One concern raised about Kelly in 2009 was age/tenure.

If he were such a hot commodity, we noted, why was he still in Division II on his 40th birthday? Why did it take him decades to reach the heights of a winning MAC season? Urban Meyer certainly didn't need to toil in obscurity for long. Nor, in later years, did Lincoln Riley or Ryan Day. The market doesn't ignore stars in the making for long.

Likewise, LSU and ND don't fight for 34 year old defensive coordinators unless they sense they might be getting a guy who brings something to the table. That's what ND, right or wrong, believes they have here. That may even be why, when husky Gonzo came to ask for more program bells and whistles, they weren't able to get him on the calendar.

No one can ignore the risks and potential downside to hiring a young, relatively inexperienced assistant. But haven't we harped for years on our artificially high floor and struggles to break through and become elite? Look at this year's slate. Do we need to focus on the downside as much as we did in 2004 or 2009? I think we can handle Georgia Tech and Stanford with any sentient presence under the coach's headset.

What we need is someone who can crack the ceiling. Recruit at an elite level. Not a solid level, not a really good level. Meyer level. And if you think you have another Meyer on the staff, now's not a bad time to find out what he can do. If you wait and he proves you right somewhere else, you could face another empty plane.

Ability to crack the ceiling

Makes this somewhat worth the risk

Agree but I am concerned with all the staff retention

particularly on the offensive side of the ball for the following two similar reasons:

- It is not Freeman's wheel house and I feel he would have benefited from an experienced hand; someone far away from Kelly's offense in terms of philosophy and execution; someone with excellent credentials developing QBs and OL play. Someone who runs an offense that will align to our historical strengths in recruitment; namely QB, RB, TE

- While I am supportive of Tommy Rees and it seems he has the respect of the QBs on the roster he only had a cup of coffee at the Chargers and NW. NW runs the spread so not that different. I think it is silly to think our offense will change much under Rees but its possible I guess.

I hope they replace Quinn and Alexander

and Taylor expands his role as a true run game coordinator, or they find someone who will. If that happens, we're left with much of the current staff, minus Kelly and his two weakest coaches, and with Freeman as the leader of the whole crew. That alone might be enough. Time will tell. I'm cautiously optimistic about our future and excited about having Freeman instead of Kelly.

No doubt...I am excited to have dead cat

over Kelly and his self important prick excuse filled persona. I would have preferred a candidate like Matt Rhule but I am 100% behind Freeman as the early returns indicate a strong character and someone with the charisma and drive to be successful at Notre Dame.

And yes, Quinn needs to hit the bricks and join Camp Shanty down in Baton Rouge. I want a dynamic recruiter and developr of talent at WR and that ain't Alexander. Time for him to hit the road as well.

Can we get an elite OL coach and true run game coordinator? Will Rees eschew Kelly's shackles and dedicate more practice time to the run game and play to our historical strengths? Time will tell but Rees is all football all the time and comes from a football family so I would not say the chances are zero.

Your 3rd paragraph nails it.

I’m not going to say there’s *no* difference between 10-2 and 5-7… but that’s also kinda what I’m saying, particularly if that 10-2 only involves wins over tomato cans. ND’s mantra historically is winning big games and national championships.

Freeman might be Weis. He might be Meyer. If he’s the latter, amazing for us. If he’s the former, that’s not awful for us. He’ll pull great recruiting classes (like Weis). And he’ll be out the door in 4 years, but it’ll only have been 4 years since we were a consistent top-10 program, so that should help us in our next search (unlike when we hired Kelly and it had been 15 years). But at least Freeman seems to give us more of a shot than BK ever did.

If Freeman’s Kelly, well… at least he’ll be a likable Kelly.

His resume is not dissimilar from Riley's when

he got the OU job. Sometimes guys are accelerated too quickly, sometimes they get promoted above where they should be. And sometimes guys are that good. It's risky, but there is the chance that Freeman is the latter. The fact that he was in-house for the past year hopefully gave those in the seats of power a front-row view of that.

Swashbuckler wouldn't know a good coach if one bit his a$$

So your last point about giving those in seats of power a front row view is meaningless in this context.

I'm good with the risk-reward ratio.

Swarbrick (and/or whomever replaces him in the hopefully near future) will have some work on their hands to support Marcus and help minimize risk and maximize reward.