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Notre Dame adds West Virginia assistant defensive backs coach as analyst

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•02/17/25•

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Mike Mickens
Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens. (Mike Miller/Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame has given defensive backs coach Mike Mickens help in the secondary with a rising, young assistant, On3’s Pete Nakos can confirm. The Irish are hiring West Virginia defensive backs coach Jevaughn Codlin as an analyst.

247 Sports’ Chris Hummer was the first to report Codlin’s addition.

Notre Dame had room to add a defensive analyst after the departure of Mike Moon, who worked with the linebackers and secondary. Moon followed former Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden to the Cincinnati Bengals, where he’ll serve as a defensive assistant.

Codlin, according to his LinkedIn page, attended Kansas Wesleyan University from 2016-22 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in sports and exercise. He spent two seasons as an assistant defensive backs coach at Emporia State, a Division II school, before taking his most recent job at West Virginia in February 2023. The Mountaineers’ coaching staff is currently in flux after the firing of head coach Neal Brown and the hiring (or re-hiring) of Rich Rodriguez.

In Morgantown, W.V., Codlin briefly crossed paths with Irish director of scouting Matt Jansen. Jansen worked at West Virginia from July 2019-June 2023, first as a personnel assistant and finally as director of personnel and scouting, before moving to Notre Dame in July 2023.

Codlin will work with Mickens and new defensive coordinator Chris Ash in South Bend, presuming the former stays on staff at Notre Dame as expected. Blue & Gold‘s most up-to-date information is that Mickens intends to stay with the Irish, although his exact title is still to be determined.

Mickens was considered by many to be a candidate for the defensive coordinator job when Golden left, and logic dictates that a co-defensive coordinator or even associate head coach (after Deland McCullough, who held that title, left as well) tag might be on the table for him. He was promoted to defensive backs coach from cornerbacks coach last season after the departure of safeties coach Chris O’Leary, and he added defensive passing game coordinator to his title the year before that.

Notre Dame has not announced yet whether or not Ash will coach an individual position group, but he coached safeties at Ohio State and with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He coached defensive backs at Wisconsin, Arkansas and with the Las Vegas Raiders.

By all accounts, Codlin will be a strong asset to both as he continues his rapid rise through the college coaching ranks at Notre Dame.

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