Landing A Top Offensive Line Coach Is Essential For Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame has seen its offensive staff go through a bit of an overhaul the last two weeks, but there is one final, and very important piece missing. Head coach Marcus Freeman promoted Gerad Parker to offensive coordinator and hired Gino Guidugli to coach the quarterbacks, and now his focus will shift entirely to finding an offensive line coach.
No matter what you think of the Parker and Guidugli hires, the key to their success is Freeman bringing in one of the nation's best offensive line coaches. Notre Dame is and should always be an offensive line driven offense, and as we've seen the last decade, hiring the right offensive line coach is essential to that being a reality.
When Harry Hiestand was coaching the line the Irish consistently put one of the nation's best group of blockers on the field. During the stretch between his tenures (2012-17 and 2022), having a great line was the exception, not the rule.
With Hiestand retiring last week, Freeman must do what it takes to ensure his replacement is of the same caliber. Notre Dame returns arguably the best tackle tandem in the country in Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, a veteran center coming off a strong season (Zeke Correll), and a very talented returning roster to go with one of the nation's best line hauls in the 2023 cycle.
Notre Dame also returns a talented backfield, has a talented wide receiver group, talented tight ends and a quarterback room that is suddenly quite deep and talented. Moral of the story, Freeman has quite a product to sell to potential offensive line candidates.
Freeman could take a chance on Chris Watt, who was the team's line GA last season, and is a Hiestand disciple. Watt oozes potential as a coach, but his lack of experience is a concern when coupled with the inexperience Parker has at offensive coordinator. Freeman could also try and bring in someone he has experience with, like BYU's Darrell Funk, who is considered one of the better line coaches in the country.
Of course, with the product he has to sell, Freeman could also open the job up to the best line coaches in both college football and the NFL. They are not only inheriting a very talented offensive line group, that group will have Hiestand's DNA on it, which will be an additional selling point to potential line candidates.
I could focus on listing a bunch of names, but that's not really the point here. There is more than just one offensive line coach that could thrive with this group. Freeman needs to do whatever it takes to ensure that he lands one of those coaches. Bringing in someone that can keep building on the foundation Hiestand laid will determine if Notre Dame has a really good offense next season, or if it will have an offense capable of competing for a championship.
The debacle with the offensive coordinator could give Freeman some leverage as well. Notre Dame's leadership faced significant backlash over its unwillingness to do what it takes to bring in the offensive coordinator that Freeman wanted. The odds of them making a similar mistake with the offensive line coach are likely slim, so Freeman can use that to push for the best of the best among line coaches. It's then up to the leadership that botched the OC situation to step up this time and make sure they don't make the same mistake with the line coach.
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