A few weeks after head trainer Jim Russ announced his departure, there’s more major change in the medical department of Notre Dame athletics.
From the official release at UND.com:SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Dr. David Bankoff and Dr. Willard Yergler, who have combined for 66 years of service to the University of Notre Dame athletics department and most notably to the football program, are retiring as team physicians for the Irish athletics program. South Bend Orthopaedics made the announcement today.
Dr. Bankoff started working with Notre Dame athletics in 1981 and with the 2010 football season concluded his 30th year of service to the University’s sports programs. Since 1983, he has served as Associate Director of Sports Medicine and also as a football team physician. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary membership in the Notre Dame Monogram Club, which is comprised of individuals who have earned the University’s varsity athletic insignia for their athletic or team support endeavors...
In the fall of 2010, Dr. Yergler quietly announced his retirement after 36 years - working with seven different Irish head coaches - as a Notre Dame football team physician. In 1974, Dr. Yergler started with the football program and also has treated athletes from all the sports. Besides a legacy of treating injured athletes, Dr. Yergler also personally sponsors a senior student athletic trainer award each year. In 2001 he was inducted into the Notre Dame Monogram Club as an honorary member.
For those keeping track, that’s nearly a complete clear-out of the medical staff in South Bend just a year after Brian Kelly took over in South Bend, something that’s far from coincidental. Both Bankoff and Yergler have spent literal decades in South Bend treating Notre Dame athletes, so this is a true changing of the guard.
Expect this to be an opportunity that’s fully embraced by the athletic department and some significant changes in the medical team that’s in charge of operating on Irish athletes in the future, as very few of the top athletes on campus had major surgeries performed by Bankoff or Yergler and instead looked to specialists.
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The buzz surrounding offensive line coach Ed Warinner and the Nebraska offensive coordinator position seems to have subsided, as Warner reportedly told Nebraska he wasn’t interested in the job.
From the Omaha World-Herald:One name that surfaced as a potential offensive assistant last week — Ed Warinner — said Tuesday that he’s staying at Notre Dame. Warinner would not confirm or deny that he had been contacted by Nebraska.
Warinner worked with Husker running backs coach Tim Beck at Kansas in 2007, when the Jayhawks went 12-1, averaged 42.8 points and finished No. 7 in the AP poll. Beck is the leading candidate to call plays for Pelini.
Warinner said Beck would excel in any role.
“He’s a hard worker, he’s good with the kids in terms of motivation and preparation,” Warinner said. “He’s able to handle pressure on Saturdays well. He’d a solid, solid football coach. Solid guy.”
If Pelini hands the offense to Beck, Nebraska is likely to embrace the no-huddle, spread principles that swept through the Big 12 the past five years.
“It’s high-speed football,” Warinner said.
I would’ve been surprised if Warinner exited South Bend just a year after openly lobbying for the offensive line position at Notre Dame, and after spending some time with Warinner last summer, he was incredibly happy with all things Irish. As for the job Pelini is filing, CFT’s John Taylor passes along the news that Pelini looked to Rich Fisher to fill the void, who walked away from a prep school football coaching gig and running a golf academy to join the staff.
Scott Frost, the former Cornhuskers quarterback, reportedly turned down the same position that Warinner did and decided to stay at Oregon as wide receivers coach, leading to the assumption that the opening was less of a coordinator position and more of a position coach.
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One of the unsung coaches on the Irish staff, football intern Scott Booker was selected for the NCAA Football Coaches Academy, where he’ll be one of 30 coaches invited to the workshop Booker works along with coaching intern Bill Brechin, and graduate assistants Jon Carpenter and Michael Painter, supporting the coaching staff.
The mission of the NCAA Football Coaches Academy is to assist ethnic minority football coaches with career advancement through skills enhancement, networking and exposure opportunities while raising awareness regarding the substantial pool of talented ethnic minority coaches.
The objectives of the program are to: increase the understanding and application of skills necessary to secure head coaching positions, increase the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for success in head coaching at the intercollegiate level, motivate assistant coaches and coordinators to pursue careers as head coaches at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, introduce ethnic minority coaches to senior-level coaches and administrators, raise public awareness of the existing talent pool of ethnic minority coaches and promote the coaching profession to student-athletes, graduate assistants and others.
The Football Coaches Academy is designed to improve and reinforce various aspects of securing, managing and excelling in head football coaching positions at the intercollegiate level. Recognized football coaches, leaders in athletics and higher education will serve as faculty for the three-day workshop.
Coaches must apply to attend the workshop and are required to have at least three years college football coaching experience. The NCAA also offers a Future Football Coaches Academy for recent graduates interested in the coaching profession as well as an Expert Coaches Academy that requires at least eight years of college football coaching experience.
Booker had been a position coach at the D-I level for five seasons, at his alma mater Kent State as well as Western Kentucky. He was a four-year letter winner as a safety at Kent State and is an impressive guy, getting some diversity on his coaching resume as he works with the offense after spending five years on the other side of the ball.
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Former Irish safety Chinedum Ndukwe was honored Thursday by Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory who announced that it was Chinedum Ndukwe Day in the city, in celebration of his public work and service in the community.
“It’s an honor, a humbling experience for them to think enough for the work that my foundations done in the city of Cincinnati. To give me a day that will forever be here, long after all of us are gone,” said Ndukwe.
For a nice video of the honor, click this link.
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Speaking of awards, WNDU’s Jeff Jeffers, who has spent over three decades covering the Irish for the local NBC affiliate was honored at the “You Can Lend a Hand” fundraiser at St. Mary’s College, which has raised over $8 million for Michiana’s Catholic Schools since 1982.
“To say I’m humbled is a great understatement,” said Jeffers. “I’m shocked, I’m surprised, I’m feeling great. This only adds to my mental recovery, which is of course questionable at best.”
That Jeffers is back at events after suffering a stroke in 2010 is great news. Here’s one guy wishing him continued success on his road to recovery.