Two Notre Dame assistant coaches who have targets squarely on their backs following the season opening loss to the Miami Hurricanes 

Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish got their 2025 college football season off to a tough start on Sunday night, losing to the Miami Hurricanes 27 to 24 down in Hard Rock Stadium. Despite a close final score, no Fighting Irish fan left that game feeling great about the gameplay or execution. It was a rough showing on both sides of the ball. 

At the end of the day, everything that happens on the field is Coach Freeman’s responsibility. If a player isn’t playing well, the team isn’t mentally prepared, or an assistant coach isn’t performing, it’s his fault. There are two coaches that Coach Freeman needs to evaluate moving forward closely, especially after this dud of a season-opening performance. 

On offense, you are now in year three of Joe Rudolph leading the offensive line room for Notre Dame. Rudolph has done a tremendous job of recruiting over the years, including landing players such as Guerby Lambert, Will Black, and an impressive 2026 class. On paper, this group is about as talented and deep as any position on the roster. 

Even with that wealth of talent, the Fighting Irish offensive line struggled mightily on Sunday night. 

They got thoroughly outplayed by the Miami defensive line, both in the run and pass game. While you lost star offensive lineman Charles Jagusah earlier this offseason, Coach Rudolph and company had months to figure out the right guard position. With Anthonie Knapp, Billy Schrauth, Ashton Craig, and Aamil Wagner all returning starters, that unit had no excuse to look the way it did. 

With all the talented players at his disposal, when is Coach Rudolph going to get this unit up to the standard of Notre Dame offensive line play? It feels like if an answer doesn’t come soon, it might never come. 

On the defensive side of the football, it was a less-than-stellar opening performance from new defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Replacing Al Golden was never going to be easy, and Fighting Irish fans shouldn’t have expected it to be a seamless transition. At the end of the day, it’s one game, and Coach Ash has plenty of time to figure it out and write his story. 

With context considered, however, Coach Ash walked into a really good situation. This is a defense that has been in the elite conversation each of the last two seasons, and returned a lot of talent. There has been a feeling this offseason, even from those who didn’t like the Ash hire, that there was little worry about “messing things up.” 

It’s only one game, but the defense looked lifeless. The pass rush was almost completely nonexistent, very limited energy, and passive on the back end. Notre Dame needs to play championship defense to be a legitimate contender in the end, which means Ash needs to find some answers quickly.