Kirk Doll Staff

Kirk Doll is the veteran of Notre Dame?s football assistants, as he is in his eighth season with the Irish. For the second consecutive season, he will work with the entire Irish linebacking corps. In ?98 and ?99, Doll worked exclusively with the inside linebackers and in his first four seasons at Notre Dame, Doll worked with the outside linebackers. He coached the Notre Dame special teams from 1994 through ?97. Doll also works with the kickers and punters.

In 1997, Doll added the title of assistant head coach and, in this role, handles a variety of administrative duties. He was a nominee for the 2001 Frank M. Broyles Award given to the nation[apos]s outstanding assistant coach.

Doll will lead a strong linebacking corp in 2001, led by seniors Rocky Boiman, who was named to The Sporting News[apos] Great Unknowns Team in 2000, on the outside and Tyreo Harrison inside. He also has a host of other promising athletes in senior Carlos Pierre-Antoine, juniors Courtney Watson and Pat Ryan and sophomore Mike Goolsby, among others.

Doll was instrumental in the development of inside linebacker Anthony Denman, who switched from tailback to linebacker as a freshman. In 2000, Denman, a team captain, was an Associated Press second-team All-American, Notre Dame[apos]s most valuable player and a seventh-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Notre Dame[apos]s kicking game also was solid in 2000 as Joey Hildbold was a finalist for the Ray Guy Award given to the nation[apos]s best punter and placekicker Nick Setta converted eight-of-14 field goals, including the game winner with 0:00 remaining against Purdue, becoming the first Irish kicker to lead the team in scoring since 1993.

Following the 1998 season, Doll saw outside linebacker Kory Minor selected in the seventh round of the National Football League draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Minor earned All-America honorable mention honors from Football News in ?97, while Bert Berry garnered the same award the year before. Meanwhile, Allen Rossum headlined the Irish special teams by leading the nation in punt returns in ?96 and finished sixth in kickoff returns in ?97. The ?95 Irish defense allowed just 270.0 total yards per game, the lowest figure for an Irish squad since 1980. Former Irish linebacker Bobbie Howard is also playing for the Chicago Bears.

Before coming to Notre Dame, Doll served as the outside linebacker coach for five seasons at Texas A&M. The Wichita, Kan., native spent six years overall on the Aggie staff, working with the inside linebackers in ?88 before switching to the outside linebacker assignment a year later. Throughout that time he coached side by side with current Irish head coach Bob Davie, who had been the A&M defensive coordinator from ?89 until January of ?94.

Doll helped A&M lead the nation in total defense in ?91 (222.4 yards per game), rank third in ?93 (247.6), lead the nation in pass efficiency defense in ?93 (75.0 rating points) and stand third in scoring defense (10.8 points per game).

While at Texas A&M, Doll coached in three consectuive Cotton Bowl games and also the Holiday and John Hancock Bowls. In his final three years with the Aggies, the team had a combined record of 32-5 wih a 10-2 mark in [apos]91, 12-1 in [apos]92 and 10-2 in [apos]93.

Prior to coming to A&M in ?88, Doll served as an assistant at Arizona State for three years (1985-87), working with the outside linebackers under head coach John Cooper. He coached the offensive line at Tulsa for five seasons (1980-84) and handled the tight ends for a year at Iowa State (1979). Among the other top individuals he has coached include current and former professional linebackers Quentin Coryatt, Marcus Buckley, William Thomas, Aaron Wallace, Adam Bob, John Roper, Jeroy Robinson and Dana Batiste from Texas A&M and David Fulcher and Scott Stephen from Arizona State.

Doll also spent two years (1977-78) as an assistant at Texas City High School in Texas City, Texas, and served as a graduate assistant at Wichita State for two years (1975-76).

His coaching career has featured experience in 13 bowl games, including the Fiesta, Orange, Independence and Gator Bowls with Notre Dame, three straight Cotton Bowls at Texas A&M and the ?86 Rose Bowl during his tenure at Arizona State.

Actively involved with the American Football Coaches Assocaition, Doll is presently on the program committee after serving as the chairman of the assistant coaches committee from 1995-2000.

Born Sept. 24, 1951, he earned undergraduate degrees from both East Carolina (1974) and Wichita State (1976). He played as both a defensive end and tackle at East Carolina.

Married to the former Kathy Reding, they are parents of three children?Kate, Kelsey and Kyle.

The Kirk Doll Coaching File