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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Former Alabama graduate assistant hired as Western Michigan’s new head coach

Former Nick Saban assistant and Alabama wide receiver Lance Taylor has been hired as Western Michigan’s next head coach. Taylor played for Alabama from ’99-’03.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has seen a number of his former assistants hired to become head coaches elsewhere. On Thursday, Western Michigan announced that the program hired Lance Taylor to be the next head coach of the program.

Taylor was a graduate assistant during his time at Alabama. Before that, he was a walk-on wide receiver for the Tide. He played under former head coach Mike Shula from 1999-2003.

Several years later, Taylor began his coaching career as a graduate assistant. He served on Saban’s staff from 2007-2008 before being hired as the wide receivers coach at Appalachian State.

Since his coaching career began, Taylor has had several larger coaching roles. He was Stanford’s running backs coach for three years. Notre Dame hired him to be the team’s running backs coach and run game coordinator. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator at Louisville.

Now, he will be heading to Kalamazoo to lead the Broncos. This season, the team finished with a 5-7 record. Taylor and his staff will look to change that next season as he looks to build an identity for his program.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news.

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Former Notre Dame assistant named head coach at MAC program

Great opportunity for a guy that was an excellent position coach with the Irish

It was just a year ago that [autotag]Lance Taylor[/autotag] was still the running backs coach and run game coordinator at Notre Dame.  Shortly after Notre Dame’s bowl loss to Oklahoma last year, Taylor took the offensive coordinator job at Louisville.

Now after just one season calling plays at Louisville he’s got his first head coaching job.  Western Michigan announced Taylor as their head coach on Thrusday morning.  Taylor replaces Tim Lester who went 37-32 in six seasons since replacing P.J. Fleck.

Taylor was at Notre Dame from 2019-2021 but was responsible for helping boost the talent in the the running back room.  Taylor helped develop [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag] into one of college football’s most complete running backs in 2020 and 2021 while being largely responsible for winning the recruiting battles for [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] and [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag].

All the best to Taylor in Kalamazoo!

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Twitter reacts to Kyren Williams being drafted by Rams

What was your reaction to the news?

It took a while, but Notre Dame finally got its second player selected in the 2022 NFL draft. That player is Kyren Williams, and he was taken by the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the fifth round. To say the least, the man was happy to receive the phone call of a lifetime. Another happy man was Lance Taylor, his running backs coach with the Irish and now the offensive coordinator at Louisville:

Of course, Taylor wasn’t the only person who took to Twitter after hearing the news. Some of the other reactions gave insight into Williams’ background as a Rams fan growing up in St. Louis. Others talked about how he’ll be able to help the Rams. Whatever the reason they had to tweet about him, it’s clear that this is an interesting and exciting player who will be tearing up SoFi Stadium if given the chance:

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Running back recruit Gi’Bran Payne commits to Notre Dame

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

For the past month-and-a-half, our Michael Chen has been keeping tabs on Gi’Bran Payne, a running back recruit based in Cincinnati. Earlier this week, Payne set Good Friday as the day he would announce his decision. True to his word, he did just that, and it’s good news for Irish fans:

Notre Dame’s gain is a loss for Indiana, with which Payne previously had signed a letter of intent before asking for and being granted his release. Not so coincidental is that Marcus Freeman hired Hoosiers Deland McCullough to the same position after losing Lance Taylor to Louisville.

As for whether the Irish needed another running back in their 2022 recruiting class, Irish beat writer Pete Sampson of The Athletic offered this:

“With Payne on board, Notre Dame should have five scholarship running backs on the roster this fall with Chris Tyree, Logan Diggs, Audric Estime and Jadarian Price. A year from now, that number could grow to seven after adding Class of 2023 commitment and top target Jayden Limar, who plans to visit for the Blue-Gold Game next weekend.

Would Notre Dame really carry seven scholarship running backs at one time? Probably not, which might be a tell of future roster turnover. There’s nothing wrong with letting a group of four-star prospects fight it out for carries, then wishing those at the bottom of the depth chart well if they’re looking for a bigger opportunity.”

Hey, if running back becomes as powerful a position for Notre Dame as tight end, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame RB coach discusses 2022 RB room

What is your expectation for the running backs in 2022?

Notre Dame running backs coach [autotag]Deland McCullough[/autotag] may be new to South Bend but he isn’t new to coaching running backs.  After spending last season with Indiana where he had a previous stint as well, McCullough made the trip north to replace [autotag]Lance Taylor[/autotag] who took the offensive coordinator spot at Louisville.

Taylor did a great job of raising the bar in terms of talent for Notre Dame’s running backs.  Now it’s up to McCullough to grow the position into what he calls a “championship level”.

McCullough met the assembled media after Tuesday’s spring practice and broke down the leaders in Notre Dame’s running back room as well as discussed replacing an all-time great in [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag].  Below is what he had to say about each.

Notre Dame lands Super Bowl winning running backs coach

How do you grade this hire?

It wasn’t going to be easy to replace running backs coach Lance Taylor who left to become the offensive coordinator at Louisville but Marcus Freeman appears to have hit a home run.

Deland McCullogh is reportedly set to become Notre Dame’s new running backs coach and brings with him quite the resume.

McCullogh played running back at Miami (OH) from 1992-1995 and rushed for over 1,000 yards in three separate seasons.  His career concluded with over 4,300 career rushing yards and 37 touchdowns for the Red Hawks.

McCullogh got into coaching in 2010 as he joined Miami (OH) as a coaching intern before being hired as Indiana’s running backs coach in 2011 and coached star Hoosier running backs Stephen Houston, Tevin Coleman, and Jordan Howard before taking the same position at USC.

After one year with the Trojans in which running back Ronald Jones ran for over 1,500 yards, McCullogh was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs.  The next three seasons saw the Chiefs make an AFC Championship appearance all three years, play in the Super Bowl twice, and win Super Bowl LIV 31-20 over the San Francisco 49ers in large part due to their running game.

McCullogh has turned into a coaching star despite only being in the profession for a decade and brings a track record of success that makes it incredibly easy for Notre Dame fans to get excited about.

Related:

Notre Dame football coaching tracker

Notre Dame’s all-time all Super Bowl team

Notre Dame loses another assistant – this one to ACC

Marcus Freeman suddenly has another assistant coaching hire to make

Marcus Freeman did a tremendous job initially keeping his staff together at Notre Dame but has hit a bit of turbulence this past week.  Earlier in the week prized defensive line coach Mike Elston departed for the same role at Michigan and as of Sunday morning, run game coordinator and running backs coach Lance Taylor is officially headed out of town.

Taylor is leaving Notre Dame to become the offensive coordinator at Louisville, a rumor that started to swirl Saturday night.

Taylor’s track record at Notre Dame speaks for itself as he helped develop Tony Jones, Jr. into an NFL back in 2019 and helped Kyren Williams emerge as one of the best running backs in college football the last two seasons.

Furthermore, Taylor has done a tremendous job upping the talent level at the position as he’s been a strong recruiter for Notre Dame.

The move makes sense for Taylor as he’ll get to call plays at Louisville, something Tommy Rees is blocking him from doing at Notre Dame.  It’s a move that makes complete sense for Taylor and not say Freeman won’t find a stellar replacement, but Taylor has some very big shoes to fill both in coaching and recruiting.

Related:

2022 Notre Dame coaching staff tracker

Report: Louisville targeting key Notre Dame assistant

How much would this hurt?

Marcus Freeman could soon be looking for a third assistant coach vacancy to fill if Scott Satterfield and Louisville end up making a reported possible move.  Satterfield is looking for a new offensive coordinator and FootballScoop reported Saturday that Notre Dame running backs coach and run game coordinator Lance Taylor is a possibility.

“Notre Dame’s Lance Taylor, the Irish’s running backs coach and run game coordinator, has emerged as a top target for the offensive coordinator position on Scott Satterfield’s Louisville staff, multiple sources close to both programs told FootballScoop.”

Taylor has been key in Notre Dame’s growth at running back in recent years and is a star on the rise.  After playing collegiately at Alabama he has coached the likes of Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love at Stanford while also coaching the wide receivers with the Carolina Panthers before starting at Notre Dame in 2019.

Related – Notre Dame coaching staff tracker 2022

Football Scoop made it clear that this isn’t a done deal and that Taylor is one of at least three key targets for Satterfield and Louisville.

It’s a potential move that would make sense for Taylor in his career as its obvious that with Tommy Rees around that calling the offense simply won’t be made available to Taylor at Notre Dame anytime soon.

If the move were to end up happening it’d be a significant one as Notre Dame wouldn’t lose just a strong coach in terms of development but also a very strong recruiter.

Related:

Notre Dame transfer portal tracker 

Kyren Williams through the years at Notre Dame

Notre Dame loses key assistant to rival program

Notre Dame officially names Marcus Freeman head coach

The #Freemanera has officially begun.

The first domino to fall in Notre Dame’s head coaching search went down Wednesday night as offensive coordinator Tommy Rees did his best impression of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and declared he was coming back.

Seemingly no time later reports that Marcus Freeman would be the next Notre Dame head coach came out.  On Friday morning Notre Dame made it official as they announced Freeman as the 30th head football coach in program history.

Freeman spent one year as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator while previously spending time at Cincinnati, Purdue, and Kent State.  The former Ohio State linebacker also served as a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel.

Freeman is a rising star in the coaching ranks and is a star recruiter.  The biggest concern upon is his lack of head coaching experience and that’s something that makes me uneasy as well, but him taking this job now, especially with the strong assistant coaches who have opted to return to Notre Dame instead of follow Brian Kelly to LSU.

Freeman’s introductory press conference will come at 2 p.m. ET on Monday.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire for everything related to the Freeman hire!

Related Links:

Twitter reaction to Notre Dame’s hiring of Marcus Freeman

5 reasons Marcus Freeman is the right man for the Notre Dame job

Photos: New Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman through the years