Quick hitters: Five things new Notre Dame linebackers coach Max Bullough said Friday

Max Bullough said his day-to-day outlook hasn’t changed much since he was recently promoted from graduate assistant to full-on Notre Dame linebackers coach. Except for one thing.

“I get a little bit better parking spot,” Bullough quipped Friday afternoon in the Irish Athletics Center.

Bullough was a hands-on worker for the Irish last fall. Notre Dame’s designated linebackers coach was defensive coordinator Al Golden, who obviously had plenty on his plate overseeing the entire Irish defense. Bullough did a good enough job helping Golden out to to earn his full-time title, bump in pay and, of course, better parking spot.

Here are five things he said in his first press conference since his promotion.

On what changes for him from 2023 to 2024

“The fact that the old guys left. More of the onus is on me. JD [Bertrand] and Marist [Liufau], I could have not said anything and they’re going to go out there and play football in this system. Now it’s a little bit like we’re from scratch. Whatever’s out there, you’re either coaching or letting it happen.”

On the impact Golden has had on him

“First of all, he’s really smart. I think he’s really good organizationally. He’s really good at putting things in boxes, which is something I struggle with. He coached and played on offense. So he thinks about it a little bit different. He might get mad at me for saying that, but he does. He looks at it a little bit different.

He puts things in boxes and it helps us because it allows us to categorize things and think of things a certain way. So if anything, it’s helped me do that in terms of categorizing [individual] drills, categorizing cover-four — there’s four, five, six things we have to see — whatever it is, he’s done a good job of showing how to organize and set that up.”

On what being the Notre Dame LBs coach means to him with his grandfather having played here in the 1950s

“Not even putting the family a part of it, to be at Notre Dame is an honor in and of itself. You talk about all the coaches and players here, I feel silly even talking about that with how many of those guys there are.

“But in terms of my family, I’ve always had a lot of family at Michigan State, a lot of family at Notre Dame. And a lot of people knew about the Michigan State side because you guys have heard about the football and my dad and all that. But for my mom, this is huge. For my late grandfather who just passed away, this would have been huge. He wanted me, one of my brothers, the other brother, my sister — one of us to go to Notre Dame. And none of us ever did. A couple of us had the chance. The other two, not really.

“But it’s big. I think it’s big for my mom right now going through losing her father. It’s been cool to make that full circle within a timely fashion.”

On figuring out which Notre Dame linebackers are going to play which positions

“That varies person by person, player by player. The young guys, we;ll try to get them in a spot. Get them to learn it. Get them to be comfortable in one spot. Then there’s guys like Jack Kiser, even Drayk Bowen, that have to know. We got to be able to put you in there with different people and you have to be able to be able to play the complementary position to them.”

“Like Jaylen Sneed, Jaiden Ausberry are going to be at Rover or at [weak-side linebacker]. Whereas if it’s Kiser and Drayk in there, Kiser is probably the [weak-side]. But if it’s Kiser and Sneed in there, Sneed is the [weak-side] and Kiser is the [middle linebacker].

“So, there are two different groups. One group, hey, you got to know it all. I got to be able to grab you by the helmet and throw you out there. Whoever’s out there, you got to go to the other spot. And then there’s the young guys or guys who are specialized in certain areas and have a certain skill set that we’ll try to lock in on one spot.”

On Drayk Bowen playing Notre Dame football and baseball

“Drayk’s sharp. Drayk’s sharp. He was someone who didn’t get a ton of reps in practice last year because we just don’t do that with our twos late in the season. And he was always a guy who I felt confident if it came to it he could go in the game and execute. That’s just a testament to his work and the way he’s able to retain information.

“I think the baseball helps him. I really do. I don’t think kids play enough sports nowadays. Just doing all the different sports helps more a lot more than people think. Spacial awareness, understanding things, ball awareness. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do right now.”