Chad Bowden Leaving Notre Dame for USC
Notre Dame will be looking for two crucial pieces on its staff just days into the offseason. Defensive coordinator Al Golden left for the Cincinnati Bengals and general manager Chad Bowden has taken the same position at USC.
Bowden was prompted to GM last March after turning down a similar opportunity at Michigan under head coach Sherrone Moore.
It’s a surprise in a sport of surprises as Bowden had been Marcus Freeman’s right-hand man dating back to their time at Cincinnati.
Bowden’s rise up the ranks has been a quick one. He started off in a low role at Cincinnati get his foot in the door before working his way to be Director of Recruiting for the Bearcats. When Freeman took the defensive coordinator job at Notre Dame, Bowden moved to South Bend to work as his assistant before becoming the Director of Recruiting the next year.
Per John Brice at FootballScoop, Bowen was making between $275,000-300,000 and is set to make $1million annually.
The success in the personnel side of the sport shouldn’t be a surprise given his father, Jim, was the GM for the Cincinnati Reds for several years in the 90s.
“I think for me, it's the reason I am who I am today,” Bowden told ISD in 2022. “My dad was brash, cocky, arrogant, but was also really hard-working and understood talent, understood player personnel, understood people.
“He was a big public figure in the city of Cincinnati. He was able to bring in Ken Griffey Jr. and I was part of that. I was able to watch that and able to watch him work day to day.”
Bowden’s departure will leave a massive hole at Notre Dame as he was perhaps the most significant piece to the recruiting department. The 2024 Football Scoop GM of the Year was instrumental in Notre Dame landing impressive recruiting classes since 2023 and for pushing the limits of where the program could go with high school prospects and transfer portal targets.
There was no better example of Bowden’s impact as the Fighting Irish made the College Football Playoff this season with a depleted roster as Notre Dame was without several key starters for the postseason run.
Freeman will now need to work fast on hiring a general manager as it’s an important time on the recruiting calendar, which includes Saturday’s Junior Day.
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