Notre Dame has suffered a really tough blow as Irish Breakdown has been able to confirm that secondary coach Mike Mickens is leaving the team for a job with the Baltimore Ravens. With Mickens gone the Irish defensive staff from 2024 will be almost completely new, and no coaches from that team will be in the spots they were in. This will be a very different looking defensive staff.
Mickens came to Notre Dame back in 2020, and he quickly emerged as one of the teams top assistant coaches. It didn’t take long for Mickens to not only emerge as a top assistant on the Irish staff, but as one of the top defensive backs coaches in all of college football. Mickens has developed Notre Dame into one of the top producers of secondary talent in all of college football, and he has been dynamic as a recruiter as well.
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Notre Dame has produced multiple All-Americans during Mickens tenure, with Leonard Moore (2025) and Xavier Watts (2023-24) becoming the latest standouts. Over the last three seasons the Notre Dame defense has ranked in the Top 10 nationally in passer rating. Notre Dame led the nation in passer rating in 2023 and 2024 with Mickens driving the coverage looks and calls. Notre Dame also ranked in the Top 10 in passing yards allowed per attempt in 2023 and 2024.
Notre Dame’s secondary emerged as an elite unit with turnovers the last two seasons, ranking fourth in interceptions in 2025 (21) and fifth in 2024 (19). Notre Dame also led the nation in lowest pass completion rate in 2024. It ranked 2nd in 2023 and 15th in 2025.
During his tenure Mickens became an elite recruiter, both with evaluating under the radar players like Moore, Benjamin Morrison and Adon Shuler, and also recruiting top level prospects like Christian Gray, Tae Johnson and the incoming class that includes five-star safety Joey O’Brien and five-star cornerback Khary Adams.
With Mickens gone, head coach Marcus Freeman will have a very tough task when it comes to replacing him. There are few coaches on his level in all of college football and they all are paid quite well. Being able to replace Mickens as a coach will be hard enough, but combine his elite evaluation and recruiting and this will be a very tough task. As difficult of a move as this is for Notre Dame, it’s not all that surprising after Mickens was passed over for a promotion last season when Al Golden left. The defense will certainly have the Chris Ash stamp of approval, as he was instrumental in bringing in Charlie Partridge to coach the defensive line and will likely have a big say in who steps into the secondary role.
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