Notre Dame football: 2023 coaching staff tracker

Although it was anticipated to be a much slower off-season in terms of news for Notre Dame after Marcus Freeman’s first full year on the job, plenty of changes to the coaching staff have occurred.  It started with a famed graduate assistant returning to the Big Ten university he starred at as a player and quickly snowballed into a national search for a new offensive coordinator and much more.

As we count down the days until Notre Dame football officially gets going this fall, we look back at the departures and arrivals to Notre Dame’s coaching staff.

January 27: Graduate Assistant Leaves

Graduate assistant James Laurinaitis left his position at Notre Dame to take a similar role at the university he starred at a little over a decade ago, Ohio State.

February 4: Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Leaves

After missing on a couple of other targets, Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered Tommy Rees the offensive coordinator job in early February.  Rees agreed to the position and left Notre Dame on February 4.

Very quietly, Bill Rees, Notre Dame’s director of scouting exited with son Tommy to Alabama.

February 11: New Graduate Assistant Found

On February 11 reports surfaced that Notre Dame was bringing in former Michigan State and Houston Texans linebacker Max Bullough as a graduate assistant to help coach linebackers.  Bullough worked the last three seasons as a graduate assistant at Alabama.

February 12: Offensive Line Coach Retires

Literally seconds before the Super Bowl kicked off, Notre Dame sent out a press release announcing the retirement of offensive line coach Harry Hiestand.  Many believe this decision was made because an out-of-house offensive coordinator Notre Dame was pursuing wanted to bring in his own man for the position.

February 15: New Quarterbacks Coach Found

Although the hiring wasn’t made official until March 1, reports surfaced in mid-February that Notre Dame would be hiring Wisconsin’s Gino Guidugli as their new quarterbacks coach.  This made it pretty obvious that the Irish were about to announce a new offensive coordinator.

February 18: Tight Ends Coach Promoted to Offensive Coordinator

After a nationwide search that looked like it twice like it was going to end differently, tight ends coach Gerad Parker was promoted from within.  Parker will remain coaching tight ends in addition to calling plays for the Irish.

February 27: New Offensive Line Coach Emerges

On February 27, news began to circulate that Virginia Tech offensive line coach Joe Rudolph would be leaving the Hokies to take the same job at Notre Dame.  Notre Dame announced the hiring of Rudolph on March 7.

March 4: Special Teams Coordinator Leaves for NFL

One of the stars of Freeman’s first staff at Notre Dame was quickly pursued by the NFL for his talents.  Reports that Brian Mason was leaving the Irish to coach special teams for the Indianapolis Colts came out on March 4.

March 5: New Special Teams Coordinator Emerges

It didn’t take long for Notre Dame to seemingly find their next special teams coordinator.  On March 5, Matt Fortuna of The Athletic had a source tell him that the Irish are set to name Marty Biagi, previously of Ole Miss, to the same position.

You can find out more about Biagi’s background here:
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March 5: GA Leaves for NFL

Fortuna also shared on March 5 that a source informed him that graduate assistant offensive line coach Chris Watt (No. 66 above back in 2012) would be leaving to take a job with the Colts as well.

June 20, 2023: New director of scouting seems immenent

According to Football Scoop, Notre Dame is expected to name Matt Jansen their next director of scouting.  He’ll replace Bill Rees in the role as Rees left with son Tommy to join the Alabama staff earlier this off-season.   Jansen comes with roughly a decade of NFL experience as well, having worked for both the Texans and Ravens.

Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire