Comments on: A Fitting End

By: Ric

Ric — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:32:05 +0000

I believe Charlie actually had Bob Davies' 4th and 5th year DEFENSIVE recruits to start with. Any thoughts on David Cutcliffe at Duke? O coordinator and Head coach in SEC before Duke. Some success at an academic school. Last successful Duke coach did pretty well at Florida.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:13:57 +0000

John, Mike, talk to us, will ya?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:57:07 +0000

Weis is lucky to have lasted 5 years, at the beginning everybody said the problem was the lack of talent Willingham left. I might be wrong but wasn't that Weis's best years, and when he got his own recruits his record wasn't as good.
Just food for thought.

By: Irish Sting

Irish Sting — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:25:18 +0000

For all the Kelly Brian non-believers, check out Pat Forde's ESPN article, Kelly the right fit for Notre Dame. For those of you who says he lacks defensive skills try losing 10 of 11 defensive starters and yet come back with an undefeated season. Try losing, not one or two but three QB's and still win with your fourth. This year he lost his starting QB again and plugs in a backup and does not lose a beat. He has won at all levels he has coached at and is good with the alumni and adminstration.

However, if Notre Dame does not want him we here in Cincinnati know what a jewel we have.

By: ultimatetweaker

ultimatetweaker — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:44:19 +0000

Perhaps a "fitting end" however yet another sad ending to a "series of mediocre and poorly vetted coaching hires." – The question remains – without them creating a proper coaching environment, is there really a "right hire" for Notre Dame? – Maybe it's time for them to bail out of the BCS in favor of taking a leadership role as a "champion" of the smaller conferences. Not that they shouldn't seriously consider joining the Big Ten where some of the pressures of nationwide recruiting and selective scheduling confronting any coach might be removed. Instead, the past few years of their "arrogant independence" has cost them respect throughout the football world, and has added to an ever growing society of Notre Dame "haters." – In creating a proper "coaching environment" they need to do much damage repair. Championing the underdog conferences and scheduling the likes of what are becoming increasingly powerful teams like Boise State, Utah, TCU, Houston, and yes – even Central Florida might be a path toward re-inventing themselves. Merely hiring a high profile coach at high cost is not the answer. – To gain more insight on this subject, I suggest you make a free visit to http://www.ultimatetweaker.com – You will also find referenced there a book entitled "Prelude to The Playoff." – It is controversial and will not be recommended reading by either the BCS nor Notre Dame – because it tells it like it is!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:35:00 +0000

"What about John Gruden no one has even mentioned his name as the new head coach."

Chuckie and all the other NFL has beens (Billick, et al.) haven't recruited in years, can't relate to college kids and know little or nothing about the Notre Dame value proposition.

The only former NFL coach who has the sort of values Notre Dame used to espouse - before it became a secular institution - is Tony Dungy and he's not interested in returning to coaching.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:38:52 +0000

"Bob Stoops and Brian Kelly are the names most frequently mentioned, but I would not be surprised if another dark horse candidate emerges as the designated savior."

Stoops has repeatedly said he's not leaving Oklahoma.

Brian Kelly should be the guy because he is simply a winner.
Only Notre Dame could fail to recognize it, but it's clear from Swarbrick's comments they intend to hire a guy with defensive street credentials.

I don't know who that guy is, but I can assure you one thing. If they fail to hire Kelly, we will back in the same place we were with Davie, Willingham and Weis.
All the Davie, Willingham and Weis apologists can become apologists for the new guy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:23:17 +0000

All the talk of Charlie's firing being too expensive, that they shouldn't have given that extension so soon, etc., etc. is foolish palaver. Money is not an issue here, as the total amount is an infinitesmal fraction of ND's endowment, and the royalties from an upswing in ratings and paraphernalia/apparel sales (to say nothing of alum donations) more than justifies both the original risk and the final determination that it didn't work out. People need to stop viewing those multiple millions of dollars through the lens of their personal economies or as if ND was a one-horse town or something. ND is the equivalent of a multi-billion dollar corporation, with football being a major aspect of its finances; it simultaneously can afford whatever it deems best even as it cannot afford NOT to spend this kind of money in the process of purging and rebuilding.

The problem with Davies and Willingham was that they were a manifestation of the Malloy approach to things, as contrasted with the Hesburgh approach that hired Ara, Devine, and (just before Fr. Ted stepped down) Lou Holtz. But just as Fr. Ted made an honest mistake with Faust, so Jenkins--fresh in his position and with White at the helm--made a mistake with Charlie. But ND insiders should "get it" that the DNA of that decision was fundamentally different than the two previous coaching calls made by Malloy. And above all, we shouldn't buy the nonsense everyone else spews, that ND is on a 20 year funk or something, pretending like only externals have changed and the only internal is ND's academics. A BIG internal changed with Jenkins, and now Swarbrick.

We still might blow it in this choice, but let's have some intelligence as we break down what has happened, and what will likely happen.

By: Good Luck Chuck

Good Luck Chuck — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:10:43 +0000

Huffpo just posted that Charlie was fired.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:04:58 +0000

Why the concern that at the end, Weis let Stanford score so our offense had some time? It was the only call that gave us a realistic chance to win. The mistake was Stanford not running the clock down, taking a couple of knees if it had to, and then kicking a field goal from inside the five – no more than an extra point. As it was, ND's offense got the ball with a minute left and got it down inside the 30 with nearly 30 seconds left. Had it not been for the second sack of the drive, we might have scored. If Stanford had managed the clock better, ND would never have gotten the ball back.