Irish Are Literally Coachless
Notre Dame Interim Head Coach Rob Ianello will be taking the Akron job leaving the Irish coachless. Let’s hope Swarbrick names someone soon and this ridiculous search ends shortly.
Akron is expected to name Rob Ianello its new head coach in a news conference this afternoon.
Ianello spent the past five seasons serving as an assistant coach at Notre Dame and was named interim head coach after Charlie Weis was fired on Nov. 30.
“Rob brings a great amount of experience and a lot of energy, and is known as one of the best recruiters in the country,” Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill told the Akron Beacon Journal. “We feel he is going to be a great leader for the players in our program.”
Ianello replaces J.D. Brookhart, who was fired on Nov. 28 after a 3-9 campaign. Brookhart was 30-42 in six seasons with Akron.Ianello served as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Notre Dame. In January 2009, he was promoted to assistant head coach/offense.
Ianello is best known for his recruiting skills and is credited with bringing in players such receivers Golden Tate, Duval Kumara and Michael Floyd and running backs James Aldridge, Robert Hughes. He won’t be able to recruit the same type of talent to Akron, but he’ll probably be able to increase the team’s talent level, which has fallen off over the years.
Akron last won the Mid-American Conference championship in 2005 and also won the MAC East Division in 2000.
The Zips haven’t had a winning season since 2005 and have never won more than seven games as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Prior to working at Notre Dame, Ianello was the tight ends coach at Wisconsin in 2003 and 2004. He also served as a recruiting coordinator at Akron, Wisconsin in the early 1990s and Alabama.