Brian Mason / Notre Dame Special Teams Coach

Brian Mason begins his first season in charge of special teams for Notre Dame after serving the past four years in that capacity at the University of Cincinnati. Mason has previously worked with Irish head coach Marcus Freeman at both Purdue and Cincinnati.

Mason’s stint with the Boilermakers marked the midway point of a five-year stretch in which he served as a graduate assistant at three different schools. That coaching development process led to Mason being named as Cincinnati’s Director of Recruiting in 2017. A promotion to special teams coordinator then followed just one year later.

In Mason’s four seasons of leading the special teams for the Bearcats, the team compiled an outstanding record of 44-7, capped by the spotless 13-0 regular season in 2021. That latter effort led to the Bearcats being tabbed for a berth in the college football playoffs.

Mason’s aggressive style of leadership resulted in the Bearcats ending the 2021 campaign as a co-leader among all NCAA FBS teams in blocked kicks with six. That total gave them 14 during his four-year tenure, including a trio of blocked punts last season.

The 2021 success of Mason’s coaching efforts also resulted in success when it came to defending punt returns. On 17 opposing runbacks, the Bearcats held their foes to an average of 1.53 yards per return, placing them third in the country.

In his first season in 2018, the team was also consistently solid in the area of net punting average, finishing second in the country.