Coaching Staff Changes

After signing day on February 4th, one of the quietest times of the year for ND football typically follows. The past month there hasn't been too much to talk about, save a few tidbits here and there. Spring Practice started for Coach Weis and the Irish last week, with the biggest news being the new faces on the coaching staff. Here is a good summary, with some interesting news links:

• Offensive Coordinator Mike Haywood leaves to accept Head Coach position at Miami of Ohio. Offensive Coordinator position is effectively held by Charlie Weis, not being replaced.
• Offensive line coach John Latina is out, Frank Verducci is in as the new offensive line coach. He has NFL experience and should mix well with Weis's NFL terminology and offense. Not only is Frank Verducci the Oline coach, but he is also the "Run Game Coordinator", effectively controlling the running as a subset of the Weis offense. I like the devotion to the run game, as running the football will make or break Coach Weis and the Irish.
• Tony Alford has been named running backs coach, partially replacing Mike Haywood who worked with Running Backs. Alford is another high energy guy with experience and all seems well on this hire. Alford has spent the last few years at Louisville.
• Randy Hart has been hired as the new defensive line coach, replacing Jappy Oliver. Hart is a very energetic and tenured college defensive line coach (been at Washington the past 15 years or so), so I am fine with this hire. The defensive line has been our weakest point, so more energy and experience were definitely needed.
• New Graduate assistant and future full time defensive line coach Bryant Young joins the staff. The future Hall of Famer is one of the best linemen in the last 20 years in the NFL, and is great to have back on campus. Can't imagine his experience not being a huge asset for our defensive linemen.
• Jon Tenuta is now the Defensive Coordinator (instead of co-defensive coordinator), and he will be calling defensive plays next year (unlike last year). Corwin Brown is now the defensive backs coach and Associate Head Coach, previously being the Co-Defensive Coordinator with Tenuta. A good summary article here. I like the move because Tenuta is aggressive and is best when he has total control over the defense. Corwin is a former NFL defensive back, so his focus being on the d-backs is great as well.
• Weis will call offensive plays from the sideline. While he reserves the right to change his mind about sideline/pressbox, I think the head coach should be on the field and this is a good move. Many people think a headcoach should not call plays, but I think Weis's core competency of calling plays needs to be utilized.

The two major problems that dominated the coaching staff changes were along the front lines  -  the offensive line and running game, and the defensive line getting more pressure. Verducci as "Run Game Coordinator" hopefully will pay off. His NFL experience (with some college experience) was the obvious reason Weis hired Verducci. Having one person fully focused on the running is definitely a good thing. As for the defensive line, I am not sure how important this hire will be. Whereas the offensive line has plenty of talent that was not producing, the defensive line was under producing due to a lack of talent. Verducci was the more important hire - lets hope he can take a 4 star and above group of experienced lineman and create a running game.

 

More to come next week as we look at the most pressing questions facing the football program this spring.