SOUTH BEND — For the second straight year, Super Bowl Sunday has brought change to the Notre Dame football coaching staff.
Safeties coach Chris O’Leary, according to multiple published reports, is headed to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers in the same role. A year ago, it was offensive line coach Harry Hiestand announcing his retirement on Super Sunday.
At 32, O’Leary was the youngest full-time assistant on the Notre Dame coaching staff, where he recently completed his third year as safeties coach and his sixth overall in South Bend.
The Terre Haute native and Indiana State product interviewed last spring with the Baltimore Ravens, who have come to rely heavily on former O’Leary pupil Kyle Hamilton.
Mike Mickens, Notre Dame’s well-regarded cornerbacks coach and defensive pass-game coordinator, could assume responsibility for the Irish secondary as a whole. Graduate assistant Max Bullough, the former Michigan State and NFL standout, coached linebackers last season for Notre Dame and could be in line for a promotion to a full assistant’s role.
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With Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers, O’Leary will be reunited with two of his mentors: former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Mike Elston, who coached Notre Dame’s defensive line during O’Leary’s first four seasons as a defensive analyst (2018-19), graduate assistant (2020) and safeties coach (2021) with the Irish.
The son of former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Rick Minter was defensive coordinator at Indiana State during O’Leary’s playing career as a wide receiver. Jesse Minter, 40, started his career as a defensive intern at Notre Dame (2006) and also ran the defense at FCS-level Georgia when O’Leary was a defensive grad…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-football-loses-safeties-212900531.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2024-02-11 21:29:00
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