this particular week, though, I’m not a guy that’s going to look ahead because one thing I want to do, I always want to focus on the task. Our staff will start ahead, I just want to make sure that I’ve got all these particular plays and situations in my head, so I don’t cloud that particular vision. But I’ve got to let you in on a little secret, I took a nap, and it felt damn good.”

While the team did get an extra day to rest and prepare, on the other end they get a shorter week, with one less day to recover and prepare for the next opponent. It presents a challenge for the coaches and players.

“So, we played on Monday night, hey, a national crowd, we got to play and put on a performance,” Bieniemy said. “I know everybody wasn’t happy with the performance, but a win is a win. But the next thing, hey, we lose a day, it’s okay, we grind. This is what we do. We get back to it and it’s all about the Raiders right now. And one more thing, it’s all about the Raiders and we’re one week from kickoff against Buffalo.”

The team will focus on what they can control for the time being and that isn’t when the games are played. They can focus on how they prepare for the next week. Right now, that means getting prepared to face a Las Vegas Raiders team that is hungry for a win in Kansas City.

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SEC releases memo reminding coaches and players to wear masks on the sideline

The memo warned that “additional action” could be taken against coaches and players who don’t comply with conference regulations RE: COVID.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo to all programs within the conference Wednesday reminding coaches and players to wear masks while on the sideline. The memo was obtained by ESPN.

The reminder came following a number of coaches failing to keep their masks on during last weekend’s season-opening competition, including new Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, who said he tried to keep his mask on but continued pulling it down to call plays.

The memo warned that “additional action” could be taken against coaches and players who don’t comply with conference regulations regarding COVID-19 safety.

“This past weekend, many fulfilled the requirements established by the Task Force and your commitment to these new requirements are appreciated,” the memo read. “Others, including some head coaches, assistant coaches, support staff and student-athletes need clear reminders of the requirement they fulfill the new health protocols intended to minimize the potential spread of COVID-19.”

“We will continue to monitor games and will take additional action, if necessary, to ensure adherence to the approved Task Force requirements as we all work to maintain a healthy environment for everyone around our games,” the memo said.

The full memo can be read below.

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Chiefs coaching staff confident in cornerback depth in wake of injuries

COVID-19 preparation has helped Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks stay ready for injury adversity.

The Kansas City Chiefs have shown a lot of confidence in some young and untested players in the secondary this season. Despite recent injuries and a suspension at the position, they remain confident in their cornerback depth moving. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo talked about the preparation behind getting these guys ready to play on Sunday. A major reason why everyone has been ready to step up is the message that the team has been preaching with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.

“That’s a credit to Sam (Madison) and Dave Merritt who work with all those guys,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “We felt going in, and we talked about this as a staff with the whole COVID situation that we had to have guys always ready to go, and then we didn’t know what was going to happen with what we’re dealing with in the world. So, the guys, the coaches, have taken that to heart. They’ve prepared all of these guys—corners, safeties, linebackers, D-line—like they could have to step up and play on a Friday.”

This group has been stressed from Week 1, without starter Bashaud Breeland out there and an array of injuries. When it comes to the cornerback group playing well through these first three games, Spagnuolo feels that the defensive line play has helped them out a little bit.

“Listen, we have been bumped and bruised out there at the corner, certainly losing Breezy (Bashaud Breeland) kind of hurt right from the beginning, but Rashad Fenton has done a great job, LJ Sneed was playing really good football. I feel really terrible for him in dealing with that injury, but it’s part of the league. And hopefully, we can get CW (Charvarius Ward) back, I know he’s going to have to deal with that hand a little bit. But they’ve got to step up. Our corners are really needed in the package that we play, and fortunately for us, our D-line has done a decent enough job that it’s made it a little bit easier for the corners on the outside.”

The next man up mentality is something that this team has preached each and every season, but it’s not always so easy to execute. This year the secondary has really taken the words of Coach Sam Madison to heart. They’re hungry and waiting for whatever opportunity may come their way.

“Well, what our saying in the room is, ‘Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,'” Madison said. “Throughout training camp, we put a lot of these guys in a lot of different situations, as far as playing the nickel position, playing corner. With Coach Spags’ defense sometimes they have to go back and play safety, different things of that nature. We put them through a lot of different things, and they answered the bell.”

They worked hard throughout training camp to prepare for any possible scenario and so far they’ve been able to combat the adversity they’ve faced. Madison has specifically been impressed with how the two players expected to get the start on Sunday against the Patriots have stepped up in the wake of injuries.

“Rashad (Fenton), he stepped up as soon as Ward went down a couple of weeks ago and then he’s been playing phenomenal,” Madison continued. “Once again Sneed goes down and Ward was able to step right into it and didn’t miss a beat. He didn’t hesitate going out there, even with his hand situation that he feels is a whole lot better this week. It’s always the next man up. We’ve thrown a lot of different things at these guys and they just respond. Now we’re going to be getting Breeland back next week. Hopefully, we can get through this game and come out victorious, but still, they know that they’re going to be relied on a lot to play man-to-man, play the different zones and all the different things that we do. They’re up to the challenge. That’s the one great thing, they never back down from a challenge.”

The Patriots receivers will certainly pose a challenge for the Chiefs’ cornerbacks in Week 4. The unit is headlined by veteran Julian Edelman and former first-round draft pick N’Keal Harry. Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers, and special teams ace Matthew Slater round out the group, offering a variety of different skill sets. As Madison explained, though, his cornerback group won’t back down from a challenge even if they’re banged up and depleted of depth.

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