This Week in Coaching: How Notre Dame failed Marcus Freeman in its pursuit for a new OC, making sense of all the staff movement at Miami
Apparently Notre Dame forgot to pass around the collection plate this month.
At least that’s the message the Irish sent this week by metaphorically cutting off the knees of head coach Marcus Freeman, who faced his most important hire to date only to realize Notre Dame’s administration does not have his full-backing.
It’s pretty simple: Marcus Freeman clearly wanted to hire Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig as his replacement for Tommy Rees. The Irish publicly courted Ludwig, interviewing him twice and bringing him on campus for a tour and a hockey game.
But after sitting between Freeman and Irish athletics director Jack Swarbrick at the game, Ludwig left South Bend without a deal. Freeman not only lost out on his preferred offensive coordinator, but he was left still needing to find a new OL coach, too, as most believed Ludwig was set to bring Utah’s Jim Harding with him, replacing the recently retired Harry Heistand.
The issue?
Notre Dame refused to pay Ludwig’s $3 million buyout. Harding required buyout money, too. On Wednesday night, word leaked that Marcus Freeman was promoting tight ends coach Gerad Parker as his new OC and hiring former Cincy coordinator Gino Guidugli to coach quarterbacks.
The optics here are terrible. The failure of the process is worse.
The Irish knew the cost of business before interviewing Ludwig. If they didn’t, then the entire episode is much more disconcerting for Swarbrick, and says even more about the state of Notre Dame’s program.
But they likely did. The Irish have not been “cheap” in recent years. It paid to keep Marcus Freeman away from LSU two years ago. It ponied up the money for Rees just last offseason when he was also pursued by LSU — this time by former Irish head coach Brian Kelly.
But Brian Kelly left South Bend for Baton Rouge because of episodes like this.
Notre Dame wants to be all-in. It wants to be viewed as annual national title contender in the same breath as Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. But too often there are moments like this that display a lack of true seriousness about football.
The Irish obviously could’ve afforded Ludwig’s buyout. Whether they thought Utah would negotiate the buyout down or not is immaterial.
Either pay the money or don’t publicly parade a candidate around.
The second interview never should’ve happened if the administration wasn’t going to support Freeman’s preferred candidate. Instead, Notre Dame failed Marcus Freeman.
The embarrassing affair sure makes it look like a promising second-year head coach is no longer in total alignment with an administration that did everything it could to keep him around just last year.
MAKING SENSE OF ALL THE MOVEMENT ON MIAMI’S STAFF
Mario Cristobal made a pair of strong hires this week at both offensive and defensive coordinator, but that didn’t negate the churn on what was deemed an all-star staff just a year ago.
While Miami filled two key openings, it now has additional assistant moves after both Kevin Smith and Charlie Strong left the program.
Smith, like quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce, who spent a year in Coral Gables but went back to Appalachian State, returned to Ole Miss after a one-year stint with the Canes. Meanwhile, Strong bounced after getting passed over for the DC opening, and was immediately replaced by Cincy linebackers coach Derek Nicholson.
Add it all up and Cristobal has had to replace half his on-field staff — 5 of 10 assistants — off his Year 1 team. Not ideal!
Clearly, some of the changes were must-needed, but that’s still a lot of churn after a single season.
Cristobal has hired two coordinators, but Miami still has staff openings to fill at running backs and receivers to round out its new-look offensive staff. He didn’t get those assistants right a year ago. Now he needs to avoid the same mistake twice.
KEVIN SUMLIN RETURNS TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Kevin Sumlin hasn’t been an assistant coach since 2007, but the former Texas A&M and Arizona head coach has made his return to college football … ideally in an effort to be a future top dog of a program again.
Sumlin was hired by Maryland to be its new tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator this week. The 58-year-old spent the last year as the head coach of the Houston Gamblers of the USFL after being fired by Arizona after the 2020 season.
Although he’s never worked with Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley before, the two have an existing relationship that dates back more than a quarter century.
“Kevin brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our staff and I couldn’t be more thrilled that he’s joining our program,” Locksley said in a statement.
“My relationship with Kevin goes back over 25 years. He has a tremendous football mind, along with a proven track record of developing players and winning at the highest levels. I’m excited to welcome him and his family to College Park.”
Sumlin’s stint at Arizona ended badly (a winless 2020 season and a lack of commitment on the recruiting trail), but he was successful at both Texas A&M and Houston, going 86-43 in the Lone Star State.
The last time he was a tight ends coach was in 2003-05, working for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, but if he showcases himself well again, especially on the recruiting trail, he could find himself in the mix for potential head coach openings as soon as 2023.
Maryland lost its first-string tight end CJ Dippre to Alabama as a transfer, but Corey Dyches returns and he caught 39 passes for 494 yards and three scores last season.
MOORHEAD GETS NEW DEAL
Joe Moorhead went just 2-10 in his inaugural season as head coach at Akron, but the former Oregon offensive coordinator reportedly received a contract extension this week after interest from multiple NFL and Power 5 programs for open coordinator positions.
Moorhead, who was also the head coach at Mississippi State and a successful OC at Penn State and Oregon, was linked to openings at Alabama, Notre Dame and the Baltimore Ravens, among others.
Had he left the Zips, he would’ve been the second MAC head coach to take an OC job this cycle. Sean Lewis departed as the head coach of Kent State to become Deion Sanders’ offensive coordinator at Colorado in December.
But Moorhead parlayed the interest into greater job security, getting an extension through the 2027 season. His reworked salary also puts him “in the mid of the pack of MAC coaches,” per ESPN.
While Akron had a poor win-loss record in 2022, the Zips were much more competitive under Moorhead, losing five one-score games.
Moorhead, as evidenced by interest from Nick Saban, John Harbaugh and others as a play caller, immediately boosted Akron’s offense — with the Zips finishing the season as the No. 1 passing attack in the conference with 283.1 yards per game.
They return 18 starters in 2023, including quarterback DJ Irons and All-MAC wideout Alex Adams.