Notre-Dame GM Chad Bowden leaves for Irish Archi-Rival USC

With a big recruitment event on Saturday designed to stir up the momentum for Notre Dame Football and its Building 2026 class, the biggest news is sudden won’t Being there.

Chad BowdenThe man who has orchestrated the recruitment efforts of Notre Dame since Marcus Freeman became head coach in December 2021 and whose salary, the scope of responsibilities and even the title have continued to grow since then.

It is until the Arch-Rival USC the awakening of Notre Dame on Friday for a million dollars per year, according to Footballscoop.com. The USC announced its hiring of Bowden on Friday evening.

John Brice And Scott Roussel From Footballscoop was the first with the news and also reported that Bowden had won between $ 275,000 and $ 300,000 in ND since his last promotion.

This promotion followed the 30 -year -old son of the former leader of the Major Baseball League Jim Bowden Rabandon a position in the University of Michigan football program last February 1. Bowden also led the maneuvers of the ND transfer portal and the score and the evaluation.

The prize for success?

“This is why they gave them titles of managing director”, longtime analyst longtime Tom Lemming said. “They are the ones who create or break a program now. Obviously, you need to develop children when you get them. But whoever is the guy who is in charge of recruitment is the one who has his finger on the pulse of the direction of Notre Dame, North or South, really.

“You are watching the big programs, they have great people in this role – and large groups of people under them. This position is just as important as the attacking coordinator and the defensive coordinator, really, when you look at him. »»

Notre Dame is also without defensive coordinator for the moment, with Al Golden After leaving for the NFL Cincinnati Bengals earlier this week. The Irish finished n ° 2 in the ballot boxes – AP and coaches – after the end of their playoff series of four games with a 34-23 defeat against Ohio State, Monday evening in Atlanta.

Bowden and Freeman first worked together at the University of Cincinnati, where Freeman was the defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. Bowden began there as a recruitment trainee. And when Freeman was hired to be the defensive coordinator of Brian Kelly in January 2021, Bowden came with him.

Because Notre Dame had hiring restrictions at the time due to the pandemic, Bowden was technically hired as an analyst, but he was essentially in charge of recruitment for the defensive side of the ball. And when Freeman was raised to the head coach after the departure of Kelly 11 months later, Bowden became responsible for the entire recruitment operation as a recruitment director.

“He is elite in what he does, and he is one of the hardest workers I know,” said Freeman about Bowden in December 2023 on Wake Up the Echoes, a video podcast produced by the media Irish internal combat of Notre Dame. “There are times when I really am, envious of the relationships he has with our recruits – maybe even with my children.

“My children, when they come to the office, most of the time they say:” Hi, dad “. They go directly to the recruitment office and spend time with Chad and its staff, because they have a unique capacity to bring these children and communicate and spend time with them.

“It is confidence. Confidence is built over time. This is why I always wanted to work with him. He is a hard worker. He’s a very good person. Most of the time, he has ideas outside the box. He pushes me. As one of our things is “The Golden Standard”. Challenge everything. You talk about a guy who challenges me to think outside the box to get out of my comfort zone, sometimes I have to say no. It’s a guy who makes me better.

And now he works for an Arch rival.

Notre Dame signed four recruitment lessons since Bowden joined Irish staff. Each of these classes was classified n ° 11 or better: n ° 6 in 2022, n ° 11 in 2023, n ° 9 in 2024 and n ° 11 in 2025. Notre Dame signed two five -star recruits – the second Kyngston Viliamu – ASA and the offensive tackle will be black – and 16 rivals100 recruit during Bowden’s mandate.

Notre Dame’s Junior Day will run this Saturday, when Freeman is starting another important research.

“I think that going to the match for the national title and the way they returned there have really made an impression on recruits in class 2026 and beyond,” said Lemming. “This is why make the right rental will be so important.

“The name of Notre Dame is everywhere and on everyone’s lips. This is a difficult period for Chad Bowden to leave, but Marcus Freeman has a very good assessment so far to identify the right people to hire, then bring them. »»