Ricky Neuheisel says it's happening.
Bloggers are posting.
Good times.
that we don’t know?
If the primary goal is to win a title, I think it's quite clear new ideas are needed. If you aren't willing to have a bad season you don't deserve to win it all.
we are as far away from a national championship today as we were in 2012.
QB recruiting and play hasn't been good enough to win...nor is his offense. I am ready for a new coach, and Fickell would be my pick. He came into ND with inferior talent, but a superior gameplan...and his offense executed. Never did I think that he was in danger of panic or getting outcoached. In other words, he looked like he belonged and the moment was never too big for him or his team.
He'd be a better coach and would have higher expectations. I don't have a doubt
He is a younger 70
after USC and Florida got their guys.
How many other coaches are at a level of success at major programs for lsu or okla? Does Mark stoops really have a better resume at ky for the okla job? With Riley, Tucker, Franklin out of the way, who is left for lsu? Maybe fisher but does he really have a better resume? Yes, a nc at fsu but... so maybe an up an comer like Fickell.. but again, is he the next Herman etc? I'm no big fan of Kelly but as the musical chairs keep evolving, some program is going to look at him as an option. With his salary, he is also "gettable". Would he go to Washington? Probably not.. okla or lsu? If the money is right, perhaps.. could they do better? Maybe.. worse? Also maybe.. I'm really curious if he were to leave, what options does ND have beyond Freeman? Would they try Arranda? Could they convince him? Recruiting could take a hit...hmm..interesting times I think.
wait for the right coach. It worked with Fickell at OSU. My guess is that we end up just hiring Fickell.
That’s a total guess. But since LSU went hard after Freeman once already, it would make sense.
defensive hiring since forcing Van Gorder out.
Identifying and putting a deal together to close Freeman. Maybe I’m wrong. But, it makes more sense than a guy who never hired outside his comfort zone to all of a sudden make 2-3 (depending on how you view Elko to Lea transition) high profile successful d coordinator hires after being forced to fire Van Gorder.
I'm not going to be one of those people that says there's no difference between 10-2 and 5-7, but at the same time, you need to win a championship at ND. I'd be stunned if Kelly ever does.
Yeah, if we hire a Ty Willingham/Charlie Weis/Bob Davie equivalent, we're screwed. There's very little reason that even someone like Swarbrick should do that at this time given the names we've heard who are interested in the job.
If Kelly does go, let’s wait and see who JS picks before we get all excited that Kelly is gone
truth is, he should be out the door as well.
He's a damn enabler (allegedly).
are not a lot of sure things out there.
JS should always be ready for something like this, but if this comes this late in the game, and you already see one of the best candidates jump to USC, I worry about who JS is going to pick. My be careful what you wish for stance is more an opinion on JS than anything else.
Fickell would seem to be a fine choice, IMO.
Some like Rhule. But I’m not sold on him for various reasons.
Maybe there are some other names out there. Could you get Stoops or Peterson out of retirement? Is there a big name that secretly would be interested in ND? It’s too bad Urban and even Gruden recently fucked up any small chance of them coming to ND.
Pat Fitzgerald in Evanston. Central casting.
prepared to finalize a hire within 48 hours of BK leaving if it happens.
He should know what Bob Stoops would say. Or Saban. Or Fickell. Or Rhule. Or Dave fucking Wannstedt. Or Matt Campbell. and so on.
The runway to plan and execute this is in the rearview mirror not from (hypothetical) today forward.
Lincoln Riley didn't just figure all this out in the last 2 days.
humble opinion.
...two of those three probably aren't all that great at coaching. It's obviously a spot where one can do well. I think the expectations of the fan base (Beat Bama and have a Top-3 recruiting class every year) should give BK pause.
I would be absolutely shocked if Kelly actually preferred to go there. Of course, if they throw him $15 million/year I would be shocked if his ego didn't take that.
BK fits the bill. His pressers would be a different kind of stupid for them.
He won't give pause to the expectations at LSU. After 12 years at Notre Dame he genuinely believes that the only reason he hasn't achieved coaching greatness is because of the "limitations" at ND.
that's for sure. Double-digit wins with no NCs/SEC titles doesn't fly there.
Feldman is the most connected guy when it comes to this stuff, so this would seem to indicate that there is more to this than Trace getting a raise for his guy.
as Billy Joel is in Layfeyette LA.
is a great job for him.
of coaches for LSU.
EDIT: The just man sins seven times a day and I don't qualify for that, so I am well into double-digits.
Where does LSU now turn? Team FootballScoop, minus the ever-busy Doug Samuels, breaks down the situation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home of the LSU Tigers and home base for FootballScoop.
The Tigers are pursuing Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly. Heady stuff happens when you're the winningest all-time coach at one of college football's truly iconic programs.
Multiple LSU and Notre Dame sources confirmed the Tigers' interest in Kelly to FootballScoop.
It's why, sources have confirmed on Monday, that University of Southern Cal first sought in recent weeks to speak with Kelly about the Trojans' vacancy. Then, USC snatched Lincoln Riley away from LSU as the Tigers had continued their pursuit of the Oklahoma-turned-USC skipper.
Multiple Notre Dame sources, as well as sources around college football and also at LSU, tell us “there's absolutely smoke” with LSU's pursuit of Kelly.
But Kelly “has never coached South of the Mason-Dixon Line,” as one college insider put it to FootballScoop. The field size is the same all over, and Kelly's coaching skill will travel.
Is Kelly likely to jettison Notre Dame, after a dozen years and potentially on the cusp of a third College Football Playoff appearance in four seasons? It seems far from the case.
Still, college football sources tell FootballScoop that Kelly's total compensation package at Notre Dame is approximately $7 million, a little north of that mark, on an annual basis. In other words, with two of the sport's other premiere programs – with national championships far more recently than Notre Dame's 1988 title – calling on Kelly, he's a coach in demand who's getting ready to likely find a new market price for his services.
First call to Fickell obviously. He'll probably take the job under the condition that he gets to coach through the playoffs. With Freeman already on staff, JS is probably ok with this as Freeman will keep the class (mostly) intact.
Assuming it doesn't come together that easily, I'd definitely reach out to Cristobol, Stoops (both), Whittingham, Peterson, Clawson, and Kiffy-cakes. Not in that order. Oh, I'd also send a few feelers out to some NFL guys: Meyer (seriously), Gruden (hesitantly), Tomlin, Harbaugh, LaFluer, and Vrabel. Also, not in that order. I would imagine 1 of those guys may have interest.
Did well at PSU ... okay for a couple of seasons at Houston, now Saban's OC? Saban's coaching tree has borne fruit.
To be considering retirement? Maybe i misheard
Lincoln Riley to USC only solidifies that more.
The last call should be to Luke Fickell. He should be a fall back.
have taken place months ago, if not years. Continuously, actually.
Think big and sell them on what ND can give them that Current Situation X can't.
If you don't view Fickell as a big enough name to warrant a priority call, who is?
I always love the "this guy isn't good enough" commentary but when asked about who would be good enough, the answer then is, "it's not my job to decide and vet who is good enough."
Hahaha.
There are some names I'd prefer to Fickell, for sure.
I’ll put months of research into it, like a good AD would, and get back to you.
But at least I know I have Fickell if I need to go that route, or Freeman.
You would need months of research to come up with an elite list......... but know right now Fickell wouldn't be on that list.
Makes sense.
I'm not in favor of most of the names thrown around. I would take my time and talk to Fickell, Freeman, and Rees and see how they check my "elite coach required qualities" boxes. I would also spend considerable time talking to the best recruiting analysts to find out who the top recruiters are. I would probably place a call to Nick Saban to discuss the guys he's been most impressed with. After that, I should have a list of 10-20 names, and I'd talk to every one of them. The idea that Matt Campbell or some other "name" that hasn't sniffed an undefeated season or top-level recruiting success (either players or coaches) is all of a sudden going to morph into the 2nd coming of Parseghian is like wishing on a star. Not my favored approach.
The rest of your post made sense.
I would be focused on gathering as many data points as possible. And, while I don't think it's true, I don't personally know enough about Rees to know that he's not elite. That being said, after being around him for 10 years, Jack Swarbrick should.
Hear me now and for all time:
We will NEVER and should NEVER EVER EVER hire a 29 year old head coach. Ever.
I respect your overall process and it's WAY better than old Whistlepig would ever put together, but even he in his unbridled arrogance wouldn't hire someone born in 1992.
Anyone disagreeing? I will meet you in trial by combat behind the Chevron station.
I'll admit that I forgot that Rees is only 29. I feel like he was 30 when he was quarterback just 10 years ago. And, again, I'm not advocating for Rees in any way whatsoever. I'm simply advocating for a practical approach to the process that doesn't rely on the big or popular name or just the first name that pops into Swarbrick's head.
But he has leveraged one good year into a bad NFL performance (if he doesn’t have Christian McCaffrey the team sucks).
He has never recruited at the high level, his last year at Baylor, where he did a great job, he was 0-3 against top 10 teams (sorry ndzippy) and he is 2-16 all time against ranked opponents.
This is someone who would get people excited?
Baylor was left for dead after the Briles scandal. Within three years he won 11 games. Yes, he lost all three games to Top 10 teams his last year but all three were close games including an OT loss to #6 OU. Considering where Baylor was, to do that in Year 3 is impressive.
He took over Temple after Addazio crapped out a 4-7 record. By Year 3, he won 10 games and then won 10 games in Year 4, the first time Temple had ever had back to back 10 win seasons. That 2015 Temple team gave our 9th ranked Irish all we could handle (we won 24-20).
So he's succeeded at two downtrodden programs having them both competing with the "elites" within three years.
The NFL is a QB driven league and he has crap in Carolina unless one thinks Cam Newton or Sam Darnold are high level NFL QBs. He'll likely exceed his first year win total, however, with crap at QB.
mediocre NFL results. What he did at Baylor with the coaching staff with recruiting Texas in mind shows he at least has a plan.
he'd be on the list but would still need to do more research :)
That'd be funny as hell, if nothing else.
I hope the answer isn't to simply promote Freeman.
This would be a great opportunity to land Fickell. Freeman would likely stay here as DC and continue his top-notch recruiting.
Maybe Fickell could even land Herman as his OC, they have connections back to their days at Ohio State and Herman is only in a marginal role with the Bears (who themselves are probably about to undergo a coaching change).
I'm afraid JS will just do the low-hanging fruit of promoting Marcus, and I think he *could* be a great HC, but I wouldn't want this to be his first job, and only after one year as DC. But if that's what we we'd go with, I'm all for Marcus crushing it.
Hell, it's obvious now that Stoops still has the itch, but even Campbell and Fickell would be decent choices. I trust Swarbrick would screw it up.
You better be prepared to potentially unplug it after 1, 2, or 3 years if there are warning signals it isn't going to work. Set a handful of things to measure or benchmark against and review it every 3-4 months.
It would be a high risk, high reward move but the damage could be limited.
Only thing worse than whiffing on a key hire is to not recognize the mistake early and correct it immediately.
(There is no way Jack Swarbrick would know how to do this or have the energy - or incentive - to do this.)
next at-bat.
I do...too many jobs and he's got a solid reputation for recruiting and his ND results have improved immensely through the year.
I actually won't be surprised if Tommy Rees is the next HC at a Duke or something like that.
But I would be surprised if he left after 1 year unless it’s for a a really big program. Him going to Virginia Tech, let’s say as an example, doesn’t make much sense to me at this point.
Unless JS knows something about a can’t miss hire out there that none of us do (Dabo woke up to the fight song, as an example) running to sign Matt Campbell , Aranda, or Matt Rhule or some other coach of the week who has not shown continued success, would be a waste.
But I just don’t see Kelly leaving
He was at the top of my preferred hypothetical list before he took the Panthers job. And he might want out (or be forced out...) of Carolina the way things are going.
Campbell/Aranda would be a bit disappointing, but I also wouldn't be shocked if they were to do big things here if they were hired.
Hopefully Jack has been planning for the possibiity of Kelly leaving since 2012.
Which is shorthand for saying that Swarbrick will not approach either but instead will choke, panic, fear rejection, and go ugly early. Aim low.
We are definitely going to get the metallic pea Wagon Queen Family Truckster if Swarbrick is involved.
Then he will call up Pete and the friendly media and tell them that the stiff he hired is the inspired choice. That nobody else was available or appropriate fND, andevwrybody should trust his sagacity. And the usual suspects will fall inine based on the data
1-4 this year without McCaffery.
I don’t see how that should get anyone excited.
You seem to be content with mediocrity
Rhule is probably BK 2.0 (stolen from ndzippy)
You continually seem to discount the situations he took over. It wasn't like he ended up at PSU or Michigan State and struggled to win or beat ranked teams.
He took over two bad programs in Temple and Baylor and within three years turned both into ranked programs.
What did you want him to do at Temple and Baylor?
only an OT loss to OU in the Big 12 championship kept them out. They lost to OU by 3 points earlier in the year. He parlayed that quick turnaround into an NFL head coaching job.
But if this is the coach picked to take over for Kelly, I don’t see it as clear upgrade, and I don’t see it as someone to get excited over. It’s a lateral pick, IMO.
This program does not need someone to come in and change everything and build up a broken team from the ground up. It is close to championship caliber next year (especially if some important players come back). It needs a guy who knows how to win at big programs right now, so he can continue the recruiting momentum and keep the current 22 and 23 recruits. Rhule will come in with his own staff most likely. He likes complete control.
A quote from Vannie before Kelly was chosen, Rhule is not much different :
Kelly has never coached at a top program either as an assistant or as a head coach. He has never been mentored by or coached with a top-level head coach. He has not recruited nationally or against top programs for elite recruits. In his entire career, Kelly has never coached on a staff that defeated one of the top twenty all-time Division 1 college programs in terms of either wins or winning percentage.
Successful Notre Dame coaches, such as Parseghian, Devine and Holtz had a record of major wins against major opponents before they ever coached at Notre Dame, including Woody Hayes, Joe Paterno, Bo Schembechler, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Devaney; multiple wins against teams such as Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State; years of testing against competition in the Big Ten, the Big Eight and the Southwest Conference. Each had been mentored by some of the elite football minds of the age such as Paul Brown, Biggie Munn, Duffy Daugherty and Woody Hayes. Each had been around big-time coaches and programs. That level of familiarity with and success against big-time competition and big-time programs is essential at this point. Brian Kelly can point to no such major wins against top teams or coaches, no experience at a top program to know what it is like and no familiarity or mentorship under a top coach.
The market also tells you they think he's better than Kelly at this point in their careers.
who personally I detest because of his destruction of the Texans...
But at one time in the past he was a popular choice for ND fans due to his offense.
of the end zone. (From when I watched the Texans when Fuller was there.)
when somebody asked a tough question, he didn't like, and he embarrassed a female reporter at one of his press conferences sort of like when Ron Franklin talked down to Holly Rowe during the 2005 ND/Purdue game.
He likely wouldn’t accept job prior to CFP ending, which is a long time to have a vacancy.
Have him coach the bowl. Recruiting likely wouldn't suffer much if at all with him as interim, even with the early signing day. If you're able to land Fickell (or someone else worthy) at the end of the CFB/NFL season, great. If not, then I guess Freeman's your guy. There are worse things in the world.
I would not make a bad hire in early December just to have a permanent head coach, and I would not promote Freeman to full-time HC until mid-January at earliest, if we completely strike out.
A capable AD would have a plan already in place
If James Franklin can get $85M, then Kelly is significantly underpaid.
Edit - well that aged well. /s
If he doesn't have the LSU offer, then we didn't waste money for nothing. If he *does* have the offer, let him go. There are plenty of options out there (Fickell, Rhule, Campbell, Aranda... you don't need all of them to be interested, you only need one).
He'll quietly get a raise in the spring.
in him in order to get a better contract with the Cardinals. 'Tis the season.
why won't you just say you aren't interested in the OU job.
When asked why he didn't just deny interest in the Sooners job, Kingsbury responded: "We're in-season, we're 9-2, Just not a topic I want to touch on right now."
Real answer is that right now his leverage is at a high point with the season the Cardinals are having and he would love a big extension of his contract! So why give up that leverage, let his agent milk it.
But who am I to hold him back. I'll help him pack.
JS would trip over his own feet and probably offer Matt Nagy the job
And oddly enough Swarbys children are suddenly working front office spots for the Bears/NFL
coming to fruition with our bespectacled AD.