Marcus Freeman Needs To Make A Splash With His Coaching Hires On Offense
Notre Dame hit a home run when it made the decision to hire Marcus Freeman to be the next head football coach. Freeman's promotion to the position after serving as the defensive coordinator has been incredibly well received by his team, the Notre Dame coaching staff, Notre Dame players and by Fighting Irish fans.
Freeman has a great deal of momentum going right now, and he has largely unified the fan base. Of course, moving forward he'll ultimately be judged the same way every other coach before was judged, by the results.
A key for a new head coach is to continue building on that momentum. Keeping the majority if his recruiting class together is part of that, winning the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State is a huge part of that, and properly putting his coaching staff together is a very, very big part of that.
Go look at every national championship coach, every great coach, and you'll see someone that understands the importance of hiring great assistants. A great coach is someone who understands that if you want to demand excellence from your players and from your program, you need a great staff that can bring out the most in the players.
I'm not concerned about the defense, the key is Freeman making big hires on offense. A good head coach gives his offensive coordinator, in this case Tommy Rees, a lot of leeway to bring in the staff he wants and would feel most comfortable with, but the head coach absolutely must play a key role as well. Those hires will go a long way towards building Notre Dame into a champion.
I have some ideas on how he can put that kind of staff together.
STRONG FOUNDATION
Getting Mike Elston to return was a tremendous move by Freeman and Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick. Elston is such an integral part of the program in so many ways, and his return allows for great continuity and ensures the Irish will continue to have outstanding defensive lines. He's also someone who can be a sounding board for Freeman and help with some of the head coaching duties away from the field.
Keeping Mike Mickens was also important, and if Chris O'Leary stays it keeps the defensive staff in tact. At that point it's about finding a replacement for Freeman as either DC or the position coach. Of course, keeping Matt Balis in charge of the strength program was huge for Freeman.
There are some moves that Freeman needs to make, and I even throw out a few "dream scenario" hires he could make.
MAKE A SPLASH WITH SKILL POSITION HIRES
Rees has done some really good things as a recruiter and the offense showed promise this season, and at 29-years old he's just getting started. Rees trusts John McNulty, and the tight ends got better and better all season, so that's a strong one-two punch on offense, and a strong offensive foundation to build around. Running backs coach Lance Taylor also did a great job coaching his position the last two years and he's expected to stay on staff as well.
Freeman needs to make a huge splash on offense, and Rees needs another dynamic coach and recruiter on the staff. There are several coaches that fit that mold, and that's what Freeman and Rees must pursue. That means moving on from the current receivers coach, first and foremost, and hiring a dynamic coach to replace him.
Taylor returning doesn't mean he needs to stay at running back. Taylor played wide receiver in college and coached wide receivers for three seasons in the NFL, including the 2017-18 seasons with the Carolina Panthers.
If Freeman and Rees want to make a splash on offense one really, really, really attractive option would be to move Taylor out to wide receiver and make a hard push for Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford.
Alford coached at Notre Dame from 2009-14 and sources have indicated that as much as he loves being at Ohio State he also loved his time at Notre Dame. With rumblings about Ryan Day headed to the NFL it might be the right time for Freeman to throw a big contract at Alford in hopes of enticing him away from Columbus.
Despite being gone for seven seasons, Alford is still held in very high regard by Irish fans and former players. He's done great work at Ohio State on the recruiting trail and of course from a coaching standpoint.
Could you imagine Notre Dame adding a coach and recruiter like Alford to a staff with Rees, Taylor and McNulty? That would be incredibly dynamic and would give the offensive staff the kind of recruiting firepower to battle the defense for superiority, and would make the offensive staff a heavyweight on the trail.
I know it's unlikely, but it just makes too much sense for Notre Dame to not give it a shot .... a strong shot.
OFFENSIVE LINE IS ESSENTIAL
I do not anticipate line coach Jeff Quinn returning in 2022, so Notre Dame will be looking for a new position coach once the bowl game is completed. Whoever replaces him inherits a deep and talented depth chart.
There's a "dream scenario" that would make Notre Dame fans happy. It looks something like this, convince Harry Hiestand to return and pry Chris Watt away from Tulane and make him an analyst.
There would be two huge bonuses to making this happen.
One, Hiestand is an elite coach that could get the Irish line back to a position of dominance. He was excellent during his tenure at Notre Dame (2012-17), he's held in very high regard despite not having been at Notre Dame for four years and he would restore the physicality and toughness Notre Dame has largely lacked the last four seasons.
Two, Hiestand could mentor Watt with the though of him eventually taking over. Hiestand is 63-years old, and anyone that is a member of the Irish Breakdown Premium Board knows that Hiestand and Watt were big factors in the success of the 2020 season. Watt isn't quite ready to be the lead man at Notre Dame, but a couple of seasons as an apprentice under Hiestand would do wonders for his career and would set him up to accomplish big things as a coach, and hopefully as one at Notre Dame.
Yes, that would be my "dream scenario," but the other reality is that there are a number of talented offensive line coaches out there who could recruit and coach at a very high level. If Freeman and Rees don't see the Hiestand/Watt duo as the right choice it doesn't mean Notre Dame won't have an outstanding line coach. Whoever ends up being the option the need is to make sure it's an excellent hire, no matter who it is.
This is O-Line U we are talking about, and the man in charge of that unit must be elite.
There are some moves for Rees and Freeman to make, and if they make the right moves Notre Dame will very, very quickly become a dynamic offense. When that happens Notre Dame becomes a legitimate title contender.
Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge
Irish Breakdown Content
Notre Dame 2021 Roster
Notre Dame 2021 Schedule
Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Offense
Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Defense
Notre Dame 2022 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2022 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
———————
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook
