ND Women clinch ACC title w/2-0 win over Miami
by NDoggie78 (2016-10-28 08:54:04)

#1 seed in ACC tourney.

Hopefully the victory over Miami is foreshadowing for that other Irish football team


congrats to the team and the coaching staff. *
by TWO  (2016-10-28 16:15:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


and the Volleyball team against Miami at 7pm tonite.
by Domerduck  (2016-10-28 14:35:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Even more impressive would be to beat both Florida teams we play at home this weekend in addition to the football team and women's soccer team. FSU is ranked number 11 in the country in Voleeyball. If we can win that I hope we will get our 1st national ranking in years. Our record is better than 18 teams ranked in the top 32 of the AVCA Coach's poll and yet we have not been ranked or even mentioned in "Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots" all year.


“A good reminder to Swarbrick about how to hire a coach”
by Nigeltufnel  (2016-10-28 09:00:23)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

From the moment the usual gang started piling on about how exceptional Clark is (and he is) in comparison to TR with that post quoted above in the subject line, the men’s team has taken the pipe in every way imaginable and in every competition (and apparently inherited the women’s team’s prior habit of failing to get results in games where they outplay the opposition).

By contrast, the women’s team has persevered and gotten sharper as the year wore on. TR is going to be ACC coach of the year--mark it down (team picked 7th, finished 1st minus 2 (now 3 with M. Flores gone too) of their best players) and likely will garner some buzz at the national level too. TR’s record in just under three years since being at ND is on par with Anson’s record at UNC during that time. The ACC is crazy deep and there is a razor thin line between winning and losing. This year, the women are getting results in games that in years past they would not—whether coaching, team chemistry or other the results have been there. By contrast, the men are falling short. Not intending to be snarky here but in the end, there is no guaranteed recipe for hiring a successful coach notwithstanding Tex Francisco's proclamation to the contrary noted in the subject line above. A lot of factors play into it. Jeremy Foley looked like a genius hiring Urban Meyer and a complete and ludicrous idiot for hiring Zook and Muschamp.

Not sure what the rest of the year will bring but with the talent returning next year and apparently the ability, grit and mental toughness to get a result in tight games the future may look bright.


Great post--I do think we need to give a coach a chance &
by Domerduck  (2016-10-28 14:09:21)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

have some trust in the process as well as Swarbrick, who I think does the best he can with the info an options available. One option is to try get a home run guarantee hire if you can like Clark,& Jackson (both hired by Kevin White), and McLaughlin (by Swarbrick), all experienced winning coaches with long track records. Two have turned their ND programs into top 10 National programs in short order and McLaughlin in his second year seems to be on his way for Voileyball. Yet the downside is all of them were hired in their 50's which questions how long ND gets to keep them in their role. Clark was hired at 55 and we have been lucky to keep him into his 70's as he is in his 16th year. Still it took over a decade for him to win the ultimate prize, a National Championship. Jackson started at 50 and although he got to the NC championship game early at ND he now in his 11th year has yet to win it all. Hopefully soon.

The other option is to go the route Jack did with TR and hire a young up and comer who was a great player with lots of potential. This latter result can lead to hiring someone like Muffet McGraw (by far our greatest current coach) who gives you decades of tremendous results and respect for the university. Stanford has that now in Paul Ratcliffe who's record at St Mary's Moraga was somewhat similar to TR's at Dartmouth. In fact in TR's 3 years at Dartmouth she had 22 losses and 3 ties, and no NCAA appearances which was exactly the same as Paul's 1st 3 years at SMC. Paul's 4th year was great as he made it to the NCAA's but when hired by Stanford he was coming off his 5th year, only a .500 year. I know 1st hand since my daughter was signed by Paul to play at SMC the following year and left signing day to go to Stanford. Now he is considered "the most successful coach in more than 100 years of Stanford soccer, among men or women" (take that Bobby Clark-see link)

The jury is still out on Romagnola but I too agree we may have someone special in her similar to what Stanford got with Ratcliffe. I too was worried at the start of this year given the pedigree of the ND program prior to her arrival and the bad start this year losing to Michigan. Still as I watched this team all year I truly agree with your sentiment about the team and the future upside . In addition to the records and the small school they coached their 1st HC job, the similarity with Ratcliffe and TR are remarkable. They both were PAC10 soccer stars (Paul at UCLA & Theresa at UW), played professionally for a couple years in California (Paul in LA, TR in San Jose), and they both started their second/current college coaching job at similar ages (Paul 33, Theresa 35.) She even worked for Ratcliffe for 3 years (coaching USNT stalwarts Kelly Ohara and Christen Press). It would be great if we see her matching Ratcliffe's tenure of success at Stanford here at ND.

Still we need to understand it wasn't until his sixth year at Stanford (2008-TR's 1st year as a Stanford assistant) ) that Ratcliffe's team made the NCAA College Cup Starting in 2009 they got to the final 3 years in a row culminating in his only NC the year after TR left. He hasn't made the championship game since then and yet he was still named the PAC12 Women's Soccer coach of the Century last year. If ND makes it to the College Cup within 3 years she would be ahead of his schedule.

Here's hoping for a positive future for Theresa Romagnola as a ND women's coach that even approaches what Muffet has done. I am enjoying the ride so far and hope the best is yet to come.



You have to separate process from results
by Tex Francisco  (2016-10-28 12:15:39)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

The right process can sometimes yield bad results, and a bad process can sometimes yield great results. If you do an objective, at the time of hire analysis, TR was not an impressive hire. Maybe we won the lottery and she'll be great, but that doesn't mean hiring coaches with TR's resume is a good m.o. going forward.


Tex's tautology
by Nigeltufnel  (2016-10-28 12:51:21)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

"If your process will yield a more experienced and successful coach you would end up with a more experienced coach that has experienced success in the past." Incontrovertible. Also, Nobody doubts that having an unbroken history of success at every coaching stop and including at the national level is a desirable trait in a perspective coach.

In this case and as one that followed this hire closely, I don't know of one coach meeting your criteria that was interested or available. In truth, Randy Waldrum's resume was nothing great when he was handed the keys to this team and they took some serious steps backwards before winning the title in 2005. These are hard positions to fill. Same in lacrosse where Halfpenny has been in the crosshairs from the jump. They waited 6 plus weeks to fill this position (Randy retired before new years and the position wasn't filled by signing day) approaching a number of candidates.

Every time I ask you to suggest an alternative coach to this hire, your answer is the same "I don't have to give you one to know that the [6 plus week) process is flawed as it yielded a coach with limited track record that was otherwise unimpressive" I think it does not follow that the "process" must be flawed given the lack of an experienced coach that it yielded when no coach meeting your criteria was available. That said, if your point is that a desirable trait in a prospective coach generally is an impressive background and history of success nobody would disagree. I would however, point out that the point is inaposite in the case of this soccer hire and also women's lacrosse


I also think the advantage of having a women's coach for a
by Domerduck  (2016-10-28 15:32:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

women's program should not be overlooked. I am glad Swarbrick is taking some risks with these hires or we will never get another Muffet who I am sure no one at ND would want to replace.


Who says that it is an advantage? I don't believe that to be
by Slotts  (2016-10-31 09:19:34)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

the case. I don't think it is a disadvantage either.


Well said,
by BabaGhanouj  (2016-10-28 09:51:09)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

and for the post below, my understanding is that, because of NCAA rules, not only will none of the players be back, but Westendorf will also be ineligible for post season (NCAA tournament) play.


Thought Westendorf decided not to play for Brazil *
by GSDOMER  (2016-10-28 13:52:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post


Oh, you could be right.
by BabaGhanouj  (2016-10-28 14:13:58)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I hadn't heard that, but it makes sense—she's still here.


Will any of the season long absentees return in time for
by Indy77  (2016-10-28 09:46:47)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

post season play?


No U20 World Cup & NCAA tourney coincide
by NDoggie78  (2016-10-28 11:43:32)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

U20 World Cup runs Nov 13 - Dec 3
NCAA tourney Nov 11 - Dec 4

I guess if the USA, Mexico, or Brazil get knocked out early they could return if ND still in NCAA (unless there is NCAA rule prohibiting)??? I'm not sure S Flores and Jacobs (USA U20) have even been enrolled this semester