Aricle of interest to ND fans, about the Leahy Lads of 1946...watershed in recruiting. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/notre-dame-frank-leahy-1946-football-recruiting-class-signing-day-impact/
Haha! Terry, you beat me to it. I just finished reading the story and was about to post the link. It's a fascinating and worthwhile read for ND folks, especially those with an avid interest in recruiting. A key piece of history about how recruiting and scholarship rules changed forever following WW II. A real eye opener.
Got to get up pretty early to beat me Sid! Irish Men beat BC last night at home, I watched the game and it was the tale of 2 halves. Irish just came out of the gate fired up and hammered BC for the first 20 minutes, then in the 2nd half they coasted and played lazy. They lost their shot, and did a lot of matador defense. You know what play I hate the most in Basketball...it's when the coach decides it's time to sit on the ball and has a player dribble around for most of the shot clock. It seems to me the result is frequently a shot clock violation or a wild attempt to beat the shot clock or as happened to Grant last night late in the game, they stole the ball from him and got an easy basket...sure sometimes like our last 5 points against Duke it results in some spectacular at the buzzer shots...but I hate that play.
There's no denying that he's an ND guy. He was a great player. Interestingly enough, if you look at his coaching resume and possible connections there beyond the fact he was a 1st round draft pick, a pro-bowl selection and super bowl champion: 1. He's a Michigan guy. If he recruits the way he played, he's a tough asshole. We'll need those trying to steal kids from under Harbaugh's nose. Also, if a fight ever breaks out between the 2 on the sideline or wherever, I got a stack of chips on Lyght. 2. He began his coaching journey at Bishop Gorman HS in Las Vegas, which as we've seen in recent years, has become a major football factory with kids from all over transferring to play there. 3. He spent a stint at Oregon. 4. 2 years in the NFL with the Eagles as an assistant. 5. Interestingly enough, he was literally just hired by Vanderbilt. My only knock is he hasn't stayed anywhere for a while, which I am sure someone will point out to recruits. Also, I am equally sure he'll play the 'I am home, now' card. Good hire!
Resume is a little light! Thought I'd beat gipper to that one. I hope he's a good hire, it's always nice to have guys like him in coaching. Maybe someday they'll be great and be our HC. But just like any other hire I hope he's a good coach and I hope he's a good and willing recruiter. The guy he replaced, Cooks, was a good coach and a good recruiter. The opposite end of that would be a guy like Tenuta who wouldn't leave the campus to recruit, also some other staff over the years who were less than willing at recruiting.
I hope he gets up to speed fast, if you want to be a top team you need guys who not only can coach but can evaluate and recruit talent to the school. Free BGI Article on Todd Lyght
I like the hire. He's was a tough player from a tough city Flint, MI. He seems to be intent on coaching football and having played for Lou, he knows winning football. Great players don't often become great coaches but some like Harbaugh and Spurrier do it. They carry their leadership on the field as players to the sidelines. He could be a good addition to our sideline. With BVG that's a lot of intensity. As for recruiting? I hope if he want to be a good recruiter, he'll do it.
As Mike stated, if he wants to do it he will. Guys like this often cause the recruitaholics a lot of angst because they're busy sniffing the jock that guys like Hugh Freeze never wore. Anyone dumb enough to play the experience card against this guy would be opening Pandora's Box (if you're familiar with how these sales pitches go). My only question would be energy and from all reports, he's anxious to get after it and is a high energy guy. I hope it will work out. I think it's a good hire.
I see the kid from CAL, Avery Sebastian, is a possibility, and coming out of HS he was a good player but has been plagued with injuries the last couple of years. If he's healthy and ready to play could be a nice addition. There is also another CAL kid a DE named Brennan Scarlett, who also has talent but has been injured. Two Stanford kids are on the radar a RB named Kelsey Young and a DB named Wayne Lyons. Lyons can play CB or S, but of the 4 guys he's the one who isn't certain he's staying or leaving the other guys are definitely looking to play somewhere else for their last year. Something to note for the 2016 class. Right now that class only has 14 spots open. It would be our smallest class in years. Of course it can grow if somebody transfers, leaves for the NFL early, or gets injured and has to leave football.
Here's an article on a preferred walkon that we have coming. http://rapidcityjournal.com/sports/recruiting-feist-headed-to-notre-dame-as-preferred-walk-on/article_b6f83a76-64ba-5191-a08d-a53f118c4c19.html Coach D says we have a preferred walkon at LB who is coming and was a better HS player than Joe Schmidt.
Wait! The doo-doo is getting pretty deep in here. A "better player than Joe Schmidt was in HS?" This article also says that the kid was a "five year starter in high school." I saw Joe Schmidt when he played at Mater Dei. He was fantastic and it didn't take him five years to graduate neither...
The article was about a DL that is coming as a preferred walk on, he's from a South Dakota and played on the HS varsity as an 8th grader. He's not the kid Coach D said was a better HS player than Joe Schmidt. He made that comment as an aside and never said who or where that kid, a LB, was from.
A lot of talk about Urban Meyer targeting Tony Alford to replace Stan Drayton at Ohio State. Urban offered Tony a job when he was at UF, as well. Tony would be a big loss for the Irish if he does take that job. The assumption is that Urban will be able to almost double his salary, but that's just specualation. From a career standpoint it's a lateral move, if his goal is to be a HC someday then he needs to be an OCoord some where. Maybe being a RB on Meyer's staff will increase his visibility and he could have more opportunity. I don't know, but if it's just about money I hope Kelly and Swarbrick match what Ohio State is offering.
I'm with you Doc. Almost every big time recruit we sign mentions Alford as one of the people that had an effect on him. He would be a huge loss.
BGI talks as if this is a done deal and it is a huge loss. He is arguably our best recruiter. Meyer is having his way and this why it would have been a real game changer to get him to South Bend when we had the chance.
Two local sources are saying Alford has agreed to accept the position. Certainly a very good replacement for Stan Drayton in my opinion. No salary figures mentioned at this writing, just his acceptance. Local TV is also confirming its a done deal.