Marcus Freeman releases statement as Notre Dame officially announces Mike Denbrock as new OC

After previously being reported that LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock would leave to take the same role at Notre Dame, the program has officially announced the hiring. Along with that, head coach Marcus Freeman shared a statement on the hiring.

In particular, Freeman emphasized that Denbrock is a well rounded coach that has found success at multiple places.

“First and foremost, Mike is an elite coach across the board,” Marcus Freeman said. “He is a great leader, recruiter and developer, but what I love the most is his competitive spirit. Mike not only has a lot of experience, but he has achieved a high level of success at multiple places.”

This past season at LSU, Mike Denbrock led one of the best offenses in the country, scoring 46.4 points per game. That culminated with quarterback Jayden Daniels winning the Heisman Trophy.

“He has the ability to mold his offense to utilize his playmakers, while putting defenses in conflict. I want to thank Jack Swarbrick and our leadership for consistently providing us the resources to ensure we can attract the best coaches and staff to join our program.”

Mike Denbrock is the third offensive coordinator in as many seasons at Notre Dame. Tommy Rees, who stayed with Marcus Freeman after Brian Kelly left for LSU, is now with Alabama. Rees’ replacement, Gerad Parker, became the new head coach at Troy. Now, Mike Denbrock has returned to South Bend.

This is Mike Denbrock’s third stint as an assistant at Notre Dame. He previously coached the Irish under Tyrone Willingham and Brian Kelly. Denbrock also coached with Kelly at Grand Valley State before joining again at Notre Dame and LSU. He also spent time at Cincinnati under Luke Fickell, where Marcus Freeman was the defensive coordinator. There, he helped rebuild the Bearcats program.

Given both Denbrock’s history with Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman himself, there is certainly a familiarity that comes with this hire. Now, it’s about putting things together on the field for Notre Dame.

Marcus Freeman explains why he wanted Riley Leonard in transfer portal

Notre Dame made a huge addition to the offense in the transfer portal when the Irish took transfer quarterback Riley Leonard. It’s a move that Marcus Freeman recently explained.

“He was the best quarterback that, we believed, was in the portal,” Freeman said.

“To me? You get the best players first. Then you say, ‘Okay, how do we tailor what we do around those guys?’ That is so important. We weren’t looking for a pocket-passer, we weren’t looking for a dual-threat guy. We were saying, as we look to take another guy, a quarterback to add to this program, who’s the best one that fits this place? I’ve always said that – the best one that fits this place. Then how do we tailor what we do offensively around those guys?”