Mike Denbrock Is Ready For Another Stint At Notre Dame
Something keeps bringing Mike Denbrock back to Notre Dame. The veteran coach has spent more than three decades in college football, and he is now in his third stint at Notre Dame.
Denbrock worked at Notre Dame for Tyrone Willingham from 2002-2004. He returned to work for Brian Kelly from 2010-2016 and now, after successful stints as offensive coordinator at Cincinnati and LSU for the past seven seasons, he is back for a third go-round with the Fighting Irish.
"I felt like I was in a really good place, had a really good job, enjoyed what I was doing, enjoyed living in Louisiana,” Denbrock said on Friday in his first public appearance since becoming Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator in December. "But it’s Notre Dame, and I think you guys that have known me forever, seems like, know how much I love this place and what it means to me and how much I’ve enjoyed my time here. You couple that with the opportunity to work with the student athletes that are attracted to this place and the high achievers that come through here, that was obviously a factor.”
There were other factors in Denbrock’s decision to come back to Notre Dame. He grew up in Michigan, about an hour and a half north of South Bend. His wife, Dianne, is also from Buffalo, NY, which puts her closer to her family.
There is another factor that attracted Denbrock to come back to Notre Dame for a third stint.
"I have a true belief in (Notre Dame head coach) Marcus Freeman,” Denbrock proclaimed. "His vision and what he believes in and from working with him and the years we spent together at Cincinnati. Watching him and his leadership abilities and the inspiration that he gave to the players that were under his charge was something that was attractive to be a part of.”
Denbrock and Freeman were on Luke Fickell’s staff together at Cincinnati from 2017-2020 when Denbrock was the offensive coordinator and Freeman was defensive coordinator. Freeman came to Notre Dame in 2021, the same season Denbrock and the Bearcats handed Kelly and the Irish their only loss of the season at Notre Dame Stadium. That Cincinnati team went on to become the only Group of Five team to ever advance to the College Football Playoff, which began in 2014.
Freeman became the Fighting Irish head coach after that season when Kelly abruptly bolted for LSU. Denbrock would follow Kelly and spent the last two seasons as LSU’s offensive coordinator. His Tiger offense led the nation by scoring 45.5 points a game during the 2023 season. During the past season LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels became the school’s third Heisman Trophy winner. Denbrock was riding high in Baton Rouge when he got the call from Freeman to replace Gerad Parker as the Irish offensive coordinator.
"Everything was kind of settling in,” said Denbrock. "I had some other discussions with a couple other opportunities that didn’t seem like the right thing to do because of just liking where I was and enjoying where we were living. When it did happen, the phone rang and we just kind of were talking back and forth a little bit and he mentioned the possibility and said, 'Why don’t you talk to Dianne about it’. So, I went home and we talked about it a little bit and I didn’t know really how serious it was at that point, and then over the course of a week or so, it became a little more serious and then it got really serious and I talked to Jack Swarbrick and some other people and it ended up being what we felt like was the right decision to make for our family.”
Denbrock had just agreed to a contract extension to stay at LSU for three more years, but he had not signed the new deal before he took Freeman’s phone call.
"It was pretty close,” Denbrock recalled. "I mean, we had agreed on terms of a new three-year contract. I think it was waiting for board approval and those types of things. The timing just happened to work out in our favor.”
Kelly and Denbrock’s relationship dates back to their time together at Grand Valley State. They were graduate assistants together in 1987 at the Grand Rapids, Mich. school. Denbrock worked at Michigan State and Illinois State for three years and then worked for Kelly from 1992-1998 when Kelly became head coach. Last season at LSU was the 14th at a third different school where Denbrock worked for Kelly.
"We’re friends and have always been friends,” Denbrock said of his relationship with Kelly. "We, I think, have a relationship that spans over 30-some years and that won’t change. I don’t know that he was real happy with my decision, but I think he understood it and he knows the reasons why. But I have a lot of respect for Brian and I consider him a friend and always will.”
The last time Freeman and Denbrock worked together they went through an undefeated season, something the Irish program is hoping can be repeated.
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