The first member of Joey McGuire's Texas Tech coaching staff will remain its longest-tenured member.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that James Blanchard, the nationally renowned top-tier personnel executive, is remaining with the Texas Tech Red Raiders after receiving a multi-year offer from Notre Dame.
Blanchard will receive a raise and an extension on his deal with the Red Raiders, sources told FootballScoop.
Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish had pursued Blanchard for the second time in recent years -- and went so far as to bring him to Notre Dame's idyllic South Bend, Indiana, campus last weekend.
Blanchard, housed on campus at the Morris Inn during his visit, met with multiple members of the Irish football department last Sunday afternoon inside the program's Guglielmino Athletics Complex -- Notre Dame football's central nervous system.
Several sources told FootballScoop that Notre Dame believed it had a deal in place with Blanchard, and sources told both FootballScoop as well as Eric Thomas of Irish Illustrated that Blanchard had received a three-year offer from the Irish to become their general manager, heir apparent to Chad Bowden.
Bowden departed late last month for the top executive role at Notre Dame archrival USC, where Bowden -- architect of the Notre Dame roster that competed last month for the College Football Playoff Championship -- has received a wider latitude of responsibilities than afforded at Notre Dame.
Bowden already has hired away Notre Dame director of player personnel Zaire Turner, Illinois DPP Dre Brown and Wisconsin general manager Max Stienecker to join him at USC.
But the week dragged on after Blanchard's visit to Northwest Indiana, and McGuire & Co. continued to stress to Blanchard his importance to the Texas Tech program, per sources.
While Tech's overall counteroffer to Blanchard was said to be more money, sources stressed to FootballScoop that Blanchard's decision to remain with the Red Raiders had far greater depth than any kind of dollar-for-dollar comparison; indeed, it was said to be much more about fit than Notre Dame's initial offer and follow-up counteroffer of more money.
Notre Dame now is left to find its next general manager, as well as a new running backs coach after Deland McCullough's return to the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Irish also have at least three analyst positions open on their football staff and need replacements for Bowden and Turner within their personnel ecosystem.
Update: The school has announced a 3-year deal with Blanchard. ESPN's Max Olson reported the deal will be worth $1.575 million in total.
“The success of our personnel department led by James Blanchard has obviously been noticed nationally with the significant interest he continues to generate annually," Joey McGuire said. "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.”