Mike Sanford Named Head Coach at Western Kentucky

After a tough 4-8 season, Notre Dame took another tough blow as offensive coordinator Mike Sanford has taken the head coaching job at Western Kentucky. Jeff Brohm coached the Hilltoppers to a 30-10 record since 2014 and will be the next head coach at Purdue.

There will be an introductory press conference at 3 p.m. at Western Kentucky University.

This will be the first head coaching job for the Sanford and it will be a job that could get him back to what is to be thought his dream job at Notre Dame.

Sanford’s father, Mike, who is the current head coach at Indiana State, spent three seasons in South Bend as the quarterbacks coach from 1996-98. The move to Western Kentucky could very easily been seen as a move to eventually get back to Notre Dame as the head coach.

The Hilltoppers went 12-2 in 2015 and are currently 10-3 in 2016, so Sanford is walking into an established program that he could take to the next level much like Sanford’s friend P.J. Fleck has done at Western Michigan. The benefit for Sanford over Fleck is that Western Kentucky is a Conference USA program and the next step for the Hilltoppers is making a major bowl game.

Sanford will have a chance to show what he’s made of right off the bat, as Western Kentucky will play at Illinois on September 9th and at Vanderbilt on November 4th next fall.

The former Boise State quarterback came to South Bend from his alma Boise State after being the offensive coordinator under Brian Harsin in 2014. Prior to Boise State, the 33-year old coach had stops at Stanford, Western Kentucky, Yale after being a graduate assistant at UNLV.

At Notre Dame, it’s common understanding he never called plays, so the move makes sense for the former Broncos quarterback. Sanford did make waves on the national scene as DeShone Kizer took the nation by storm last fall when he stepped in after Malik Zaire went down with injury.

Under Sanford, the Irish offense averaged 34.2 points in 2015 and 30.9 points in 2016. In 2015, Notre Dame averaged more yards of total offense per game (510.5) since 2005 and in 2016, the Irish averaged 417.6 yards.

In terms of recruiting, 2017 receiver commits Michael Young isn't too worried about Sanford's departure.

"No, it does not," Young said of the news impacting his commitment. "Crazy how everything is happening so fast, but I'm happy for Coach Sanford. Really genuine guy and I wish him the best at Western Kentucky, he'll do great."

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has interviewed defensive coordinators this week and will now turn his focus to finding a replacement for Sanford.