Notre Dame couldn’t have made a better hire when they brought in John McNulty to coach tight ends. He did a fantastic job with his position group and was an invaluable colleague for Tommy Rees as a first time offensive coordinator.
Unfortunately, Boston College recognized how good of a coach McNulty is and stole him away to run their offense. That means Notre Dame is looking to replace another assistant on offense and he won’t be easy to replace.
They aren’t likely to find anyone who can duplicate his previous relationship with Rees, but that doesn’t mean they will lack strong candidates. It’s still “Tight End U” and the next coach will be walking into a position room loaded with talent and will have the chance to recruit the nation’s best at the position.
Here’s a quick breakdown of some potential candidates:
Morgan Turner - Tight ends coach at Stanford
Turner has been at Stanford for over a decade so he might not be all that interested in leaving a place he has called home for that long or to move on from working for the same person who has led the Cardinal to such a successful run.
On the other hand, things have been trending down for David Shaw and the program and if there was a time to poach Turner away, now would seem like a good time. Very few programs can say they have recruited and developed tight ends near the same level as Notre Dame, but Stanford is one of them. The track record speaks for itself and if the goal is to land one of the best tight end coaches in the country, then Turner is on the list.
Mickey Turner - Tight ends at Wisconsin
A Wisconsin alum who played the position there, Turner has kept the machine rolling by developing complete tight ends for seven seasons.
No relation to Morgan, but just like the Turner at Stanford, he has been at Wisconsin with Paul Chryst for many years. The chances of him leaving would seem pretty slim. But in terms of how his tight ends have been on the field, he’s someone who has done a very good job on the field for the Badgers.
Kevin Wright - Tight ends at Indiana
Wright got the job at Indiana in 2020, but before that he was the head coach at IMG Academy. His roots are in Indiana where he won state championships with multiple schools.
He not only has experience working with elite recruits from his time at IMG, but his long career running successful high school programs has shown he knows how to help build a great culture. He would bring a unique perspective to the program.
Jeff Faris - Tight ends coach at UCLA
Recently hired by Chip Kelly, he’s an intriguing name because of his time developing as a coach under David Cutcliffe. At Duke he coached receivers, tight ends, and quarterbacks and was co-OC last season.
Only 31 years old, he might seem like the opposite of McNulty in many ways, but he’s been a full-time position coach since 2014 his experience at multiple positions is an asset and he called plays for Duke last season.
Mike Miller - Tight ends coach and passing game coordinator at Maryland
Prior to Maryland, Miller was a graduate assistant at Alabama and a student coach at Clemson. He quickly rose up the ranks and head coach Mike Locksley brought him along to Maryland as a first-time position coach.
Miller did a good job developing Chigoziem Okonkwo into one of the better tight ends in the Big Ten and he’s likely headed for a bigger job at some point soon. This may be an opportunity for him to make that jump.
Ryan Wallace - Tight end coach at Purdue
Purdue isn’t on the level as Notre Dame at tight end, but they put Brycen Hopkins into the league and Payne Durham will soon join him. Neither of them were highly rated recruits, but Wallace helped develop them into quality Power 5 tight ends. Wallace also played the position in college.
He’s another young coach who moved up the ranks with his current head coach, Jeff Brohm. Much like Miller, he has only been a full-time position coach for a few years, but he’s done a really good job in that short period of time.
