Notre Dame football adds defensive analyst from Oklahoma State
The college football coaching carousel has calmed down with February around the corner, but programs are still tinkering with the nuts and bolts of their staffs as spring practices approach. Notre Dame is no different.
The Fighting Irish added Casey McHugh as a defensive analyst this week according to his social media profile.
McHugh, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) with a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering in 2016, spent the 2023 season as a defensive graduate assistant working with the linebackers at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys went 10-4 with a win over Texas A&M, Notre Dame’s opponent in the 2024 season opener, in the TaxAct Texas Bowl.
McHugh earned a master of engineering from Old Dominion in 2020. He was an offensive quality control coach at ODU in 2019 and a defensive graduate assistant there from 2020-22. He worked with the linebackers for two years and the safeties for one. Before getting to ODU, McHugh broke into the coaching industry as a quarterbacks coach at Delaware Valley University in 2018.
McHugh is the second analyst to join Notre Dame’s staff in the last week. Last Friday, FootballScoop released a report indicating the addition of Trent Miles. He was a senior offensive analyst with LSU in 2023, so he’s tailing new Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock on his way up to South Bend.
Denbrock replacing Gerad Parker, now the head coach at Troy, was Notre Dame’s biggest coaching move of the offseason. That came after the Irish parted ways with wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey and replaced him with Mike Brown of Wisconsin. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s time at Cincinnati overlapped with that of Brown. Denbrock was at Cincy at the same time as well.
For the time being, it appears Notre Dame will retain defensive coordinator Al Golden for a third consecutive season. The cycle is not quite complete, though. At this time last year, Tommy Rees was still the Irish’s offensive coordinator. He did not leave for Alabama until early February.
The Irish can’t confirm Golden’s presence for the 2024 season with complete confidence until the players get on the field for spring practices in March. That’s the timeline to avoid further turbulence.
As it stands, though, the Irish offensive line, running backs, defensive line, linebackers safeties and cornerbacks will all be coached by the same leaders who oversaw those position groups in 2023. That’s a high level of continuity in this era of college football.
