The Irish are not along in making some coaching changes this offseason. Head coach Marcus Freeman was tasked with replacing his standout defensive coordinato, Al Golden, and stud running back coach Delland McCullough, in a very short period of time removed from the National Championship game. Both coaches are headed off to the NFL with Golden going to be the defensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals while McCullough is headed to Las Vegas to coach their running back room.
There's a handful of Notre Dame's opponents in 2025 that underwent some significant coaching changes this past offseason. Some of them were forecasted, but nonetheless, we will get our first look at some of these new coaches this spring. Some of them were internal promotions, while other schools like Purdue looked to outside of their program to build the foundation for this upcoming season. Here's a breakdown of some of the new coaching changes from Notre Dame's upcoming 2025 opponents.
Purdue Boilermakers
After going 1-11 overall and 0-9 in conference, Purdue looked to replace former head coach Ryan Walters. The Boilermakers struggled last season, and lost 66-7 in their matchup against Notre Dame when they traveled to West Lafayette. Purdue finished the year ranked No. 131 in college football in scoring defense allowing 39.9 points per game while finishing No. 130 in scoring offense averaging just 15.8 points per game. They looked to UNLV head coach Barry Odom who led the Rebels to a 9-5 season in 2023 and an 11-3 season just this past year. Odom has also been the head coach at Missouri where he finished with an even 25-25 record over 50 games. His final year in the SEC, he finished 6-6 with Missouri before accepting the head coaching position with UNLV.
Purdue is headed into this season with almost a completely new roster, but have veterans like Devin Mockobee returning to the lineup to help spear head this new look team. Odom has experience at both the Power Four level and Group of Five level in college and has a 45-33 overall record as a head coach. He will have his work cut out for him in West Lafayette, but it's hard to imagine they will take a step back from their 1-11 season just a year ago. Seven of Purdue's 29 incoming transfers followed Coach Odom from UNLV including linebacker Mani Powell and and tight end Christian Moore.
Miami Hurricanes
Last season, Miami's offense wasn't the issue. They had the No. 1 scoring offense in the country averaging 43.9 points per game, and had the No. 3 passing offense in the country averaging 348.2 yards per game and threw 41 passing touchdowns last season behind Cam Ward's excellent year. Their defense, however, ranked No. 68 in the country and allowed 25.3 points per game with their pass defense coming in at No. 57 in the country to end the season. Head coach Mario Cristobal hired new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman after the season has ended.
Hetherman comes over from Minnesota who had the No. 9 scoring defense, No. 9 passing defense, No. 12 rushing defense, and the No. 36 defense in turnovers gain last season. He will be spear heading a defense that returns six of their 11 starters. They picked up some key pieces in the portal in their secondary including Xavier Lucas a corner from Wisconsin and Charles Brantley, a transfer corner from Michigan State.
Boise State and NC State
Both the Broncos and the Wolfpack went with internal hires to replace coaches from the 2024 season. Boise State promoted Nate Potter who was the tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator last year to the full time offensive coordinator this upcoming season. Boise State had a magical run last year that included a 12-2 finish, a conference championship, and a first round bye in the first 12 team College Football Playoffs fueled by their Heisman Finalist running back Ashton Jeanty. This season, they will have to find a replacement, or replacements, for his production, but the return of starting quarterback Maddux Madsen helps cushion the loss of Jeanty.
NC State replaced Robert Anae, who was let go after the season, with Kurt Roper who is taking over the offensive coordinator role. Last season, NC State ranked No. 61 in the country in points per game and finished the year 6-7 ending their season with a loss to East Carolina in the Military Bowl. They had some narrow losses last season including a 30-29 loss to Georgia Tech, a 24-17 loss to Syracuse, and a 34-30 loss to Wake Forest. Coach Roper will look to get this offense over the hump starting in the spring for when they travel to South Bend in October to take on the Fighting Irish.
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This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM.