The Fighting Irish have hired Ja’Juan Seider as their new running backs coach following the departure of Deland McCullough to the NFL, and the new man has now offered his thanks to the Nittany Lions

Ja’Juan Seider, Penn State’s longtime running backs coach, is off to Notre Dame — but not without saying good-bye to the Nittany Lions and Happy Valley.

Notre Dame has hired running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider away from Penn State to do the same job for the Irish, coach Marcus Freeman announced.

The Irish have announced the hiring of Ja'Juan Seider as their running backs coach as well as an associate head coach under Marcus Freeman. Seider previously spent the past four seasons in both of those roles at Penn State as well as the co-offensive coordinator. He had been the Nittany Lions ' running backs coach since 2018.

Seider’s name, though, remained in the Penn State staff directory for quite some time after his reported hiring at Notre Dame. Finally, the Fighting Irish have officially welcomed Seider to South Bend. He will also serve as the associate head coach in addition to his running backs role.

Penn State's former running backs coach joins Marcus Freeman's staff. Stan Drayton replaced Seider with the Nittany Lions.

Seider heads to the Irish after serving as Penn State’s running backs coach, assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Irish Breakdown has confirmed that Notre Dame is poised to hire Penn State running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider. The 47-year old Florida native was also the assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator at Penn State, but it's not yet known what other titles he will have once everything is made official with Notre Dame.