Official: Terry Joseph To Coach Safeties At Notre Dame
Notre Dame has itself a safeties coach as Notre Dame officially announced the hiring of Terry Joseph on Tuesday.
“Having the chance to coach at Notre Dame is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Joseph in a statement. “There are a lot of great programs in the nation but there is truly only one Notre Dame. I’m looking forward to working with Coach Kelly, the rest of the staff and embracing the opportunity to compete on a national stage in pursuit of this program’s mission: to graduate all of its players and win a national championship.”
Joseph spent the last season as secondary coach at North Carolina following three seasons at Texas A&M.
“Terry has an excellent reputation as a quality teacher and coach, as well as a committed recruiter,” said Brian Kelly. “He has developed all-conference caliber players at each of his earlier stops, including Power-5 programs North Carolina, Texas A&M, Nebraska and Tennessee. Our players will certainly benefit from Terry's teaching in terms of football, but I’m probably more excited to see our players benefit from his leadership skills away from football.”
Joseph completes the Irish defensive coaching staff. Mike Elko left his post as defensive coordinator earlier this month to take the same job at Texas A&M. Linebackers coach Clark Lea was promoted to defensive coordinator, but the Irish still needed to replace Elko, who also coached safeties during his one year in South Bend.
A New Orleans native, Joseph coached high school football in Louisiana before stints at LSU and Louisiana-Lafayette, so he could help the Irish on the recruiting trail in the Bayou.
We checked in with a source familiar with Joseph's past coaching, who echoed that belief.
"He's got a nice presence in Louisiana," the source said. “He did do a good job going into Louisiana. He does go find guys.
“He’ll have ties in Texas too.”
He also spent two seasons coaching defensive backs at Tennessee, where he also served as recruiting coordinator, in 2010 and 2011 before two seasons as the secondary coach at Nebraska in 2012 and 2013.
Some of his units were among the nation’s best in pass defense with the Cornhuskers leading the country in 2012 and the Aggies finishing fourth in passing yards allowed in 2015.
"He's a good staff guy," the source added. "Other coaches generally like him...He’s a respected guy.
"He works hard and is pretty energetic."
Irish fans may also be familiar with some of the names he has won battles with over Notre Dame in the past, including running back Kendall Bussey, safety Keldrick Carper and defensive back Ikenna Okeke.