It didn't take much coercion to get offensive line coach Mike Denbrock to leave his position at Stanford and follow head coach Tyrone Willingham to Notre Dame. Even though he had only coached with Willingham for that one year with the Cardinal, Denbrock already had reason enough to make the move to South Bend.

"The main [reason] is the type of person [Willingham] is, and the type of things he brings to the table as a head football coach," Denbrock said. "It's something that's hard to find out there. He's a guy that has the ability to focus a football program in the direction that it needs to go. He's just a quality individual — period. So, it made the decision easy when he asked me to come along."

While with the Irish, Denbrock will focus on working with the tackles and tight ends, while fellow offensive line coach John McDonell will mostly work with centers and guards.

Even though teams in recent history at Notre Dame have had trouble putting together a dominant offensive line, Denbrock chooses not to dwell on that but to focus on the future and the resources at hand now.

"I can't speak about anything that's happened in the past," he said. "I think we have some talented individuals up front that we're trying to mold into a unit that the University of Notre Dame is worthy of and can be proud of."

Denbrock comes from a very diverse coaching background that includes professional and collegiate coaching experience on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football.

Prior to his one-year term with Stanford, Denbrock coached a two-year stint with the Arena League Buffalo Destroyers, occupying the positions of assistant coach, defensive coordinator, offensive line and defensive line coach.

The bulk of Denbrock's experience comes from coaching at his alma mater, Grand Valley State, where he coached on the offensive side as coordinator, quarterbacks and wide receivers coach from 1992-95, but then switched to the other side of the ball from 1996-98 when he was defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

It was at Grand Valley State that Denbrock got his first coaching experience as a graduate assistant in 1986-87.

Denbrock also coached two years apiece at Michigan State and Illinois State, working predominantly with the offense.

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