Notre Dame special teams coordinator Brian Mason leaving for Indianapolis Colts
Brian Mason was arguably Notre Dame’s most impactful assistant coach in 2022. He has turned that body of work into a job in the NFL.
Mason is leaving Notre Dame to become the Indianapolis Colts’ special teams coordinator after one season in the same job with the Irish staff, according to a report from FootballScoop. Irish Illustrated was first to report the news. His exit comes five days after Notre Dame appeared to have completed its staff with the soon-to-be-official hire of offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.
Notre Dame’s special teams became a weapon in one season under Mason’s direction. The Irish tied for the national lead with seven blocked kicks, all of which were punts. They were No. 6 in the Fremeau Efficiency Index’s special teams ranking, their best finish since the metric’s 2007 creation. Their 2022 performance won Mason FootballScoop’s 2022 Special Teams Coordinator of the Year award.
Mason, who arrived at Notre Dame in January 2022, was Marcus Freeman’s first assistant hire as Irish head coach. He worked with Freeman at Cincinnati from 2017-20 and was the Bearcats’ special teams coordinator from 2018-21. He’s a native of Zionsville, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis.
Mason came to Notre Dame with an objective to “create chaos” on special teams in every game. Punt block was the Irish’s primary weapon. They rejected a punt in five straight games, including two in one quarter against UNLV. Six different players blocked one. The punt block impact helped the Irish lead the country in average starting field position (33.4), a distinction every team should want but one that was especially crucial to Notre Dame’s 2022 winning formula given its passing game limitations.
“It’s not called punt return, it’s called punt block,” said defensive end Isaiah Foskey, who swatted two punts last year. “That’s basically what we were doing all season, blocking punts.”
Cincinnati also tied for the FBS lead in blocked kicks in 2021 under Mason, with six.
The Colts are Mason’s first NFL job. He was previously an FBS grad assistant at Ohio State (2015-16), Purdue (2013-14) and Kent State (2012). He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Division III Denison in 2006. He has not previously worked with newly hired Colts head coach Shane Steichen.
Mason had restocked Notre Dame’s specialist unit with transfers before leaving. South Florida grad transfer kicker Spencer Shrader and Penn walk-on grad transfer punter Ben Krimm chose the Irish in December. Both are slated to enroll in June. Shrader is the favorite to be the kicker in 2023, while Krimm was slated to start out behind sophomore Bryce McFerson. Mason stated in December that McFerson was already viewed as the 2023 starter, but he might have to re-earn that status under Mason’s replacement.
Elsewhere on special teams, long snapper Michael Vinson returned for a sixth season and running back Chris Tyree enters Year 4 as the kick returner. Punt returner Brandon Joseph declared for the NFL Draft. Linebackers Prince Kollie (231) and Jack Kiser (204) led Notre Dame in special teams snaps in 2022 and are back in 2023.
Notre Dame begins spring practice March 22.
