Part of having a successful football program means coaches will leave for greener pastures. The other side of that coin is that coaches will come to your greener pastures. Two of the recent (unofficial) additions to the Notre Dame coaching staff are faces you may recognize.
The first addition is former Notre Dame corner back Todd Lyght.
The second addition is former Notre Dame running back Autry Denson.
The interesting thing about both of these moves is that they both had just recently inked new deals. Lyght just signed a deal to leave Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles to take a coaching job at Vanderbilt. When coach Derek Mason didn’t introduce Lyght at the Vanderbilt Football recruiting show the rumor mill started to churn vigorously.
Thought it was strange that @CoachDerekMason didn’t introduce @ToddLyght at the @VandyFootball Recruiting Show last night! #AnchorDown SMH
— Mike (@Trufco) February 5, 2015
Todd Lyght highlight reel:
Denson also just signed a deal to leave Miami (of Ohio) University to take over the running backs coaching job at the University of South Florida. Just days before the USF Bulls were scheduled to begin spring practice the buzz began to get louder that Denson would be joining the Fighting Irish coaching staff.
Autry Denson, from Strong and True moment #81, “You spend the rest of your life trying to come back to Notre Dame.”
I guess the pull to return home and work in the shadows of Our Lady is just too hard to resist.
Lyght will most likely take over coach Kerry Cooks spot coaching the secondary, and Denson will most likely coach the running backs.
The other interesting thing that happens when you bring back former players to their alma mater to coach is the following. Above and beyond being excellent football coaches, they also bring the following things to the table with them. One, they bring their personal experience of having played at Notre Dame themselves and can directly relate to what the guys are going through day in and day out. They know the rigors of balancing a Notre Dame academic load and the time needed to put into the football program as a student-athlete at Notre Dame. Coaches who attended other schools do not have this specific advantage. Second, they can speak specifically to what Notre Dame can do for student-athletes, both during their time at ND and beyond.
Personally, I think this does more for the program than just bringing two excellent coaches on board. This is the Notre Dame advantage.
Cheers & GO IRISH!
Lisa
Her Loyal ... Daughter
Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.
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