Before Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand retired, before Joe Rudolph was named as his replacement and before the Irish held their first spring practice of the year, Pat Coogan believed he could be one of Notre Dame’s starting guards in 2023.
The junior waited his turn through two full seasons as a backup center, but the NFL departures of starting guards Jarrett Patterson and Josh Lugg were enough to convince Coogan that his opportunity had arrived.
“I played guard in high school, but I’d been playing center here, which was an awesome experience as well,” Coogan said Tuesday two starts into his Notre Dame career. “I knew there were two spots at right and left guard, so in January I believed in myself.”
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Coogan, a former three-star recruit out of Chicago’s Marist High, needed more than belief to put himself in position to win one of the two guard competitions before the season opener. He played in only one game in his first two seasons on campus.
“I knew I needed to get stronger, so I put a big emphasis on that,” Coogan said. “I had a really good offseason program from January, February, March. Then spring ball was a great process too. I played both center and guard. That was great for me. I got better at both positions going into there. Getting stronger was a huge emphasis in the offseason. Summer rolled around and that continued.”
The 6-foot-5, 303-pound Coogan still needed to beat out sophomore Billy Schrauth, a former four-star recruit Rivals ranked among the top 100 overall prospects in the 2022 class, in preseason camp. Coogan’s performance eventually trumped the promise of Schrauth’s bright future. As the season opener against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, approached, Coogan became the clear starter at left guard.
“It was a great moment. Obviously, I felt like I earned it every day, and I have to earn it every day still,” Coogan said. “The process, I believe, is never over. I have to go out there and earn it on the practice field and on the game field every single day, every single snap.
“Whether that’s going against the scout team or going against [Irish defensive tackle] Rylie [Mills], it doesn’t really matter. I have to go do my job and win those reps.”
After two starts, Pro Football Focus gave Coogan a run-blocking grade of 66.4, which is better than center Zeke Correll (62.7) and a pass-blocking grade of 70.1, which is better than right tackle Blake Fisher (64.4) and right guard Rocco Spindler (57.0).
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In the season opener against Navy, Coogan made a critical block to open a hole on running back Jadarian Price’s 19-yard touchdown run. He’s been used repeatedly as a puller by Rudolph and offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.
“I consider myself a technician,” Coogan said. “I take pride in my pad level. I do good things with that. I played center here for two years, so I take pride in knowing what every one of us is doing on every play whether that’s right tackle, right guard, center, left tackle. I take pride in that.
“I’m surrounded by some unbelievable teammates, so playing next to them is pretty dang easy too. Especially [left tackle] Joe [Alt] and Zeke, they make life a whole lot easier. They help me out a lot.”
The starting offensive line consists of four juniors who were part of Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class. Fisher and Alt landed in the starting lineup as freshmen. Coogan and Spindler had to wait until their junior years.
Waiting wasn’t difficult, Coogan said, but it required patience and a long process to earn a starting spot.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” Coogan said. “Obviously getting on the field earlier, sure, would have been great. But I’ve learned so much watching the guys in front of me. They were unbelievable role models for me. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Coogan, an Irish Catholic by birth, first attended a Notre Dame game as a fan in 2015 when the Irish beat Texas 38-3. He returned in 2019 as a recruit before eventually being offered a scholarship in late March of 2020 as he finished up his junior year at Marist. He committed to the Irish less than a month later.
“It’s been a dream come true honestly,” Coogan, who became the first player from Marist to start at Notre Dame since tight end Nic Weishar (2014-18), said of his first two starts. “Coming from where I from, there’s a lot of passion and a lot of pride for Notre Dame football.”
Coogan will play in a road game Saturday for the first time in his Notre Dame career when the Irish play against NC State (1-0) at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. (12 p.m. EDT on ABC). He’s confident he’ll be able to handle the road atmosphere after making the travel list for big road games the last two seasons like Florida State and Virginia Tech in 2021 and Ohio State and USC in 2022.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a difficult experience,” Coogan said. “NC State is an unbelievable opponent. I know they pose a lot of challenges that we’re going to be ready for.”
As long as Coogan meets those challenges in the same way he approached the guard competition starting in January, he should be just fine.
“Coogs has done a great job getting himself there by becoming a very physical player, very conscientious in the way he approaches the game,” Parker said. “He’s detail-oriented. All the things that you would want to say, the adjectives you would use in describing a guy. Then for his inexperience, he’s made up in effort and learning what to do and knowing exactly where coach Rudolph wants him to be.”
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