Notre Dame football: Is Matt Luke the next OL coach?

Tom Loy of 247Sports was one of the first to officially report that Matt Luke was a serious contender for the offensive line coach for Notre Dame football. Since then, I’ve seen the news and reports running rampant on social media, so I figured I’d comment on the top-tier OL coach.

While currently a free agent, so to speak, Luke last coached the offensive line for the Georgia Bulldogs in 2021. Of course, the Bulldogs won the national championship that year, adding to an impressive resume for the talented coach. In addition, he’s been an offensive line coach in some capacity since 2000, giving him 20+ years of experience at the position. Needless to say, with Harry Hiestand retiring, hiring Luke would be an absolute home-run hire.

Frankly, given all of Notre Dame football’s success in sending offensive linemen to the league, Matt may see it as a very successful gig. In his first stint with the Irish, Hiestand had some highly successful players play for him, including Quenton Nelson and Zack Martin. The former Ole Miss and Georgia coach has had his fair share of recruiting, and NFL draft wins throughout the years.

Luke helped recruit some absolute studs to Athens and Oxford, including Greg Little, Laremy Tunsil, Amarius Mims, and Broderick Jones. The former SEC coach helped recruit 13 top 100 players, according to 247Sports, including 5 5-stars. Not even included in that group of 13 is the extremely talented wide receiver DK Metcalf, who has a pretty successful NFL career.

While filling coach Hiestand’s shoes is challenging, Luke would be the perfect guy to take on the challenge. It still would be a surprise that he takes the job after taking some time away from football, but if he wants back in, the Notre Dame football program would be the perfect spot.