Notre Dame is expected to hire Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry to be its co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, CBS Sports reported Sunday morning.
Henry has served as Illinois coach Bret Bielema’s defensive coordinator for three seasons and, before that, was the Illini defensive backs coach for two years. He joins Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash, who just completed his first season on Marcus Freeman’s staff. Henry played for Ash at Wisconsin and was on Ash’s staff at Rutgers in 2016.
The Baltimore Ravens hired Notre Dame’s previous defensive backs coach, Mike Mickens, last week.
Illinois, which won a program-record 19 games over the last two seasons, ranked 46th in FBS with 344.9 yards allowed per game and 57th with 23.6 points allowed per game in 2025.
The Illini had some bumps in 2025, notably allowing eventual national champion Indiana to score 63 points and Washington to score 42 in losses. But they finished on a high note with a 30-28 Music City Bowl win over Tennessee in which the Vols totaled a season-low 278 yards.
Henry also served as the Illini secondary coach and has coached multiple notable defensive backs, including Devon Witherspoon, whom the Seattle Seahawks drafted at No. 5 in 2023, fellow NFL players Quan Martin, Sydney Brown and Kerby Joseph and Xavier Scott, who was a first-team All-Big Ten pick in 2024 before he was injured in 2025.
Notre Dame has a highly regarded secondary led by cornerbacks Leonard Moore and Christian Gray and safeties Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson.
