The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder on Sunday afternoon, following the team’s stunning 38-35 loss at home against the Duke Blue Devils, which moved them to 1-3 on the season.
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The Irish have surrendered 30-plus points in their past five games against Power 5 opponents, all losses, and Kelly acknowledged Notre Dame’s 2015 results factored into the decision.
Brian VanGorder, Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, has been fired, according to a report by FootballScoop.
“Obviously, this is a hard day for our coaching staff, but I’m excited and honored about the opportunity that Coach Kelly has afforded me”, Hudson said in a release earlier Sunday.
“It’s never easy to make a change on your staff, but I’m confident in Greg’s ability to lead our defense”, Kelly said.
The hashtags, the chants and the Twitter likes all came true on Sunday when Notre Dame announced defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder had been relieved of his duties.
Kelly said there was “no consideration” in a coordinator change following last season. Yes, their first sack did not come until the third quarter of the fourth game of the season.
Duke, which managed a combined 27 points in losses to Wake Forest and Northwestern, scored 28 points in the first half Saturday against the Irish. Kelly saw the fleeting urgency, and said sophomore running back Dexter Williams was the only player displaying appropriate energy and emotion on Saturday. He coolly directed a 17-play, 63-yard drive that included three fourth-down conversions in a stunning finish. Kelly has named Greg Hudson the interim defensive coordinator.
Kizer said Duke wanted the game more than Notre Dame did, and that he has to execute the offense better. Duke out-gained the lethal Notre Dame offense on the ground and won the time of possession battle, allowing its defense to stop the Fighting Irish on nine of their final 12 possessions. So everybody’s got a chance to continue in their roles, and we’ll all have that very public interview as we play each and every week. “That’s not even part of the conversation”, Kelly said September 18 when asked he still felt VanGorder was right for the job.
“We’re all in this together”, he said.
“There’s not enough time to go into all the details of it, but the fact remains at the end of the day I have to find a way to get our defense to play at a higher level”.
Coach Kelly also said that the players positions are also going to be evaluated and personal changes are going to be coming as well.
Immediately after the loss, Kelly blamed the defeat on his players, declaring that none of their starting jobs were safe and the team’s problem was its lack of passion. There are things that I want to get better at defensively, there’s no question.
The Irish also have allowed a national-worst five plays of at least 60 yards this season.
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Some scouts prefer Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer over Clemson’s Deshaun Watson as the top QB prospect in college football, but that doesn’t mean Kizer is exempt from having to fight to keep his job. “But I believe in my heart we have the right kind of people and that’s what you do when you’re the right kind of people”. He ran for a score, too, but he also had two turnovers, throwing a pick and fumbling a snap that was recovered by the Blue Devils, who took their first lead of the game on the ensuing drive in the second quarter.
