Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/462058
UNDER THE DOME TRIO DEPARTS IRISH COACHING STAFF The last time Notre Dame lost three assistant coaches in one offseason, the Irish followed it up with an undefeated regular season and a trip to the BCS National Championship Game the next campaign. Fans of the program can only hope that history repeats itself. From Feb. 1-7, Notre Dame lost three of its nine assistant coaches. Two departed for high-profile college assistant jobs while the third left South Bend for the NFL. On Feb. 1, three days prior to National Signing Day, reports indicated that defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks would leave the Irish staff for the same position with Oklahoma. "ND I want to say thank for all your support over the last 5 years, u guys are awesome! Much love & success to you guys!" Cooks tweeted Feb. 5. On National Signing Day, Notre Dame in- formed incoming quarterback signee Brandon Wimbush that Irish quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur would be leaving for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. When asked about possible coaching vacan- cies during his National Signing Day press con- ference, Kelly declined to discuss the matter. "We've got nine coaches today," Kelly said. "We've got nine coaches today. We're going to talk recruiting today. "So any changes that we have on the staff, we will definitely get you up to date on it, but I'm not going to get into today talking about coaches and who is coming, who's staying." Perhaps the most surprising departure came later that week when Ohio State head coach Ur- ban Meyer hired Irish running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Tony Alford to his staff as running backs coach and assistant head coach. A source told Blue & Gold Illustrated that much of Alford's decision to leave had to do with his future in the industry and a feeling that his role with Notre Dame had not brought significant interest from other schools in head coaching jobs. Twice, including this offseason, his alma mater of Colorado State interviewed him but did not hire him for its vacancy. Alford marks the third Buckeyes assistant that Meyer hired from Notre Dame, joining Ed Warinner and Tim Hinton from the 2012 offseason. While the Irish can likely replace the coaching ability of the three departed assistants, it's on the recruiting trail where Kelly and Co. might struggle the most. Alford is regarded as one of the nation's top recruiters, particularly in Florida. In recent years he recruited and signed running backs Tarean Folston and Greg Bryant, Tony Alford, an Irish assistant since serving under former head coach Charlie Weis in 2009, departed in February to become running backs coach and assistant head coach at Ohio State. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND