Potential Notre Dame WR Coach Candidates
A day after Marcus Freeman said he’d love for all of the coaching staff to be back, Notre Dame made a change on their coaching staff.
It was a good reminder that what is said publicly isn’t always the case privately when it comes to college football. Either that or that things can change quickly because, you know, college football.
And just like that, we move on to who might replace Chansi Stuckey as wide receivers coach for the Fighting Irish.
There is the potential for Gerad Parker to move from tight ends to receivers, the position he played in college and the one he’s coached for the majority of his career. That move could happen and then the opening would be at tight end. If that’s not the case, then there are plenty of others with impressive credentials who could be candidates.
(As always, this isn’t a definitive list and things are often fluid with coaching searches. It’s a combination of who I have heard good things about and who we have heard may be potential candidates.)
Mike Brown - Associate head coach/wide receivers at Wisconsin
Much like Gino Guidugli, Brown was on the staff at Cincinnati with Marcus Freeman while Luke Fickell was head coach. Also like Guidugli, Brown joined the staff at Wisconsin before Guidugli ultimately left for his opportunity at Notre Dame.
A former star player at Liberty, Brown was hired by Cincinnati in 2019 and coached future NFL Draft picks Alec Pierce, Tre Tucker, and Tyler Scott. What all three of those players had in common was that they had elite athleticism, but were viewed as projects when they started college. Brown had a big hand in helping those guys take big steps with their development.
The connection is obvious and Fickell has continued to elevate Brown’s titles on his staff (from passing game coordinator to associate head coach) for a reason.
Kevin Cummings - Wide receivers coach at Arizona
Cummings is a coach on the rise with and joined Jedd Fisch’s staff at Arizona in 2021 after previously being at San Jose State before that. He has roots on the west coast and also played receiver at Oregon State.
He has a reputation as a very good recruiter and was able to land blue-chip wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan while competing against the top programs in the Pac-12. McMillan has emerged as one of the top receivers in the country, putting up monster numbers as a sophomore.
Cummings has also tutored Dorian Singer and Jacob Cowing at Arizona and he found similar success with several players at SJSU as well.
Arizona is his first Power 5 job, he’s in his early 30s, and his background as a player and coach is in a pro-style system.
Kenny Guiton - Wide receivers coach at Arkansas
The former Ohio State quarterback was recently elevated to interim offensive coordinator for the Razorbacks, but doesn’t appear to be a candidate for that role going forward. In his short time coaching he’s been at a few stops (Houston, Louisiana Tech, and Colorado State) before joining the Arkansas staff in 2021.
He’s made an impression at Arkansas as a recruiter landing five blue-chip high school prospects as well as helping Arkansas land key contributors via the transfer portal. Transfers Matt Landers, Jadon Haselwood, Andrew Armstrong, and Isaac TeSlaa led them in receiving the last two seasons. Guiton also coached eventual first round pick Treylon Burks in his last season at Arkansas.
Prior to Arkansas he helped develop former Houston receiver Marquez Stevenson into an NFL Draft pick.
Freeman was a graduate assistant while Guiton was a player at Ohio State and he also worked with director of player personnel Butler Benton while at Arkansas.
Jamarcus Shephard - Associate head coach/Passing game coordinator/wide receivers at Washington
I think many Notre Dame fans are familiar with Shephard from him interviewing for a job when this same position was last open at Notre Dame. Since then, Shephard has experienced nothing but success at Washington while working for Kalen DeBoer.
His receivers have put up huge numbers and Rome Odunze is currently a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. Shephard has helped develop him into a future first round pick.
Anyone can see by the long list of titles next to his name and would know that simply giving him a position coach title would not be enough to get him to leave Washington, if he’s even at all interested in doing so. But if Notre Dame is going to break the bank for a coach, this is one to do it for.
His roots are in Indiana.
Josh Crawford - Wide receivers at Georgia Tech
Crawford just finished his first season at Georgia Tech after previously working at Western Kentucky in 2021 and 2022. WKU had one of the most prolific passing attacks in the nation and four of his receivers received all-conference honors.
Georgia Tech had very little returning production at the position and he had true freshman Eric Singleton Jr. put up impressive numbers as a likely freshman All-American and he’s made some noise as a recruiter as well, including flipping former Notre Dame commit Isiah Canion.
Crawford is a former Georgia high school coach who has risen fast in the industry and already has turned heads as someone with a bright future in college football.
Joe Dailey - Offensive analyst at Kansas
A former quarterback at Nebraska and North Carolina, Dailey is currently working for Lance Leipold at Kansas who was on staff at Nebraska when Dailey was a player.
Dailey has experience as an offensive coordinator; his previous stop in college football was coaching receivers at Boston College in 2020 and 2021 where he did a fantastic job developing future first round pick Zay Flowers.
Bailey was with the Carolina Panthers for the 2022 season, but it was only for one season with Matt Rhule being let go. I don’t think he’ll be an analyst anywhere next season and should end up on someone’s staff coaching receivers or quarterbacks somewhere.
Men's League Collegiate Wear White Notre Dame Fighting Irish Smiley All American T-Shirt
