Chicago Bears: Nagy pulls off monster hire in OL coach Harry Hiestand
Matt Nagy made an outstanding hire in bringing offensive line coach Harry Hiestand back to the Chicago Bears.
When the Chicago Bears hired Matt Nagy, it wasn’t just going to be about bringing an offensive mindset to Halas Hall. It was also going to be about who he brought onto his staff to help bring his and Ryan Pace’s visions to fruition.
On that note, he just hit a mammoth home run with his first coaching hire.
News leaked earlier today that the Bears were looking to bring in Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. Then, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune broke the news: Hiestand was indeed coming to Chicago.
Talked about this on NFL Live just 2 days ago. OL coach most important hire on staff outside of coordinators. Matt knows this. He gets it. https://t.co/VKgm3sJYQK
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) January 10, 2018
Hiestand actually has worked with the Chicago Bears before, serving as their offensive line coach under Lovie Smith from 2005-09. But it’s his recent work with the Fighting Irish that makes this move such an incredible one for Nagy.
Since taking over as Notre Dame’s OL coach in 2012, Hiestand has overseen one of the consistently best offensive lines in college football. In fact, Notre Dame just won the Joe Moore Award this season for best offensive line in the nation.
In that time, Hiestand has developed several excellent NFL starters. Most prominent among them are Nick (Houston Texans) and Zack Martin—a four-time All-Pro with the Dallas Cowboys—and the Baltimore Ravens’ Ronnie Stanley.
More from Da Windy City
- Juan Soto appears headed to the Yankees which is not a big blow Chicago Cubs offseason
- 3 takeaways from Chicago Blackhawks shootout loss to Nashville
- Chicago Cubs in the middle of chaos that is Shohei Ohtani’s free agency
- The Chicago Cubs are on a roller coaster of emotions chasing Shohei Ohtani
- Chicago Bears quietly compiling list of head coaching candidates
And that doesn’t even cover tackle Mike McGlinchey and guard Quenton Nelson, who could conceivably both go in the top 10 of this coming draft.
In fact, given the Bears’ desire to revolutionize their offense and now having defensive continuity with Vic Fangio likely returning, what if they drafted one of those players with the eighth-overall pick? With Hiestand in the fold, I have to think he’ll push hard for one of his guys. My money would be on Nelson, personally.
Whether or not they get either one of them, Hiestand will tremendously aid this offensive line and, therefore, Mitch Trubisky. And that’s the entire point of bringing Nagy in in the first place. His goal is to make Trubisky a star, and he can’t be a star if he has no protection.
Next: Notre Dame offensive line wins Joe Moore Award
With this hire and those come, Nagy is setting the board for the Chicago Bears to finally run a modern NFL offense. And I’m 100% here for it.