Notre Dame’s transitions among the Fighting Irish’s assistant coaches might not be limited to the program’s need for a defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.
Notre Dame’s Lance Taylor, the Irish’s running backs coach and run game coordinator, has emerged as a top target for the offensive coordinator position on Scott Satterfield’s Louisville staff, multiple sources close to both programs told FootballScoop.
It was around this exact time a year ago that Satterfield lost his previous offensive coordinator, Dwayne Ledford, to an NFL opportunity, and Satterfield kept the offensive duties in more of a committee-based approach during this past season.
The Cardinals finished just 6-7 this past season after they suffered back-to-back losses to rival Kentucky and in the postseason to Air Force.
However, Louisville star quarterback Malik Cunningham has announced his intentions to return to the program for the 2022 season.
Taylor has coached to great success at both the collegiate and NFL levels. A former University of Alabama player, Taylor coached on David Shaw’s Stanford staff where he helped develop Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love into national stars.
At the professional level, Taylor coached wideouts for the Carolina Panthers, helping bring along D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel for the Panthers.
For Notre Dame, Taylor continued to shine as a coach with strong developmental skills. He aided Irish running back Tony Jones as Jones developed into an NFL player. Taylor also helped Kyren Williams become a breakout, All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection in 2020 – Notre Dame’s lone season ever in a conference due to the pandemic. Williams added another strong 2021 season to his career and has declared for the 2022 NFL Draft.
Originally hired as the Irish running backs coach three years ago, Taylor has also emerged as one of the program’s most formidable recruiters and shortly into his tenure was promoted to run game coordinator duties during his time in South Bend, Indiana.
Taylor is not the lone candidate for the Cardinals; sources told FootballScoop that Satterfield also had or was expected to speak with two additional offensive coordinator candidates.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest coaching news.