Who Will be the Next Coach at Notre Dame

Stewart Mandel today trotted out the "Notre Dame recruits get overrated" line.

These are the rankings for Ty Willingham's recruiting classes, ranked by Rivals.com:

2002 - 24th (Really Bob Davie's class)
2003 - 12th (class that included Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija)
2004 - 32nd
2005 - 40th (Weis took over after the season, but it was Willingham's class - Weis was still coaching the Pats. Wish I knew where the class ranked at the time of Willingham's firing)

The point is ...

If Notre Dame's recruits are "always overrated," then why did the services rank Willingham's super-duper recruits that Weis was gift-wrapped so low?

People, I follow this stuff more closely than I care to admit. Notre Dame recruits are treated no differently by the services than anyone else's. They might have been in the days when Tom Lemming cornered the market and loved Chicago kids, but Rivals and Scout are national recruiting services with no allegiances to any team.

Kids slide down all the time after committing to Notre Dame. All the time. I guess I could go through and figure out what a kid was rated the day he committed to Notre Dame and on national signing day and if there is any truth to the "Notre Dame bump," but it would take more time than I have and I already know what the results would be.

 

Also:

“They’re going to have to learn about us, OK? Let them try to stop a pro-style offense, which has multiple personnel groups and multiple formations. Let’s see how they are going to do. They’ve had their advantage because I’ve come into recruiting late. Well, now it’s X’s and O’s time. Let’s see who has the advantage now.”
- Charlie Weis, national signing day 2005

 

In this day and age, running the triple option seems like the choice of the desperate -- running a gimmick because you can't compete any other way. Why have the service academies traditionally used some form of option offense? Because they are never going to have 6-7, 335 hogs up front, receivers who can fly down the field or QBs with cannons for an arm. Georgia Tech doesn't care about that perception, they just want to win games. Bully for them. But would Notre Dame accept that? Would the boosters and fans accept a coach who would never set foot in Jimmy Clausen or Brady Quinn's living room?

Yes, I realize that Tony Rice won a national title for Lou as an option QB. But that was in 1988. There was no stigma attached to option-type of offenses in that era. Barry Switzer won a national title with the wishbone in 85 and played for the national title in 87. Nebraska was a major power under Tom Osborne. It may not have been as prevalent as in the 1970s, but it was still an accepted, mainstream offense 20 years ago.

 

Lovie? His run is about up in Chicago

 

Cue blue font: If Notre Dame ran the option, with those academic standards and that shitty weather, how would they possibly recruit?

I don't see the option as that big a gimmick. Urban Meyer's made a hell of a lot of money running a glorified option

 

Pope, I don't think the Irish (or Huskers for that matter) can win by running the option exclusively any more, but there's no reason they can't beef up their running game a bit with it.

In fact, ND's lack of a run game cost the Irish dearly in the red zone all year (as Waylon and others have noted).

"Gimmick" or not, an option play in the right situation has helped a lot of college football teams win this year.

 

Not Gary Patterson:

http://tinyurl.com/ybbx9n5

 

Agreed.

Also, every reason Mandel mentioned in that column as to why Notre Dame is a bad job could have been said about Alabama three years ago (with the exception of the poor weather). Hire the right coach, and none of that matters.

Here's the link if it hasn't already been posted:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/stewart_mandel/11/30/notre.dame/index.html

 

The problem comes when programs look for the "perfect fit" and not for the best football coach. Saban didn't seem on paper like a fit for LSU or Bama, but the guy can coach. Same with Urban Meyer going to Florida when he hadn't spent any time in the SEC.
You hire a coach who wins and the alums don't care if you have a drawl or not, genuflect on the altar of past coaching legends, understand the big rivalries or know the words to the fight song.

 

Classic.

I'm rolling in the aisles.

 

I thought Saban was the perfect fit for Alabama. The most arrogant coach in America takes over the most arrogant team with the most arrogant fans.

And yeah, I think he's the best coach in college football.

 

A lot of people who are considered to know a lot about college football thought Meyer would never succeed at Florida because his offense wouldn't work against SEC speed.

Um, ok...