Sources: Notre Dame losing top assistant to NFL's Los Angeles Chargers

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Chris O’Leary, a fixture on Notre Dame’s coaching staff across its transition from Brian Kelly to Marcus Freeman, is on the verge of moving on from the Fighting Irish.

Several sources tell FootballScoop that O’Leary is being targeted as the next safeties coach for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

The franchise just recently hired away Jim Harbaugh from Michigan, who in turn made Jesse Minter his first defensive coordinator with the franchise; Minter and O’Leary have a rich history together.

It’s noteworthy that O’Leary has been a mainstay on the Notre Dame staff for the past six seasons, climbing from graduate assistant to defensive analyst to full-time, on-field assistant coach.

All O’Leary has done has been merely to help refine Kyle Hamilton into an All-America, NFL First Round Draft Pick; he’s now a Pro Bowler with the Baltimore Ravens, as well as help turn Xavier Watts into an All-American, Bronko Nagurski-award winning safety.

O’Leary has teamed with Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens to hone an elite secondary for Notre Dame; the duo landed on FootballScoop’s 2023 Coach of the Year finalists.

But O’Leary, who has ranked well outside of college football’s top-25 highest-paid defensive backs coaches despite his elite work, has long been close friends with new Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.

A former Notre Dame defensive intern long before O’Leary’s arrival, Minter coached alongside O’Leary at both Indiana State — O’Leary’s alma mater — as well as Georgia State.

The two then landed as rival staffers on two of college football’s most storied programs — O’Leary at Notre Dame, Minter at Michigan.

Notre Dame this offseason has held on to Mike Mickens, the program’s top-notch cornerbacks coach who was courted by USC before the Irish answered with a new contract and raise, and also retained stalwart defensive coordinator Al Golden, who was approached about multiple NCAA head coaching posts.

Golden also has been retained by the Irish with a lengthy contract extension that has been negotiated to vault Golden among the highest-paid defensive coordinators in college football; Notre Dame also seized offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock away from LSU with a four-year deal that likewise vaulted Denbrock among college football’s top-end offensive play-callers with a virtually unrivaled four-year pact.

Notre Dame, coming off its first 10-win season under Freeman, is set to open its 2024 campaign Aug. 31 at Texas A&M.