Who is our new DC next year?

RudyVerse · Tuesday at 11:48 AM

Must just be me but I think ND fans are giving Denbrock a massive pass and just all in for torching Ash, which isn’t what I see.

GATTACA! · Tuesday at 12:15 PM

RudyVerse said:
Must just be me but I think ND fans are giving Denbrock a massive pass and just all in for torching Ash, which isn’t what I see.

The thing is, if Carr hits a bunch of simple passes he's perfectly capable of hitting 80% of the time, we win this game going away. Hell if he's able to fucking spike the ball we're kicking a chip shot FG to win. Neither of those are on Denbrock. He's got a boring archaic scheme but it's producing enough that we should be winning these marquee games we're losing.

Ash is just ass. His defenses wilt any time they're called on and he's a clear downgrade from Golden. For the amount of talent the defensive roster has his results aren't good enough. Denbrock is still fighting a knife fight with some spoons in the WR and TE rooms. Ash has everything a DC could want and still can't put it together.

Dale · Tuesday at 12:31 PM

ND put up over 350 yards of offense on both BYU and Wisconsin. Two Top 20 defenses at worst. One ended in 24 points and the other ended in 34 offensively.

The difference between Fire Denbrock and ND is #1 is entirely the execution of maybe 4 plays by Carr.

NDWarrior · Tuesday at 12:31 PM

thekid33 said:
Here's the thing....

We've played 3 legit teams during his tenure and we've lost all 3 games. Miami I put more on Denbrock, but A&M was on Ash and BYU is on both of them.

Both of their positive work is inflated at this point considering the schedule the past two seasons. When it's mattered the most they've each pooped the bed 2 times and it led to losing 3 games.

Obviously, we need to see how the rest of the season plays out.

But, if we don't make the playoff they can both hit the road as far as I am concerned. And, even if we make the playoff I wouldn't be upset if either of them left (assuming we don't win it all).

That's why I say missing the CFP last year left us in the dark regarding just how good or improved Ash and the D may have become (or not).

jprue24 · Tuesday at 12:41 PM

arrowryan said:
From my understanding, Freeman/ND encouraged Parker to interview at Troy. I don’t think they wanted him back.

Freeman is also the coach that fired Stuckey 24 hours after saying he hoped to bring all coaches back.

I would find it extremely concerning if they didn't. I always encourage people who work for/with me to pursue career advancement opportunities, regardless of how it affects my goals. I would hope Freeman does the same because he says he cares about his staff/players as people.

My understanding is that Stucky was smoking weed with players. I believe firing for misconduct is quite a bit different than firing for poor performance. Stucky's termination was probably out of Freeman's hands and he may have already known that on the Nov 27, 2023 media call. Hence, 'If it were up to me... I have a strong belief in the coaches that we have in this football program and would love all of them to be back,'

Here is the quote that informs my opinion,

"When evaluating Parker this year, Freeman can also point to his own first season as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator in 2017 when he worked under Luke Fickell.

'I think back to our first year as a coordinator and our staff,' Freeman recalled. 'We had a great staff and I think we finished when I was at Cincinnati 90-something in the country and thank God Coach Fickell didn’t make a change and he gave me and the staff the ability to work through some of the deficiencies that we had, and we were able to improve. That’s the same thing I’ve just reiterated to our coaching staff is that I believe the number one thing is the consistency in terms of what we’re doing so our players can continue to play at a higher level, play fast and be able to enhance as we move forward.'

Marcus Freeman Backs Gerad Parker But Knows The Notre Dame Offense Must Improve

While Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will have offensive coordinator Gerad Parker back next year, he pinpoints where improvement must be made

www.si.com

I understand that Ash is not a new coordinator, but I think the bold is going to inform Freeman's retention philosophy unless/until it burns the shit out of him because, "I can fix him". It also fits easily within his overall message about hard work and delayed gratification.

NDFAN2008 · Tuesday at 1:02 PM

Yeah I'm not 100% on the fire Denbrock side of things but he def needs to bring in some new fresh plays or ideas. IDK maybe you let GIO have a say or something. He needs to throw in some different looks. Whatever he has been hiding in his playbook needs to come out against Miami. We need to catch them offguard. Denbrock can't make guys hit throws or catch the ball, or even spike it. Shit say Carr hits Faison on the first drive, we score a touchdown on the drive before half, and then score again on the last drive of the game. We essentially left 18 points on the board. Coulda scored 42 on BYU?!

Giddyup · Tuesday at 1:41 PM

Bring back Bob Diaco baby

laughingirish92 · Tuesday at 3:26 PM

if we need a new DC according to whoever then so does half of the top 25 after this past weekend

Free Manera · Tuesday at 3:28 PM

I feel like it's going to be Mickens.

SportsingHard · Tuesday at 3:47 PM

JerseyIrishMan said:
The only way to mention Marcus and Ara in the same breath.

Who are the two best coaches since Leahy by winning percentage? Ara Parseghian and Marcus Freeman.

Leahy retired 73 years ago.

bkess8 · Tuesday at 3:49 PM

laughingirish92 said:
if we need a new DC according to whoever then so does half of the top 25 after this past weekend

I really get tired of this kind of thinking. I will use what Saban always said and that is "The standard is the standard"! Our defense is not living up to the standard and that can be attributed to the staff so something needs to be fixed and I could care less on what is happening at any other program around the country.

SportsingHard · Tuesday at 3:51 PM

laughingirish92 said:
if we need a new DC according to whoever then so does half of the top 25 after this past weekend

By some measures, ND still has the top defense in the country. Maybe all 138 teams need new DCs.

JerseyIrishMan · Tuesday at 3:51 PM

SportsingHard said:
Who are the two best coaches since Leahy by winning percentage? Ara Parseghian and Marcus Freeman.

Leahy retired 73 years ago.

Do you really want to compare MF to Ara?

NDFAN2008 · Tuesday at 4:04 PM

Free Manera said:
I feel like it's going to be Mickens.

Doubt it if they didn't go to him two years ago why now?

Free Manera · Tuesday at 4:08 PM

NDFAN2008 said:
Doubt it if they didn't go to him two years ago why now?

A couple years of NFL experience. I just feel like Brice dropping the "Mickens is going to be a DC sooner rather than later" or however he said it means something. He doesn't seem like a throw it at the wall and see what sticks kind of guy but who knows.

NDFAN2008 · Tuesday at 4:28 PM

Free Manera said:
A couple years of NFL experience. I just feel like Brice dropping the "Mickens is going to be a DC sooner rather than later" or however he said it means something. He doesn't seem like a throw it at the wall and see what sticks kind of guy but who knows.

I didn't realize Brice said that where did he say that at?

Giddyup · Tuesday at 4:41 PM

ND is still a very tempting job. MF could probably have his pick of any fbs DC outside about 15 teams. Thats what Miami did when they hired Minnesota’s DC and turned around that dumpster fire at Miami quick.

thekid33 · Tuesday at 4:44 PM

Giddyup said:
ND is still a very tempting job. MF could probably have his pick of any fbs DC outside about 15 teams. Thats what Miami did when they hired Minnesota’s DC and turned around that dumpster fire at Miami quick.

Exactly

We don't need to settle on retreds with ties to Tressell.

SportsingHard · Tuesday at 4:44 PM

JerseyIrishMan said:
Do you really want to compare MF to Ara?

It's real simple man. For some reason you can't accept that Freeman's the second best ND coach since Leahy. I don't know why, but that's your issue. If you want to post your whereabouts, maybe the guys here can help you locate a therapist.

JerseyIrishMan · Tuesday at 4:45 PM

SportsingHard said:
It's real simple man. For some reason you can't accept that Freeman's the second best ND coach since Leahy. I don't know why, but that's your issue. If you want to post your whereabouts, maybe the guys here can help you locate a therapist.

Comparing Freeman to Ara is laughable. 99.9% of ND fans understand this... you're actually the only one I've seen try to mention them in the same breath. Pretty funny.

SportsingHard · Tuesday at 4:47 PM

JerseyIrishMan said:
Comparing Freeman to Ara is laughable. 99.9% of ND fans understand this... you're actually the only one I've seen try to mention them in the same breath. Pretty funny.

Are you truly illiterate or just pretending for fun?

JerseyIrishMan · Tuesday at 4:51 PM

SportsingHard said:
Are you truly illiterate or just pretending for fun?

Please, go on about your idea that Freeman will retire at 41 because the ND fan base is so full of petulant meanies that will drive him away just like they did Ara. Lolol

NDFAN2008 · Tuesday at 4:52 PM

Giddyup said:
ND is still a very tempting job. MF could probably have his pick of any fbs DC outside about 15 teams. Thats what Miami did when they hired Minnesota’s DC and turned around that dumpster fire at Miami quick.

Don't you think guys were lining up 2 years ago after Golden left? I'd be curious to get an inside list of guys who applied. Chris Ash there is no way was the best guy. I'd bet there was probally 5 guys better than him who applied.

Giddyup · Tuesday at 4:52 PM

Hey! This is my thread. Go make love about MF and Ara somewhere else

PolishDomer · Tuesday at 5:38 PM

Hey guys! I'm available...

thekid33 · Tuesday at 5:57 PM

PolishDomer said:
Hey guys! I'm available...

Elite GIF

Shit coach

Free Manera · Tuesday at 6:25 PM

NDFAN2008 said:
I didn't realize Brice said that where did he say that at?

It’s one of his replies here. “Someone will make Mike Mickens a DC or head coach; that entity will not regret the decision.”

Bane · Tuesday at 9:48 PM

bkess8 said:
I really get tired of this kind of thinking. I will use what Saban always said and that is "The standard is the standard"! Our defense is not living up to the standard and that can be attributed to the staff so something needs to be fixed and I could care less on what is happening at any other program around the country.

PREACH. I don't care what other programs do or allow on their teams. I care about ND. Standards and expectations have been raised and set by Freeman himself. Recruiting, power rankings, analytics, all that jazz is great, but at some point it has to produce real world results. ND's defense does not pass the "eye test" in our past 3 big time games (really 4 if you include USC where the defense was not great either) under Ash. Too much talent on that team that will be playing on Sundays to allow "Bear Bachmeier" to look like Peyton Manning. We can't let good enough be the enemy of greatness.

IrishSpartan · 2026-10-21T11:03:55-0400

Golden, if they want to win now. Mickens if there a long term plan

Giddyup · 2026-10-21T11:54:29-0400

Fug it. Mike Tressel. Keep that UW train rolling. Honestly with our talent he would probably kill it here

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