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Notre Dame promotes Chad Bowden to director of recruiting

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•02/16/22•

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Bowden (right) is will lead the Notre Dame recruiting office.

News broke Jan. 8, 2021 that Notre Dame would be hiring Marcus Freeman as its new defensive coordinator, replacing Clark Lea. A week and a half later, a report surfaced that Bearcats’ director of recruiting Chad Bowden would be following Freeman to South Bend.

A lot has changed since then. Freeman is now head coach of the Fighting Irish. Former Irish director of recruiting Aaryn Kearney is an account manager for a company called Zcruit and Bowden, who was the Irish defensive director of recruiting in 2021, now has Kearney’s old title.

Freeman reported Bowden’s promotion during a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 16, and BlueandGold.com confirmed the news through a university spokesperson.

Bowden takes a strong day-to-day approach in Notre Dame’s recruiting operation, and his role goes beyond logistics and planning. He’s the staff’s most active recruiter as he texts and calls not only the Irish’s top targets but prospects who Notre Dame is interested in for an offer down the road.

The 27-year-old is known for bringing great energy to the recruiting trail and builds a unique connection with prospects.

“Coach Chad is like a best friend to me,” Denton (Texas) Guyer safety and Notre Dame class of 2023 commit Peyton Bowen said.

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Brian Mason was Cincinnati’s director of recruiting in 2017 and brought Bowden on as a recruiting intern. Bowden pressed Mason to get more involved in the inner workings of the football team, and his persistence is what helped him build a strong relationship with then-Bearcats defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. The rest is history.

“That’s where I really started to get to earn some of my respect, because I would sit there with Coach Freeman, and I would tell him exactly how I felt and I wouldn’t hold anything back,” Bowden told The Enquirer in September 2020.

Bowden, Mason and Freeman were all on Cincinnati’s coaching staff in 2017, and so was Al Washington, who served as the Bearcats’ defensive line coach and will have the same role at Notre Dame. Mason joined the Irish staff this offseason as special teams coordinator.

Bowden had been involved with just defensive prospects in his first year at Notre Dame, but he is now recruiting prospects on both sides of the ball.

Notre Dame signed 21 high school prospects in the 2022 class, which ranks No. 6 per the On3 Consensus. The Fighting Irish are off to a hot start in the 2023 cycle with nine commitments and the No. 2 class in America.

Bowden’s father, Jim, held senior VP and general manager positions for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals for nearly 20 years. He works as a baseball analyst for Sirius XM and CBS Sports HQ.

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