The Notre Dame football team isn’t having a particularly fun offseason. Even if what’s gone down so far is to be expected these days when a program comes close to reaching the top of the mountain.
Since losing in the College Football Playoffs National Title Game, the Irish have lost one of their top recruiting staffers in Chad Bowden, who reportedly took a pay raise that’s expected to see him make three times at USC what he did in South Bend. There’s also defensive coordinator Al Golden, who was actually the first out the door as the Cincinnati Bengals hired him as their DC shortly after the final game of the season.
Now it looks like the Chicago Bears might be going after the Notre Dame football team’s offensive line coach. Joe Rudolph is reportedly square on their radar as new head coach Ben Johnon fills out his staff.
Notre Dame football’s staff keeps getting pillaged
NFL Network and Yahoo Sports insider Nate Tice reported on Wednesday morning that the Bears might come calling for Rudolph. It would, of course, be the second Fighting Irish coach that the NFL team has targeted to at least talk to.
Earlier this season, there were quite a few rumors about the Bears looking at head coach Marcus Freeman to take over as the head man of their franchise. In the end, Freeman made it clear that he wasn’t interested in moving on from Notre Dame. The Bears eventually landed on Johnson.
Rudolph joined the Blue and Gold before the 2023 season and has overseen an offensive line unit that has a ton of big bodies and talent. He’s considered a very good recruiter at the position. Unfortunately, it’s been hard to guage his actual success level in South Bend because of the massive number of injuries his unit has suffered.
Having said that, the Notre Dame football team would love to keep Rudolph around if there’s any chance of that happening. At the same time, if the Bears have really come calling, it seems like keeping him on staff is probably a very tall task.