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Make the call to Mike Denbrock…

I agree 2015 was the one year where we could have legit competed for a NC.

Our DC was so bad but the talent of that team was loaded.

Missed opportunity
That team was also completely decimated by injuries by the end of the season. It didn't have enough depth to be able to survive that.
 
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We should definitely not hire Denbrock. He's a good OC, he had a phenomenal talent in Jayden Daniels. And he's got a rapport with BK. Let's find our own OC, which I'm sure we can do, if we're bold and are willing to spend the money and let him run the offense his way, and we can become like UW or Oregon or whatever.

Denbrock's not the answer. We can make a big-time hire on our own....
Interesting. I tend to agree but water under the bridge now
 
Yes they did. If they had an even solid DC
Seriously, go back and track the injuries and tell me with a straight face that ND had enough depth to compete for a national championship. Pre-season we lost CB Shaun Crawford (I don't remember if he was starter or not, but he was expected to play) and starting nose tackle Jarron Jones for the year. Starting tailback Folsten in first quarter of opener out for the year; starting QB Zaire second or third game lost for the year; TE Durham Smythe lost for year in same game. C.J. Prosise, converted slot, starting at tailback, lost time to a concussion and later was out with ankle sprain. CB Keivare Russell stress fracture in leg late in season, out for rest of year. Sheldon Day had a bum shoulder at the end, Jone's backup Daniel Cage was out late in the year for awhile. Drew Tranquill tore ACL celebrating a play in Georgia Tech game. Jaylon Smith suffered the freak knee injury late in first half against Ohio State in bowl game.

And those are just the ones I or found with a quick Google search. The ND student magazine The Scholastic had an article where they said the 127th Notre Dame football team would be best remembered for its 127 injuries.

Van Gorder sucked, but that team was snake-bitten with injuries. By the second half of the Ohio State bowl game they were just throwing guys into the lineup.
 
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Alright, cool man. Everything's awesome. Even though I carefully qualified my response so as not to disregard Denbrock's past successes, and indeed highlighted them in previous posts as well as declaring my own satisfaction with this hire, I guess that just isn't enough for you. Jayden Daniels, BK, LSU's two other highly-regarded offensive coaches, their QB coach and their passing-game coordinator... they're nothing. It was all Denbrock.

Satisfied?
Typical all or nothing response from a simpleton.
 
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I wanted Will Stein from Oregon. A young and super aggressive OC. A climber. They went with Mike Denbrock, which is fine.
What sense does it make to hire a climber who climbs to the next position next year or the year after?
 
Seriously, go back and track the injuries and tell me with a straight face that ND had enough depth to compete for a national championship. Pre-season we lost CB Shaun Crawford (I don't remember if he was starter or not, but he was expected to play) and starting nose tackle Jarron Jones for the year. Starting tailback Folsten in first quarter of opener out for the year; starting QB Zaire second or third game lost for the year; TE Durham Smythe lost for year in same game. C.J. Prosise, converted slot, starting at tailback, lost time to a concussion and later was out with ankle sprain. CB Keivare Russell stress fracture in leg late in season, out for rest of year. Sheldon Day had a bum shoulder at the end, Jone's backup Daniel Cage was out late in the year for awhile. Drew Tranquill tore ACL celebrating a play in Georgia Tech game. Jaylon Smith suffered the freak knee injury late in first half against Ohio State in bowl game.

And those are just the ones I or found with a quick Google search. The ND student magazine The Scholastic had an article where they said the 127th Notre Dame football team would be best remembered for its 127 injuries.

Van Gorder sucked, but that team was snake-bitten with injuries. By the second half of the Ohio State bowl game they were just throwing guys into the lineup.
Yes that's what I'm telling you.

Kizer was an upgrade over Zaire imo
Prosise was an upgrade over Folston imo
Smythe played against OSU so not lost for the year

I'm not counting the Jaylon because that was in the last game of the year and we would be playing in the Playoff then. So that one was silly too include
 
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I wanted Will Stein from Oregon. A young and super aggressive OC. A climber. They went with Mike Denbrock, which is fine.
We need stability in the OC job . 3 OCs in 3yrs. We needed an experienced quality OC hire with recruiting chops and a team player staff wise. Denbrock checks all the boxes. He loves ND and he's likely to stick around for at least 3 -4 yrs. A younger OC would be quite likely to be gone in 2 yrs if not sooner. Denbrock is a proven recruiter with contacts all over the country. Particularly CA, and now SEC country. He's a plus recruiter and an improvement over Parker in recruiting. With his recent success at LSU and Cincinnati it should help ND attract high level offensive skill players [ qbs / wrs] to ND . To build off the 24 O class high level talent haul.
Denbrock was an excellent hire and a no Brainer imo
 
Mike Denbrock is an outstanding football coach, he is also a great TEs coach, and he’s obviously familiar with ND. The work he’s done with Daniels and LSU these past 2 seasons, speaks for itself and was prodigious.

Make the call, see if he’s interested, and then try to make the money work.

IMO he would be a really good hire for ND.
Great call
 
Anybody know what kind of recruiter denbrock is? the fact that he helped develop daniels at LSU has to carry some cache on the recruiting trail. I just really hope at 60 years old or whatever, he's willing to grind on the recruiting trail and go to war with the other blue bloods for the nations best talent
 
Anybody know what kind of recruiter denbrock is? the fact that he helped develop daniels at LSU has to carry some cache on the recruiting trail. I just really hope at 60 years old or whatever, he's willing to grind on the recruiting trail and go to war with the other blue bloods for the nations best talent
He was a very good recruiter at Notre Dame. Hes not going to be asked to recruit like crazy as the OC but he probably will
 
Anybody know what kind of recruiter denbrock is? the fact that he helped develop daniels at LSU has to carry some cache on the recruiting trail. I just really hope at 60 years old or whatever, he's willing to grind on the recruiting trail and go to war with the other blue bloods for the nations best talent
Saban is 72 and doesn't appear to have any problem keeping up with recruiting.
 
Well -- we will not get to see if you are correct or a baffoon.
May want to spellcheck your post to ensure you’re using the proper wording. Keep in mind, Denbrock had Jayden Daniels. The most dynamic player in the country. A player who could mask the deficiencies of even the biggest playing calling mental midgets, such as yourself. I don’t love the hire, but I have zero choice to support it. So, we’ll see how it goes…
 
Huh? More volatile? Lesser prospects? What?

Lsu is 19 and 7 the last 2 years
ND is 18 and 7 the last 2 years

Lsu 23 class ranked 6th with a 91.83 avg
ND 23 class ranked 12th with a 91.77 avg

Lsu 24 class ranks 12th with a 90.46avg Ouch
ND 24 class ranks 9th with a 91.37 avg

Combine classes our players are rated higher

Lsu qb in 23 ranks 242 overall
ND qb in 23 ranks 169 overall

Lsu qb in 24 ranks 350 overall
ND qb in 24 ranks 38 overall

Lsu qb in 25 ranks doesnt have one
ND qb in 25 ranks 54 overall

We are recruiting better than LSU and we have the better QBs on the roster

You are clueless
And I believe Kelly went there because he thought it would be easier to get better football players
 
This is true
Saban doesn't need to recruit, his resume of making his players wealthy beyond belief through guaranteed NFL dollars and through world class player development says it all. Saban basically has first dibs on whatever prospects he likes at this point across the board at nearly every position. He may be the best football coach in the history of the sport (unique situation Alabama has over there at this point).

As much as I am a fan of Denbrock's unique rise to OC over the course of a 50 year coaching career, where ND currently is organizationally, i just think they need to make the type of impact hires that really move the needle forward. ND is in a bad spot, we need someone willing to grind us forward to a whole other level, someone who really makes an impact on the brand so that we can actually compete with the teams on the recruiting trail who are winning the biggest games.

Is Denbrock that guy? maybe the fact that he helped develop LSUs offense and Daniels specifically will help to make a really compelling message on the recruiting trail but i just don't personally see Denbrock being the guy to help gut us over the really big hump we've been trying to get over
 
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Saban doesn't need to recruit, his resume of making his players wealthy beyond belief through guaranteed NFL dollars says it all.

As much as I am a fan of Denbrock's unique rise to OC over the course of a 50 year coaching career, where ND currently is organizationally, i just think they need to make the type of impact hires that really move the needle forward. ND is in a bad spot, we need someone willing to grind us forward to a whole other level so that we can actually compete with the teams competing for national titles in the modern era.

Is Denbrock that guy? maybe the fact that he helped develop LSUs offense will help to make a really compelling message.
We are not in a bad spot

We are in a really good spot
 
Great call

Thanks but to be honest it was the world’s easiest call and a no brainer.

OC experience- Check
Proven Track Record of Success-Check
TE Coach-Check
Understanding of ND culture-Check
Top Notch Recruiter-Check
Prior Relationship w Head Coach-Check
Might stay awhile-Check

( Rumor has it Denbrock will be highest paid OC in the country, and ND is working on a 4 year deal)
 
That team was also completely decimated by injuries by the end of the season. It didn't have enough depth to be able to survive that.
Starting QB was just the beginning. Amazing that they were able to win as many games as they did. The job Kelly did with Kizer, it had me thinking that he really was the coach who could bring a natty to South Bend. After 2016 and having to tear it all down to build it back up, looking back I think it kind of broke Kelly of any competitive fire he had. That's really when he became just a CEO over the operation.
 
Starting QB was just the beginning. Amazing that they were able to win as many games as they did. The job Kelly did with Kizer, it had me thinking that he really was the coach who could bring a natty to South Bend. After 2016 and having to tear it all down to build it back up, looking back I think it kind of broke Kelly of any competitive fire he had. That's really when he became just a CEO over the operation.
That team was loaded with talent. Should have done more
 
Yeah that ex 10 year TE coach and dinosaur with as much charisma as a box of sand is really going to light the Notre Dame recruiting world on fire
Isn’t he known as being a great recruiter? I think you have the wrong guy in mind on your comments.
 
Why would Denbrock ditch LSU/Brian Kelly/the #1 QB and #1 WR combo they have coming in in '25 to coach in a much more volatile situation under MF at ND with lesser prospects? Not to mention LSU football operations budget is probably way more expansive than Notre Dame's is (more opportunity for market rate raises at LSU than ND)
Some people love Notre Dame. If you get it you get it. If you don’t, well, you don’t.
 
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You literally cannot get a better combination of experience, success, recruiting. Who the hell else would be better than this guy? Texas A&M wanted him and they are the preeminent do whatever it takes program.
 
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I think this is a great hire. Finally an OC without major concerns. A ND man with a Brian Kelly and Luke Fickell past.
 
No. Worst DC in ND history
Agreed that Van Gorder was bad, but you are always just plain dismissive of anyone who has a different opinion than you. That team was "so loaded" that Joe Schmidt was still starting at middle linebacker. I'm not going to try to figure out how to get a game-by-game list of injuries, but that team was as snakebitten as any I've ever seen, but since it has been decreed by the almighty Golson 5, it should have won the national championship. Alright, already.

And as far as worst defensive coaches at ND, Gary Darnell was pretty bad, too.
 
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Agreed that Van Gorder was bad, but you are always just plain dismissive of anyone who has a different opinion than you. That team was "so loaded" that Joe Schmidt was still starting at middle linebacker. I'm not going to try to figure out how to get a game-by-game list of injuries, but that team was as snakebitten as any I've ever seen, but since it has been decreed by the almighty Golson 5, it should have won the national championship. Alright, already.

And as far as worst defensive coaches at ND, Gary Darnell was pretty bad, too.
I didn't say the should have won. I said that team had the best chance to compete for a NC. They were loaded. Put Elko, Freeman, Lea as DC and that team makes the Playoffs at the least

They didnt lose to Stanford on the last game of the year because of damn injuries. Do you remember the game? They lost because the DC was the worst in ND history
 
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When you have this on the line of scrimmages, you can compete with anyone

Stanley - NFL
Nelson - NFL
Martin - NFL
Bars - NFL
Mcglinchey- NFL
Elmer - Would be NFL but went into financial world

Okwara - NFL
Day - NFL
Tillery - NFL
Rochell - NFL

We played the National runner up at their place and lost by 2 points. That team was close
 
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When you have this on the line of scrimmages, you can compete with anyone

Stanley - NFL
Nelson - NFL
Martin - NFL
Bars - NFL
Mcglinchey- NFL
Elmer - Would be NFL but went into financial world

Okwara - NFL
Day - NFL
Tillery - NFL
Rochell - NFL

We played the National runner up at their place and lost by 2 points. That team was close
There is a certain irony in you blaming the team's failure to play for the NC on the defensive coordinator and then citing the Clemson game, where we lost by 2, no fault of the defense. You sound like people who blame Pete Bercich for the loss to BC in '93.
 
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There is a certain irony in you blaming the team's failure to play for the NC on the defensive coordinator and then citing the Clemson game, where we lost by 2, no fault of the defense. You sound like people who blame Pete Bercich for the loss to BC in '93.
36 to Stanford
 
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