Notre Dame Hires Former Texans Staffer To Analyst Role
Notre Dame has added another analyst to its coaching staff.
A team spokesperson confirmed the Fighting Irish are hiring Houston Texans’ assistant John Aylward as an offensive analyst. Aylward spent the last two seasons as a Texans offensive assistant after serving as a coaching intern with the team in 2018.
Aylward replaces offensive analyst Pat Kramer, who left for an analyst role with the Atlanta Falcons in late February. Kramer was at Notre Dame for three seasons and also served as the assistant quarterbacks coach.
UPDATE 12:30 p.m. ET: The job Aylward is filling is not the offensive counterpart to Chad Bowden, who is listed as a senior football analyst on Notre Dame’s website but is in touch with a lot of Notre Dame’s defensive recruiting targets and works with the defensive staff in their recruiting efforts. Current director of recruiting Aaryn Kearney is temporarily filling the offensive-oriented version of that role.
“We added offensive and defensive analysts who are focused primarily in recruiting efforts,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Saturday, describing Bowden’s role. “The best way to put it is they’re the offensive and defensive coordinators in recruiting.
“They get the whole staff together, coordinate the efforts in recruiting and making sure they’re touching base with recruits daily. That’s not a 9-to-5 job. That’s late at night, being on their schedule.”
Aylward played quarterback and receiver for Division II St. Anselm College in New Hampshire and graduated in 2019. He was a quarterback for Tewksbury (Mass.) Memorial High School, where his father, Brian, is the head coach. His grandfather Bob is the school’s former head coach.
This story has been updated to make a correction on Aylward's exact role.
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