The Notre Dame football team has been dealing with one loss after another since the National Championship Game. However, most of the players that entered the portal were redundant if not totally expected.
However, the offensive line departures were overshadowed on Friday evening when the Irish lost General Manager Chad Bowden. Bowden was promoted to that particular job last year when he was offered the exact same position at Michigan.
It was thought that that Notre Dame football team had managed to lock down Bowden for the next few years. However, things moved quickly once their season ended. It’s not even that Bowden is following Al Golden out the door that makes this hire so eyebrow-raising. It’s that a year after the Irish fought off the Wolverines, they lost their GM to another rival in USC.
Notre Dame football loses important staffer to hated rival
While there are bound to be some Irish fans who are angry over the departure of Bowden, especially because of where he went, it’s not hard to understand why he left.
The GM was making between $275,000-300,000 after his promotion and raise last year. USC made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse and that quite simply, couldn’t be topped. John Brice of FootballScoop reported that the Trojans offered Bowden $1 million per year.
If that number is correct, it’s the kind of money that has to be a shock to the system. It’s also clear that the former Notre Dame football staffer is considered one of the best in the business and and a key factor in USC turning their football program around.