John McNulty has come a long way from being that kid from Scranton. After his playing career as a safety at Penn State, he quickly joined the coaching ranks at Michigan as a graduate assistant. From there, a journey began that took McNulty around the country with collegiate stops at UConn, Rutgers and Penn State, as well as stints in the NFL with Jacksonville, Dallas, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Tennessee and San Diego/Los Angeles.
And then came a call from the program that Jim Crowley treasured.
“Initially, Tommy Rees called me about what I’d be interested in doing, and obviously, I was more than interested in coming to Notre Dame,” McNulty remembered of the early months of 2020.
The Irish coaching staff was not unfamiliar to McNulty, having coached at the Chargers with Rees and competed against head coach Brian Kelly when Kelly was the head coach at Cincinnati and McNulty was offensive coordinator at Rutgers.
What seemed like a normal transition to a new program quickly proved anything but. The Irish fit in one spring practice before remote learning and meetings took hold. Still, it was full steam ahead for the tight end room, and the alternative approach may have even produced some positives.
“I’ve still been able to really get to know guys, even on Zoom and FaceTime — maybe even more so because now the parents are home,” McNulty noted in the spring. “They’re able to jump in on some of these conversations. If they came to practice, I probably wouldn’t really get to talk to them.”
Parents weren’t the only visitors in Zoom meetings for a room that includes returners Tommy Tremble and Brock Wright and lauded newcomers Michael Mayer and Kevin Bauman.
As the spring went on, NFL and Irish stars including Kyle Rudolph and Anthony Fasano dropped in on the tight end meetings.
“I’ve found that these guys are all quality, character guys that want to give back,” he said of Irish football alumni. “If they’re former Notre Dame guys, forget it. They’ll drop everything immediately.”
Beyond the drop-ins from NFL players, McNulty brings a wealth of experience in the NFL, having coached future Hall of Famers like Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Gates.
“I didn’t play in the NFL, and I always relied on [players’] points of view the first couple years in Jacksonville,” McNulty remembered. “We had a lot of good coaches that were there, and I could tell when guys weren’t into whatever was being presented.
“It hit me that these guys are great. They know what they’re best at, and they want to accentuate what they’re comfortable with. They look at it a different way.”
The longtime coach notes his time with Fitzgerald breaking down routes, matchups and the position as valuable insight into what works. As such, McNulty’s meetings are a conversation, not a lecture. He’ll send his players clips from NFL players, breaking down offseason prep and highlights. He’ll provide insight, asking what’s feasible for his own players and what they think they can do to make the game their own.
“You sit in a meeting room with Kurt Warner every day, and he’s talking about how he sees things. With Antonio Gates, he’d say, ‘Hey, listen. Can I just run the ball to do this? I want to get my hands on the guy.’”
“All that time spent around those guys, seeing how much dedication that it takes to play at that level… You don’t roll out of bed and go to the Hall of Fame. It takes years of honing their craft. It’s all little techniques that they’ve learned. It doesn’t mean they’re always good for each guy, and it all then has to be individualized for the player.”
