Max Bullough‘s return to his alma mater set the wheels in motion for Notre Dame’s first instance of musical chairs coaching change. The Fighting Irish worked quickly to fill the void left by him.
First they moved Al Washington from overseeing the defensive line to linebackers. Then they hired Charlie Partridge of the Indianapolis Colts to coach the defensive line. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg first reported the Irish were close to hiring PartridgeAnd Blue and Gold can confirm Rittenberg’s report.
Partridge began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Drake in 1996. He held the same position in 1997, which was Notre Dame’s current defensive coordinator for the first year. Chris Ash joined him there with an identical job title.
Partridge then became a graduate assistant at Iowa State in 1998-99, and Ash followed him, again, with the same title to Ames in 2000-01. During those two overlapping seasons, Partridge was promoted to director of football operations.
Partridge and Ash joined the same coaching staff again from 2010 to 2013. For the first three of those seasons, they were at Wisconsin. For the fourth, they were in Arkansas. They went to the Rose Bowl three times with the Badgers, including as co-defensive coordinators in 2011 and 2012.
It’s been over a decade since Partridge and Ash coached together, but the bond was clearly still strong enough for them to want to come together once again.
Over the past dozen years, Partridge served as head coach at Florida Atlantic from 2014-16, defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh from 2017-23, and defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts since 2024.
Partridge, 52, is originally from Florida. He began his college playing career with Ash at Drake in the early 1990s and finished it as a defensive lineman at Iowa State.
Partridge was FootballScoop’s Defensive Line Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2022 at Pitt. He coached defensive tackle Calijah Kanceya unanimous first-round All-American and 2023 NFL Draft pick. Partridge coached two consensus All-American defensive ends in 2020 in Patrick Jones II And Rashad Tisserand.
Coaching file for Notre Dame DL coach Charlie Partridge
Pitt (2017-2023) — defensive line and assistant head coach
Florida Atlantic (2014-16) – head coach
Arkansas (2013) — assistant head coach and defensive line
Wisconsin (2008-13) — defensive line, special teams, associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator
Pitt (2003-07) — defensive line, special teams, linebackers
Eastern Illinois (2002) – defensive line and recruiting coordinator
Iowa State (1998-2001) graduate assistant, director of football operations
Duck (1996-97) graduate assistant
