Notre Dame makes a massive statement, as Marcus Freeman and his staff have hired Ja'Juan Seider to replace Deland McCullough as Notre Dame's Running Backs Coach.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
It's no secret that the departure of Deland McCullough to the Las Vegas Raiders was a massive blow to Notre Dame, which came as the latest departure in a string of moves that included the losses of Defensive Coordinator Al Golden, and General Manager Chad Bowden. To put it quite honestly, Notre Dame had lost two integral pieces of their success over the past few seasons. Compounding this with the departure of McCullough must have felt like being kicked while they were down. While Notre Dame moved quickly to secure the services of Chris Ash as the new Defensive Coordinator, while simultaneously retaining Mike Mickens, they still found themselves in a tough spot after missing on their perceived top GM target in James Blanchard. It seems, however, that the Irish were not willing to sit idly by and wait for the right candidate to emerge to replace McCullough's services. Marcus Freeman wanted to go big game hunting - and quickly.
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Ja'Juan Seider, without hyperbole, might be the best at coaching running backs in the country. The Florida native played college football from 1995-1998 at West Virginia as a quarterback, before playing a final season for his home state in 1999 as a member of the HBCU Florida A&M Rattlers. Despite only seeing action in seven games throughout his college career, his love for the game was never in question, as his transition to coaching occurred shortly after in 2001 as the Running Backs coach for Glades Central High School; his alma mater. After two seasons, he would move on to become the Offensive Coordinator of another in-state high school, Palm Beach Lakes, before one more stint at Lake Worth High School as a Quarterback Coach. Seider would cut his teeth as a graduate assistant in his return to West Virginia in 2008, before earning his first role as a collegiate positional coach at Marshall (Running Backs) in 2010. He would hone his skills at the G5 level for three seasons, before his final return to Morgantown, where he would once again earn a promotion as the Running Backs Coach. He left for Florida for the same position in 2017, before landing at Penn State in 2018, where he's been ever since. During his time with the Nittany Lions, he was promoted from Running Backs Coach to Run Game Coordinator in 2020, and then to Assistant Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator in 2021.
Seider coached his first player to 1,000 rushing yards in 2013 at West Virginia despite their 4-8 record in Charles Sims. In 2015, he would coach Wendell Smallwood and the Mountaineers to an 8-5 record, with Smallwood recording a team-high 1,519 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. As a whole, the 2015 Mountaineers squad would finish the season with nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. After another 3,000-yard rushing performance from the offense in 2016, things didn't go as well at Florida. The 2017 Gators would finish 4-7, and the running backs would fail to eclipse 2,000 yards rushing before Seider would leave for Penn State. The script would completely flip for Seider in Happy Valley, however. In his first season, he coached well-known NFL RB Miles Sanders to a nearly 1,300-yard season and enjoyed a 9-4 record alongside James Franklin. After another successful season in 2019, the Nittany Lions hit a snag during the shortened 2020 season, before Seider's promotion in 2021. Seider played an integral role in the recruitment of both Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who would burst onto the scene for Penn State in 2022. In 2022, Singleton would total 1,061 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman, en route to another 11-2 season for Penn State. In 2023, Singleton and Allen would total 752 and 902 yards respectively during another 10-win season. Finally, in 2024, Seider's most successful season would come to fruition. Singleton and Allen would each eclipse the 1,000-yard mark during Penn State's magical 13-win season, ending in a loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
With both Singleton and Allen returning in 2025, it likely wasn't easy to pull Seider away from Penn State. This is a true testament to both Freeman and Bevacqua's commitment to excellence, as there likely aren't many coaches that can rival the success enjoyed by Seider throughout his career. This was one hell of a hire for Notre Dame. I would expect nothing short of a dominant season on the ground in 2025 for the Fighting Irish given Seider's coaching acumen. What a statement from Notre Dame.
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