Notre Dame football's new offensive coordinator, Mike Denbrock, isn't wasting time getting to work. According to 24/7 Sports' Tom Loy, Denbrock will forgo bowl game preparations for the LSU Tigers to start his work preparing Notre Dame football for 2024.
Denbrock's former team faces the Wisconsin Badgers in the ReliaQuest Bowl on January 1st. Notre Dame football faces Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on December 29th.
59-year-old Denbrock, a native of Homer, Michigan, and former tight end at Grand Valley State, has coached college football since 1986. This is the veteran coach's third stint at Notre Dame.
He was a key contributor in LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels' Heisman Trophy-winning season with LSU in 2023.
The first came between 2002 and 2004 when he was Notre Dame football's offensive tackle and tight ends coach. He served in various positions with the Irish between 2010 and 2016, including tight ends coach, assistant head coach, and wide receivers coach.
“‘What do you like? What don't you like?' He even asks the receivers stuff like that,” Jaylen Daniels told the Lafayette Daily Advertiser of Denbrock earlier this month. “If stuff is not working in practice, he's going to take it right out. He doesn't want to go out there and put on a bad performance.”
“He comes to better his craft every single day,” Denbrock told Saturday's Down South of Daniels. “There's not a time where he doesn't have his complete attention on getting better at what he does on the practice field.”
The Fighting Irish have a 12-5 record under head coach Marcus Freeman, who was hired in 2021.