This OC thing. I swear, I’m 70yrs old and I’ve been a Notre Dame Football fan for 53 yrs of this life. I’ve seen the best and then gone thru the many yrs of ups and downs always seeming to be so close to seeing the Irish return to glory only to have one after another obstacle seemingly thrown in the way. Sometimes I feel like I just want to give it up and resign to saying we will never get to the top again. We’ll just settle into this role of second tier and resolve myself to it. Life would be easier then. We’ll just be like Stanford or Vanderbilt. I’ll be happy if we go 8-4 each year and the weed eater bowl now and then. If I can accept that my last yrs will go much easier.
Mens Basketball loses again, this time to Duke at Cameron. They put up a good fight, it was 68-64 but they just couldn't get it done. They have had a number of games where they lost in the final minutes. I think I've said it before but I can't see this team winning another game.
I don't know what to think on this OC search. So many fans are upset that we didn't get Ludwig because we are too cheap, yet a week ago so many of these fans weren't very excited that he was our choice. Now there is talk that our TE coach who has been an OCoord might end up being the guy. That has the fans even more upset. Freeman has to be frustrated at this point.
From Football Scoop...sort of highlighting the lack of willingness of the Irish to pay the price to get what they want. Maybe there is some concern with buyout dollars – nearly $4 million for a new coordinator and O-line coach to come from Utah, per sources – in addition to the salaries that would accompany those coaches. Fiscal responsibility isn’t just a phrase. The whisper in the profession today though was that at some level there remained dialogue between Notre Dame parties and folks at Utah. There’s also the matter of several members of the current Irish staff producing to a level likely worthy of increased financial compensation; multiple other Power 5 programs have expressed interest in Irish assistants this cycle, from Chansi Stuckey to Mike Mickens and others. https://footballscoop.com/news/team-footballscoop-update-at-notre-dame
How much was Rees making? I got the feeling that Alabama did not want to match or up the $2M that the guy from Washington was making and that is why that deal didn't get done.
I don't know kp, but he was making over 1.5M I believe, but that's mainly from ND boards scuttlebutt. Several of the ND guru's commented that ND was prepared to match the Alabama offer in order to keep him. Of course many ( not all) were hoping most of the season that Freeman would can him after the season or that he would get an offer to go to the NFL or something. Might be a case of careful what you wish for, right?
Pretty damming article on this OC search. So... money. It’s the thing that is holding Notre Dame back from being a serious college football program. Money is the one thing they have a ton of, and the reason they have fallen behind over the last several decades. The constant decisions to pay less, look damn near miserly as TV contracts and ticket prices continue to rise. On the surface, Notre Dame says all the right things about wanting to win national championships and compete at the highest level — but right underneath it all is disdain and an unwillingness to do what everyone else in the country is willing to do to be serious contenders. https://www.onefootdown.com/2023/2/...serious-program-offensive-coordinator-nd-news
Watching Notre Dame football will be like going to a Frank Sinatra concert when he was 81. Sure enough that was Sinatra up there and those were his songs but the voice was shallow, the performance was good but not great and you found yourself daydreaming about performances of years past.
I remember when ND thought that they'd found the right HC and agreed to a lucrative long term contract. He was gone a few years later but the payoffs continued. I recall the same people who claim they are tightfisted brought up that contract again and again. Just sayin'
The rules of the game are different now. We didn't make them but if we want to compete at the highest level then you have to meet them. If not, just say so and live with the results but money talks and BS walks.
I don't think it's the coach salary that was the sticking point it was the payment to Utah. Why didn't we just give them what we got from Alabama? Oh that's right we didn't get anything.
It's getting just like baseball. Your salary costs are determined by the standard set by your dumbest competitor.
A commentator on ESPN made the observation that "the $2.7M buyout was a deal breaker to Notre Dame. In the SEC they call that amount of money closing costs".
It's interesting, in a deal between Notre Dame and Utah, the SEC is still the bad guy. Did Rees have a buyout?
Gino Guidugli looks like he will be hired to be the QB coach and Gerad Parker will be the OCoord and I assume will also coach TE's. It's also looking like Chris Watt, who Harry has mentored and reportedly loves like a son will be the OL coach. Swarbrick is more unpopular than ever right now on the interwebs bulletin boards. He's been assigned the role of bad guy/screw up who is cheap. Much unhappiness in the NDNation. I can't wait for the search for Mike Brey's replacement gears up.
I didn't read it that way. I read it as if you want to play at the highest level you have to do the things that get your there and keep you there. Clearly SEC programs are committed to playing at the highest level. They have the money from the SEC TV Contract to pay their coaches and they do so. I doubt if anybody at LSU said anything, once they decided that they wanted Brian Kelly, about paying what Kelly wanted and committing what other money he wanted to build his staff. That's what pisses so many ND fans off is that the AD continues to say they want to compete for championships but then they won't pay what is needed to give the HC what he needs to build the program to that level. ND fans would like to see the AD support the team like AD's in the SEC do for their teams.
Terry, that's a uh very interesting read on the statement. I don't think the ESPN commentator would agree with that assessment but....