Irish women get a hard fought win over a scrappy Pitt team. We had size advantage on them, but their guards were very quick and got inside to make a lot of paint points. They out shot us in every offensive category but we got 18 Offensive Rebounds tonight, our size advantage. Our best players (Miles and Citron) were 3-14 shooting in the first half, but got warmed up in the 2nd half and we needed it as Pitt kept hanging in there and keeping it within reach. The funny thing is that before Dara Mabrey got hurt there were a lot of WBB fans who thought she was getting too many minutes and thought other players were better. But now everybody says how much we miss her 3 point threat. We definitely do miss Lauren Ebo inside though. No word on when she might come back. She's a big woman and I do worry about her conditioning when she comes back.
Terry, I rated your post “Winner” because you went beyond the game report and gave a nice analysis of where the team seems to be without Mabrey.
For those interested in the OC search, I stumbled across this article today on Facebook: Notre Dame offensive coordinator candidates: Collin Klein
Some more fuel for the fire: Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was impressed by Ludwig on a Zoom interview and Ludwig made a visit to Notre Dame’s campus on Friday, according to Dinich. “At 58, Ludwig’s decades of coaching experience were a major factor in the interview process, especially as Freeman, 37, enters his second season as a head coach,” Dinich wrote. “Ludwig hasn’t been offered the job or accepted it yet, but multiple sources have indicated it’s a strong possibility.”
I'll be surprised if it isn't Ludwig, he was at tonight's Hockey Game with Freeman. He did get to see Irish Hockey beat Ohio State. Now days these guys won't come and do a public interview on campus unless they are guranteed they will get the job. He's had some good offenses, beat USC twice last season including in the Pac12 Championship Game. But I fear that he won't be a popular choice with the fans, not sure exactly who they want but it's easier to say who they don't want when he's hired. We'll see.
I’m good with Ludwig. More than happy to see him come if so. He also had QB coaching experience. His offense should be no problem implementing at ND. A lot of similarity.
Irish Men lose again. I am so sorry to see Coach Brey go out like this, I fear he may not win another game as the ND coach.
Sorry to see that. But with a new OCoord coming wouldn't be a shock if part of the negotiation would be the staff so maybe Harry who reportedly really liked Rees decided to retire "again".
Irish women won yesterday, beating Syracuse in another tough ACC game. There really seem to be no bad teams in the ACC right now. Every game is a war. Next up is a critical game at home vs Louisville a team that has had our number for a few years. They are as usual a good tough squad, it will be a difficult game and they will need to play their best.
New GA to replace James Laurentitis who returned to Ohio State. From a premium article on Irish Sports Daily by Matt Freeman: Notre Dame has also found its next linebacker grad assistant in Max Bullough, who is a former Michigan State star and comes from Alabama. The 31-year-old spent 2020-22 in Tuscaloosa and worked with the inside linebackers as a graduate assistant and was set to be an analyst for Nick Saban in 2023. Bullough also worked for Marcus Freeman in 2019 at Cincinnati as a graduate assistant, so there should be a great amount of familiarity with what is expected, but also how the room should be run. We expect Bullough to have a role very similar to James Laurinaitis in terms of having a greater role than most graduate assistants. Bullough has much more experience coaching experience than Laurinaitis, so it should be interesting to see what he can do with the linebackers this spring and moving forward. And if the name sounds familiar, Bullough was a four-year player for Sparty from 2010-2013 where he made 53 appearances and tallied 299 tackles, 31.0 tackles for loss, 8.0 sacks and three interceptions.
I recognized the Bullough name and knew there were brothers who played at Michigan. I googled the family and found an article which talked about Max's grandfather, Jim Morse, who was a halfback at Notre Dame in the mid-50s. His mother, Jim Morse's daughter, graduated from ND. The article is from 2016 but IMO is very informative and interesting: Michigan State in Bullough siblings' blood, but don't forget Morse/Notre Dame ties
It's all over the internet, the reason (supposed) is that ND balked at paying his buyout. Back to square 1. On another front Mike Brey has said that he is not retiring from coaching, just from ND. He said he intends to coach again. Color me very surprised.
Apparently now confirmed. The sticking point was a $2.8 million buyout that ND was unwilling to pay. This may help explain why Brian Kelly left and why ND may be putting Marcus Freeman in play sooner rather than later. They pull in millions in ticket revenue every game alone and have a endowment an endowment estimated at $18B. Ludwig’s qualifications aside, if chicken feed is going to stop them what is the future ?
Remember when people complained that coaches could leave any time they wanted to but the kids couldn't change schools?