WeIsND Roundtable: 2012 Season in Review

1. Three Biggest Storylines that Gripped You During 2012 Campaign 

Dan: (1) Development of Everett Golson: While I didn’t boo Tommy Rees when he came on during the Michigan game (I don’t think?), I was certainly very critical of Kelly’s handling of the situation. I continued that way probably up until about the Oklahoma game. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and Kelly played his cards masterfully. Everett is now a clear leader of this offense, he understands when to tuck it and run, and appears to be making much better decisions now than in September. Not to mention, he still has three years left – what an incredibly exciting thought.

(2)  Dominance on defense: This one is easy of course. I know our defense is well heralded - #1 scoring defense, incredible red zone efficiency, etc. I think the thing that stands out the most though are only giving up 2 rushing touchdowns all year and only 2 touchdown drives of over 60 yards. Additionally, no drives over 75 yards. No opponent starting inside their own 25 scored a touchdown. That's just an amazing statistic.  

(3) Development of offensive line: A lot of people were nervous when Warriner departed and Heistand took over. That faction appears a bit silly now. The offensive line has gelled to become an incredible unit and a real strength of this offense. The second half against Miami and the entire USC game (between the 20s at least) show just how great this unit is.

Jeremy: (1) The ND defense is legitimately elite.  Even with a secondary held together by bailing wire and first-time starters.  2009 seems like decades ago.  

(2) The QB carousel.  Not always gripping me in ways that I liked.  But an interesting story nonetheless.  Also - Everett Golson is going to be unbelievably good.  Perhaps as soon as next season.

(3) The Cult of Manti.  Deserves no explanation.

Jimmy: (1) Manti-Mania: Time is the ultimate arbiter of Manti’s lasting legacy, but the bar has already been raised to Legen…Barney Stinson “wait-for-it” moment of gravity…Dary status.  Quantifying the impact Te’o had on this 2012 team, the Notre Dame football program as a whole, the university endowment and general morale of everyone associated with ND Nation is next to impossible.  If Manti were an earthquake, Richter’s scale would need recalibration.  

In addition to the tenacious tackling, electrifying interceptions and unrivaled passion, Manti resonated with fans on a spiritual level this season.  He inspired us well beyond the gridiron, and in turn, the Notre Dame community helped lift Manti’s heavy heart.  Te’o converted the most cynical doubters into believers and added luster back to the golden helmets.  Over the last 20+ years, there may be only one other player across the college landscape who evoked such reverence -- yes, Tebow is his name-o.

Had Manti left school after his junior year, it would have been a success story.  A devout Mormon from Hawaii surprises everyone by choosing a Catholic school in snowy South Bend.  He lives up to the hype, becomes an All-American, gets drafted as a 1^st (maybe 2^nd ?) round pick and enjoys a fine pro career.  I’m sure ESPN Hallmark (if this channel doesn’t exist yet, it should) would green light production on this story.

But a script re-write was due when divine providence steered Manti’s decision to return to school.  His charisma and leadership sparked a legitimate Irish revival as opposed to the fool’s gold “returns to glory” in 2002, 2005 & 2006.  Factor in the off-the-field plot developments with the “HeIsManti” awards season lovefest, and his story transforms into a Hollywood blockbuster.

You probably have to go back to Rocket Ismail to find the last ND player who takes your breath away at least once a game.  A mainstream cult hero, acknowledged by all (well, maybe not the impenetrable bubble that envelopes SEC Territory) as a really, really, ridiculously good player and spectacle to behold.  

And the biggest stage still awaits Manti.  

(2) Team Unity: A huge reason for this season being such a delightful ride was the cast of characters suiting up each week.  Yes, the spotless record tints everything with rainbow sparkly magic glasses, but the unity of this squad grounded this team, serving as the foundation to build a champion.  You don't have to look hard to find likable guys -- BK's RKG's -- littered up and down the roster.  Start with the biggest teddy bear of them all, Big Lou Nix and his homemade Chocolate News program (highly recommend watching all 5 episodes).  There's the wacky weekly team bonding experience that is Trick Shot Monday.  There's the unspoken best beard competition on the team, pitting KLM (the safari hat-wearing, front-row cheering basketball super fan who blends into no crowd) vs. Matthias Farley (as close to a Matisyahu and Michael Franti mashup if I've ever seen one).  Not to be outdone, Zeke Motta entered the fray with what could be his leprechaun audition look.  

Normal things that can, and often do, sabotage teams just didn't with this group, like the QB controversy that wasn't.  When Lo Wood and Jamoris Slaughter both were lost for the season by the 4th game, excuses were selling for pennies around the stadium.  Not a single excuse was made as everyone embraced the "next guy up" mantra BK preaches.  Win or lose, it will be bittersweet watching this assemblage of men play for the last time together.   

(3) The Saga of Mariano Rees: Imagine yourself a quarterback good enough to play at ND, who steps in as a true freshman and wins his first 4 starts, including the first win over a huge rival in a 8 years and a bowl game win over a traditional power. 

You start the next year backing up the same heralded recruit you replaced the year before, but Coach pulls the plug on him and rides your moxie to win 8 games as a sophomore. 

Entering your junior year, brimming with confidence, your college-ness gets you arrested in the summer and Coach suspends you for the opener, essentially ceding your starter job to a redshirt freshman, a new heralded recruit. 

You say all the right things to make amends.  You deflect (baseless?) rumors of your imminent transfer to another school. You embrace your role as backup and help the starter learn the ropes. 

Surprisingly, Coach calls your number when the freshman falters in the first home game.  Your own fans boo you as you take the field.  Talk about conflicting emotions.  Coach trusts you to run the 2 minute offense to secure a tight victory, which turns the boos into cheers, then declares the redshirt freshman the starter the next week.  Coach calls on you several times throughout the early going, nearly giving ND Nation a nervous tick at the prospect of QB roulette...again.  You deliver clutch throws coming in cold off the bench, earning the status as a "QB Closer."  It's an engrossing, yo-yo act that the selfless Tommy embraces and makes the most out of.  It's fair to say without his game-winning Purdue drive and overtime touchdown pass to TJ Jones vs. Stanford, 12-0 may not be possible without Mariano Rees. 

Matt: (1) Will the D allow a rushing touchdown: I'm used to defenses that give up at least a rushing TD per game. So as the weeks went by, the sheer dominance of the defense was wrapped up neatly into the stat that they had not allowed a rushing TD. 

I'll admit, when The Belldozer had his rushing TD called back, that was one of my most fired up moments of the season. Of course, it's ridiculous to expect a defense to make it through a season unscathed on the ground, but the fact that we even flirted with it is a testament to Nix, KLM, Tuitt and the rest of the big uglies

(2) Manti Teo: Many many words much more eloquent than mine have been written about the Teo experience, but the Heisman campaign after Klein lost, and the way Manti handled personal tragedy before Michigan week were compelling. The odds of my firstborn being named Manti have gone from 0% before the season to at least 5% now 

(3) Tommy Rees, the closer: I remember being so frustrated when BK first pulled this stunt early in the season. We were struggling against Purdue, Mike Mayock would have you believe Purdue's defense has 11 first rounders, and it looked like another typical season going nowhere.  At the time, it seemed like Golson needed to go through these growing pains, win or lose the game be damned. 

Of course, now sitting on the eve of the championship, it's blindingly apparent that early in the season, Rees saved our ass a few times. One of the weirder dynamics I've ever seen on a team. 

2. We're Goin to Miami...

Jeremy: It still hasn’t really set in yet.  Must be that 6 weeks or so between Thanksgiving and the title game.  As excited as I am for the Bama matchup, I just don’t want this season to end.  Its been an incredibly enjoyable run and I have a tough time believing that I’ll ever have so much fun following a sporting team for the rest of my life. 

Jimmy: Wow, wow, wow.  Will Smith's PG rap lyrics never sounded so good.  The biggest stage in college sports is rolling out the red (or is it orange?) carpet for Notre Dame.  It's a terrific accomplishment to get there, but the work isn't done.  One mission and one mission only - championship title #12.

Matt: Not much to say here. It's still hard to believe, and if you're injecting me with truth serum, there's a part of me that is petrified this will be an LSU or Ohio State BCS experience. Of course, this team is totally different than those, built on defense and strong line play. Having a mobile QB doesn't hurt either 

I'll be standing strong in Joe Robbie Stadium with the Irish faithful on Jan 7th, and given my expectations for the season back in August, that in itself is a miracle

3. Offensive and Defensive MVPs

Dan:    Offensive – Theo Riddick. Similar to my criticism of the Rees / Golson situation, I was also critical of Kelly early on for his use of Riddick and Wood. But the latter half of this season showed just how great Riddick was in this offense. Huge catches against Stanford and Pittsburgh, not to mention an absolutely dominant day on the ground against USC.

Defensive – Manti Te’o. This one is a bit tougher than it may initially seem. Some may point to the Pitt game and how well they ran on us when Nix was out of the game. And, don’t get me wrong, Nix is an incredibly important part of this defense and deserves more credit nationally than I think he’s getting. But Te’o is the captain of this defense, the heart and the soul. What a pleasure watching him this year has been.

Jeremy: Pretty easy choices here - Manti and Eifert.  

But let’s go off the beaten path a bit for purposes of discussion.  On offense, I’ll go with Theo Riddick.  I’m not surprised that he had a great season as a RB - anyone who watched some of his runs during the early part of his career (pre-switch to slot WR) could see that he had natural vision and talent running the ball.  But I doubt anyone could have predicted that he would have a better season than Cierre Wood, clinch the SC game by running right down the Trojans throat, or make a few of the largest catches of the season (see: Stanford and Pitt).  Not to mention his amazing leadership and his assistance in getting Golson and the offense aligned.  And his moment with his mom on senior day was awesome.  Love that kid.

On defense, how about Danny Spond?  While the secondary was probably everyone’s biggest defensive concern heading into the season, the Dog LB spot was incredibly unsettled.  Spond was the presumed starter, but after a preseason headache/migraine scare, we were all a bit unsure whether he’d ever play a down of football again.  Instead, he came back, set the edge, played in coverage and locked down the toughest position on the defense.  His contributions often go unnoticed on the stat sheet and on the highlight reels, but I guarantee you that Bob Diaco went into the LB meetings every week praising Spond’s effort and improvement.  

Jimmy: On offense, how bout Everett Golson.  Growing pains and a few unexpected Tommy Reed moments aside, when clutch was needed, Golson's cannon arm and sneaky legs delivered.  Beginning with the road trip to Norman, the game slowed down for Everett and the results began matching the potential.  The team suffers a catastrophic letdown loss to Pitt if not for Golson's late game heroics.  He toyed with Wake's hapless defense and kept the chains moving on time-killing possession after possession in the Coliseum, stamping the ticket to Miami.  A case can be made for Riddick, Eifert or Zack Martin.  

On defense, going unconventional with Louis Nix III.  He's the most important cog in the defensive unit, allowing everyone else to collect sacks, tackles and most of the acclaim.  Yet, as a nose guard deep in the trenches, Nix amassed 45 hard earned tackles, including 2 sacks.  His 5 batted passes ranks 3rd overall, another impressive feat for his position.  

Overall Team MVP -- Manti Te'o.  See above gushing sentiments.

Matt: Theo Riddick: Could have gone Golson or Eifert here, but Riddick turned into an invaluable part of the offense. He looks like a scatback, and true to that image he is a great receiver out of the backfield, but he was blowing people up as a running back. Theo Riddick turning into a physical runner was what took this offense to another level

Louis Nix: Look, the easy answer is Teo. He's the most decorated college player on terms of awards EVER. So he's probably the MVP of the team. But we have had some pretty good linebackers come through over the years (probably never at Teo's level). But what we haven't had to go with those Lb's is a dominant nose man. 

The return of Irish Chocolate next year is perhaps has me most excited, and most confident that the defense won't have a significant drop off with the departure of Manti

4. Favorite Moments of 2012 Season (In Person & On TV)

Dan:   I was lucky enough to see so many great moments in person this year – the goal line stand against Stanford, the 5 straight picks against Michigan, the entire OU game… I think my favorite moment though was Cierre Wood breaking away from the pack against Oklahoma for the first touchdown. We were sitting in that end zone, and he ran towards us and suddenly he was in the second layer and then he was gone. It was so clearly going to be a touchdown that the section was jumping and celebrating long before he got to the end zone.

My favorite moment on TV has to be the goal line stand against USC. At that point it was clear we were going to Miami and the celebration could begin.  

Jeremy: Two candidates for the in-person.  The first one is rather obvious - the postgame “Oh What a Night” sing along after the Michigan win.  Surreal and awesome moment.  The second one may have been the walk from Soldier Field back towards the Red Line, amidst a mass of ND fans chanting “We Want Bama!” (foreshadowing!!)

The first favorite TV moment had to be watching the Irish play a near-perfect game against Oklahoma in perhaps the most important and biggest matchup since the ’05 SC game.  Watching the Irish celebrate in the Coliseum comes in a close second.  The fact that I got to watch both of those games with my Dad, a long-suffering Irish die-hard, probably had something to do with it.

Jimmy: Man, there are so many good choices to pick from, this should merit its own post.  For TV moment, I'll pick the Stanford goal line stuff to end the game.  Just an exhilarating, rip-your-shirt-off-WWF-style, we're-streaking-through-the-quad finish.  

The Oklahoma and USC wins were triumphant in different respects, but the endings were wrapped up nicely by the time of the 2:00 minute warning.  Though I have to mention that my biggest superstition turned out to be sitting in the exact same chair at the same table at the same restaurant (Haymarket Brewery in Chicago) for both OK and USC games.  The first go round found me accompanying my wife for her Northwestern Reunion outing.  A sweet drink deal kept the deliciously potent beers coming all night.  On several occasions, me and my viewing partner Ryan (South Bend native who had more or less turned a blind eye to his reunion festivities) were caught screaming in joy, only to realize we were the only two people out of hundreds paying attention to the screen.  Good Times!  Well, when Ryno came back to Chicago for Thanksgiving and we worked out baby duties to free up our evening, we couldn't think of a more appropriate venue to watch the finishing touches on 12-0 than our good-luck charm Haymarket.  

Favorite in-person moment, hands down, goes to the goosebumpapolooza Senior Day introductions.  Can't remember the last time I got to my seat with more than 25 minutes before kickoff, and the place was packed and already rocking.  The rising volume by the time Manti was introduced reminded me of old Chicago Bulls starting lineups when you could barely hear Jordan's name by the end.  A lifetime moment to remember.  

Matt: Manti against Michigan

Again, many more eloquent words have been written by people who get paid to wax poetic, so I'll keep this brief. But seeing Manti and the students with the leis, against Michigan, at night, with Denard throwing the ball around like he was drunk, yeah...that's number one

5. Heisman Sound-Off

Dan: I can’t say I’m too fired up about the Heisman. Should Manziel have won? Probably not? Should Te’o have won? Maybe. Anyone who knows anything about college football knows what the award has become at this point. Generally it goes to the best offensive backfield player on the best team (or at least top 5 team). If there isn’t really a clear candidate that fits that profile, expect an offensive backfield player to have a couple good performances late in the year and catch all the media hype. If they want to fix the award, then change who votes. 

Manti Te’o won more awards than any player in the history of college football this year (understanding there are more and more awards to win every year). He did far better than any purely defensive (i.e., no return game) player has ever done before. He cares about the award on January 7^th, and so do I. That said, I would support a change to the award – just make it an offense only award. They are kidding themselves at this point.

Jeremy: Can’t say that I expected Manti to win the Heisman, so while it was somewhat disappointing, it wasn’t surprising.  But this year simply reinforced the idea that a defensive player has an almost impossible hill to climb to win the award.  Its not the award for the best player in college football, it's an award for the best offensive stat-compiler, or the offensive player with the best “moment.”  Which is fine.  

It's just a shame that so many people in this country who so obviously don’t watch much college football vote for what everyone considers to be the most prestigious college football award.  

Jay Mariotti somehow has a vote.  All you need to know.  

Matt: Justice was served. Look, I'm a Manti guy. And it's impossible to quantify the impact a defensive player has on a game. Manti's effect when far beyond his tackle count or even his 7 picks. 

But his stats dropped noticeably in the second half of the season, at the sAme time Johnny Football was putting up Playstation numbers. I know ND fans and probably my fellow WeIs pals will bring up manziel's LSU and UF games, and that's fair game. I just can't get worked up over Manti losing the Heisman. Maybe I'm in the minority among ND fans.

6. Biggest Losses / Gains for 2013

Dan:  Biggest loss – Manti T’eo. Too easy and obvious, but still the right answer.

Biggest gain – Amir Carlisle. I think we’re going to see Carlisle play the role of Theo and succeed. I think Greg Bryant is going to play immediately and will have an important role to play (particularly since I think Cierre will go pro), but I expect Amir to be a pleasant surprise, particularly catching passes.

Jeremy: Losses - Staying away from an individual loss, I’ll focus on the outgoing seniors/5th years as a whole.  This group has been through so much and have done so much to drag this program from some of the lowest points in its history all the way up to the peak of the mountain.  The great behind-the-scenes stuff produced by UND.com this season really showed the great leadership provided by guys like Te’o, KLM, Motta and everyone else.  The hope is that the guys coming back will pick up on the example they provided and continue to move the program into the next “glory years” period.  I wouldn’t bet against them, but it's hard to believe that anyone else could be as inspiring and just downright awesome as those guys.

Gains - I suppose when we’re talking about “gains” here, the best place to look is probably the incoming recruiting class.  And while I think this is going to end up being a Top 5 type class, I’m having a tough time seeing a whole bunch of immediate contributors.  Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Because although the outgoing guys are leaving some big holes in some spots, I believe there are some good guys already in the program who can fill most of those positions.  Which means that the need for immediate contributors is not as extreme as in some prior seasons.  

As for guys to keep an eye on - look for Greg Bryant to be in the mix for carries right off the bat, Alex Anzalone to play on ST and perhaps in the ILB rotation by the end of the year, Isaac Rochell to work into the DL rotation (much like Sheldon Day this season) and Jaylon Smith to get on the field somewhere, somehow.  He’s just too damn athletic.  Also, if ND lands Max Redfield, he would almost certainly be able to help the team in some manner.

Matt: Loss - Teo. Enough said

Gain - Respect. I'll let Jeremy and others chime in on recruiting. But the biggest gain to me is the respect and credibility that has come with this season. 

Past BCS seasons had a bit of smoke 'n mirrors to them, built on prolific offenses but no commitment to defense, either in the coaching or recruiting. 

This time, it feels like the foundation has been laid to stay 'relevant' for a long time to come

7. State of the Program

Jeremy: If you listen to Brian Kelly’s press conferences, he loves talking about the “process.”  His opponent in the upcoming Title Game, Nick Saban, uses similar buzzwords.  If we’ve learned one thing about this magical season, its that this version of the Irish has bought in to what Kelly is selling.  It remains to be seen whether this will have a lasting impression, or whether it's the culmination of an amazing senior class, a few great recruiting efforts and some good bounces.  But I’m not going to be betting against Brian Kelly for a while.  

Jimmy: The players have bought into BK's plan.  The results caught up with expectations this year.  The recruiting machine is churning on overdrive.  Despite a gaping hole with Manti's departure to Sundays, his presence will still be felt, without a doubt.  His impact will reverberate for years to come, and incoming freshman like Jaylon Smith know they're carrying the Te'o Torch and building upon the work started by this team.  Without elaborating too much, I believe the program will establish a new consistency of 10+ win seasons for the foreseeable future.  Assistant coach defections are sure to happen in the next year or two and make for some hand-wringing and possibly brief hiccups, but I can confidently state: In BK I Trust.  

8. Recruiting Impact of 2012 Season

Jeremy: Can already be seen in the Greg Bryant commitment.  Simply put, a guy like Bryant doesn’t call up ND out of the blue without a season like this.  

The interesting question is whether Kelly and his staff can work the delicate balancing act between RKGs and five-star prima donnas.  To be sure, not every five-star will have the “make up” of an Aaron Lynch.  But ND’s success is going to open up the recruiting pool, and Kelly will have to work hard to separate the Lynches and Greenberrys from the Tuitts and Te’os.  It's a nice problem to have, but one that’s going to bear watching.

Brian Kelly and Bruce Pearl

Very interesting article on Coach Brian Kelly in the Knoxville News yesterday. The Bruce Pearl comparisons are actually fairly accurate. This blurb stuck out to me.

I talked to a couple of media-types who deal with Kelly. They both rave about the guy - and not just for his coaching. They give him high marks for his media accessibility and for his promotional skills. One of them said a businessman who heard Kelly speak described the experience as "electric."

Tennessee doesn't have the in-state talent that Florida and Georgia gets, so they need a Brian Kelly type coach who is willing to put himself out there and sell that program. When Tennessee gets this guy this offseason, there may be some very nervous folks in Athens and Gainesville over the next couple years.

If the the Vols land Kelly, I'm hopping on their bandwagon as my new SEC team.

Brian Kelly..... clap.....clap........clapclapclap

Some thoughts from yet another devastating ND loss.

12. While I am with Matt in that I am not going to jump up and down over and over demanding that Charlie Weis is fired after this year, I do think it’s time for ND to seriously start contemplating the possibility of replacing Charlie Weis and also start evaluating/contemplating some names as possible replacements. Charlie Weis is an ND alum who has tried to rebuild this program, but he’s not getting it done. His teams are getting steadily worse, and now we are looking at a second straight season without even one half-decent win to hang our hat on. A sign of a well-coached team is that the team continues to get better as the season goes along, but the reality for Charlie Weis is that we’ve been blown out by Air Force and Boston College in back to back seasons in November. A blowout loss to a mediocre BC team can't happen. It just can't. It wasn't acceptable when Ty lost at home to BC in 2004, and the same applies now.

I don’t think keeping Charlie for 2009 causes great damage to the ND program (like it would have if we had brought Ty Willingham back in 2005), but I do think that there are many other coaches who would do a better job with this roster in 2009 than Charlie Weis. I can certainly understand why there are ND fans who want to give him a 5th year to have one last chance to win with his guys, but I personally think we’ve seen enough to know what to expect in 2009 out of a Charlie Weis-coached team. Inconsistent line play, a soft mentality, no identity on offense other than the “Chaos Mode” when our backs are against the wall, mediocre defense and special teams, and a tendency to come out flat at the worst possible times. A good head coach with a reputation for rebuilding programs could come in here, toughen us up, and build a core identity that fits with our young talent.

I really wanted to see Charlie succeed at ND, but Saturday was a death blow to his credibility as the leader of this program. I’m assuming that he will probably be back in 2009, but I think I’ve reached the point where I’d rather pull the plug.

11. Whether or not you think Charlie Weis is the man for the ND job, the “we need to fire all of the assistants” is a bunch of nonsense. Cmon, does anyone really think that the assistants are the primary problem with this program?? In football, everything starts from the top down. The head coach sets the tone for the program and his philosophy for how he wants to play football and win games. If the head coach is determined to have a physical team, those orders are going to feed down to the o-line coach. O-line coaches are just taking orders from up top. The reason Alabama’s o-line is so good this year isn’t because of their o-line coach. It’s because of Nick Saban’s philosophy for how to build your team up front.

This notion that we can fire Latina and bring in some o-line guru to right the ship is laughable. Latina is just taking orders from Weis. We will never have a good offensive line if Charlie Weis spends his 20 hours a week of practice working on installing 14 new offenses and packages. Our lineman should be spending that time pounding each other into the ground.

Plus, what does it say about Weis when he PICKED those guys to be on his staff?? If Latina and Powlus and Haywood are so incompetent, then why have those guys been on the staff the last few years in the first place??

Finally, does anyone really believe that the top assistants out there (special teams, o-line, d-line, Rbs, etc) are going to be clamoring to sign up for the sinking ship of Notre Dame football that is the Charlie Weis era?? Why would the Alabama o-line coach leave Bama to take the ND job when Charlie might not even be around in a year?? Unless Charlie Weis is planning to go completely hands-off and turn over his offense to a coach who knows how to develop a physical team, why would any great offensive coach sign up for this job knowing that they will probably be a lackey for Weis??

Blaming the assistants is bush league. The problems with ND start and end with Charlie Weis. Weis has already started throwing his assistants under the bus with this stunt to take over playcalling for Navy. Wow, bold move. Taking over the playcalling for Navy. That’s gutsy.

Mike Haywood is just as much of an ND alum as Charlie Weis. He deserves better than this nonsense. He never even had a chance to create an offense in his vision. Everything we do is still the Charlie Weis offense.

10. Now that there is some talk of a new coach at ND, the first thing I wanted to address was this absolutely hilarious notion that our coaching search should start with the following names.

1) Nick Saban
2) Bob Stoops
3) Jon Gruden
4) Mark Richt

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever read. Are we really doing this again?? Does anyone really believe that any of those guys are realistic candidates for the ND job?? Seriously? Did ND fans not learn ANYTHING from the 2001 and 2004 coaching searches?

Why would Bob Stoops leave Oklahoma?? Oklahoma is already a better job than the ND job. He makes a ton of money, he has lifetime job security, he has already reached the pinnacle, and he knows he can win 10+ games every year at OU and have a realistic chance to win a national title.

Nick Saban is not leaving Alabama for god sakes. The only reason he left LSU is because he got the itch for the NFL. It took him less than two years to realize that the NFL wasn’t for him. Now that he has landed back on his feet at one of the elite jobs in college football, I think he’ll be there for the rest of his career. Why would he leave?? He is making $4 million a year at Alabama and is just getting started there. Going to ND would be a step down for him.

Do ND fans realize that those guys are rumored for EVERY college job that opens and yet there is a 0.0% chance that any of them are leaving?? Bob Stoops is a freaking pipe dream. He’s not leaving, and every minute that we daydream about him is a minute wasted as we try to identify the best candidate for the ND job. Spending all our time pining for Bob Stoops is how you end up with Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis as your head coach.

We shouldn’t be looking for Bob Stoops or Nick Saban or Mark Richt. We should be looking for the NEXT Bob Stoops and Nick Saban and Mark Richt. Bob Stoops was an assistant at Florida before taking that OU job. Mark Richt was an assistant at Florida State before taking the Georgia job. Nick Saban was the head coach at Toledo before moving up the ladder to Michigan State. The athletic directors at those schools discovered those guys before they became big name coaches, did their homework, evaluated them properly, and came to the conclusion that they would be great head coaches. That is what ND should be doing. Going around and getting rejected by Bob Stoops and Nick Saban is not conducting a head coaching search. Those guys are not candidates for the job, and they never will be.

9. So who should we looking at??

As far as I’m concerned, the guy who should be at the top of the list is one name and one name only:

BRIAN KELLY.

Maybe there are other potentially great coaches out there and I would want ND to look into everyone, but my list would start with Brian Kelly. We should be researching him, interviewing everyone he coached at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati, interviewing all his assistants to find out about him, watching film of his teams, and learning everything there is to know about him.

What I can promise to you ND fans that we will find out is that Brian Kelly is one of the very best head coaches in all of college football. The elite of the elite. I’ll start with his record. Kelly started as the head coach of Grand Valley State at the age of 30 and won 6 conference titles and 2 Division II national championships in thirteen years. Then he lands at Central Michigan where CMU had posted the following records in the 5 years before:

3-9
4-8
3-8
3-9
4-7

Three years into the job, Brian Kelly wins the MAC. Not surprisingly, he gets some interest from larger schools and ends up at Cincinnati. I am telling you from firsthand knowledge that Brian Kelly has done an absolutely remarkable job at UC. He literally went EVERYWHERE in that first offseason to drum up interest in the program – radio shows, tv interviews, pep rallies, local events. He hadn’t even coached a game, and he was already a borderline legend at UC. The guy is enthusiastic, he’s intense, he’s passionate, and players absolutely love playing for him. And the results on the field have been even better than anyone could have anticipated. 10-3 in his first year, and now he has UC in position to win the Big East in his second year. And he’s doing it with a 4th string quarterback and a roster put together by bubble gum and shoestring.

The thought of UC football in a BCS bowl was completely unfathomable to me until this year. This is a UC program that would be lucky to draw 15,000 fans to a game and regularly lost to MAC teams. They are LUCKY to get 2 star recruits. The goal for UC football for most of the last 20 years was to eventually become as good as Miami (Ohio). Now they are going to places like West Virginia and winning.

While Mark Dantonio deserves credit for stabilizing the UC program after the Rick Minter era, Brian Kelly has taken the program to an entirely different level. I like Mark Dantonio a lot. He is doing a great job at MSU and I’ve been a fan of his going all the way back to his days as the Ohio State defensive coordinator under Tressel when they won the national title. I was in law school at UC when Dantonio was there, and he did a nice job building a foundation. Dantonio is a good coach no doubt about it, and he’d be an upgrade over Charlie Weis. But if you go and ask ANY UC fan to make a comparison between Dantonio and Brian Kelly, I can guarantee what answer you are getting. Dantonio was good, but Kelly is spectacular. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard a caller on a Cincy sports radio show asking for Brian Kelly to take the Bengals job. The same goes for UC players. There were a ton of quotes in Kelly’s first season from players on the team directly comparing Dantonio and Kelly, and every one of them basically went on the record and said UC was better-coached under Kelly.

Maybe I’ll be completely wrong about Brian Kelly and he’ll fall flat on his face at Tennessee or Clemson or wherever he ends up. But I personally think he has an Urban Meyer type ceiling, and his track record for building programs and taking them to heights not previously experienced is very Meyer-esque. Kelly’s teams play in one speed: FAST. Everyone is flying to the ball, they are going hard for 60 minutes, and they are always attacking. His offenses are exciting, and his defenses really get after it. It is a blast to watch, and I think he would do incredible things if he had an offseason to work with Clausen and Floyd and all our young talent. Brian Kelly would win with this ND roster. BIG. Mark that down.

And trust me when I say that ND fans will absolutely LOVE Brian Kelly. I know ND fans, and ND would love this guy. He’s fiery, but he’s also very positive. He’s a Catholic who would probably crawl through glass to take the ND job. And it would be a nice change to get a classy guy as head coach instead of the arrogant, “I'm going to motivate through my press conferences” crap that we’ve had with Weis.

People talk about Kelly being inexperienced, which is complete nonsense. He’s been a head coach for like 18 years. Yes, most of that was at GVSU, but it’s not like other D-IAA coaches haven’t had success. He’s still only 47 years old, but he’s not inexperienced as a head coach at all. The inexperience card is a complete myth that needed to be debunked.

If ND wants to keep Weis, that’s their call. But I think they should at least be doing their homework on prospective head coaches who have the potential to be great. And I think Brian Kelly could be that guy. If we putz around and decide to make a move in a year or two, Brian Kelly might already be doing big things at Clemson or somewhere. By then, it will be too late to get him to South Bend.

8. The other guy who I have to say I am intrigued by is Will Muschamp. I know this thought might cause ND fans to temporarily pass out before shouting me down with the “ND better not hire a head coach who has no head coaching experience” mantra that you see on the message boards, but I don’t agree with that policy as a hard rule. What if Oklahoma had that same policy when they were looking for a replacement for John Blake?? What if Georgia had not bothered to interview Mark Richt to replace Jim Donnan because he had never been a head coach before?? Is it really a smart policy to rule out promising head coaches?? How do we know Will Muschamp isn’t going to be a phenomenal head coach?? The guy learned at the knee of Nicholas Saban. He is widely considered to be the best young d-coordinator in the game. He’s young, intense, passionate about the game, and players love playing for him. And that’s a guy that we don’t want to interview?? Seriously?? Just because we happened to make two bad hires in Charlie Weis and Bob Davie, two guys who wouldn’t have succeeded as head coaches at any major college school??

I’m of the belief that you either have it or you don’t. Experience is overrated. Hiring a guy because he’s experienced is how you end up with Ty Willingham as your head coach. If a guy learned at the knee of a great coach and has the qualities that make a great coach (leadership ability, philosophy for how he wants to build teams and a program, and ability to motivate college players), he can be successful. While I would prefer a coach who has been a head coach SOMEWHERE even if it’s a MAC school or Mountain West or whatever, I’m more interested in his personal qualities than his experience level. Urban Meyer isn’t winning big at Florida because of his experience at Bowling Green and Utah. He’s winning at Florida because he’s Urban freaking Meyer. He knows how to motivate players and get his teams to play with relentless football, and he’s had those abilities since he was an assistant under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame.

Maybe ND would make a determination that Muschamp wasn't a good fit or that he wasn't going to be a great head coach, but I think we should at least we be talking to him and finding out what he's all about. If he ends up at Clemson and wins, he'll be the Mark Richt type guy who will be turning us down in five years.

7. One idea that has been thrown out there that I actually think might be a decent idea is to hire Lou Holtz as an interim coach for the month of December and the bowl game while we sort through coaches and try to identify the best candidate. I actually love that idea, and I think Lou would be a great transition person for ND to right the ship and create a tougher mentality with this team. You’re telling me that Lou wouldn’t have this team running for 200 yards a game and getting the most out of the talent on this roster?? Of course he would. Lou Holtz knows tough football, and that is what this team needs. He could come in here and light a fire under some guys until the next coach was in place. And if Swarbrick isn’t ready for a coaching search, then a year of Lou Holtz would be just fine with me. He’s 71 years old, but Lou Holtz knows football. He would put his heart and soul into that one year of ND football, and ND’s team and program would be better for it.

6. One of the interesting things that Mike pointed out that I completely agree with is that Weis has proven that top recruits are still interested in playing at ND. While I think Weis has had a lot to do with it, I think his role in the process of getting these kids to ND is a bit exaggerated. I’ll be the first to admit that the Willingham era made me question whether ND could still recruit great talent, but it’s easy to forget that Bob Davie was regularly bringing in top 10 classes to ND before Willingham. ND is still ND. We don’t have quite the overwhelming edge that we used to in recruiting, but we still have a lot of advantages. National tv, national exposure, a promise that you will get a degree from a good school, and a chance to play in big games and big bowl games. If ND comes calling, people will listen. Heck, even Ty was able to get good players when he actually put out the effort. Recruiting to ND is not as hard as it has been made out to be.

Believe me, I am grateful that Weis has restored ND’s recruiting reputation, but I think there are a lot of coaches out there who could recruit to ND. Recruiting alone is not the only requirement for this job. Great coaches can recruit and win.

The quote from Jeff Jagodzinski about his pregame speech to his players and not one of them raised their hands when he asked them if they had been recruited by ND was absolutely SHOCKING to me. I did not know that, but it isn’t surprising. ND has significant talent advantages over schools like BC.

5. Speaking of BC, I wanted to chime in with a few thoughts about my trip to BC for the game on Saturday. While the trip overall to Boston was a great time (Boston has to be right up there among the best cities to visit in the country), I don’t really have a whole lot of great things to say about the Boston College game experience. The campus itself is very nice in a really nice part of Boston, but the football scene is an abomination. The tailgating scene is comically bad with the time restrictions and police hassling you everywhere you go. We had a great time at the tailgate we were at, but BC goes out of their way to put a damper on the potential fun before a great football Saturday.

The stadium itself and the stadium atmosphere is the bigger problem though. Everything about Alumni Stadium screams mid-major. It’s tiny, it has no character or interesting features, and it’s probably the least intimidating stadium structure I’ve ever been in. There are better high school football stadiums in Ohio than Alumni Stadium. Not all small stadiums are a joke either. Nippert Stadium on Cincinnati’s campus is about the same size but is a great place to watch a game. While there isn’t a bad seat in the house at Alumni Stadium, the house itself is so third rate that it really takes away from the experience. The place is absolutely lifeless.

The other problem is the stadium atmosphere is just awful. The student section gets into the game, but the rest of the stadium was practically silent. Very little noise outside of the student section. As an ND fan, it’s hard to get into a game on the road when the home crowd isn’t even into the game. And to make matters worse, the band is piped in through the loudspeakers the entire game. Why are they piping in their band’s music through the speakers?? What is the point of that?? To make the stadium more loud?? If anything, it makes the atmosphere worse because the band drowns everyone out. It’s hard to get into the game when the speakers are blaring BC’s rendition of “He Hate Me” right into your ear the entire game. Not good.

And I don’t want this post to come off as sour grapes. It doesn’t have anything to do with the result of the game or our losing streak to BC. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the venues at Michigan State and UNC this year even though the Irish lost, so the loss has nothing to do with it. I respect BC’s program, and I wish we had half the heart and discipline that they do. They’ve beaten us 6 times in a row, and they currently have a better football program than we do. I just think their atmosphere is small time, and that made Saturday’s loss even worse.

Will I go back to an ND-BC game at BC?? Absolutely. Any chance to hang out in Boston and see the Irish play that same weekend is a great trip if you ask me, but it’s certainly not because I want to get back inside that stadium again.

4. As we have noted multiple times on this blog, the biggest problem with a potential coaching search is that we have an athletic director and an administration that don’t know what they are doing. None of these guys have the first clue how to identify a great football coach, and it has been proven at this point. The people in charge of the last few coaching searches have gotten caught up in “magic” and “he gets it” and image, even though none of those things have anything to do with football.

I want the next coaching search to be about one thing and one thing only: FOOTBALL. The questions I want the people in charge to be asking include the following:

Is the guy a leader?
Do his players love playing for him?
Is he a motivator?
What is his philosophy for how to build a championship football team?
Does he want to win championships or just coach football?
Does he hate losing to the point of obsession (something that would have eliminated Ty Willingham immediately)?

I would start with those and then start looking at his record and references and all that. The next coach at ND better be a football leader. Weis is not a leader. He knows football without a doubt, but he’s not a leader. Weis talks to the media like he’s a leader, but that act has worn thin and players are tuning him out. Willingham’s problem was that he didn’t care. Davie’s problem was poor leadership and that he didn’t have a philosophy or a plan of action to make ND into a consistent top notch team. He could never figure out an offense or get his players to buy into what he wanted to do, and players didn't buy into his act.

In many ways, the ND situation reminds me of the Bengals’ front office. The administration may want to win, but they want to do it on their terms and remain in control of the big decisions instead of turning it over to professionals. Priests and academic types can’t be selecting the next head football coach at Notre Dame. They don’t know football. They don’t know the coaches and football people who can tell them the real info that they need to make a hire. By all accounts, Swarbrick is just a lackey who is going to follow along with whatever the top dogs in the administration want him to do. If ND was really committed to build a championship football program, they would be bringing in a big time AD who knows sports up and down and has the contacts and knowledge to make the next great hire. Somebody like the AD at Oklahoma or even the AD at a school like Xavier. We don’t have that type of AD in place right now.

ND should start researching the top young coaches in the country NOW and make a decision on who the best coach would be at ND. I don’t care who it is. Tedford, Kelly, whoever. We need to find that guy and go after him. Forget Saban and Stoops. Go get the NEXT Stoops and the NEXT Saban. Those guys started from nowhere too.

3. I don’t want this post to be construed as me giving up all hope for Notre Dame football even if Charlie Weis comes back and serves out his contract. I want nothing more than for Charlie to win the next two games decisively, play tough at USC, and win a bowl game. If we do that and finish 8-5 and he comes back for 2009, I’ll gladly put aside my differences with how he’s running this program and hope that he has a great year in 2009. I don’t see it happening, but I still want to see Charlie turn it around and make this program great. He has worked hard to bring some stability to the program, and I am appreciative of that. I don’t think it does any damage to the program if he comes back for another year, so I’m not going to be devastated if he is back next year. I will still go to as many games (including bowl games) as I can and cheer like crazy and hope that the Irish pull through and become great again under Charlie Weis. However, I think ND deserves a top 10 coach, and there is no way Charlie Weis is one of the 10 best coaches in America. I don’t even think he’s one of the top 50 coaches in the country.

And if the Irish lose to Navy next week (and although unlikely, I don’t think it can be ruled out at this point), I’d like to hear the following out of the ND student section when we take the field against Syracuse:

Brian Kelly.........clap clap clapclapclap.........Brian Kelly..........clap clap clapclapclap

2. Finally, this post would be remiss if I didn't mention the man who orchestrated this entire mess: Kevin White. In retrospect, I can't even get over that we actually did this. We gave a 10 year extension with a $14 million buyout to a guy who had coached half of one season in college football. Absolutely incredible. Was Kevin White just so caught up in the hype that he couldn't control himself?? Where is the leadership??? Where is the common sense to take a step back and evalute the potential consequences of what he was proposing??? He just handed Weis a lottery ticket with no strings attached. I don't even know what to say. Of all of White's disastrous moves at ND (and the list is too long to go through at this point), this one might actually take the cake.

Now, even if we actually wanted to get rid of Weis, it has become so financially punitive that it's almost impossible to do. We have no leverage with Weis. He's in year two of a 10 year deal. We'd be paying him off for a decade if we fired him now.

1. WEISND week 11 poll

6. Oklahoma
5. USC
4. Texas
3. Texas Tech
2. Alabama
1. Florida

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but the BCS is actually working this year. We are poised to have a championship game with the SEC champion and the Big 12 champion squaring off. The two strongest conferences in football. Never thought it would work out that way, but Penn State’s elimination has set up a path for a great championship game. The Florida-Alabama winner is a lock, and the Big 12 is a little messy. Obviously Texas Tech is in if they go undefeated. But if OU beats Texas Tech, we’d have a bit of a log jam. How would I resolve that?? Give me Texas out of the Big 12. They barely lost to Texas Tech on the road but decisively beat OU on a neutral field. Assuming that Texas Tech loses, I’d go with Texas as my Big 12 representative for being the best and most consistent team.