Unlimited Notre Dame football on-field coaches officially unlocked
A new NCAA rule that was supposed to arrive last summer is better late than never. On Tuesday night, the organization announced that the Notre Dame football team, and any other Division 1 program can have as many on-field coaches as they would like.
There was some cautioning that the rule is not yet in effect. While it was approved on Tuesday night, it won’t be the law of the land until the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision Oversight Committees meetings concludes on Wednesday.
Having said that, the wait for another day is just a formality. And once the rule moves from formality to official, it’s effective immediately. That means several Notre Dame football analysts could be named assistant coaches not long after lunch on Wednesday afternoon.
Notre Dame football about to move to unlimited coaching staff thanks to new NCAA rule
Among the analysts who could move to full time, on-field coaching positions are senior defensive analyst Michael Moon, senior offensive analyst Harris Bivin, defensive analyst Nick Sebastion, defensive analyst Casey McHugh (an assistant handpicked by Mike Denbrock when he joined the Fighting Irish) defensive analyst Nick Sebastion and offensive analyst Rob Delaney, among others.
This of course would allow head coach Marcus Freeman to look around the college football landscape and see if there might be another analyst on a lesser school who might rather come be a coach for one of the premier programs in the country.
Recruiters won’t change with new rule
One important note on the new rule is that while a program can have as many coaches on staff as it thinks it can afford, it will not be able to hire extra staff members simply to get a leg up on recruiting.
The NCAA is keeping limits in place for 11 staff members on FBS teams and FCS teams remain limited to 13 staff members who can actually go out and recruit. Freeman will still count as one of those off-campus recruiters.
Still, it’s hard to imagine there aren’t champagne corks popping in South Bend as the Notre Dame football coaching staff is about to get quite a bit of help.