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Jack Swarbrick: Notre Dame will hire a ‘general manager’ to support staff

On3 imageby: Patrick Engel02/24/23PatrickEngel_
notre dame jack swarbrick
Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick. (Chad Weaver/BGI)

Notre Dame football has spent most of February focused on filling vacancies on its coaching staff. It will also add a position this offseason.

The team will hire a general manager, athletics director Jack Swarbrick said Thursday in a live video chat with Notre Dame’s university relations department. It’s a new position on the support staff.

“We’re in the process of looking for a person to lead the whole personnel side of the player process – recruiting, development, sort of a general manager for roster purposes,” Swarbrick said. “It will help bring a lot of different pieces together that aren’t necessarily connected as well as they should be right now.”

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In making the hire, Notre Dame will be the latest college football program to embrace the growing general manager movement. Down in Baton Rouge, Marcus Freeman’s predecessor made a similar move earlier this week. Brian Kelly shifted special teams coordinator and former Irish assistant Brian Polian into an off-field role where he will help manage the roster, recruiting, the transfer portal and NIL efforts.

The Notre Dame general manager will not be the primary point of contact for NIL-related topics, Swarbrick said. He noted the team’s current NIL “liaison” is longtime staff member Dave Peloquin, whose title shifted in January from director of player personnel to assistant athletics director for strategic initiatives. The general manager will be a “conduit” for NIL, though.

“They will be a real resource inside the building,” Swarbrick said.

Peloquin’s role is not the only support staff shift this offseason. Former Notre Dame offensive lineman Hunter Bivin, the director of player development since 2019, became the assistant athletics director for alumni engagement. Ex-Irish quarterback Ron Powlus remains in place as the senior associate athletics director and administrator for football. Olivia Mitchell was hired as the director of football operations in 2020.

Notre Dame had two departures from its on-field staff this month. Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees took the same job at Alabama and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand retired. Tight ends coach Gerad Parker was elevated to offensive coordinator and will keep his position coach duties. Gino Guidugli is expected to be formally announced as the quarterbacks coach in the coming days. Offensive line coach is the last remaining vacancy.

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