Following Notre Dame’s first ever New & Gold Game on Sunday, Aug. 20, head coach Brian Kelly announced that defensive line coach Mike Elston was being named the team’s assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Brian Polian was taking over the recruiting coordinator role that was previously held by Elston.
Elston had done a remarkable job holding the 2017 class together and helping the new staff make a fast transition, which helped Notre Dame finish strong. The 2017 class ended up ranked 13th nationally according to Rivals, and the Irish were able to land six players in the final week of the recruiting cycle.
Notre Dame’s 2018 class is currently ranked 9th in the land, an impressive feat for a program coming off a 4-8 season. Despite the success Elston had overhauling the recruiting operation, Kelly believes he is ready for bigger things, which is why the move was made.
“Part of it had to do with my wanting to spend more time with Mike Elston,” Kelly said of the switch. “He’s been with me now for 13 years, and I think getting a chance to spend some time with him as a coordinator last year I think he’s ready to be a head coach.”
Elston served as Notre Dame’s special teams coordinator in 2010 and 2011, a role he held during his three seasons at Cincinnati (2007-09) and his final year at Central Michigan (2006), all under Kelly. With Kelly confirming what many believed about the defensive operation in 2016 following Brian VanGorder’s firing, he can add defensive coordinator to his resume.
The long-time Kelly assistant will now get the opportunity to take on more of a leadership role that will help him develop other traits needed to be a head coach.
“I want to work on some of the areas where he hasn’t had a chance to work on,” Kelly explained. “Providing now a chance for me to spend some more time with him in other areas he hasn’t got a chance to develop in.”
Four of Kelly’s former Notre Dame assistants left the program for head coaching positions: Charley Molnar (Massachusetts), Bob Diaco (Connecticut), Chuck Martin (Miami, Ohio) and Mike Sanford (Western Kentucky).
Polian was the head coach at Nevada the last four years (2013-16) and ran the special teams at Notre Dame (2005-09), Stanford (2010-11) and Texas A&M prior to that. Those experiences give him the organizational skills needed to run the recruiting operation, which combines with his dynamic recruiting ability to make the move to running recruiting a smooth one.
“With Brian being in special teams provides him with so much more time to be in the recruiting end of things,” Kelly noted. “When I wrap my head around those two things, it just made sense that making this transition was the right time.”
The move was just made in the last week, but it’s something Kelly had been planning to do for some time.
“I came to the realization, quite honestly, when Mike didn’t get the job as the defensive coordinator,” Kelly said. “It wasn’t a priority in making him the assistant head coach right out of the gate, but I had something else in mind for him on this staff and that was in my own way something I had in mind all along.”
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