Chad Bowden Leaves Notre Dame For USC

Notre Dame's exceptional 2024 season is being followed by a very rough offseason as the Irish have suffered another key departure. USC has hired former Irish general manager Chad Bowden for the same role. 

Bowden came to Notre Dame in 2021 as the recruiting coordinator for the Irish defense. He came to Notre Dame with Marcus Freeman, and he was promoted to the primary recruiting coordinator when Freeman became head coach. Freeman was pursued by Michigan last season but was promoted to general manager following the 2023 season. Bowden has again been pursued by one of Notre Dame's rivals and this time he has accepted the job.

Bowden was considered one of Freeman's top assistants and was a driving force behind the program's excellent recruiting in recent seasons. Bowden played a huge role in putting the team's strong recruiting classes together and was also a major force for talent acquisition in the transfer portal.

Now, instead of continuing to help Freeman build up Notre Dame, Bowden will now look to build up Notre Dame's biggest rival. 

This is the latest huge loss for Notre Dame this offseason. Notre Dame lost defensive coordinator Al Golden earlier in the week when he took the same job for the Cincinnati Bengals. Notre Dame also lost starting offensive linemen Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan to the transfer portal. The Irish also lost key wide receiver reserves Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie to the portal, as well as 7-game starting guard Sam Pendleton.

Replacing Bowden will be every bit as big of a task for Freeman as replacing Golden. Bowden was a heavyweight on the recruiting trail for Notre Dame, and he did a lot of the work adding talent, which allowed the Irish coaches to focus on coaching and closing on the trail. Freeman will have to work quickly, as the Irish are entering a very important offseason period of recruiting.

Reports are that Bowden will become the highest paid general manager in college football. John Brice from FootballScoop reports his new salary will be around a million dollars.