Notre Dame football: Here are some exciting reasons to Love Mike Denbrock hiring.

Notre Dame football and Marcus Freeman decided to swing for the fences with their new offensive coordinator search and it appears they connected, launching the pitch out of the ballpark.

Although it hasn’t been made official yet, reports from multiple outlets are out that Notre Dame is set to hire Mike Denbrock from LSU for the same role.

For Denbrock, its a return to his Midwest roots but also Notre Dame where he has had two previous stops.

Notre Dame fans were thrilled upon hearing the news, taking to social media and celebrating in the same way they would following a big win on Saturday.

So why are they so excited?

Here are 7 reasons to love Notre Dame’s hire of Mike

Vast Experience

Marcus Freeman deserves credit because he’s already put together and outstanding coaching staff.  The staff is made up of a bunch of younger coaches who are on the rise in the industry.  Regardless of where they come from (many having Cincinnati roots), this is an impressive group.  However, they largely lack deep experience outside of defensive coordinator Al Golden.

Getting someone who has been coaching in different ranks of college football since the mid 1980’s is huge.  It’s another set of eyes that has seen a ton that is now able to sit and dissect the entire program.

The OC and DC Combination

With the hire of Mike Denbrock you can count on one hand (and not use all fingers) the amount of college teams that have a better combination of an offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator than Notre Dame right now. Such a huge part of being a successful head coach is being able to make hires that will improve the program. As stated above, Freeman has done that very well at positions across the board. What he has now delivered at both offensive and defensive coordinator now is truly elite stuff.

Sticking it to Brian Kelly

Quick – do you want me as a writer to be button up and professional or do you come to Fighting Irish Wire because it gives you actual thoughts and feelings behind Notre Dame happenings?

I’m not above saying it like many Notre Dame fans are.

The way Brian Kelly left and the fact he can’t keep Notre Dame out of his mouth since doing so only make the fact that Marcus Freeman went into Baton Rouge and pulled out Kelly’s top assistant that much better. It ultimately doesn’t mean Denbrock is going to be any worse or better for Notre Dame, but you’re fooling yourself if you don’t think it doesn’t make it a bit sweeter.

Strong Recruiter

Mike Denbrock has coached all across the nation during his three-plus decades in college football. What that has done is allowed him to open doors from coast-to-coast and be able to attract top talent wherever he goes.

Marcus Freeman made it clear from his first day on the job as head coach that in order to be on the staff you have to take recruiting incredibly seriously. Denbrock fits that mold and should only help to improve what have already been strong groups of recent offensive hauls for Notre Dame in recruiting.

Truly a Notre Dame Guy

Mike Denbrock is a Notre Dame man. No, he didn’t go to college at Notre Dame but the place means something more to him than simply a place to cash a large paycheck.

Texas A&M was willing to make him one of the nation’s top paid assistant coaches to call their plays but he declined. He didn’t decline Notre Dame or Marcus Freeman this time.

Why? Money obviously spoke but there is a reason he chose to accept Notre Dame’s offer and not Texas A&M’s.

Seeing another coach on staff that gets Notre Dame is a sight fans love to see.

Quarterback Development

If you go through social media today chances are you’ll see some LSU fans that thing their offensive success was only becuase Jayden Daniels was their quarterback and that Denbrock had little to do with it.

I’ve got news for them.

Daniels in 2021 without Denbrock: 65.4 completion percentage, 2,380 passing yards, 7.9 yards per pass attempt, 10 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, 136.2 rating.

Daniels in 2023 with Denbrock: 72.2 completion percentage, 3,812 passing yards (on just 26 more attempts than 2021), 11.7 yards per pass attempt, 40 touchdown passes, 4 interceptions, 208.0 rating.

Yeah, clearly Denbrock had nothing to do with that.

Notre Dame Back in Football Business

It wasn’t even a year ago that Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman suffered the embarrassment of the Andy Ludwig fiasco. The Utah offensive coordinator was being paraded around campus as if he was the new hire but Notre Dame wouldn’t fork over the money to pay his buyout. Instead, Gerad Parker was promoted from within on what was a disastourous look for Notre Dame athletics as a whole.

Now, not even a year later the university has a new athletic director and new president and they made something very clear with this process: they’re going to treat the Notre Dame football program like a big-boy college program, not one that wins semi-big despite being held together seemingly by shoestrings and bubble gum.

In order to play big you’ve got to pay big and Notre Dame landing Mike Denbrock in the short amount of time it took them to do so screams to the rest of college football that they’re in the business of doing exactly that.

That’s clearly big for this hire but even bigger and better for the program as a whole going forward.