After being dismissed back in September at Notre Dame, Brian Van Gorder has joined Kirby Smart's staff in game planning as an analyst.
The mustachioed defensive coordinator has bounced around quite a bit since being a big part of Mark Richt's early success. After coaching the linebackers, in addition to DC duties, at Georgia from 2001-2004, Van Gorder spent a year with the Jacksonville Jaguars coaching their LBs, a year as head coach at Georgia Southern, and about a week or two at South Carolina as their defensive coordinator under Spurrier before quickly departing to the Falcons. He spent five years in Atlanta, first as LB coach and then four as defensive coordinator. Auburn came calling for a defensive coordinator in 2012, then back to the NFL and the New York Jets as LB coach in 2013, before his most recent gig in South Bend started in 2014.
As one Dawgsports staff member put it, he's probably jumping to another job soon anyway, so it's not a bad deal for us to have him help for a few games while he's not coaching anywhere else.