Notre Dame Reportedly Tried To Poach Key Staffer From Overlooked College Football Program

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt De Lima | Last updated Feb 11, 2025 9:16 PM ET

Just as college football players are influenced by the NIL and transfer portal to play elsewhere, coaches and staff can be tempted by new programs. That's true of any business, as competitors try to one-up one another.

According to ESPN's Max Olson, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are coming off a rather nondescript 8-5 season. So why would Notre Dame be looking to hire their general manager, James Blanchard?

According to On3's transfer portal team rankings, Texas Tech has the No. 1 class in 2025. The Red Raiders secured commitments from 17 incoming players, 10 of whom were rated four-star recruits by On3.

The highest-rated incoming portal addition, defensive lineman Lee Hunter from UCF, was ranked No. 27 in On3's portal player rankings.

After spending more than $10 million on its transfer portal class, Texas Tech is ready to chase a Big 12 title and the CFP in 2025.

"We're pushing all our chips in."@ESPNCFB story on how @TexasTechFB pulled off their portal shopping spree: https://t.co/0ms3bP5MpJ
— Max Olson (@max_olson) February 11, 2025

Blanchard came clean about his player evaluation strategy for Olson's article.

"You might watch tape and be like, 'The NFL likes this guy? I don't really like him.' Listen, they got way more information than we do," Blanchard said. "So, take the ego out of it. If the NFL is saying this guy is a sixth- or seventh-round draft pick ... let's lean towards the guys who do this all the time and let's have an advantage."

Texas Tech spent $10 million on its transfer portal overhaul, led by Cody Campbell, a billionaire alumnus who is part of the Matador Club NIL collective.

Blanchard received a new three-year, $1.575 million contract from Texas Tech on Friday after rejecting a GM offer from the Fighting Irish.

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire acknowledged Blanchard's contributions to the program after securing him to a new deal.

"The success of our personnel department led by James Blanchard has obviously been noticed nationally with the significant interest he continues to generate annually," McGuire said in a statement. "We're excited James and his family have chosen to remain Red Raiders and continue the work we started not long ago in building a consistent program that can compete for Big 12 titles. We're much closer today than when we first arrived, and I look forward to continuing to work with James on further building out this roster."

The Red Raiders begin their 2025 season at home against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on August 30.

Notre Dame still has yet to hire a new general manager after Chad Bowden left the position to join USC.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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