:: Notre Dame Football ::
Notre Dame making a coaching change?
Looking at what can go wrong, and looking at alleged candidates
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 28, 2009
Challenges, and flirtations with disaster, could await Notre Dame if it changes football coaches rashly.
[modified Nov. 28, 2009, 1 PM; check back for updates and revisions]
Some key areas of focus include:
:: another Catholic identity controversy
... after the outcry over the Obama graduation appearance, Notre Dame and its supporters have notably addressed pro-life Catholic values, and Catholic values generally, in various ways including using football game commericals to stress values such as social justice and efforts to help children
... if Notre Dame fires Weis, in the middle of the New Great Depression, the institution reportedly will be paying a sports coach millions of dollars to not work (i.e., Weis's buyout clause, which some news reports peg as totaling many millions), instead of spending the money on feeding starving people, caring for the elderly, helping pregnant women in crisis pregnancies, housing the homeless, training people for job transitions, building world peace, student loan debt forgiveness, or tuition abatement
... this disgregard of Catholic Christian values could shock the conscience of some, and provide grist to some of the anti-Notre Dame elements who make a living as unordained, nonprofit, would-be activist media figures
:: rash timing and short-fuse process
... repeating the last-minute, short-fuse process that produced the Bob Davie-George O'Leary transition, rather than the long-term transitions now required for successful programs
... the last time this happened, with the firing of Tyrone "Ty" Willingham, it was Charlie Weis who rescued Notre Dame and agreed to take on the herculean task of rebuilding a program's foundations at their weakest point in a century
... Purdue, Texas, and Florida State all have taken, or are taking, a year or multiple years, for a coaching transition; Florida asked Ron Zook to stay on as interim coach and took at least half a season to search for, hire, and transition to Urban Meyer, even allowing Meyer to lead Utah into its BCS game because they took the time to set up a stable transition
:: 2010 front-loaded, ideal for Weis but bad for new coach making a transition
... despite adding Western Michigan and Tulsa to the schedule, instead of giving the Irish a chance to warm up with less strenuous opponents, like Florida does, Notre Dame's athletic director has given the Irish a 2010 slate that opens with Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Boston College, Stanford, and Pitt; all of those teams have a chance to beat Notre Dame; Purdue knocked off Ohio State in 2009
... it is only in the second half of the season when tough games against Navy, Utah, and Southern Cal are alternated with games against Western Michigan, Tulsa, and Army
... Charlie Weis, who has started out strong the past few years then hit a slight trough later in the year, would do well with this timing, but for a new coach making a transition with a new program, the timing could be disastrous, robbing Notre Dame of much-need momentum, especially if it is a coach who has never played this kind of intense national schedule
:: head coach with defensive background, little consideration for losing top offensive staff
... when Bob Davie became head coach, the focus was on Lou Holtz as head coach being replaced by Davie as head coach ... in reality, a net effect of this change was that Notre Dame lost three of the best offensive coaches in football — Holtz, Dave Roberts, and Joe Moore (the #1 assistant coach in college football, whom Davie fired) — and saw all three replaced with Jim Coletto
... Weis, Bernie Parmalee, and Rob Ianello are three of the best offensive coaches in college football, and Frank Verducci, Tony Alfrod, and Ron Powlus are no slouches ... some of the alleged candidates to replace Weis as head coach are head coaches with defensive backgrounds ... so the net effect could be to replace the best offensive coaches in football with low-profile assistant coaches from, e.g., Cincinnati or TCU
:: the RiRod phenomenon: top head coach comes to solid program, changes offense, program disintegrates
... head coach with elite record comes into solid program where people were dissatisfied, and then saw the program disintegrate for no apparent reason other than a bad fit and a change in the offensive scheme driving away good players
... recall that Rich Rodriguez had as good a record his past few years at West Virginia as Urban Meyer and Brian Kelly have now; for RiRod's last three years at West Virginia, he essentially averaged an 11-2 record, won the Sugar and Gator Bowls, and left just before his team won the Fiesta Bowl
... recall that Michigan was actually a solid program, with top recruits, and beat Florida in a bowl game in Lloyd Carr's final game; nevertheless, Michigan fans were dissatisfied and welcomed RiRod, even though he would upend the offensive scheme
... Ryan Mallet, the second-best NFL-style passing quarterback in Jimmy Clausen's recruiting class, and other top players, fled Michigan
... RiRod, also a bad fit for the left-wing culture of Ann Arbor, is presiding over a Michigan program disintegrating with back-to-back losing seasons
Some alleged future candidates for a Notre Dame head coaching slot, if alleged opening ever occurred ...
Brian Billick - formerly of the Baltimore Ravens
:: Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, with offensive coaching background
:: nearly 30 years of coaching experience, half at the college level, half in the NFL; college coaching included four years as assistant head coach at academically-demanding Stanford (during the same time Lou Holtz was at Notre Dame)
Urban Meyer - Florida
:: has never gone undefeated at Florida, averaging about two losses per season so far, factoring in a 3-loss and a 4-loss season against what are usually padded schedules avoiding national competition
:: presides over a Florida program that has handed out bouquets of flowers to football players in full pads as they run out of the tunnel on senior day; if Notre Dame is so traditional they do not want field turf, do they want football players holding flower bouquets?
:: runs an antiquated offense that uses its quarterback like a fullback; when a solid Michigan hired a new coach with a record as good as Meyer's, who changed the offense to one like Meyer's, the Michigan program disintegrated
:: 9 years of head coaching experience, Florida, Bowling Green, Utah;
24 years overall
:: offensive coaching experience
:: now has said he is not interested in a Notre Dame job, despite having served as an assistant coach at Notre Dame prior to becoming a head coach at Bowling Green
Brian Kelly - Cincinnati
:: head coach with defensive coaching background
:: weak recruiting at Cincinnati, strong player development, ability to pull out close wins; currently undefeated against a weaker schedule than Notre Dame's, albeit with a win over Oregon State
:: Cincinnati has similar statistical profile to Notre Dame, with an explosive passing offense, middling rushing offense, with Cincinnati's defense is giving up a lot of points lately; Cincinnati gave up 45 points to Connecticut, 38 points from scrimmage, in a win, while Notre Dame's defense gave up 13 points to Connecticut in regulation, in what would become a double-overtime loss
:: assistant coaches all over the map with respect to their scope of experience and length of association with Kelly; e.g., tight ends coach was strength coach for basketball team previous year, while offensive line coach has had long-standing association with Kelly
:: 23 years coaching experience (including graduate assistant experience, 15 years head coaching experience starting at Div. II Grand Valley State; 3 years in the MAC, and now 3 years in the Big East
:: records thus far at Cincinnati: 10-3, 11-3, 11-0; won two minor bowls, lost Orange Bowl in somewhat noncompetitive performance that nevertheless was not a blow-out loss (lost 20-7)
:: not really in a high-profile position prior to Cincinnati; the capacity of Cincinnati's football stadium is only 35,000 and it does not appear that they move games to the larger NFL stadium
Bob Stoops - Oklahoma
:: 21 years coaching, 11 years head coach at Oklahoma; defensive background
:: lost to Bob Davie in first season as Oklahoma head coach
:: won national championship in second season
:: heading into this weekend, has a 6-5 record, the same as Charlie Weis;
:: during second half of Oklahoma tenure, past five years: 17 losses and counting in five seasons, 1-4 in bowl games, winning only the Holiday Bowl
:: Oklahoma appears to have developed less depth at quarterback than Notre Dame
:: has coached a good passing quarterback
:: has said he is not interested in Notre Dame job
Gary Patterson - TCU
:: TCU head coach with defensive coaching background
:: TCU has top-5 defense, top-5 rushing offense, but just a middling pass offense;
:: head coach is defensive coach; co-offensive coordinator for quarterbacks is rookie in that capacity, having joined the staff two years ago and coaching running backs until this year; other co-offensive coordinator in 12th year at TCU, currently focusing on running backs, previously coached wide-outs
:: undefeated, top-5 BCS ranking; 10 losses in past 5 years, just 2 losses last year and 11-0 so far in 2009
:: 27 years coaching; 9 years head coaching at TCU; was promoted from within after being defensive coordinator
:: has coached mainly at quiet venues; TCU apparently has difficulty filling its home game seats, and does not get a lot of pressure from the news media
Jon Gruden - formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders
:: Super Bowl champion head coachhead coach with offensive coaching background
:: 23 years coaching experience, 5 years college coaching (including being graduate assistant), 18 years NFL, includin 11 years as an NFL head coach
:: has coached good passing quarterbacks
:: ESPN analyst for NFL games
:: lived in South Bend when younger, when father was a Notre Dame assistant coach
:: dynamic, popular image
:: recently signed extension to ESPN contract
Tony Dungy - formerly of the Indianapolis Colts
:: coached Indianapolis team, and current athletic director is commuting from Indianapolis and implicitly Indianapolis-obsessed
:: retired at top of profession, with recent Super Bowl championship, now doing television commentary;
:: revered Bill Walsh-like, Mount Rushmore-type figure; low-key, cerebral, commands respect
:: does not need aggravation of anti-Notre Dame media abuse
[modified Nov. 28, 2009, 1 PM; check back for updates and revisions]
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Charlie Weis, Football Coach Hire and Fire, Weis Job Status, Urban Meyer, Brian Billick, Brian Kelly, Tony Dungee, Bob Stoops, Jon Gruden, Gary Patterson
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