Staff Turnover Presents An Opportunity For Marcus Freeman
It isn't often that a program that has won on the level Notre Dame has in recent seasons is put in position to have the volume of staff turnover we've seen the last couple of months. For head coach Marcus Freeman, the turnover presents him with a unique opportunity.
With Mike Elston now gone to Michigan, Notre Dame will have five new coaches on the staff on top of having a new head coach. It also means that 29-year old offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is the longest tenured member of the staff.
That means much of the staff that helped fuel Notre Dame's 54-10 record the last five seasons is gone. It also means the staff that went 10-10 against ranked opponents during that stretch is gone. The coaches who adopted and carried out the "shopping down a different aisle" on the recruiting trail are gone. The head coach who created a culture of excuse making, and turned what makes Notre Dame unique into a stumbling block instead of a building block.
Even during his first season as defensive coordinator, Freeman began to change some of those narratives. This was especially true on the recruiting trail.
With many of the long-standing members of the staff gone, once Freeman fills out the staff he'll be surrounded by five brand new coaches who will immediately be held to the standard he sets for the program. There won't have to be the de-programming needed had more of the long-standing coaches stayed. On top of five new coaches, Freeman's first staff will have cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens, who has been on staff with Mickens for three seasons dating back to their time together at Cincinnati (2018-19).
The turnover will make it much, much easier for Freeman to make the necessary culture changes within the staff needed to take the next step as a program. He can choose to expand the aisles that his coaches shop down on the recruiting trail, just like he did as the defensive coordinator.
With Freeman now running the program the assistant coaches will have a head coach who actually puts in work on the recruiting trail. When your head coach is a grinder on the recruiting trail, and when he demands his coaches achieve elite results, it makes the entire recruiting operation better.
Freeman has already upgraded the staff from a coaching standpoint with his offensive line (Harry Hiestand), wide receiver (Chansi Stuckey) and special teams (Brian Mason) hires. Replacing Elston with a better coach will be difficult, but that's the opportunity that is in front of Freeman.
If he can pull it off Freeman will put the Notre Dame program in position to do in the near future what his four predecessors could not, and that is finally compete for - and win - a championship.
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