It’s not been a good week or so coaching-wise for Notre Dame, and this one is really going to leave a mark.
Late last week, defensive coordinator Mike Elko left South Bend to take the same job at Texas A&M. Wednesday night, the football program confirmed reports that surfaced earlier in the day that offensive line coach Harry Hiestand has taken a job with the NFL’s Chicago Bears.
Hiestand spent the past six seasons with the Fighting Irish, coming to Notre Dame after spending two seasons in the same job at Tennessee. Prior to that? He was the line coach for five seasons for, you guessed it, Da Bears.
“Harry is an outstanding coach -- one of the best offensive line coaches in football,” head coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. “He developed young men in the spirit of Notre Dame. I know this was a difficult decision for him based upon his feelings for this program, this university and his student-athletes.
“Notre Dame has always had a high standard of offensive line play and attracted the best offensive linemen in the nation. Harry was an excellent caretaker to that standard. While disappointed to see Harry go, I’m not surprised by his decision. We knew six years ago when we hired him that his final step in coaching could be the NFL.”
Hiestand’s unit was the 2017 winner of the Joe Moore Award, which “annually recognizes the nation’s Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit that best displays toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique, and ‘finishing.’
