After the winningest two-year run in program history, Illinois is set to lose a coordinator.
Sources over the weekend shared with us that Notre Dame was working to add Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry to the staff, and today reports share Henry is expected to leave for South Bend.
His role with the Irish is expected to be co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
CBS Sports has shared the same.
Henry has a close relationship with Irish defensive coordinator Chris Ash, who he played for at Wisconsin the final two seasons of his career as a Badger. Ash started off as the defensive backs coach in Madison in 2010 before being promoted to defensive coordinator prior to the 2011 season. As a player in Ash's defense, Henry earned First-team All-Big Ten honors as a defensive back in 2011 and was a second team selection in 2010.
After signing an undrafted free agent deal with the Raiders in 2012, Henry was cut prior to the regular season and began his coaching career by linking up with Ash and head coach Bret Bielema at Arkansas as a graduate assistant in 2014.
His coaching journey included a season at Rutgers coaching the defensive backs in 2016 after two seasons with the Razorbacks as a graduate assistant. He then spent the 2017 season at NC State coaching the safeties, before moving to corners for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and then he spent a season in the SEC at Vanderbilt coaching the corners in 2020 before landing at Illinois in 2021.
He started in Champaign coaching the defensive backs, and when Ryan Walters left Illinois to become the head coach at Purdue after the 2021 season, Henry was elevated to fill the defensive coordinator spot.
Since taking over as defensive play caller, the Illini have enjoyed the most successful two-year run in school history with 19 wins - 15 of those are wins over Power 4 programs, along with six wins over ranked teams and two bowl wins over SEC teams in South Carolina and Tennessee the past two seasons.
Earlier this cycle, Henry had also fielded interest from multiple NFL teams, including an interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars, per CBS Sports.
Henry replaces Mike Mickens in South Bend, who left the staff after six seasons to join the staff of Jesse Minter and the Baltimore Ravens as defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator.
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