Notre Dame Football: Where Should Brian Kelly Turn to Replace Kerry Cooks?

Brian Kelly has spent the past few weeks hustling to finalize Notre Dame's 2015 recruiting class. It looks like he's going to have to sign a new secondary coach as well.

News broke Sunday that Kerry Cooks was leaving the Irish coaching staff to join Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. TheFootballBrainiacs.com first reported the move, with Irish 247 confirming the news from South Bend that Cooks would be leaving and headed to Norman, likely as the new secondary coach. 

It's the first departure from Kelly's staff in a non-head coaching role since Ed Warinner and Tim Hinton left Notre Dame for Ohio State between the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

It's a move that most closely mirrors Warinner's, with Cooks—like Warinner—being passed over for the defensive coordinator job last offseason, when Kelly decided to bring in Brian VanGorder instead of promoting Cooks, who held the co-coordinator title for one season with Bob Diaco. 

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Kelly's first priority was making sure the news of Cooks' move didn't affect his current recruiting class, a group that will be finalized on Wednesday. Irish Illustrated connected with Cooks' recruits and it appears the move won't have an impact on their decision. 

Now Kelly is tasked with finding a new secondary coach. How he plans to go about doing that will be quite interesting. 

A look at Kelly's past hires gives us a good indication as to how he'll likely proceed. Outside of Harry Hiestand, professional and person connections usually play a large role in the decision. 

Kelly tapped Chuck Martin to coordinate his offense, his most trusted lieutenant making the unorthodox switch from coaching safeties to running the offense. When he needed to replace Tim Hinton, Kelly promoted from within, shifting his offensive assistants to promote Scott Booker from the GA ranks. Quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur worked for Kelly as well. 

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On the defensive side of the ball, Kelly has deferred to his coordinator. The hiring of Bob Elliott had Diaco's fingerprints all over it. Elliott had coached not just Diaco, but Cooks when they were players at Iowa, a veteran hire who knew both assistants very well. 

After a rocky first season, Kelly will almost certainly let VanGorder have a say in the hire. After spending the past four seasons playing a mostly Cover 2 defense, bringing in a secondary coach who has experience coaching VanGorder's scheme makes a ton of sense. 

With that in mind, most eyes have turned to Tennessee assistant Willie Martinez. The former Georgia defensive coordinator has ties to Kelly and VanGorder at Grand Valley State and worked under VanGorder during his successful run with the Bulldogs and again during his season at Auburn.

Martinez had success at Oklahoma as a secondary coach and would know both of his bosses in South Bend quite well. 

Also worth a look is current graduate assistant Kyle McCarthy. The former Irish captain spent this season battling cancer and assisting with the secondary, earning praise for his determination during such a chaotic time in his young life. But Irish Illustrated reports that McCarthy has just accepted a job at a sports agency, likely putting an end to that promotion opportunity. 

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If a connection to Notre Dame is important, kicking the tires on former Irish star Todd Lyght could make sense. Hired just weeks ago as the cornerback coach at Vanderbilt, Lyght was the No. 5 pick overall in the 1991 NFL draft before a successful 12-year professional career that including a Super Bowl win with St. Louis. 

Lyght began his coaching career at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, where Notre Dame's inroads are well established. He also worked for Chip Kelly at Oregon and with the Eagles, a referral that Kelly will no doubt seek if he's interested in bringing Lyght back to South Bend. 

The opening on the staff could also serve as an opportunity for Kelly to bring former assistant Jeff Quinn back into the fold. After being fired as Buffalo's head coach, Quinn could look to reunite with his former boss and help set the offense on course for next season. 

How that move would work in the offensive staff room remains to be seen, with Hiestand entrenched as offensive line coach and Mike Denbrock entering his second year as offensive coordinator. But it could happen if Kelly and VanGorder decide to move tight ends coach Scott Booker into Cooks' vacated spot. 

Booker played four seasons at safety at Kent State. He spent four years coaching defensive backs at his alma mater before taking the same job at Western Kentucky. That transition might not be too difficult, though it would place a much larger responsibility on Booker, the least-established coach on the staff who already seems to have enough on his plate with the tight ends and special teams. 

Whoever Kelly decides to bring in, he's earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to building a staff. So far, the Irish head coach has turned three assistants into first-time head coaches and lost assistants to only Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops. 

Notre Dame begins spring practice on March 2, giving Kelly some time to make the decision. But whoever takes over the position will have his hands full, needing improvement from a secondary expected to do big things in 2015.