Notre Dame hires Cincinnati’s Brian Mason as special teams coordinator
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman dipped into an old connection and former workplace for an important staff hire.
The Irish are hiring Cincinnati’s Brian Mason as their special teams coordinator, a source confirmed to BlueandGold.com. Mason replaces Brian Polian, who left in December for the same position at LSU under Brian Kelly after five seasons with the Irish. 247Sports and Yahoo! Sports were first to report the news.
Mason has served as Cincinnati’s special teams coordinator since 2018 and worked on the Bearcats’ staff since 2017. He also coached the “sniper” hybrid linebacker/safety position on the defense. He spent 2017-20 on the same staff as Freeman, who was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the time. Mason’s and Freeman’s defensive position coaching responsibilities required them to work closely together.
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Prior to his 2018 promotion, Mason was the program’s director of recruiting in 2017.
Freeman and Mason’s connection predates their time at Cincinnati, though. Mason was a graduate assistant at Purdue from 2013-14 and at Kent State in 2012 when Freeman was the linebackers coach at both schools.
Mason’s special teams units were important pieces of Cincinnati’s 44-7 record since 2018 and College Football Playoff appearance this season. Cincinnati tied for the national lead in blocked kicks or punts this year, with six. Opposing punt returners averaged just 2.62 yards per attempt, which ranked ninth-lowest. Cincinnati allowed one kick return touchdown and zero punt returns for scores in Mason’s tenure.
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Four-year starting Cincinnati punter James Smith was a 2018 Ray Guy Award finalist and an All-American selection by multiple outlets. The Bearcats were second nationally in net punting average that year.
One special teams bugaboo for Cincinnati was kicking field goals, though. The Bearcats never made more than 72.7 percent of their field goal attempts the last four years and twice ended the season under 50 percent accuracy. They were last in field goal percentage in 2018 and 128th this season. The kicking issues even arose in Cincinnati’s 24-13 defeat of Notre Dame this year, with two misses inside 37 yards.
At Notre Dame, Mason takes over a successful special teams operation.
Under Polian, Notre Dame went three straight years without allowing a kickoff or punt touchdown. It ranked in the top 25 in lowest opponent return average two of the last three years. The Irish are replacing a pair of three-year specialists in kicker Jonathan Doerer (out of eligibility) and punter Jay Bramblett (grad transfer). Sophomore-to-be Joshua Bryan and incoming freshman Bryce McFerson are the favorites to replace them, respectively.
Elsewhere on special teams, primary punt returner Kyren Williams declared for the NFL Draft. Long snapper Michael Vinson is returning for a fifth season. Sophomore running back Chris Tyree was the primary kick returner the last two years and ran one back 96 yards for a touchdown in a 41-13 win over Wisconsin Sept. 25. He averaged 26.69 yards on 13 returns.
— BlueandGold.com’s Mike Singer contributed.
