Laurinaitis joins Freeman’s Notre Dame coaching staff
Former Ohio State All-american linebacker James Laurinaitis will join former Buckeye teammate Marcus Freeman’s staff at Notre Dame.
Laurinaitis announced the move on his radio show on 97.1 FM.
“I am going up to South Bend with Marcus,” Laurinaitis said on the show.
Laurinaitis said he had been “poking around” entering coaching the past couple of years but that a couple of opportunities didn’t pan out.
“With your best friend getting the head coaching job, it’s a pretty unique situation and a pretty awesome opportunity to go up there and get started in the profession,” he said.
Notre Dame hired Freeman as head coach following the departure of Brian Kelly to LSU.
“It was really just the fact that that we’ve been best friends since freshman year of college, and so there’s a level of trust there,” Laurinaitis said.
Ohio State and Notre Dame will play in the 2022 season opener in Columbus.
Laurinaitis, 35, was a three-time Allamerican at Ohio State, where he played from 2005-2008. He won the Nagurski Award given to the top defensive player nationally and the Butkus Award for best linebacker. The St. Louis Rams drafted him in the second round of the 2009 draft. He played seven seasons with the Rams before finishing his career with New Orleans in 2016. Laurinaitis had 869 career tackles.