The Overhaul Continues with a New Special Teams Coach

Notre Dame made another rumored football staff addition official today: Brian Polian will return to South Bend, joining Brian Kelly’s staff as the new special teams coordinator. Polian was with Charlie Weis throughout his Notre Dame tenure, serving as a defensive assistant from 2005 to 2007 and as the special teams coordinator from 2005 to 2009. After Weis was fired Polian still wanted to be at Notre Dame; Kelly decided instead to give the special teams job to Mike Elston, though, who had held the same title at Cincinnati. Whatever bad blood may have existed from that parting was obviously minimal, if it existed as all, as both men found cause to leave the past alone.

After leaving Notre Dame, Polian worked at Stanford for two years under Harbaugh and Shaw, then headed to Texas A&M and Kevin Sumlin’s staff for one year. He was the special teams coordinator at both stops; at Stanford he also coached safeties and was the recruiting coordinator, while at A&M he coached tight ends. From A&M, Nevada hired Polian for their head job, then dismissed him recently at the end of his fourth season with an overall record of 23-27. The Brian Polian that comes to Notre Dame now, with four years of head coaching experience and time on the staffs of Jim Harbaugh, David Shaw, Kevin Sumlin, and Charlie Weis, is no doubt a much more knowledgeable and mature version than the 31-year-old that Weis hired away from George O’Leary’s Central Florida staff in 2005.

It’s not clear at this time whether Polian will have duties beyond special teams – the official university press release only says he’s rejoining the program as special teams coordinator. If that really is all he’ll do, it means that Kelly is extremely serious about righting the special teams ship and also that there will have to be some creative shuffling of the staff to cover Scott Booker’s position group, tight ends, without going over the nine-assistant NCAA limit. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Recruiting…

Polian has a reputation for being a high-energy, passionate football lifer, and for expecting the same high energy level from his special teams units. That in itself should be music to Irish fans’ ears given the (charitably speaking) uneven special teams play of the Kelly era, but what will really get their hearts a-flutter is that Polian is an excellent recruiter. In fact, with his hire now official, he may automatically become the best recruiter on the Notre Dame staff. His dogged recruitment of Manti Te’o is the stuff of legend – he’s probably still using the frequent flier miles he racked up back then – but he’s not just a one-trick pony. I looked at the results for the guys who had been with Kelly for most of his time at Notre Dame and none of them comes remotely close to Polian’s Notre Dame results. Not Mike Denbrock, not Mike Elston, not Harry Hiestand, not even Tony Alford. Hiestand tops Polian in quantity, although of course his list is composed exclusively of offensive linemen so it’s a bit different. Quality? Forget it.

In five recruiting cycles at Notre Dame, Polian was the primary recruiter on three 247 Composite five-star signees and one near-five-star: Jimmy Clausen (#1 overall), Manti Te’o (#4), Dayne Crist (#19), and Kyle Rudolph (#29, two spots away from a five-star rating that year). Alford, Hiestand, Denbrock, and Elston combined have two five-stars and three top-30 players across a combined 28 recruiting cycles at Notre Dame: Jaylon Smith (#2, Elston), Tommy Kraemer (#27, Hiestand, high four-star), and Max Redfield (#30, Denbrock). Polian signed six top 100 kids, compared to Hiestand’s six, Alford’s four, Denbrock’s two, and Elston’s two. He signed nine top 200 kids, compared to Hiestand’s 13, Elston’s eight, Denbrock’s seven, and Alford’s six. And again, all those guys have had more cycles at Notre Dame than Polian did. He collected more talent, and better talent, in less time than Kelly’s other top recruiters. The next time someone says, “Yeah, he got Te’o, but so what? What else did he ever do?” Well, you’ll know what to say now.

Other Changes Afoot

It’s been about a month since the 2016 season mercifully came to a close – and what a whirlwind month it’s been. Here’s a quick recap of the staff changes that have already occurred and some of the rumored changes still out there.

Departures:

  • Brian VanGorder, defensive coordinator, fired mid-season.
  • Scott Booker, tight ends/special teams coordinator, fired post-season.
  • Mike Sanford, quarterbacks/co-offensive coordinator, took head job at Western Kentucky.
  • Paul Longo, strength and conditioning director, demoted/reassigned/something (depending on who you ask).

Known Additions:

  • Mike Elko, defensive coordinator
  • Brian Polian, special teams coordinator

Buzz on Other Spots:

  • Brian Kelly will probably go back to calling plays next year, but whoever calls plays, it won’t be Denbrock.
  • Elko will get to choose his staff, with Keith Gilmore a presumed casualty but nothing close to official until Elko gets to meet with everyone.
  • Mike Elston and Todd Lyght both seem relatively likely to return.
  • If Gilmore is out and Elston returns, Elston could possibly move back to defensive line, and Wake Forest linebacker coach Clark Lea could follow Elko to Notre Dame.
  • Alternatively, Elston could stay with the linebackers and Elko could look to hire a defensive line coach who is an elite teacher and recruiter. Penn State DL coach Sean Spencer worked for Elko at Hofstra and Bowling Green, which has caused some people to connect some dots that may or may not be there.
  • The wild card here is if Elston, for one reason or another, doesn’t return. He’s expected back as of now, but the defensive side of the ball is very fluid.
  • Mike Denbrock, Harry Hiestand, and Autry Denson are all expected to return.
  • Kelly was rumored to have interviewed Pitt OC Matt Canada (hired by Ed Orgeron at LSU), Baylor OC Kendall Briles (hired by Lane Kiffin at FAU), and San Jose State OC Al Borges. Details are extremely fuzzy, to the point that nobody is really sure whether those were interviews or mind-mapping sessions or something in between.
  • Jeff Quinn, Kelly’s offensive coordinator at Cincinnati and currently an offensive analyst at Notre Dame, was at one point rumored to be headed to an on-field role next year. It’s difficult to see how that squares with all the other changes, though, so I’m not sure I’m fully bought into this one. Particularly if Polian really is “just” the special teams coordinator, I just can’t see a spot for Quinn.
  • Kelly has been quietly interviewing strength & conditioning candidates, with the intent of hiring a substantial name to take the program in a new direction. Precious little info of any real value has leaked out about the search, but consensus seems to be that Kelly is willing to make a dramatic shift here.

There has been an awful lot to keep track of this offseason; hopefully our semi-brief recap here will help. On the one hand, this level of change is a little frightening, but on the other hand, all of these changes had to be made and they seem like they’re changes in the right direction.