Mike Denbrock to leave LSU, return to Notre Dame as offensive coordinator: Sources

May 19, 2024

Mike Denbrock will return to Notre Dame as offensive coordinator, replacing Gerad Parker in the same position, industry sources told The Athletic on Friday. Denbrock informed LSU coach Brian Kelly of his plans Friday.

Denbrock had recently agreed to a contract extension with LSU — after receiving significant interest from Texas A&M for the offensive coordinator rule under new coach Mike Elko — but the deal with the Tigers had not yet been finalized.

Denbrock, who has orchestrated the Tiger’s offense this season, spent over a decade coaching in South Bend in two different stints with the Irish. The 59-year-old assistant has a track record working with Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman during their time together at Cincinnati.

During his two seasons in Baton Rouge, Denbrock didn’t just help turn Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels from a guy who had a 10-to-10 TD-to-INT ratio in 2021 into a Heisman Trophy winner with a TD-to-INT ratio of 57-to-7. Denbrock’s offense at LSU also led the nation in scoring at 46.4 points per game and was No. 1 in the country in yards per play (8.53) by almost a yard more than anyone else in FBS. It was the largest average by a team in five years. The Tigers led the country with 102 plays of 20-plus yards and were the only team in FBS to rank in the top 10 in both rushing (212) and passing (332) yards per game.

Denbrock’s work in the quarterback run game with Daniels, who ran for 1,134 yards and 8.4 yards per carry, also could be an ideal fit for new Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard. The Duke transfer ran for almost 700 yards and 13 touchdowns during his sophomore year.

Denbrock and Freeman worked together as coordinators with Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, where the Bearcats employed Gino Guidugli (quarterbacks coach) and Mike Brown (receivers coach). Part of that staff won at Notre Dame Stadium during a run to the College Football Playoff, which came during Freeman’s one season as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator.

Denbrock’s history with Kelly is longer running, dating back to their time together at Grand Valley State, at Notre Dame during the first half of Kelly’s run in South Bend and then again at LSU the past two seasons. Denbrock is also a Michigan native from Homer, located barely two hours from South Bend.

The positional match makes sense for Denbrock and Notre Dame, considering he’s coached tight ends for much of his career, including in South Bend. During his press conference on National Signing Day, Freeman referenced how the tight end coaching position needed to be filled following Parker’s departure for Troy.

“I don’t have a timeline. I don’t want to put a timeline into naming the right guy to lead our offense,” Freeman said. “We’ll do a national search. And it’s a unique situation where our previous offensive coordinator was the tight ends coach. I believe we have a quarterbacks coach that is second to none in my belief in Gino Guidugli. It’s a unique situation where you’re going to look at and offensive coordinator that has shown to maybe coach the tight ends but I’m gonna consider Gino Guidugli continuing to be our offensive coordinator moving forward.”

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(Photo: Matthew Hinton / USA Today)

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