Notre Dame football was gut-wrenched when the Irish learned they would lose two key members of the coaching staff, Mike Mickens and Al Washington. Mickens went on to join Jesse Minter in Baltimore, while Washington left Notre Dame and joined Jeff Hafley with the Miami Dolphins.
Notre Dame went on to make a big-time splash to replace Mickens, hiring former Illinois Defensive Coordinator Aaron Henry, and recent rumors suggest the Irish are trending in the right direction to hire Michigan’s linebacker coach, Brian Jean-Mary.
Jean-Mary has an impressive resume, with over 24 years of coaching experience, including four conference championship titles and 20 bowl games. He has coached at Louisville, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Michigan, and others across those 24 years, and has built quite a resume. So, with the Irish “expected to hire” Jean-Mary, here are three eye-popping stats that prove Brian Jean-Mary is a perfect fit for Notre Dame.
Jean-Mary led a dominant Tennessee LB core
Jean-Mary was with Tennessee for three seasons as the Volunteers' linebackers coach, and during that time, he helped build a dominant defense. Tennessee’s defense ranked in the top 10 for tackles for loss in every season with Jean-Mary as their linebacker coach, including one season where they ranked in the top 10 for sacks.
Jeremy Banks was the star for Tennessee’s linebacker core during these years, as he logged the most tackles by a Tennessee linebacker in the 2021 season with 128 tackles, the most tackles by a Volunteer linebacker since the 2012 season.
He built an elite top 25 defense with Texas
Jean-Mary coached at Texas for two seasons as the Longhorns Linebackers/Recruiting Coordinator, and during that tenure, he had an impressive resume. Four Longhorn linebackers went on to earn All-Big 12 honors, including Jordan Hicks, who went on to be an All-American after earning 147 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, and 3.5 sacks.
That Texas defense ranked in the top 25 in multiple categories, including fumble recoveries, where it led the nation. With Jean-Mary on staff, this Texas defense also stood out with pressure, as they averaged over three sacks per game, putting them inside the nation’s top 15 per game.
Brian Jean-Mary is an elite recruiter
Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman have been on an absolute tier recently with recruiting, and now they just added an elite linebacker recruiter. Jean-Mary brings tons of experience to the X’s and O’s, but also to the recruiting side of things, as he helped Texas and Tennessee earn multiple Top-15 recruiting classes, and Michigan and Georgia Tech earn one.
He has also proven he can develop these elite recruits into NFL-caliber players, as seven linebackers he has coached went on to hear their names called at the NFL Draft. So, while the Irish lost a key recruiter in Mickens, they appear to have gotten a proven coach and recruiter in Jean-Mary.