Notre Dame has been in a bit of a limbo with its offensive coordinator leaving two weeks ago for a Group of Five school. It looks like Brian Kelly is bringing in his replacement with someone from the same ranks too. The Fighting Irish have named Memphis OC Chip Long to the same position.
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Notre Dame names Memphis' Chip Long as new OC #collegefootball https://t.co/RSrqwqaZxV
— ClevelandFoosballTalk (@CFTalk) January 9, 2017
RELATED: Report: ND has found a new offensive coordinator
Last season was Long's first as a coordinator at any level, but coach Kelly sounds pretty confident in Long and is giving him a ton of leeway to start the 2017 season:
"Chip will be given the full responsibility to call plays in 2017," said Kelly in statement. "His offense at Memphis displayed a unique blend of physicality, athleticism, versatility and explosiveness. Chip's play-calling created mismatches all over the field and did it in a number of different ways. He likes to use players who can fill numerous roles in an array of formations, whether that be two and three tight ends or multiple running backs.
"Chip has experience coaching at almost every position on the offensive side of the ball. He's worked for and learned from some of the most respected offensive minds in college football — Bobby Petrino, Mike Norvell and Jeff Brohm — to name a few."
Long started as a graduate assistant at Louisville and Arkansas, became tight ends coach for Illinois afterward and held that same position at Arizona State before moving on to Memphis.
[h/t College Football Talk]
