Report: Notre Dame nearing reunion with former offensive line coach

Marcus Freeman’s first staff at Notre Dame is coming together. He’s reportedly close to bringing back a former Fighting Irish offensive line coach.

Harry Hiestand, who worked at Notre Dame from 2012-17, is close to a return to South Bend, according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. Hiestand worked for the Chicago Bears from 2018-19 after leaving the Fighting Irish and hasn’t coached since.

It sounds like that’s going to change.

Sources: Notre Dame is close to reaching a deal to bring back Harry Hiestand as the offensive line coach. He was Notre Dame’s OL coach from 2012 to 2017 and tutored NFL stars like Ronnie Stanley, Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey. He last coached offensive line with the Bears.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 7, 2022

While at Notre Dame, Hiestand helped develop multiple NFL draft picks, including Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Zack Martin and Ronnie Staley. He has more than 30 years of college coaching experience, getting his start with Penn in 1986. Hiestand also worked at Cincinnati, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.

Hiestand will take over for Jeff Quinn, who replaced him in 2018. Quinn was let go this offseason.

It’s another high-profile hire for Freeman’s first staff at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish recently landed Brian Mason as special teams coordinator after he spent four years at Cincinnati. One of Freeman’s former teammates, James Laurinaitis, is also heading to South Bend to join his good friend.

The Fighting Irish went 11-2 this season and lost to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Notre Dame hires highly coveted Cincinnati special teams coordinator Brian Mason

The Cincinnati to Notre Dame pipeline continues.

On Wednesday, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported new Irish head coach Marcus Freeman turned to his former coaching spot to land a new special teams coordinator. Brian Mason will head to South Bend in his same capacity after four years in the role at Cincinnati.

Mason’s unit contributed substantially to Cincinnati’s historic season, one in which they went 13-1 and earned the Group of Five’s first berth in the College Football Playoff. The Bearcats blocked six kicks this year, which is currently tied for first in the nation with just one game left to play in college football. They averaged 10.7 yards per punt return (29th nationally) and 23.82 yards per kickoff return (28th nationally).

In addition to his special teams role, Mason served at the Bearcats director of recruiting for a year in 2017. The 35-year-old from Indiana was also a graduate assistant at three FBS schools: Ohio State, Purdue and Kent State. Mason played running back at Denison from 2005-2006 and served as a student assistant after an injury ended his career on the field.

Freeman’s hire is replacing Brian Polian, who followed Brian Kelly to LSU. Notre Dame has yet to hire a new defensive coordina