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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 spring football officially gets underway, here are all the coaching staff comings and goings so far this off-season.
This list does not include analysts that entered or took jobs elsewhere.
January 27: Graduate Assistant Leaves
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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
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After missing on a couple of other targets, Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag] the offensive coordinator job in early February. Rees agreed to the position and left Notre Dame on February 4.
February 11: New Graduate Assistant Found
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On February 11 reports surfaced that Notre Dame was bringing in former Michigan State and Houston Texans linebacker [autotag]Max Bullough[/autotag] 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
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Literally seconds before the Super Bowl kicked off, Notre Dame sent out a press release announcing the retirement of offensive line coach [autotag]Harry Hiestand[/autotag]. 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 [autotag]Gino Guidugli[/autotag] 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
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After a nationwide search that looked like it twice like it was going to end differently, tight ends coach [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] 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 [autotag]Joe Rudolph[/autotag] would be leaving the Hokies to take the same job at Notre Dame. Although this hiring hasn’t yet been made official by Notre Dame, Rudolph did tweet his goodbye to Virginia Tech above.
March 4: Special Teams Coordinator Leaves for NFL
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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.
Current Openings:
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Although there have been reports linking other Notre Dame assistants to the NFL, no offers have been made – yet. The only current opening on Notre Dame’s staff appears to be for the special teams coordinator although the Rudolph hiring as offensive line coach hasn’t yet been made official.
Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire