Earlier this season when former Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen popped up on NBC’s studio coverage it got me thinking about Irish alums and their (perceived) lack of entry in to the coaching professions. This was aided by Brady Quinn’s recent emergence* as a color commentator and studio analyst with Fox Sports. They are joined by a long list of Notre Dame alums populating the football media:

Steve Beuerlein, Aaron Taylor, Joe Theismann, Tom Thayer, Evan Sharpley, Gerry DiNardo, Rocky Boiman, and both Mike Golics’s to name a few.

*I’m sure many of you have a man crush on Quinn and think he’d be a great future head coach at Notre Dame. Yeah, it’d be nice. However, he’s freaking phenomenal as a color commentator so we’ll have to sacrifice this one because there are too few of those in the game. I don’t know if he has a natural likable charisma like Kirk Herbstreit but at 32 Quinn is quickly on a similar career path.

Notre Dame’s first coach (technically, the first two) was a Michigan alum. However, alums coaching at Notre Dame used to be virtually a requirement. From 1918 until 1963 every non-interim head coach for the Irish was a former football player at Notre Dame. Times have changed as every coach since hasn’t been a former football player, although Charlie Weis was an alum, of course.

Is it common for alums to coach at their alma mater, though?

Richt, Harbaugh, Gundy, Kingsbury, Smart, Fitzgerald, Chryst, Sitake, Calhoun, and Shaw.

Those are the major coaches currently doing so, it’s a small list out of 100+ programs but it’s not an insignificant one, either. A few of them have major bowl wins and a couple others are in the conversation as the best coaches in their school’s history.

Former Players in the Coaching Ranks

Tom Clements ’75
Associate Head Coach, Green Bay Packers

Skip Holtz ’87
Head Coach, Louisiana Tech

Andy Heck ’89
Offensive Line Coach, Kansas City Chiefs

Steve Belles ’90
Head Coach, Hamilton High School

Greg Hudson ’90
Defensive Analyst, Notre Dame

Tim Grunhard ’90
Offensive Line Coach, Bishop Miege High School

Todd Lyght ’91
Defensive Back Coach, Notre Dame

Jeff Burris ’94
Analyst, Notre Dame

Ron Powlus ’97
Director of Player Development, Notre Dame

Autry Denson ’99
Running Back Coach, Notre Dame

Jarious Jackson ’00
Quarterback Coach, Saskatchewan Roughriders

Anthony Weaver ’02
Defensive Line Coach, Houston Texans

Maurice Stovall ’06
Wide Receivers Coach, IMG Academy

Derek Landri, ’07
Head Coach, St. Joe’s Collegiate Institute High School

Maurice Crum Jr. ’08
Cornerbacks Coach, Indiana State

David Grimes ’09
Assistant S&C Coach, Notre Dame

Justin Utupo ’14
Head Coach, Millikan High School

Tommy Rees ’14
Offensive Assitant, San Diego Chargers

If you have anyone to add to this list, please let me know.

I’d be interested to see how other major colleges compare but this doesn’t feel like many people in the coaching ranks when you consider we’re talking about three levels of football and hundreds of players throughout the years. I know that Notre Dame thinks it’s important to have alums come back in a coaching capacity because 9 of them are currently on staff in some form or have been in the past.

What’s frustrating is that no one on this list is showing any inclinations of being “The Guy” at some point in the future. Skip Holtz clearly has a leg up on the competition as an actual living, breathing college head coach but he’s no spring chicken and also a former walk-on who spent two years at Notre Dame after transferring from Holy Cross. His last name has brought him his minimal attraction as much as his alumni status.

Clements has been involved in rumors in years gone by but at 63 that ship has sailed.

Todd Lyght has a resume where you’d think he’d be an ideal candidate…if he was 10 years younger. Lyght waited several years after his NFL career to get into coaching and will be 48 next month as his career is just beginning. He could sky rocket through the ranks but he doesn’t look to have that “it” factor to do so.

Autry Denson is a little more intriguing. He also waited to get into coaching after his career ended but his life in the NFL wasn’t as long, thus he only just turned 40 years old.

Many have joked that Tommy Rees will be the future head coach but when you look at this he’s still only 24 years old. It remains to be seen if he’ll follow more in his father’s footsteps as a player personnel professional or if he’ll move into a full coaching role down the road. Interestingly, according to Lou Somogyi at Blue Gold Illustrated, Rees is a candidate to become the quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.

Speaking of quarterbacks coach, Ron Powlus once felt like he could be “The Guy” but his coaching career has gone nowhere. He’s coached QB’s at Notre Dame, Akron, and Kansas and is back at the position he began with back in 2005. You can’t have a lost decade like that in the formative years of your coaching career.

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If it’s the case that Notre Dame doesn’t have as many former players in the coaching ranks as some of its peers there’s probably a few good reasons.

The 40-year decision and improving value of a Notre Dame diploma doesn’t exactly help. Getting into coaching is a hard business on the wallet and it can take several years to begin earning solid money. It’s a tough situation to start at the bottom of the coaching ladder for peanuts when there’s the possibility of a $80,000 job and a clear path to a steady wealthy career in your early 20’s.

With Notre Dame’s two most recent high profile NFL quarterbacks the amount of media attention showered on them both opens doors and prepares players to make that smooth transition to the booth and/or studio.

There are a lot of reasons NOT to get into coaching which is why the best candidates are probably from the NFL ranks. Someone from there could be financially secure and still want to stay in football. Someone like, Golden Tate? He made over $3 million with the Seahawks but his career earnings should push towards $20 million once his contract is up with the Lions. I can see the “Golden Boy Returns Home” headlines now.