To know what this 2012 Notre Dame coaching staff is, you first need to know what it isn’t.
So let’s turn back the clock seven years.
It was imagery that Notre Dame fans took to like catnip. Newly hired head coach Charlie Weis, slaving away in his office in Foxboro. Weis was building a Super Bowl winning game plan for the Patriots by day and putting together an elite Notre Dame coaching staff by night.
When the staff was announced, it looked to Irish fans that Weis had built a veritable all-star team, assembled from places far and wide, with pedigrees and resumes difficult to poke holes in.
The initial staff was as follows:
David Cutcliffe: Asst. Head Coach (Offense) / Quarterbacks -- Former head coach at Ole Miss.
John Latina: Offensive Line -- Offensive Coordinator at Ole Miss.
Bill Lewis: Asst. Head Coach (Defense) / Defensive Backs -- Former Georgia Tech head coach.
Mike Haywood: Offensive Coordinator / Running Backs -- Texas recruiting coordinator, ND grad.
Rick Minter: Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers -- Former Cincinnati head coach.
Rob Ianello: Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator -- Arizona WR coach, Recruiting whiz, Barry Alvarez asst.
Jappy Oliver: Defensive Line - South Carolina defensive line coach
Bernie Parmalee:- Tight Ends / Special Teams - NFL TE, Miami Dolphins coach
Brian Polian: Head Special Teams Coach / DB Asst. -- Central Florida Asst., son of Bill Polian.
Ruben Mendoza: Strength and Conditioning -- Ole Miss strength coach.
Strong on paper was an understatement. Twenty-five seasons of experience as a collegiate head coach. Twenty-nine seasons as an offensive or defensive coordinator. Over a decade of NFL experience to go along with Weis’ NFL career.
While the staff suffered a major blow when heart bypass surgery forced Cutcliffe to resign over the summer before ever coaching in a game, the first edition of Weis’ staff still looked like the one he designed -- a collection of coaches brought together to help Notre Dame win.
Of course, that didn’t exactly happen. Latina was pushed out after mediocre line play in favor of Frank Verducci. Bill Lewis retired to take an administration job. Haywood moved on to a head coaching job. Minter was dismissed in favor of Corwin Brown and a 3-4 scheme, who gave way to Jon Tenuta. Oliver was the scapegoat for an underwhelming defensive front, replaced by grizzled veteran Randy Hart and the upstart former All-Pro Bryant Young.
Looking back, it’s easy to see that instability atop the Irish football program played a huge role in some of the struggles that took place in Weis’ final three seasons. But the high profile nature of the coaching staff -- a group of mostly veteran coaches that had each reached professional heights before coming to South Bend -- also colored the lenses through which the average fan looked at Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame staff as he began assembling it.
Kelly’s plan was basically the antithesis of what his predecessor laid out. Every member of Kelly’s staff, with the exception of holdover Tony Alford and offensive line coach Ed Warinner, had a direct connection to Notre Dame’s new head coach. While Weis favored resumes, Kelly built a core staff that was young and hungry.
This is the 2009 coaching staff that Kelly announced.
Bob Diaco: Defensive Coordinator / Inside Linebackers -- DC under Kelly at Cincinnati
Charley Molnar: Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks -- Passing Game coordinator at Cincinnati
Tony Alford: Wide Receivers -- Kelly holdover.
Kerry Cooks: Outside Linebackers -- Hired by Kelly at CMU, played with Diaco at Iowa.
Mike Denbrock: Tight Ends -- Coached at Grand Valley with Kelly, Former ND asst.
Mike Elston: Defensive Line / Special Teams Coordinator -- With Kelly at CMU and Cincinnati
Tim Hinton: Running Backs -- With Kelly at Cincinnati
Chuck Martin: Defensive Backs / Recruiting Coordinator -- Took over Grand Valley State program
Ed Warinner: Offensive Line -- No connection to Kelly. Ohio native & former Kansas OC
Paul Longo: Director of Strength and Conditioning -- With Kelly at CMU and Cincinnati.
A group that was initially labeled as “small timey” by skeptical fans has stayed mostly in place. It has also earned its place in college football as one of the hardest working, most energetic staffs in the game.
While this group hasn’t stayed completely in tact, the changes in the group feel more evolutionary than anything else. Molnar, who made the only climb up the ranks when he ascended to offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, exited to take the UMass head job, no golden parachute, but a timely exit after Kelly had all but assured sweeping changes to the offense after 2010. Hinton and Warinner, who left Kelly’s staff to move to Urban Meyer’s at Ohio State, always felt more like outsiders compared to the core of the staff, and Warinner’s departure also likely factored into him being bypassed for the vacant offensive coordinator position.
Kelly didn’t reach far outside his network to make hires. He promoted from within, moving Chuck Martin to offensive coordinator and pulling Scott Booker up from the offensive intern ranks to tight ends coach. He also relied on Bob Diaco and Kerry Cooks’ relationship with Bobby Elliott to solidify the defense, bringing in a veteran coach that wasn’t exactly the norm on the staff, but was beloved by his two superiors after mentoring the duo at Iowa. The hiring of Harry Hiestand was another reach outside of the network, but Kelly said he talked with a large group of contacts before deciding to bring in the former Chicago Bears, Cincinnati and Illinois coach, and the Joe Moore disciple has rewarded his head coach with strong line play and immediate praise from the players.
After two years of building cohesiveness and ironing out some kinks, the 2012 coaching staff is as close to perfect as you can be in college football.
In Bob Diaco, Kelly has a rising star in the ranks, a passionate leader that is beloved by his players and embodies the effort and determination he expects from his team. With Chuck Martin coordinating the offense under Kelly’s direction, they have a leader that won’t flinch in critical moments, with Martin deserving massive amounts of credit for preparing Everett Golson and bringing the best out of him on the big stage.
The continuity on the staff has also been key. If Diaco ends up Barry Alvarez’s choice at Wisconsin, Kelly has the opportunity to promote from within, with three capable choices in Cooks, already his co-defensive coordinator, Elliott or Mike Elston. Offensively, character assistants like Hiestand and Denbrock, who has done a tremendous job in his second tour at Notre Dame, don’t seem like candidates to bolt at the next big offer, and Tony Alford’s ability to cross-train on Kelly’s staff should give him the opportunity to move to coordinator if and when Martin gets a head coaching opportunity.
Just as important, Kelly is building a farm system of coaches that will be ready to step into a role. Ernest Jones was brought into the fold to take a non-coaching role, but rest assured he’ll have a job on staff when one opens up. Bill Brechin has spent three years as an offensive intern and graduate assistant, and he’ll likely work his way to a promotion as well. David Grimes is working with the staff as well as a defensive intern, adding another ND graduate to the bullpen. While there are certainly scary scenarios out there if coaches move on, Kelly has built in provisions that should help keep continuity and keep the head coach from spending time coaching his coaches.
While there’s still one very big game left, the 2012 season will be remember as a year where the Irish caught lightning in a bottle. But Kelly seems to have done the same with his coaching staff, putting together the perfect combination of assistants to help propel Notre Dame to a perfect regular season.