Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ship with Bob Diaco and Kerry Cooks, so the transition to our staff should be extremely smooth. I know our safeties will love playing for him," Kelly said. Harry Hiestand's Irish connection is a slightly longer trip back through "Bobby has a long-standing relation- ask for suggestions for a replacement this January, Hiestand's name continu- ally popped up despite the fact that his Tennessee team finished the sea- son ranked 117th in rushing offense. Hiestand's long history of producing When Kelly scoured his Rolodex to where near the experience that Hies- tand and Elliott bring, but he's left a trail of swooning coaches in his short path to the Irish assistant job. Prior to arriving in South Bend, Scott Booker doesn't have any- AND A SPLASH OF YOUTH Booker coached the defensive back- field for Western Kentucky in 2009 and at his alma mater, Kent State, from 2005-08. The 31-year-old Pitts- burgh native played four years at safety for the Golden Flashes and made the 2001 Mid-American Confer- ence all-academic team. His position coach at the time, Mike Dietzel, said Booker was the smartest player he's ever coached. "Scott had the ability to take every- thing from the classroom and process it on the field probably better than anybody we had," said Dietzel, who just finished his 25th year as a college coach and is now at the University of Buffalo. In his quarter-century of foot- ball, Dietzel has also coached play- ers at Army, Colorado and Michigan, among others. Dietzel said Booker wasn't consid- ering a career in coaching as a col- lege senior in 2002, but he did his best to change the smart young player's mind. "I told him, 'You would really Among his prior coaching stops, Harry Hiestand worked for eight years with the University of Illinois, time. When Hiestand was in the early stages of his now 29-year career he wanted to learn more about how to coach an offensive line. So, he traveled to South Bend to pick the brain of Irish assistant Joe Moore (1988-96). "He had a tremendous impact on me," Hiestand said. "Joe was one of those people who you either gravi- tated to him or not, and there was no in between. I was one of those who gravitated to him, and he taught me a lot about offensive line play. Most of the things I teach have been influenced by what Joe taught." Moore was known as much for his unwavering, fundamental approach to football as he was for the cigarette that perpetually dangled from his lips. Hiestand has tried to infuse the same tough love philosophy and focus on the basics into all of the teams he has coached. 60 MARCH 2012 and he spent five years with the Chicago Bears, including their 2006 NFC championship season. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS NFL-caliber offensive linemen spoke louder than a couple of down years with the Volunteers. During his eight years with the Uni- versity of Illinois, every senior who started on his offensive line played professionally the following season. Hiestand went to the NFL himself after leaving the Illini. He spent five years with the Chicago Bears, high- lighted by their 2006 NFC champion- ship season. "His history of developing NFL-cal- rocket through this profession be- cause of your personality, and your character, plus your knowledge is just something that comes very natural to you,'" Dietzel said. "I don't know [if] that conversation actually made his decision, but I was hoping that would happen for him because he's got the natural ability to understand the game at a level that a lot of guys don't." Booker remained with the team as a iber offensive linemen speaks for itself, and I know our linemen will learn a lot from him," Kelly said. When Kelly called to offer Hiestand a ticket back to the Midwest in the middle of January, the first thing he thought of was the advice Moore had given 22 years before: If you ever get the chance to coach at Notre Dame, take it. graduate assistant and stayed at Kent State for five years under head coach Doug Martin. Just signed on as Bos- ton College's offensive coordinator, Martin also praised Booker's football savvy and his ability to evaluate talent in the recruiting game. His youth and magnetic personality are expected to be major assets on the recruiting trail for Notre Dame in the coming years. Booker attracted two future NFL players to a middle-of-the-pack MAC school during his time at Kent State. He spent a year at Western Ken- tucky, where Dietzel was the defen- sive coordinator at the time, before going to Notre Dame. The Hilltop- pers, in their first season playing in BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED