Terry Joseph Projected As Next Notre Dame Safeties Coach
Two seemingly down, and one to go.
Blueandgold.com has received confirmation from multiple sources that 2017 North Carolina defensive backs coach Terry Joseph is expected to be officially announced as Notre Dame’s new safeties coach, possibly in the early part of this upcoming week.
Early this month, second-year Fighting Irish linebackers coach Clark Lea was promoted to defensive coordinator after Mike Elko departed for Texas A&M for the same post following one season at Notre Dame. Because Elko coached the safeties, that position group also needed an instructor to complement third-year cornerback coach Todd Lyght in the secondary.
That leaves offensive line as the lone vacancy to be filled after Harry Hiestand — who coached Notre Dame’s offensive line six seasons from 2012-17 — took a position with the NFL’s Chicago Bears under newly hired head coach Matt Nagy.
Per one University source, a conference introducing the new coaches will take place once the University’s human resources department gives the green light on the new hires. Generally, the protocol has been to announce such hirings all at once about a week prior to the Feb. 7 National Signing Day for incoming recruits, and that is expected to be the case again this month, per one source.
A 1996 graduate of Northwestern State — located in Natchitoches, La., — where he was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American in baseball, Joseph’s football coaching career began in the high school ranks of his home state, first at Archbishop Shaw (1999-2002) and then Destrehan (2003-05).
He then joined the flagship program in the state, LSU, and was hired by head coach Les Miles as a defensive graduate assistant working under coordinator Bo Pelini. The Tigers that season crushed Notre Dame, 41-14, in the Sugar Bowl.
From there Joseph was hired by Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley as the recruiting coordinator and secondary coach, and Joseph’s efforts on the recruiting trail earned him recognition from Rivals.com as one of the top five recruiters in a non-BCS conference.
When Dooley was hired in 2010 to succeed Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, he brought Joseph with him with the same titles as defensive backs coach/recruiting coordinator.
Afterwards, Joseph was reunited with Pelini at Nebraska in 2012-13 as the secondary coach, and then joined head coach Kevin Sumlin’s staff at Texas A&M as defensive backs coach before his most recent one-year stint at North Carolina.
The safety position could be the most competitive one this spring and fall at Notre Dame when it comes to playing time. Nick Coleman and Jalen Elliott return as the starters, but Navy transfer Alohi Gilman, who sat out in 2017 per NCAA regulations, "would have started," per head coach Brian Kelly.
Current sophomore Devin Studstill started nine games as a freshman in 2016, and freshmen Isaiah Robertson and Jordan Genmark Heath, who saw extensive action in the Citrus Bowl win versus LSU and recorded five tackles, will also vie for significant action.
Furthermore, for the first time in the Rivals.com era, Notre Dame has landed two top-100 ranked safeties in the same class in Houston Griffith (No. 35) — who has enrolled early this January — and Derek Allen (No. 66). A third freshman, Paul Moala from nearby Penn high school, also joins the roster.
This past season marked the first time since 1964, when college football went to a two-platoon system, that an Irish safety did not intercept a pass. Plus, only five passes were defensed at the position.
Look for a thorough film breakdown from Blueandgold.com football analyst Bryan Driskell on Joseph’s career and defensive principles he’s worked under during his career.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook