Who Will be the Next Coach at Notre Dame

If Chuck walks around with the same arrogant swagger at 6-5 in South Bend like he did when the ship was sinking in Raleigh ... be my guest.

Besides, if anyone thinks Lou Holtz talked administration into admitting student-athletes with questionable academics, then this one would be a funfest for the media.

 

Isn't Chuck Amato about to be fired at Florida State?

 

If he is, few know because the storyline revolves around Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher. Chuck Amato left the staff to take the head coaching job in Raleigh, and Bowden gladly took him back after he was fired at N.C. State.

 

Chuck and Jimbo don't get along. I don't anticipate Amato will be long for FSU once the transfer of power is complete.

As for ND, Paul Johnson would be a great choice. The guy's a teacher. He inherited the QB, who was a drop-back, pro-style thrower in high school. Now Josh Newbitt is an extremely effective operator of the triple-option. But I doubt Johnson would want it. If you're secure in your current gig and that gig is decent, why chase this Irish thing?
Conference membership has its advantages. If you take an early hit and feel you're going from the NC picture, you can at least have a league title to chase. Isn't it more fun to win a conference title than to squeeze in to a BCS bowl under the Notre Dame Protection Clause?

 

I really hope Notre Dame isn't actually thinking about Meyer. 1) Meyer is in no position to even express admiration for the program. He's got a rivalry game, the SEC championship game and possibly the BCS game. No way Notre Dame is going to wait three weeks (or more) to hire a new coach.
Even Kelly has a couple of weeks that will leave him pretty busy.

 

Wetzel thinks it's still a plum job:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AizuKckyk3g3D7M72d8Rwg8cvrYF?slug=dw-weis112209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

For whatever it's worth, I have a friend who played there who says that Johnson wouldn't be good for Notre Dame's "image." He's not an annoying holier-than-thou type that the school is famous for, so perhaps that has some merit. He was also recruited hard by Navy and backed out of a verbal commitment there, so maybe he saw Johnson at his worst or something. I'll have to follow up.

I don't think that Notre Dame would think it's too big for the triple option. I'm curious about if there's a ceiling to what you can accomplish with it, though, in 2009. That might be the concern.

 

The key to the triple option is getting the right QB. Holtz pushed to get Tony Rice in because he knew that he would be perfect for his veer O. Ron Powlus was not suited for the veer. I doubt Clausen would be either.

I would love to see ND make a push to get Chris Peterson or try to get Mike Belotti out of retirement. Kelly will get shredded when asked to talk about his own college football playing experience. It will be George O'leary II.

 

Perhaps a bit, but truth is that Kelly has inflated his playing career. After George O'learly problem I would think ND would want not want a coach with resume questions.

No doubt he will be asked the question. Let's hear what he has to say.

 

Kelly should hire Ari Fleischer to make the problem go away.

 

A Chelsea kid went to the Prep? That's gotta be a first, and last.

 

Since Kelly worked for the Gary Hart campaign he has plenty of experience in dealing with PR problems. He should be fine on his own.