Notre Dame: The Coaching Situation Around Ian Book’s Development
Make no mistake, Ian Book was good in 2019. He just wasn’t good enough for Notre Dame to contend.
Ian Book was good in 2018, too, and it’s sometimes expected that players are better in their first season as a starter than their second. Book’s passing yards and touchdowns were well up in 2019 from 2018. Book’s interceptions were down. He also ran much better in his second season. This is probably because he threw 85 more times in 2019 than 2018, because it wasn’t his completion percentage. That dropped from 68.2 to 60.2 percent.
Struggling to complete passes is where Book regressed. Had he maintained his completion percentage, then he would have taken the leap that everyone had hoped he would.
Had Book taken the leap forward that was expected of him, maybe Notre Dame beats Georgia, who they only lost to by one score. Maybe they aren’t humiliated by Michigan, and the tone of the season is completely different. If Book took the leap that we assumed he’d take, Notre Dame likely would have played in the Cotton Bowl, not the Camping World Bowl.
The fact is he didn’t, and nothing will change the past now. However, there’s still a reason they teach history in school’s — so you don’t repeat it.
Chip Long became a scapegoat. He’s the offensive coordinator who Book didn’t connect with. When Long left, reports came out quickly that Long yelled like Kelly would when he first got to South Bend. The reason it was kept a relative secret during his tenure? He kept the yelling to practice, not games.
A screaming football coach works for some, but not all. Typically, lineman like the screaming and skills players have more trouble with it.
Book had a disconnect with Long, at least partially due to his style. It wouldn’t be surprising if Book’s development had been muddled by this imperfect relationship.
Would a new offensive coordinator fix this problem, though?
One of the front runners for the job, Tommy Rees, knows what it’s like to be coached by Brian Kelly and is very close to Ian Book. Would this contrast to Long actually work? Will Rees be the only offensive coordinator, and will he be the offensive coordinator at all?
At the very least, Notre Dame would be trying something different in Ian Book’s development.
Still, it’s not like Notre Dame hasn’t had a few different offensive coordinators under Brian Kelly, and it’s not like there’s been many quarterbacks who have developed well during that time. Everett Golson, Malik Zaire, Deshone Kizer, Brandon Wimbush, and of course Tommy Rees all struggled to touch their potential.
During his time at Notre Dame, Kelly has had several offensive coordinators. Before Long there was Mike Sanford, who was preceded by Mike Denbrock, then Chuck Martin, and finally Charley Molnar. That’s a lot of offensive coordinators who couldn’t figure out how to develop a quarterback over the course of a decade.
It makes you think that the issue might be the stable coach, Brian Kelly. For all of those quarterbacks and coordinators, he’s never been able to figure out how to develop an elite quarterback — the type of quarterback you need to win National Championships, instead of just competing for New Year’s Six Bowls.
This is especially disappointing, given that he was sold to Notre Dame fans as a quarterback guru. He had made Tony Pike the best quarterback is Cincinnati Bearcats history. He lost is offensive coordinator, Jeff Quinn, to be Buffalo’s head coach. Quinn had been with Kelly since the Grand Valley State days. That’s why Molnar became offensive coordinator under Kelly at first.
Things didn’t work for Quinn in Buffalo, and he’s been back with the Notre Dame staff since 2015. Today, he’s the offensive line coach.
Next. A look at the Irish RBs in 2020. dark
We’ll see who ends up becoming the next Notre Dame offensive coordinator. Most people expect it to be Tommy Rees. Others suspect an outside hire. Maybe Quinn should be getting a long look at the role. After all, he rose as an offensive coordinator with Kelly for his whole career. With Quinn back in the role, and Book still having Rees to lean on, there’s no reason to not expect the Irish offense to finally figure itself out.