Marcus Freeman adds James Laurinaitis to Notre Dame football coaching staff
A pair of former Ohio State Buckeyes are reuniting at Notre Dame.
James Laurinaitis will join Irish head coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish coaching staff according to a tweet from the account of the Columbus, Ohio, radio show Laurinaitis is a host on. Laurinaitis will finish this week on the show before arriving in South Bend.
Laurinaitis’ role on Freeman’s staff remains unclear at this time. Freeman and Laurinaitis were teammates at Ohio State from 2005-08. The duo helped the Buckeyes reach two BCS National Championship games and two Fiesta Bowls during that span.
Freeman and Laurinaitis were defensive staples during the latter years of former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel’s tenure in Columbus. The Buckeyes won four-straight Big 10 titles with Freeman and Laurinaitis on the roster. Laurinaitis recorded 375 tackles in his illustrious career. Freeman had 264. They combined for nearly 50.0 tackles for loss.
Laurinaitis was a second-round NFL Draft pick in 2009 after an All-American career in Columbus. The linebacker spent seven seasons with the St. Louis Rams and one with the New Orleans Saints. He played in 117 games with 115 starts and totaled 871 tackles, 16.5 sacks and 10 interceptions.
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Laurinaitis has spent much of his time since retiring from the NFL in 2016 as a media personality. His radio show, Bishop and Laurinaitis, ran weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus.
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Laurinaitis will make a trip back to Columbus this fall. Notre Dame opens the 2022 schedule at Ohio State on Sept. 3. Freeman lost his first career game as a head coach to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl last week. The Buckeyes beat Utah in a high-scoring Rose Bowl triumph.
The matchup will pit two programs with plenty of prestige together for just the seventh time. Ohio State owns an all-time record of 4-2 in the series. The Buckeyes have won the last four meetings, most recently taking down the Irish 44-28 in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame has not beaten Ohio State since 1936.
Freeman still has a few hires to make to round out his first staff in South Bend. He’s searching for a defensive coordinator, a wide receivers coach after news arose Monday that Del Alexander will depart the program after five seasons, an offensive line coach because Jeff Quinn is not expected to return either and, finally, a special team coach since Brian Polian followed Brian Kelly to LSU.
There will likely also be some shuffling of names in the support staff and off-field analyst positions in the coming days and weeks. Now that the 2021 season is officially over, Freeman can spend much more time getting his full staff in order.
