Ok, now that it’s official…

January 31, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Notre Dame Hires Jon Tenuta as Assistant Head Coach/Defense; Bill Lewis to Join Athletics Community Relations Staff

NOTRE DAME, Ind. ­ University of Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis announced today that 44-year coaching veteran Bill Lewis, Irish assistant head coach/defense the last three seasons, will leave the Irish football coaching staff and join the University’s athletics community relations staff. Weis also announced that former Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta has been offered and accepted the role of assistant head coach/defense.

Lewis will remain at the University and will begin his role as manager of athletics community relations on Feb. 18. Tenuta’s start date is set for Feb. 18.

Yay! The “offered and accepted” rather than “hired” probably means that they still have to do all that HR stuff, but whatever. Tenuta is, at the least 1-0-1 against Weis in the battle-of-football-minds. You could argue he’s 2-0. This is just an awesome hire. With Corwin Brown’s ability to get the players excited to play, plus his obvious skill for defensive game-planning, Tenuta will be a valuable resource for both Weis and Brown. Also, whether Tenuta coaches linebackers or cornerbacks, he’s got a history of molding, let’s say “underappreciated young men” into terrifying hit-machines that get big signing bonuses in the NFL.

A quick look at what he did while at Georgia Tech, after 1 year at UNC where he crafted the best defense in the ACC…

As you can see, after his first year, or, what I call the “adjustment phase,” his defenses were consistently terrorizing. The Jackets averaged a rank of 20th in total defense, allowing about 313 yards a game and giving up just 19 points per game. Heck, in his 1st year his defenses only allowed 20 points a game. And in the 3 years that the NCAA has records for sacks on their website, GT ranked 14th, 28th, and 1st nationally with a yearly average of about 3 sacks per game!

The one “weak” spot in Tenuta’s history seems to be in passing defense, but Corwin Brown has already shown that he’s been able to solve Notre Dame’s previous pass defense issues. Combined with Tenuta’s encyclopedic rush defense know-how and mad-scientist blitzing genius, the Notre Dame defense may soon be the terribly swift sword we’ve all been hoping for. And with the incredible recruiting classes that Corwin Brown and Charlie Weis have been bringing in, I find myself falling into DEFCON-1 levels of fan-boy glee. I may as well be writing a monster movie review for AintItCoolNews.com at this point. I’m going to wear an Irish shirt to work tomorrow! I may even have to re-watch a video of the 2007 GT/ND game. With this hire Weis has instantly turned that nightmare moment into a preview of dreams-come-true.

Welcome to the family, Jon!

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