Analysis Of Notre Dame CB Coach Mike Mickens

My thoughts of the decision to hire Mike Mickens to coach cornerbacks at Notre Dame

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has once again tapped into his coaching tree to fill a staff position. According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Notre Dame will hire former Cincinnati cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens to replace Todd Lyght, who left the program in early January.

Kelly was the Cincinnati head coach from 2007-09, where he compiled a 34-6 record. Mickens played for Kelly in 2007 and 2008, and he finished his career with 14 interceptions, which is still the all-time record at Cincinnati.

In the podcast below I break down the hire of the 32-year old assistant coach and what it means for Notre Dame. It starts with a discussion about Kelly tapping into his "pipeline" once again. Listen to it for a full analysis.

Here's a look at the Mickens resume:

Playing Career: Cornerback at Cincinnati, 2005-08 (234 career tackles, 14 interceptions)

Coaching Career:

2011 - Cincinnati - Defensive Assistant
2012 - Indiana State - Defensive Assistant
2013 - Idaho - Cornerbacks
2014-17 - Bowling Green - Cornerbacks
2018-19 - Cincinnati - Cornerbacks

Coaching Highlights:

* Coached a pair of freshmen to All-Conference honors: Nick Johnson (Bowling Green) earned second-team All-MAC honors in 2014 and Ahmad Gardner (Cincinnati) earned first-team All-AAC honors in 2019.

* Gardner earned Freshman All-American honors (FWAA, The Athletic, PF) and third-team All-American honors (PFF) in 2019

* Three of the six FBS defenses Mickens has been a part of have finished in the top-15 nationally in interceptions.

* Cincinnati ranked 8th and 24th in scoring defense the last two seasons, and ranked 13th and 15th in pass efficiency defense.