Sid I would agree that seeing the sophomore class through will be his biggest motivation. I just don't want him to go out like Digger.
Tim the loss of OL Greg Crippen was apparently expected and some say that the staff was relieved when he did as they felt he was a mistake. Now the loss of Deion Colzie was unexpected and he's a big loss. What everybody is worried about is that due to the pandemic we've missed a window where we would have gotten a lot of our top targets on campus when the weather was great and the campus is at one of it's most beautiful times. We've always of course recruited nationally and it's always been important to get kids on campus. Not that Texas doesn't need to get kids on campus but it's different for Texas kids they have probably already been to Austin a number of times so missing one visit isn't a big deal. But for the Irish it's critical. For example Will Shipley, he's not that far from Clemson our chief rival, but he's a long way from South Bend. It's easy for he and his parents to drive down to Clemson almost anytime. Everybody is saying that the Irish need to hope that these recruits wait and be patient till they can again schedule a trip to ND. Worst case is they decide to take the easy way and decide to stay close to home. That will hurt a lot.
ISD has an article on a potential grad transfer for mens basketball. A PG from Marist named Rich Kelly. We'll be in a dead period for recruiting till at least April 15th so nothing is likely to happen with regards to this young man. But the websites have to write about something! Coach | Potential Transfer Target Rich Kelly An "Old School Point Guard"
Texas defensive end David Abiara has announced his commitment to Notre Dame, giving the Irish their ninth pledge in the Class of 2021. Abiara also had offers from schools like Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
I saw that Tim, it was good news. I always like to have some Texas kids on the squad! Also still a lot of talk that we aren't completely out of it for Deion Colzie the WR, everybody says that his mom is in ND's corner and that he loved all his visits to ND and fit in very well. But there aren't many times a kid backs out of a verbal and then reconsiders later and comes back. Long shot.
Well this past week Irish fans have been having a lot of angst over comments made by WR Lorenzo Styles Jr from Pickering Ohio. Some now expect he is going to flip sometime and is just setting up things. He has made positive statements to the Guru's but fans don't like it that he's been face timing with other coaches and such. As always it's a long way to Nat'l Signing Day. I do take some solace from an article on ISD, interviewing Blake Fisher who so far seems to be the Leader of the 2021 class. The link below is to a free article. Notre Dame Commit Blake Fisher Gives State of the Union
Mike Brey picked up a verbal commitment from Tony Sanders Jr. It was a whirlwind courtship. Free article at the link. The 2020 Florida forward received a scholarship offer from Notre Dame earlier this week and the Gulliver Prep standout ended the week by offering his verbal commitment to the Irish. The 6-foot-7 Sanders joins forwards Matt Zona and Elijah Taylor who signed with Notre Dame during the early signing period. Sanders chose Notre Dame over offers from schools like Florida State, Georgia, South Carolina and Dayton along with some Ivy League programs. BREAKING | Notre Dame Hoops Lands 2020 F Tony Sanders Jr.
Well looks like we can look forward to Drew Brees on future Notre Dame Football telecasts. When Brees retires from the Saints, he is expected to start as a game analyst on Notre Dame football and as a studio analyst for “Football Night in America.” In its recruitment of Brees, NBC sold him on it being the best place to succeed.
Irish pickup a couple of transfers. One is a Graduate Transfer from Furman Baseball, John Michael Bertrand who is the older brother of footballer JD Bertrand. The other is Trey Wertz (basketball) a regular transfer from Santa Clara. He will have to sit out a year unless the NCAA approves the 1 time exception for transfers this May. Everybody says Wertz is an excellent pickup and when combined with the verbal from 2020 HS player (basketball) from Fla, Tony Sanders, it's been a good couple of weeks for Mike Brey.
Irish get a verbal for 2021 from Chicago OL Pat Coogan, and OG. Right now everybody talks about how many top 300 players you get. Pat is not a top 300 player, but the Irish are excited to have him. The biggest targets for the Irish on the OL are Rocco Spindler and Nolan Rucci. Those guys will really move the needle should we get their verbals.
2021 ND QB Tyler Buchner got an updated rating from 247 sports and is now a 5 star QB, rated the #3 overall Dual Threat QB. Good for him.
I've been wondering what ND would do with Spring athletes who were granted that extra year of eligibility. The NCAA left it up to individual schools to decide how to implement or not to implement. Personally I felt like most of the spring sports kids who are graduating in May and not moving on to Pro careers would not choose to come back. These kids aren't on full scholarship, they have partial scholarships and student loan packages. So with no big Pro payoff why would they come back and pay another years partial tuition, unless they wanted to go to grad school? It would make no sense to me for them to do that and delay starting their post college careers. Wisconsin announced that they were not going to offer that extra year to their seniors. I haven't heard what Texas will be doing. But Jack Swarbrick said in an article on The Athletic.. It seems like a reasonable middle ground.
Muffet is retiring. She's been there 33 yrs. and done a remarkable job. Hope she makes the HOF someday, I think she deserves it.
Great career for Coach McGraw. I hope she enjoys her retirement, she's earned it. I like the hire of Niele Ivey as her replacement, it's always tough to follow a legend but she's prepared and I think she'll do an great job. As far as HOF, she's already been enshrined in the Naismith Basketball HOF, back in 2017
While I have no inside information on Coach McGraw, watching her at times this past season it was very difficult for her. Her success level was so high, Final Four appearances were almost a given for the last 10 years, she made more Championship game appearances than almost anybody not named Geno. But watching several of her press conferences you could sense her frustration with the way the season was going. Also a lot has changed in the last 4 years in womens basketball. For the longest time women came to college to play, stayed 4 years, graduated and moved on. Now womens basketball has more players opting to go to the WNBA as soon as eligible and also they transfer at the drop of the hat. I suspect that these changes have not been easy for her to accept and probably thought it was time to stop and smell the roses. I wonder if the impending change to the transfer rules, the not having to sit out after the 1st transfer, also figured. IMHO it's going to increase the transfer rate in both mens and womens basketball, making life more difficult for the coaches.