Who Will be the Next Coach at Notre Dame

Only among cynics on sportsjournalists.com.

 

You had to pull him out from the woods, didn't you?

 

I get your point, but by the same token the larger point still stands -- I am not in the SEC market, it is not even the second choice (this is Big Ten and Big East and default we usually get ACC) but I can tell you this - I've seen more than half of Alabama's games and probably about eight or nine opportunities to watch Florida.

Every team is on television.

 

Every team is on television but not every team is on television in every market. I cant believe people are having such a hard time understanding the difference.

The ND job is high profile for 3 reasons:

1.) The NBC contract which puts them on national netowrk tv every week (which we've been over a hundred times and yet we still have people saying "everyone has cable." Good grief.)

2.) Whoever gets the job will be paid quite generously, more so than most other schools.

3.) The ND national following. Yes, I know Alabama fans are rabid in Alabama. And Penn State fans are rabid in Pennsylvania. And USC fans are rabid in California. But on the whole, there is no school that has a larger national fan base from state to state than ND. You don't find legions of LSU fans outside of the south the way you do with ND. I've lived in 5 different states in 3 different time zones and everywhere I go I see two types of college football fans: fans of the local school and ND fans.

These 3 reasons make the job high profile no matter what the current state of the program is. Does it make it the "best" job, the most "sought-after" job or the most "popular" job? No, no and no. Hell if I were a prized college coach I'd probably take a Florida or Alabama job before the ND job too. But that doesn't mean it isn't a high-profile job.

Being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys is a high-profile job. Is it the best team to be a quarterback on? Maybe not. There are probably several teams I'd rather play for if I was a superstar quarterback because there are several teams that look a lot stronger than the Cowboys. But it's still a high-profile job.

 

NBC has only Notre Dame home games - so that is not every week.

Notre Dame is also hurt by the fact that they must play an independent schedule.

Notre Dame doesn't get a piece of the BCS money unless they are in it.

Notre Dame is a high profile job - but it is not as good as Texas, Florida, Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, Nebraska - or any of the major football factories that have just as much money, just as much of an ability to recruit nationally and don't have some of the things that hurt Notre Dame in its quest to remain at the top.

 

If ND did join a conference, it would be the Big East, which is a mid-major conference posing as a major one, and the Irish even in their current mediocre state would win more often than not. I understand why ND doesn't join -- the BE would lock them into some bad games every year, and require them to make choices with regards to its long-running series with Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Purdue and Navy. One or two of those would have to go on a regular basis so ND could rotate opponents. ND isn't going to give up high-ratings, high-exposure early-season games against Michigan & Michigan State so it can play Rutgers and UConn.

Penn State would've been smart to hold out and join the BE instead of the BT. They'd be a power in the BE, in the BT, they're the third or fourth-strongest program most years.

 

Obviously ND has a national following or they wouldn't still be on TV, get into the BCS, and be so talked about...

but I've lived in four different states and can't say that I've ever known a big Notre Dame fan.

 

You're the exception that proves the rule then.

They have an enormous fan base. Absolutely enormous. And rabid. And everywhere. Year after year after year every poll ever taken on the size of fan bases puts Notre Dame first. They've sold out some ungodly number of games in a row.

Are some of the alumni insufferable? To say the least. But most people who I know who went to the school, and I count several among my good friends, are really good people who deserve much, much, much better than the shitshow that they've been putting on the field since Holtz.

Anyway, to address a couple things that came up on the first page, since I don't have time to read all seven pages:

1. Weis blowing off Alex Flanagan after the game was about the most classless act I've ever seen by a head football coach. He always handled losses well. When the going gets tough, however, true character is clearly revealed. That was shameful, especially considering Jimmy Clausen - no media moth - stood there and answered every question from her. If I was Jack Swarbrick, I'd hesitate to let his ass coach at Stanford after that stunt.

2. They will pay for someone good and they will get someone good. It's still Notre Dame, with tons of advantages. Money is still green. Swarbrick is too cutthroat and too business savvy to fuck this up. They'll do it right this time.

3. It's silly to make fun of the school for speculation that they wouldn't hire a strong pro-choice proponent as a head coach. It's a very Catholic university, and the football team represents the university, as much as we sometimes get the two confused in big-time athletics. Pro-lifers have a legitimate philosophical argument that they believe deeply in (and the same can be said about pro-choicers). There is nothing silly or hypocritical or anything else about the possibility that Notre Dame would choose to not hire a head football coach that didn't share the very defensible values of the university.

 

To your last point "they will pay for someone good and get someone good" - I sure hope so but they do not have a great track record post Devine/ Holtz.

I an intrigued with idea of Dungy. Certainly his NBC connection could help.

 

I agree with you. Faust was a time when they still thought Notre Dame made coaches, not the other way around. The game changed on them when they weren't paying attention. They quickly corrected with Holtz.

Davie was a mistake, but plenty of other programs have been extremely successful promoting coordinators.

Willingham seemed like a good choice at the time.

Weis happened because Urban Meyer turned them down, among others, and they panicked.

 

You also have to give a shout out to George O'Leary

 

That was me.

When I get my check from ND for Dungy's hire, your check will be in the mail.