Report: Notre Dame to hire QB coach Gino Guidugli, formerly of Wisconsin and Cincinnati Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand announces retirement after one year in second Irish stint Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Tight ends, moving on from an all-time great Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Running backs, led by a familiar ‘three-headed monster’ At every step of his decade at Notre Dame, Tommy Rees provided stability otherwise lacking

Marcus Freeman hired another employee from his past who reportedly brought Gino Guidugli to the Notre Dame coaching staff as quarterbacks coach. Guidugli spent the last six years in Cincinnati and then spent the last two months in Wisconsin after the former Bearcats head coach. Luke Fickell brought some of his old staff to Madison.

ESPNPete Thamel first announced on Wednesday the Irish’s intention to hire Guidugli.

Source: Wisconsin assistant Gino Guidugli is expected to be the next quarterback coach at Notre Dame. Guidugli has spent the past two years as a consultant for Cincinnati, including the CFP bid and the 2021 Notre Dame win. He actively hired employees from the Midwest.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 15, 2023

He called games in Cincinnati for the last two seasons, leading an attack that not only beat Notre Dame at South Bend in 2021, but made the playoffs and then finished third in the AAC in 2022.

Perhaps most notably, Guidugli has been the quarterbacks coach for the past four of five years. Desmond Riddercollege career, turning the former two-star rookie into an NFL third-round draft pick and a four-game NFL starter in his rookie season.

Guidugli also has extensive recruiting experience in the Midwest, as evidenced by his four years of experience as a recruiting coordinator in Central Michigan. Along with Guidugli, three of Freeman’s hires over the past two winters submitted resumes labeled “recruitment coordinator,” joining the special teams coordinator. Brian Mason and current tight ends coach Just Parker. None of them officially hold that title in South Bend, which is a feature of the extended support staff, but they all understand the importance of being hired to create a consistent playoff contender.

Guidugli’s hiring comes after a tumultuous week for Freeman’s hiring process. After the former offensive coordinator Tommy Rhys left for Alabama earlier this month and former offensive line coach Harry Hystand resigned Sunday, it appeared Notre Dame was close to hiring a Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

Something went awry in that process and in handling Ludwig’s massive ransom from Utah. Public mockery of these events will affect the optics of any subsequent offensive coordinator hire, rightly or wrongly.

However, hiring a quarterbacks coach narrows down the offensive coordinator search to two distinct possibilities: Either Notre Dame will find an offensive line coach to serve as offensive coordinator, or it will find an internal candidate for the offensive coordinator position and then proceed to search for an offensive line. trainer.

Parker spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as West Virginia’s joint offensive coordinator, making him the most likely domestic candidate. But the Parker and Mountainers quarterbacks are being trained more thoroughly. Graham Harrell worked under the guidance of the head coach Neil Brownlongtime offensive coach who controlled that offense until the 2022 season.

When looking for an offensive coordinator, Freeman made play experience a priority, slightly ahead of schematic flexibility and quarterback development. By bringing in Guidugli, he may have solved the mystery of the game, as it has to do with Parker’s rise, and Ridder’s career itself is a testament to Guidugli’s ability to develop a quarterback.

A quarterback in his playing career, Guidugli set numerous career records in Cincinnati from 2001 to 2004. He then spent a season with the Tennessee Titans before winning in the Canadian Football League and several iterations of the Arena Football League for several years.

Based on the biography still hanging on the Cincinnati Athletic Department’s webpage, Guidugli is pronounced guh-doo-do.

GUIDUGLI’S COACHING CAREER
2010-12: Central Michigan – graduate student
2013-2016: Central Michigan – runner coach and recruiting coordinator.
2017: Cincinnati – running back coach
2018-19: Cincinnati – quarterbacks coach
2020-21: Cincinnati – quarterbacks coach and passing coordinator
2022: Cincinnati – quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator.

@d_farmer tweet

Whoever Marcus Freeman is hiring Notre Dame as the next Offensive Coordinator, now he has his first task: to hire an offensive line coach after Harry Hystand announced his retirement on Sunday evening. Hystand returned to the Irish coaching staff just a year ago.

“I have made the decision to resign,” Khistand said in a statement. “It’s important for me to spend time with my family as I have two kids competing in college track and field, one in my senior season, and I figured it was time for me to get involved.”

Hiestand works under Tommy Rhys for a year made sense; they bonded when Histand coached the line in front of Rhys as Notre Dame quarterback in his final two years as a player. Histand coached the Irish offensive line from 2012 to 2017 before moving to the Chicago Bears for a couple of seasons.

Working alongside Rees last year, during a time of some uncertainty, gave Notre Dame some offensive stability in Freeman’s debut season as head coach.

“I want to personally thank Coach Khistand for coming out of retirement in my first year as head coach and elevating not only our offensive line but our entire team,” Freeman said. “We are so grateful for all the work he has done in his two stays here at Notre Dame. Coach Khistand has excelled at the highest level of coaching and I am forever grateful to him for the wisdom he shared with me and with our entire coaching staff.”

Now that Rhys had become coordinator of the Alabama offensive, Hystand’s close connection to Notre Dame was gone, making this retirement more appropriate. Now the offensive coordinator hired by Freeman will have a maximum of a month to replenish his staff.

Histand compiled a long list of NFL flag bearers. Quenton Nelson, Ronnie Stanley, Zach Martin And Mike McGlinchey all were drafted in the first round. Nick Martin went to the second Chris Watt in third.

The 2020 line that propelled the Irish to the college football playoffs after an unbeaten regular season was also originally designed under Histand’s direction and all of them were hired by him. Liam Eichenberg And Aaron Banks both advanced to the subsequent second round, while Robert Hainsey went to the third. Undrafted free agent Tommy Kremer hooked up with the Detroit Lions, where he started three games in 2021.

Histand was also looking for undrafted free agents in 2019. Alex Bars And Sam Mustifer to work on his Bears offensive line. Mustifer became a starter for the Bears for three years, and Bars established himself as a starter for the Las Vegas Raiders last season after starting half of the 2020 season with the Bears.

Likewise, if the current Notre Dame left a tackle Joe Alt and the current right tackle Blake Fisher eventually hear their names in the NFL Draft, perhaps once in the 2024 draft, Hystand will earn some praise for his progress.

“I can’t even express this feeling in words.”

#SBLVII #VMFFestacada celebrates 50 years of women in naval aviation.

It will be conducted by a female crew from @USNavy including @NDAlumni Kathy Martinez is 14 years old! pic.twitter.com/yeGvsv6UFC

— University of Notre Dame (@NotreDame) February 12, 2023

The presence of two clear NFL prospects booking a line with a two-year-old in center should make this a very attractive job, not to mention one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the country and several capable running backs behind that line. Almost anyone can work…