Notre Dame continues coaching shuffle on defense by adding Charlie Partridge, moving Al Washington

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman is shuffling his defensive coaching staff by putting former defensive line coach Al Washington in charge of the linebackers and hiring Charlie Partridge to coach defensive linemen.

The moves come less than two weeks after Freeman decided to remain Notre Dame's head coach on a restructured contract.

Washington will reman Notre Dame's defensive run game coordinator and will replace Max Bullough as linebackers coach. Bullough recently left to become the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Michigan State, his alma mater. Washington was Ohio State’s linebackers coach from 2019-21 before joining Freeman’s staff at Notre Dame. He also coached linebackers at Michigan in 2018.

“When the linebackers role came open, we immediately thought of Al,” Freeman said in a statement released Wednesday. “With his previous experience coaching linebackers he will be a great asset to that room, and taking on this role will continue to enhance his skillset as he ultimately looks to elevate in his career.”

On Thursday, Notre Dame announced the hiring of Partridge who had spent the past two seasons coaching defensive linemen with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

He spent the previous 26 seasons as a positional coach, special teams coordinator, co-defensive coordinator and head coach at the college level. His most recent college experience came at Pittsburgh where he worked as assistant head coach/defensive line coach from 2018-23. He also worked for the Panthers as the defensive line coach in 2017.

Partridge went 9-27 as head coach of Florida Atlantic from 2014-16.

“Charlie’s record of developing highly impactful defensive linemen speaks for itself,” Freeman said in a statement. “His experience in both college football and the NFL, as well as his experience working with Chris Ash, will be very beneficial to our program.”

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