Max Bullough's Path To Notre Dame Bodes Well For The Present And Future At Linebacker

Notre Dame linebackers coach Max Bullough steps into his new role with the right kind of pedigree

Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman has been busy this offseason as he continues to build up the Irish program, and making strong hires is part of that process. Recently, Freeman made the decision to promote Max Bullough from graduate assistant coach to full-time linebackers coach, and the move shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.

It's not often that a coach goes from being a graduate assistant coach to being a full-time coach at a place like Notre Dame. Bullough is not your typical graduate assistant coach, and his path to getting this position provides a great amount of confidence that the linebacker position at Notre Dame is in a great place, both in the present and future.

Bullough has a background filled with experience and great mentors, two ingredients that can play a very big role in the making of a successful football coach. For Bullough, from the moment he stepped foot on a college campus until the moment he was hired at Notre Dame he was surrounded by great defensive minds that helped prepare him for this moment.

PLAYING EXPERIENCE

Bullough played as a true freshman at Michigan State, starting at inside linebacker for the Spartans. He spent the next three seasons as a starting backer for Michigan State and he was an outstanding college football player.

Bullough earned first team Freshman All-American honors from ESPN as a true freshman. Over the next three seasons he earned a second-team All-Big Ten honor (2011) and two first-team All-Big Ten honors (2012, 2013). As a senior (2013), Bullough was named a third-team All-American from the Associated Press and Lindy's Sports. The Michigan native finished his Spartan career with 299 tackles, 31 tackles for loss, eight sacks and three interceptions.

While that experience playing the position was incredibly valuable, who he spent his four seasons playing for was also important. The head coach at Michigan State during his career was Mark Dantonio, a coach known as one of the best defensive minds in the game, and someone who was all about being smart and tough. Bullough's defensive coordinator was Pat Narduzzi (now the head coach at Pitt) and his position coach was Mike Tressel (now the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin).

Bullough was also a two-time captain during his career at Michigan State.

Bullough spent three seasons playing in the National Football League as a member of the Houston Texans. Bullough's defensive coordinator in Houston was four-time Super Bowl champion coordinator Romeo Crennel, and his position coach was Mike Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a linebacker for the Patriots and went on to become the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

That experience as a player would be a strong resume builder by itself, but Bullough has continued learning from some of the best defensive minds in the game as a coach as well.

His first coaching experience was as a graduate assistant coach at Cincinnati back in 2019. That was Bullough's first chance to work with Marcus Freeman, who was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Bearcats.

After one season in the Queen City, Bullough moved onto Alabama, where he spent the next three seasons as a graduate assistant coach. Bullough was part of the 2020 Alabama team that beat Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff and went on to win the national championship. 

That experience allowed Bullough to learn the game under Nick Saban, who is not only the greatest coach of this generation, he's also one of the best defensive minds to ever coach in the college game.

Freeman hired Bullough as a graduate assistant for the 2023 season, and he was given more responsibility than your typical GA. While Bullough was able to take more of a lead at the linebacker position, he was also still in the learning phase, this time being able to learn from current Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden.

Nick Saban, Marcus Freeman, Mark Dantonio, Mike Vrabel, Romeo Crennel, Pat Narduzzi and Mike Tressel ... those are the coaches that Bullough has been able to learn the game from in the last 14 seasons. We haven't even talked about the fact his father (Shane) was also a starting linebacker at Michigan State.

Linebacker is Freeman's baby, it's the position he played and spent his entire career coaching, and he's not going to turn that position over to just anyone. When you look at Bullough's mentors, you can understand why he was able to impress Freeman and Golden so much in one season, why players speak highly of him, and why the future of the linebacker position is in very, very good hands moving forward.

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