Notre Dame football: Irish swipe coach from Alabama

While Notre Dame football lost a coordinator to Alabama this offseason, they’ll gain a coach back from the Crimson Tide in graduate assistant Max Bullough.  He will work in the same role as James Laurinaitis and as a grad assistant and linebackers coach.

Many beat writers around Notre Dame football reported losing Laurinaitis as a significant loss, but I don’t see that. Sure, he had some close ties with the current class of 2024 recruiting targets, but that’s about the extent of it. If we’re being honest, I think the fans and the team themselves expected a lot more from the group of linebackers we had last year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get as much production as we expected.

Whether that’s on the players, talent, or coaching remains to be seen, but it’ll be a nice change of pace to get a guy that’s worked in Saban’s system on the staff. Bullough was an outstanding linebacker in his playing days at Michigan State, and though he went undrafted, he made it to the NFL. He stuck around the league for a few years, mostly with the Houston Texans, where he earned 56 tackles.

He earned a college football championship as a coach on the staff of Alabama in 2020, and, again, he learned from one of the best, Nick Saban, for a few years. Bullough is also a midwest guy, as he grew up in Traverse City, Michigan, just a four-hour drive to South Bend.

Hopefully, he can build strong connections with players on the recruiting trail should he be asked to do so. More importantly, however, some results at the linebacker position would be great considering the plethora of young talent the team currently has there. With Drayk Bowen, Jaiden Ausberry, Jaylen Sneed, Prince Kollie, and others ready to show what they can do, Bullough could be the guy to get the most out of them.

I’d expect a jump in linebacking play regardless of what happens next year, given how down things seemed to be this year. However, Notre Dame football has plenty of linebacking talent; it’s time to show that.