Conflicting Reports on Notre Dame DL Coach Keith Gilmore

When we posted the recap of the last two weeks of Notre Dame football news, we said things could keep changing.  There’s conflicting reports Monday night that more changes may be imminent.  WNDU is reporting that Keith Gilmore will not be back as defensive line coach for the Irish. Multiple other sources, however, including Football Scoop have refuted the reports..

And you thought something might not be complicated this off-season for Notre Dame.

Not So Fast My Friend

Some Notre Dame news outlets ran with the story of Gilmore’s dismissal citing the WNDU report and have since updated their reports with the Football Scoop rebuttal. Meanwhile Football Scoop and Notre Dame veterans Eric Hansen and Bryan Driskell have since come out and refuted the WNDU report.

Just spoke with a source with knowledge of the situation and the reports that D-Line coach Keith Gilmore is out at #NotreDame are wrong.

— Eric Hansen (@EHansenNDI) December 20, 2016

Gilmore’s dismissal would not be overly surprising if it turned out to be true.  Not only has the production of the Notre Dame defensive line been lacking, but Gilmore was brought in to work with Brian Van Gorder’s defense.  Mike Elko’s defense features multiple fronts and requires different philosophies up front.  Gilmore, a 31 year veteran should be able to adapt, but Elko could likely want to bring in his own defensive line coach as well.

Gilmore spent the past two seasons at Notre Dame joining the Irish during the last major reshuffling of the staff following the 2014 season.  Mike Elston moved over to coach linebackers when Gilmore joined the staff after coaching the defensive line for five seasons.

Cha Cha Changes at Notre Dame

If Gilmore is out, he will be the fourth assistant coach to leave the Notre Dame staff joining Vangorder, Mike Sanford, and Scott Booker.  Sanford would be the only one of the bunch, however, whose departure was voluntary.  Paul Longo, Notre Dame’s Strength & Conditioning coach the past seven years has also been reportedly reassigned.

Reports have suggested since last week that Mike Elko will likely be bringing at least one assistant with him from Wake Forest, but to date there’s only been speculation as to who that may be.  The potential addition, could mean the subtraction of a current assistant such as Gilmore.

For now, it doesn’t at least appear as though Gilmore has been let go.  It still could happen as Kelly said repeatedly that the new defensive coordinator would be able to completely evaluate the defensive assistants.

Former Pupil Not Happy

One thing is for certain though.  IF Gilmore is out or will be out, at least one former Notre Dame defensive lineman will not happy about it.  Sheldon Day tweeted directly to Brian Kelly this evening voicing his displeasure on the initial reports of Gilmore’s firing.

@NDFootball @CoachBrianKelly how do you part ways with one of the best D-Line coaches out there? 🤔🤔

— Sheldon Day (@SheldonDay_91) December 20, 2016

Day played the best season of his career under Gilmore in 2015 and parlayed his strong senior campaign into being a 4th round draft selection by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So last week we saw two assistants leave and two get hired by Notre Dame.  This week we already have a reported firing and rebuttals to that report.  If only the regular season had been this entertaining.