Who Will be the Next Coach at Notre Dame

Yep . . . Ali was just GREAT at that.

 

Holier-than-thou? Wouldn't be good for their "image?" Your friend may have been smart enough to get into Notre Dame, but he's clueless about this. All Johnson would do was win 9 to 10 games a year, graduate everyone, and not cheat. Really bad for the image, I guess. I'm also a bit unclear as to what he was doing verbaling to Navy, then ended up playing for ND. As a walk-on? I'll buy that.

Boom, I'm well aware of Tony Rice and the triple option days. I still don't believe the current administration would be on board for that old style offense. You'd have a big contingent of boosters saying "We can't run this because we won't get NFL talent." People believe the days of the option have come and gone. But if you have someone like Johnson calling plays and a crazy-good quarterback running it, it could work great at a place like Notre Dame. You'll see though. There is no way the Domers will consider someone like Johnson. They'll hire someone who runs a sexy offense like Kelly and he'll probably fail too.

 

Problem is that you are at the mercy of trying to find a QB to run it. It means at least 2 years of growing pains.

From a recruiting standpoint a lot of the elite skill players want to go to places that run the spread.

 

I meant my friend isn't a holier-than-thou Notre Dame stereotypical alum, not that he said Johnson isn't. Sorry that wasn't more clear.

Again, I don't know what exactly he meant. It was a throwaway line during a discussion the professor interrupted by starting class. Maybe he just doesn't like the guy after being recruited by him. Maybe Johnson was a jerk about it so his personal issues color his feelings about Johnson as a head coach (he reneged on Navy, then played at Columbia for a year or two before transferring to Notre Dame and walking on - completely legitimate story that you should "buy"). Again, I'll ask him. I know that there was a minor steroid brou-ha-ha at Navy, right? Briefly? I don't really know exactly what he meant, though.

 

There is some truth to this, sadly. I also agree with Waylon's analysis of why Weis failed, which to me means someone else can succeed.

What a debacle Tenuta has been....The tackling has been atrocious this year.

 

You know there was a steroid issue at Navy or you don't? I can't tell from the way you phrased that and I don't remember ever seeing anything about it.

I do know at least one former Notre Dame lineman who played in the NFL for a long time used steroids to bulk up for his senior year with the Irish, if we're into tossing accusations around. This was a while ago.

 

Fine. Notre Dame players have used steroids. Why would I give a damn about that? Why would I deny it? I have no dog in the fight. I'm not a fanboi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501369.html

 

This is the toughest job in the country.

The only coaches in their right mind who would take it would be:

1. Alumni, or some close tie to the university (Gruden)
2. Ego so large they think they can win anywhere (Stoops, Meyer)

If you're good enough to be a candidate for this opening, more than likely they can also be a candidate for a job that doesn't have the academic restrictions and the unrealistic expectations that Notre Dame has.

 

The last coach to win consistently there (Holtz) was only able to do so because he was able to get players admitted who before would never have been able to go near South Bend.

 

What unrealistic expectations, though? Weis keeps going 6-6, when he isn't going 3-9. I don't think that doing better than that is "unrealistic." For the money they're paying him, probably $3 million a year, you have to do better than that. If the next guy wins nine games a year, he's golden.

And, again, academic restrictions are not holding them back. Being in South Bend, Ind., with no natural recruiting base - hell, most high school kids have no idea where the school is located - hurts far more. But recruiting hasn't been the issue. Player development is. They have been less than the sum of their parts under Weis.

I saw that Shaunghessy wrote the other day that Weis won with "Willingham's players." That's a fallacy. At least it's only partly true. Half of the starters on the 2005 team, including three members of the offensive line and two starting linebackers, were Bob Davie's signees. Several other major contributors, like Anthony Fasano and other standouts, were Davie commits that Willingham salvaged.

By 2006, most of the Davie guys were gone, and ND was blown out three times and couldn't protect Brady Quinn.

 

And Weis got them to stretch the early enrolee rule that was costing them kids. They don't get Clausen if they don't allow him to enroll in January, which admissions was very much against but let it go.

They do a good job of graduating players and have really solid, smart kids there. But let's stop operating under the premise that you have to be a Rhodes Scholar to suit up for Notre Dame in 2009. They lost to Boston College six times in a row, and BC has the same academic standards as Notre Dame. They've lost to Navy two of three times. They are about to get their ass handed to them on a platter by Stanford.

 

The story also goes that one of reasons Holtz retired was that once Father Joyce and Father Hesburgh retired ND's new VP of acacdemics - Father Beauchamp wanted tighten things up.

Holtz was upset that a few players he wanted could not get in. One was rumored to be Randy Moss.