Walks around campus put Notre Dame's offense on the run

ORLANDO, Fla. – Take a stroll around Notre Dame’s campus one day and there’s a good chance you’ll run into a pair of coaches.

Chip Long, 34, and Harry Hiestand, 59, may nearly be three decades apart, but they’re walking buddies and get their workout in every day — rain or snow.

It’s the most important part of the young offensive coordinator and veteran offensive line coach’s day. A chance to talk about football, kids, or nothing. Sometimes it’s pure silence, especially if Notre Dame had a bad practice.

“It’s just a good time to clear your mind,” Long said.

This is how the friendship formed. Brian Kelly hired Long away from Memphis to be the Fighting Irish offensive coordinator and play-caller last January. Soon after arriving in South Bend, Long identified Hiestand as someone from whom he wanted to learn. He was experienced — Hiestand has been coaching for 35 years, five at Notre Dame; they had comparable coaching styles; and perhaps more importantly, similar personalities despite the age gap.

“I sit in his meetings every day to learn,” Long said. “He’s one of the finest teachers and motivators I’ve ever been around. I’ve learned way more from him than he has from me, I’ll tell you that.”

On one of Long’s first days, he noticed Hiestand leaving the Guglielmino Athletics Complex for a walk and asked if he could join. They like to start at the football building and loop around the campus lake, fire station and back to their office.

“I was like, ‘Mind if I join you?’” Long said. “We started doing it every day. Let him get to know me. It’s hard for a veteran guy who’s been coaching for 30 years to have a 33-year-old come in and start saying this is the direction we want to go.

“And it fit him, the direction we wanted to go, pound the ball behind those big guys (on the offensive line). It was a natural coming together.”

Their bond has helped Notre Dame form a strong offensive identity that will be on display when it faces No. 14 LSU in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day. When Long assumed his role he laid out his plan for the offense: It would be physical, run the ball to win and take shots down field when it needed to.

This culture change was easy for players to get used to.

“It was a lot quicker than I thought just because of the alphas I had up front, the physicality of everything we wanted to do, we want to punish people, it was easy for them to embrace,” Long said. “The wideouts love what we do, the run-pass option, the whole passing game scheme and the players are just like, What do we have to do to win games?”

This season Notre Dame has relied on a mature offensive line, recently named the best in the country. The left side of tackle Mike McGlinchey and guard Quenton Nelson will likely be selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. They provided the foundation for the nation’s seventh-best rushing attack, which averaged 279.1 yards per game — last season the Irish finished 80th, averaging 163.3 yards per game.

The offensive line created running lanes for Josh Adams, who was briefly in the Heisman Trophy conversation, to rush for 1,386 yards on 7.3 yards per carry with nine touchdowns. He leads the country with seven plays of 60 rushing yards or more.

Quarterback Brandon Wimbush struggled in the passing game, which is something Long plans to continue to work on with him in the offseason. Wimbush was still able to use his legs to find ways to win nine regular season games.

“There's obviously great room for improvement,” Long said, “but it was a different dynamic for me, you know, just kind of each game was different. But any time you can have a chance to run the ball and run the ball with power like we're able to do, it alleviates a lot of problems you might have anywhere else.”

Moving forward, Long has plans to keep building on this offense. Adams is expected to return for his senior season and the Irish will still run the ball, but he’d like to throw it just as well.

“Consistency on the perimeter and in the passing game has got to improve dramatically,” Long said. “I can’t sleep at night with this going on. It’s gonna be fun with some new guys coming in, with some veterans with a year in the system that can play fast, more confident and then just competing for the ball, accuracy with the ball, mechanics, understanding what we’re trying to do, getting our run-pass game going. We haven’t really used that at all this year to be honest with you. To see that grow with our run game … it’s gonna be fun.

“To me there’s still so much more out there that we can accomplish.”

Follow IndyStar Notre Dame Insider Laken Litman on Twitter and Instagram: @lakenlitman.

NO. 15 NOTRE DAME VS. NO. 14 LSU

Kickoff: 1 p.m., Monday, Orlando, Fla.

TV: WRTV-6.