Notre Dame Football: Reshuffled Coaching Staff Not Missing a Beat in Recruiting

When Tony Alford decided to leave Notre Dame and join Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Irish fans expected the worst. Notre Dame's best recruiter—the man who landed Louis Nix without a head coach even hired and had made in-roads throughout South Florida—was now going to compete against the Irish staff at another Midwestern power program. 

Just hours after landing 4-star recruit Dexter Williams, Alford was in Columbus, working for a head coach who had already won his share of battles against Notre Dame, the two most significant being assistant coaches Ed Warinner and Tim Hinton, who both left South Bend to go work for Meyer. 

But even as it looked like the sky could have been falling, the past few weeks on the recruiting trail have been fruitful. An impressive junior day netted commitments from Tony Jones Jr., Julian Love and John Shannon. 

With another big recruiting weekend coming up, Notre Dame's reshuffled coaching staff and recruiting office haven't missed a beat. 

Credit Mike Elston for some of that. One of Brian Kelly's original assistants in South Bend, Elston took on the role of recruiting coordinator when Alford left, a head-scratching move to some on the outside but one that has already paid dividends. 

Elston is no slouch on the recruiting trail, but he's also not seen as an equal to Alford. Earlier this week, Elston talked about the new dynamics of Notre Dame's recruiting office and explained that being a great recruiter and being a great recruiting coordinator are two very different things.  

"Typically your best recruiters, if you take and tie them down with all of the constraints that you have as a recruiting coordinator...you take your best recruiters and put them in that role, then you're limiting what they can do," Elston explained to BlueandGold.com.

"You don't have to be the best recruiter on the staff to make sure that everybody is doing what they are supposed to. It's about holding people accountable and having leadership for the people that are working under you for the recruiting department. I'm excited because I think those are my strengths. I think that I'm able to do those things. I'm excited about where the recruiting department is headed."

The new blood on the Irish coaching staff has also helped. New offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford is hard at work, giving Notre Dame a much-needed coach who has recruited the West Coast. Former Irish All-American and Pro Bowl cornerback Todd Lyght is off to a fast start as well. 

"

Great job by @CoachMikeElston @dpeloqu1 and the whole @NDFootball family putting on the best Junior Day weekend in the country. #WeAreND

— Coach Mike Sanford (@CoachSanfordND) March 22, 2015"

Alford's replacement, former Irish star Autry Denson, has already landed his first big recruit. In getting Jones out of IMG Academy, Denson went a long way toward alleviating any concerns about recruiting the state of Florida. 

Talking to Irish247's Tom Loy, Jones Jr. laid out Denson's recruiting pitch, one based on the familiarity Notre Dame's all-time leading rusher had with the decision facing top prospects. 

"Your teacher knows math, right? So you’re going to listen to her when she teaches you math,” Jones told Irish247. “You know she will show you the right way to do it. Well, Coach Denson is from Florida. He went to Notre Dame. He dealt with the cold weather, played ball and he got his degree and he was successful in life. I’m going to listen to him. He did everything that I want to do. I want to go to Notre Dame. I want to play in the league. I want to get a degree. I’m going to listen to him because he’s done what I want."

As the Irish move forward recruiting a limited 2016 class that will likely stay in the high teens, they'll do so with a more focused back-end operation. Led by player personnel director Dave Peloquin, changes to the staff have welcomed former Irish great Ron Powlus back to South Bend. Former UCLA star Johnathan Franklin is also inside the athletic department. 

While this year's junior day was later than most, the Irish managed to pull players from 10 different states for their first recruiting weekend. They'll stay busy throughout the spring and into summer, where camps and the second edition of the Irish Invasion will remain staples. 

So, as we saw this past weekend, a change in staff hasn't slowed down Notre Dame's recruiting. It might actually help.