I had a good discussion with a source Friday about Harry Hiestand's replacement as ND offensive line coach and how that process is going. First let me give you some names to chew on then some context:
*Chris Watt (GA at Notre Dame)
Joe Rudolph (Virginia Tech)
Brian Callahan (Minnesota)
*Ron Crook (South Dakota)
Scott Huff (Washington)
*Darrell Funk (BYU)
Cody Kennedy (Arkansas)
Matt Luke (Formerly of Georgia)
They are not in any order of preference for ND or for me or even alphabetically. The asterisks represent coaches that have worked with Gerad Parker, Marcus Freeman or both.
I'm working on a more complete story for later this afternoon that ties into Parker's role in this etc.
The interest in the job went MUCH further than this list. I'm trying to give you realistic options, not a list of every Power 5 O-line coach. It's possible they could look at someone in the NFL. There aren't a lot of candidates (none on this list) who have both NFL and college experience, like Harry did.
Matt Luke is truly a long shot, a guy who got out of coaching to spend more time with family.
I want to run these names today by some people in the coaching business and who are big in the O-line world. This could affect the list I publish later today in a free story. I'll let you all know before I publish that if there have been changes.
I was told Notre Dame has been able to narrow its initial list to three or four leading candidates but that the list could expand a bit through this next phase.
It's possible some in-person interviewing could start this weekend.
The end of the timeline is a little harder to project. It's not a sprint, but my source said it wouldn't be crazy to think they might have the next coach identified by the middle of this coming week. Remember, though, an outside candidate will take longer to vet and put together an official announcement than an in-house guy like Parker did for the OC job.
*Chris Watt (GA at Notre Dame)
Joe Rudolph (Virginia Tech)
Brian Callahan (Minnesota)
*Ron Crook (South Dakota)
Scott Huff (Washington)
*Darrell Funk (BYU)
Cody Kennedy (Arkansas)
Matt Luke (Formerly of Georgia)
They are not in any order of preference for ND or for me or even alphabetically. The asterisks represent coaches that have worked with Gerad Parker, Marcus Freeman or both.
I'm working on a more complete story for later this afternoon that ties into Parker's role in this etc.
The interest in the job went MUCH further than this list. I'm trying to give you realistic options, not a list of every Power 5 O-line coach. It's possible they could look at someone in the NFL. There aren't a lot of candidates (none on this list) who have both NFL and college experience, like Harry did.
Matt Luke is truly a long shot, a guy who got out of coaching to spend more time with family.
I want to run these names today by some people in the coaching business and who are big in the O-line world. This could affect the list I publish later today in a free story. I'll let you all know before I publish that if there have been changes.
I was told Notre Dame has been able to narrow its initial list to three or four leading candidates but that the list could expand a bit through this next phase.
It's possible some in-person interviewing could start this weekend.
The end of the timeline is a little harder to project. It's not a sprint, but my source said it wouldn't be crazy to think they might have the next coach identified by the middle of this coming week. Remember, though, an outside candidate will take longer to vet and put together an official announcement than an in-house guy like Parker did for the OC job.
