Notre Dame OC Mike Sanford Leaves For Western Kentucky
The Brian Kelly coaching tree just got larger.
Mike Sanford was officially announced as the new head coach at Western Kentucky on Wednesday morning, ending his two-year stint as Notre Dame offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He will be introduced at a press conference this afternoon at 4 p.m.
Sanford is the 20th head coach in WKU history, taking over for Jeff Brohm, who left for the same position at Purdue. Sanford coached the quarterbacks for the Hilltoppers in 2010.
“Mike Sanford is an astute teacher of the game,” Kelly said in a WKU statement. “He possesses all the qualities you want in a head coach — clear communication, organization, commitment and passion.”
According to ESPN, Sanford gets a four-year contract that will pay him an average of $800,000 a season. The deal also includes incentives.
Under Sanford, Notre Dame averaging 30.9 points and 417.6 yards per game in 2016 en route to a 4-8 finish. He tutored Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer the past two seasons, helping turn Kizer — who threw for 5,809 yards and 47 touchdowns with 19 interceptions, and ran for 992 yards and 18 scores — into a likely high draft pick.
Notre Dame is now down two offensive assistants. Tight ends coach Scott Booker was fired this week.
Though Sanford held the title of offensive coordinator, he did not have full play-calling responsibilities. Those duties were split by Sanford, Kelly and associate head coach Mike Denbrock.
Sanford leaves three scholarship quarterbacks at Notre Dame: rising juniors Brandon Wimbush and Montgomery VanGorder and rising sophomore Ian Book. The Irish are also expected to sign Avery Davis in the class of 2017.
The 34-year-old Sanford is now the youngest coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He is the sixth former Kelly assistant to get an FBS head coaching job. Current Tennessee head coach Butch Jones coached the running backs under Kelly at Central Michigan in 2004.
Jeff Quinn, Kelly’s offensive coordinator at Cincinnati, went to Buffalo (2010-14). Quinn is now an offensive analyst at Notre Dame.
Charley Molnar, Kelly’s first OC at Notre Dame, took the job at UMass (2012-13).
Former Notre Dame OC Chuck Martin left in 2014 to take the job at Miami (Ohio). Also in 2014, former Irish defensive coordinator Bob Diaco left to take the UConn job.
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