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Newsstand: Notre Dame coaches Al Washington, Deland McCullough renew Blue-Gold Game rivalry

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•04/12/24•

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Notre Dame assistant coaches Deland McCullough (left) and Al Washington (right). (Both photos by Chad Weaver, Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame defensive line coach/defensive run game coordinator Al Washington and associate head coach/running backs coach Deland McCullough have one win apiece as opposing head coaches in the Blue-Gold Game. The grudge match will take place at 1 p.m. ET on April 20.

The Irish announced Thursday that Washington and McCullough will renew their friendly rivalry in this season’s edition of the program’s annual spring game with a video on social media. The video did not indicate who will coach which team.

McCullough and Washington are both considered head coaches in the making. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman promoted the former to associate head coach this offseason, while the latter was a finalist for the Boston College head coaching job that went to former Ohio State offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.

“That’s his next step,” Freeman said about McCullough’s promotion March 7. “Deland McCullough is going to be a head coach somewhere, and I want to help him in as many ways as I can. … He’s earned the right. It think he’s ready to be a head coach.”

Washington, coaching the Gold team, beat McCullough’s Blue team 24-0 in 2023 behind 3 touchdown passes from quarterback Sam Hartman. In 2022, McCullough’s Gold team beat Washington’s Blue team 13-10 on a last-second touchdown run from then-freshman signal-caller Steve Angeli.

The Blue-Gold Game will be broadcast exclusively on Peacock.

Notre Dame Tweets of the day

Don’t be alarmed — Markus Burton’s statement here indicates he’ll likely come back to school.

More Irish men’s basketball news:

Notre Dame women’s lacrosse is on a seven-game win streak.

https://x.com/NDWomensLax/status/1778499569006834073

Quote of the day

“It kind of makes the game slow down a little bit, to be honest. Just knowing you’re right there with another guy, and having him — I don’t know, just like a comfort. Kind of just felt like home.”

— Notre Dame freshman running back Aneyas Williams on playing with freshman quarterback CJ Carr

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