2.17 - Now That The Emoting Is Over

These last few weeks have brought several low points for ND fans. In the last month or so, ND scored a top ten class and a new fiery Defensive Coordinator off the Belichick coaching tree. Really, at the upper end of the possible scenarios.

It was bad enough watching and reading the same tired media hacks who predicted Notre Dame couldn't recruit anymore or win anymore (both proven false) dancing prematurely on the ND football grave once again, it was more disconcerting watching our own fans have adolescent induced emotameltdowns as kids opted elsewhere in the transition. But things are finally looking up with two more informative posts. As theoak points out in his post, the most important shifts have already happened. We'll get the top recruits on defense next year, Brown is by all accounts excellent with recruits. Here's theoak's analysis from Rock's House.

With Coach’s connection to the Bill Parcells’ coaching tree, I thought it
instructive to compare Parcells’ rebuilding strategies to the rebuilding of
Notre Dame. Bill Parcells greatest legacy is that of a rebuilder, and he
followed a consistent pattern with the Giants, Patriots, Jets and Cowboys. By
comparison, perhaps we can discover how much Coach Weis has accomplished, and
also how much work remains.

Phase I: Building a staff

One of Parcells’ strengths was his mastery of building coaching staffs. At every
location, he assembled a mixture of coaches he could trust at the upper
assistant positions, while picking young talented coaches at the lower levels.
When he took over at New England, he brought nine former Giant assistants. When
he left the Patriots for the Jets, he once again incorporated trusted coaches
(Belichik as defensive coordinator) as upper assistants, and then used former
Giants’ players as lower level assistants. When faced with the attrition of
losing talented coaches, he promoted assistants from within.

Coach Weis had difficulty following this model. He was handicapped by promising Belichik he would not poach from the New England staff, and by having to hire his staff by phone. Also, he felt the need to bring in staff with head coaching experience
and Notre Dame ties. This led to choosing Rick Minter for his Notre Dame ties
and head coaching experience, instead of coaching philosophy. This hiring in
particular created glaring problems for the 2005 and 2006 Irish. Coach Weis has
now hired a defensive coordinator in Corwin Brown with a philosophy that
harmonizes with his own, and the kind that Parcells would have started with. The
promotion of Ron Powlus to quarterbacks coach follows the Parcells’ model for
replenishing the coaching staff.

Phase II: Selecting a team

With staff in place, Parcells began the task of selecting his team. At this stage, he
focused on player attitude. With the Patriots and Jets he demanded the players
spend most of the off-season training, and if any players resisted-they were
traded or simply cut. Parcells implemented this practice for the first time
following his first season with the Giants. After they finished 3-12-1, he cut
or traded nearly half of the team. Every rebuilding project since then has
included personnel turnover in the training camp of his first season.

Coach Weis addressed his use of this strategy in his book No Excuses. He
began the spring of 2005 in suit and tie, making notes on players’ attitude and
performance. He then began the task of removing players. In the book, Coach Weis
said he was prepared to leave the spring with only 50 players. He did run off
close to 10. Some believe that the team under performed last season because it
still contained too many players held over from the previous regime. This was
perhaps a calculated move. Parcells had to remove players by trade or release,
but Coach Weis was able to use the players on hand for immediate success (which
the program desperately needed to spike recruiting), and use graduation as the
tool to weed out the remaining players. These players were not bad kids by any
means, just not ones with the same mindset as Parcells, Belichik, and Weis.

Phase III: Drafting for success

To fill the holes created from the cutting phase, Parcells signed free agents and drafted rookies that fit his mentality. As an example, Parcells was able to completely transform the Cowboys defense into a 3-4 in one draft.

Once again, Coach Weis ran into problems following this part of the model. With his commitment to the Patriots, he conceded a recruiting class largely outside of his control. Furthermore, graduation removes players Coach Weis would like to keep (i.e. Brady Quinn). However, by 2008 the team will be comprised entirely of players handpicked by Coach Weis. Notice what Coach said in his signing day press conference on this subject:

“The one thing that's happening probably to our benefit right now
that we haven't had before is I think we have established more of a definition
of what we're looking for on defense, more of a definition, rather than just
recruit good players. We might recruit a defensive lineman that you don't
think is very good, but in our system he might be exactly what we're looking
for. So I think we can't be worrying about recruiting analysis. We need to find
fits based on what we're doing. These kids we have coming right here, we are
very happy with them. I'm not saying it just to make it sound good. I love the
guys we're bringing in here. They're going to complement who we are.”

Coach Weis has pointed to next year as the completion of this phase.
“Between the fourth year guys next year that ask and are granted a fifth year and our class next year, I think that will finally put us on track to have the numbers as I
perceive they should actually be. It puts me on track next year. I'll
probably be table to take 20 next year, depending on how many fifth year guys
you have. Now since the first time since I've been here, we're going to be on
track. See, you have to have a plan, get on track. We haven't been on track yet.
I signed 15 the first year, 28 the next year, 18 this year. At Notre Dame, with
everyone staying in school, you should be on a 20 a year program. That's what
you should be on. We're about at that point right now. We're about on that 20 a
year program. That's where you want to get to. That's where we're going to be at
the end of next season.”


Phase IV: Team Building

Parcells teams were always disciplined and physical. As a testament to discipline,
Parcells' teams always ranked near the league lead in fewest penalties.
“You never had trouble scouting them. You knew every time you played Bill, his teams would be prepared and sound and most likely wouldn't beat themselves. And they will always be tough on defense. You can count on that." -Joe Gibbs

Once again Coach Weis has been hamstrung in this phase of rebuilding. By all reports, depth on the 2005 and 2006 teams did not allow for physical practices. As a result, the Irish have not controlled the line of scrimmage, and have suffered
far too many penalties. Many feel with increased youth and depth, this will
change immediately.

Summary

It seems clear that Coach Weis is following the rebuilding model established by Bill Parcells. However, he has faced obstacles that Parcells did not have to deal with. Slowly these are being overcome. As a lesson for patience, we should remember that it took Parcells four years to win the Super Bowl with the Giants. It took four more years to make it to the Super Bowl with the Patriots. Notre Dame is on pace.

Well done theoak. Now there's all of this talk about the 3-4 defense (when Notre Dame is using 3-4 personel,) but most were basing their analysis on an NFL 3-4 defense. As NDDL99 points out... college is not the NFL.

The first problem is that it's not necessarily easy to come to a consensus
on which college teams run a 3-4. Rivals lists a 3-4 setup under its depth
charts for various teams. Penn State and UVA are listed with 3-4 setups, so I'm
assuming they run those defenses at least a portion of the time. Below are the
weights for their front 7, per Rivals.com:

PSU:
DL -- 290, 288, 264
LB -- 238, 225, 237, 234

UVA:
DL -- 278, 261, 265
LB -- 235,
250, 240, 230

While neither PSU nor UVA were dominant teams last year,
and each had their share of bad games on defense, both generally had better
performance on defense than ND did. PSU had the #15 total defense last year; UVA
had the #17 total defense.

Of course, size is all relative. Let's pick a
hypothetical starting front 7 for ND next year (weights are listed per und.com):

Laws --283
Kuntz -- 270
Brown -- 254
T. Smith -- 230
Crum -- 220
Brockington -- 220
Richardson -- 228

Most people
on this board assume that it will be impossible to run an effective 3-4 without
a 300+ pounder at nose tackle. As a result, many on the board have DCE'd Laws to
DE and Chris Stewart to NT, on the theory that Laws is too small to play NT.
But, as you can see, the most glaring discrepancy between ND's lineup and that
of UVA and PSU isn't at the nose-tackle position. At a listed 283 pounds, Laws
would be in decent company with the NT's at PSU and UVA (who are 290 and 278,
respectively). I submit that it's possible to run an effective 3-4 with a 285 or
290 pound NT, assuming that the other guys on your line are beefy and athletic
enough.

Unfortunately, that latter point becomes important for us... the
most glaring difference is our lack of size at LB, where only one of the 4
listed on my hypothetical depth chart tops out at 230. I realize that a cross
section of 2 teams isn't that effective a test group for the "ideal weight"
question, and would be interested to see how other college 3-4 defenses shape
up. I'm sure it goes without saying that teams like UM and USC, which ran with
3-4 personnel from time to time, would be much larger and more athletic. But I
don't think we need to shoot for that level of defensive personnel just
yet...not with our offense.

But, my point is this: it is our overall
current lack of size (and, of course, athleticism) that needs to be remedied to
run an effective 3-4, and the most important immediate fix we can accomplish is
by asking our LB's to add 10 pounds or so. On the other hand, securing a 300+
pound NT isn't quite as important, and does not appear to be the sine qua non of
a stout 3-4 defense.

God willing, some combination of Ruben Mendoza and
dining hall chicken patties will address this concern in a single spring and
summer.