Notre Dame Hires Mike Brown as WR Coach

[Giddyup]

Idk. Denbrock has led potent passing attacks too. He had two nfl guys at WR last year for LSU and they were like top 5 in passing and rushing. I think this year our qb just is more comfortable throwing intermediate routes.

 

[fightingirish26]

Kyren Williams is a household name, and guys like Estime and J Love are well known among football fans as well. Along with our established OL production line, we should attract the talent to have a plus rushing attack year after year. It's just not going to be easy to land the top 100 receivers with the cold spell we're in right now in terms of passing offense.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Freeman's mentors are Lou Holtz and Jim Tressel. I needn't remind anyone here what their offenses looked like when they were head coaches.

 

[NDdomer2]

Saban built his empire on running the football and playing good defense. The wr skill players still came year after year. It's not the style of offense that is a turn off for the wr's it's the lack of production and development.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Saban built his empire on running the football and playing good defense. The wr skill players still came year after year. It's not the style of offense that is a turn off for the wr's it's the lack of production and development.

It is, though. He changed his offense. He went from AJ McCarron to Bryce Young because he adapted. Subsequently, the WR followed.

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Is it possible that Mike Brown has been on the job for less than a year and that he is still building relationships with high school coaching staffs that he hadn’t really been in contact with before? Recruiting at Wisconsin and especially Cincinnati is going to be much different compared to the path he is taking for ND recruits. Hearing that he is a very hard worker gives me some optimism. I don’t remember hearing that about Del Alexander on the recruiting trail. If you’ve ever been in the situation of building new business relationships, especially sales related, it takes a little while to get that train rolling.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Is it possible that Mike Brown has been on the job for less than a year and that he is still building relationships with high school coaching staffs that he hadn’t really been in contact with before? Recruiting at Wisconsin and especially Cincinnati is going to be much different compared to the path he is taking for ND recruits. Hearing that he is a very hard worker gives me some optimism. I don’t remember hearing that about Del Alexander on the recruiting trail. If you’ve ever been in the situation of building new business relationships, especially sales related, it takes a little while to get that train rolling.

It's absolutely possible.

He's on his third program in three years. Prior to Cincinnati he was at Liberty in 2018. He seems to be working his way around quickly within the Freeman-Fickell-Denbrock-Gino network.

 

[T-Boone]

Chansi also couldn’t get his guys off the LOS

That’s an interesting way to put it, like chess pieces.

 

[T-Boone]

Is it possible that Mike Brown has been on the job for less than a year and that he is still building relationships with high school coaching staffs that he hadn’t really been in contact with before? Recruiting at Wisconsin and especially Cincinnati is going to be much different compared to the path he is taking for ND recruits. Hearing that he is a very hard worker gives me some optimism. I don’t remember hearing that about Del Alexander on the recruiting trail. If you’ve ever been in the situation of building new business relationships, especially sales related, it takes a little while to get that train rolling.

Yes. Could be. We all wanted Al Golden gone after a year. Brown needs to have a turn around like that year 2.

 

[irishnd31]

Chansi also couldn’t get his guys off the LOS

But he could roll a tight, fat J with the players.... supposedly.

 

[BoredIrish]

What did Chansi do?

 

[ThePiombino]

Is it possible that Mike Brown has been on the job for less than a year and that he is still building relationships with high school coaching staffs that he hadn’t really been in contact with before? Recruiting at Wisconsin and especially Cincinnati is going to be much different compared to the path he is taking for ND recruits. Hearing that he is a very hard worker gives me some optimism. I don’t remember hearing that about Del Alexander on the recruiting trail. If you’ve ever been in the situation of building new business relationships, especially sales related, it takes a little while to get that train rolling.

Chansi proved you don't need more than 1 year to land commitments from blue chip prospects. So I can't accept this.

 

[mcbri014]

But he could roll a tight, fat J with the players.... supposedly.

More like Chansi sticky icky. Supposedly.

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Chansi proved you don't need more than 1 year to land commitments from blue chip prospects. So I can't accept this.

I think many on the IE board felt similar after Mike Mickens’ first year on the staff. I still think one year is not enough time and not every WR coach is going to step into a position with lots of contacts in the Texas HS system like Mr. Stuckey had. We also are not privy to the “culture” in the WR room that he inherited as there was quite a bit of chatter that the room with Stuckey at the helm had some issues. I guess we’ll have wait and see if Mike Brown shows progress but I’d suppose if he doesn’t in MF’s eyes then other options will be pursued. I’ve had a number of employees that took a while to get into a groove, some turned the corner, some didn’t and were sent to other pastures. The ones that did were most always the hardest working, the ones that didn’t had flaws including lack of passion to get better.

 

[Te'o4Heisman]

I think its wild that we still have armchair QBs in here that think they know more than MMFF about what the program needs or doesnt need, and what coaches need to stay or be let go.

 

[ThePiombino]

I think its wild that we still have armchair QBs in here that think they know more than MMFF about what the program needs or doesnt need, and what coaches need to stay or be let go.

You're right. We should always be 100% satisfied with the program and never question what's happening with the staff and certainly never ever want more. Complacency

 

[NDdomer2]

It is, though. He changed his offense. He went from AJ McCarron to Bryce Young because he adapted. Subsequently, the WR followed.

Tell me offense/QBs they were running with Julio Jones and Amari Cooper?

 

[Giddyup]

I don’t mind people calling out incompetence. But we’re #5 you don’t get there with an incompetent link. You’re barking up the wrong tree this year. If we get a stud thrower at qb and our guys aren’t getting open then u may have something

 

[arrowryan]

I don’t mind people calling out incompetence. But we’re #5 you don’t get there with an incompetent link. You’re barking up the wrong tree this year. If we get a stud thrower at qb and our guys aren’t getting open then u may have something

Like last year?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Tell me offense/QBs they were running with Julio Jones and Amari Cooper?

Jones was in a multiple pro style offense with McElwain as OC.

Amari Cooper was in multiple schemes under Nussmeier and Kiffin.

When Cooper left, along came Jalen Hurts.

 

[Rockin’Irish]

You're right. We should always be 100% satisfied with the program and never question what's happening with the staff and certainly never ever want more. Complacency

I would imagine the staff will never be satisfied, even if they sign every single 5 star player in a given class……that’s exactly where I want their mindset.

 

[ThePiombino]

I would imagine the staff will never be satisfied, even if they sign every single 5 star player in a given class……that’s exactly where I want their mindset.

Agreed.

 

[Irish du Nord]

Jones was in a multiple pro style offense with McElwain as OC.

Amari Cooper was in multiple schemes under Nussmeier and Kiffin.

When Cooper left, along came Jalen Hurts.

To your point, Jones’ sophomore year he had under 600 yds and led them in receiving as they won the National Championship. When your top three rushers get you 2700 yards your receiver development might dip a bit

 

[irishnd31]

More like Chansi sticky icky. Supposedly.

That’s who I meant… sorry 😂

 

[NDMatt91]

From what ISD is saying this morning, it sounds like there are really only 4 WR's that ND is seriously in on in the 2026 class. It's early, but given how he handled the 2025 WR class, it looks like Brown is playing with fire. Hopefully he can land them and doesn't get burned.

 

[NDFAN2008]

From what ISD is saying this morning, it sounds like there are really only 4 WR's that ND is seriously in on in the 2026 class. It's early, but given how he handled the 2025 WR class, it looks like Brown is playing with fire. Hopefully he can land them and doesn't get burned.

Yeah this is bad we already have Dylan Faison who I believe is going to be a great WR. After next year if everyone sticks around you'll have the following 9 guys and that's if they all stick around chances are 2-3 leave early or transfer out. That's 6 without the 2026 class. You'll need at least 4 guys in 2026. I think you might see one of Blair, Zackery, or Golden move to WR if things get dicey
Faison-Senior
Greathouse-Senior
KK Smith-Senior but will have 2 years left
Micah Gilbert-Junior but 3 years left
Cam Williams-Junior but 3 years left
Logan Saldate-Junior but 3 years left
Freshman coming in
Burress
Bettis Jr
Richardson

 

[irishff1014]

From what ISD is saying this morning, it sounds like there are really only 4 WR's that ND is seriously in on in the 2026 class. It's early, but given how he handled the 2025 WR class, it looks like Brown is playing with fire. Hopefully he can land them and doesn't get burned.

This where freeman should be stepping in.

 

[GATTACA!]

Why are we cursed with shitty WR coaches?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

420 rushing attempts this year. 326 passing attempts. Granted, they blew a lot of people out, but I'm wondering if WR are looking at the offense and wanting to go elsewhere. Coach Free has made no secret that he wants to run the ball first as a philosophy. His mentors are Lou Holtz and Jim Tressel.

Brown has been here one year and I want to give him a chance, but they've been struggling at it now for a while with the last few hires. When your fanbase embraces "Run The Damn Ball" and "Tight End U", it's kind of hard to be perplexed about what's going on with wide receivers seeing greener pastures elsewhere.

 

[IrishLax]

We aren’t paying market rate for HS WRs and don’t have an attractive offense to WRs. It’s that simple, goes way beyond the WR coach, and it isn’t going to change unless there are other structural changes.