On Wednesday, December 11th, it came out that Chip Long and Notre Dame had mutually parted ways. In a lot of ways, Long mirrored head coach Brian Kelly. He was better than Notre Dame has had in a long time in his role, but something didn’t quite click 100 percent.
At times, that came from the limitations of a quarterback like Brandon Wimbush. Early this season, the uninspired play-calling seemed to hold the Irish offense back. By the end of this season, we knew it was because the running game wasn’t up to par.
Still, for any faults you could find in Long’s offense, he was still the best offensive coordinator under Kelly, who has been the best head coach since Lou Holtz.