UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

1. Running off Steve Angeli - Three years of experience, proven, and you aren't in the Natty without him. Cool, calm, and collected. If you don't believe it, watch his UCON comeback with far inferior talent. Or watch any game he played and proved he could play at ND. Is Carr going to be okay? Yes. Is Carr athletically where Steve is today? Yes. Does Carr have a "higher ceiling", probably. But, this was easily the dumbest move a head coach could make. Skip over a proven commodity with very good ball placement. One with great ability to move an offense in hopes. Replace him with a Soph. who missed most of his FR season and has ZERO game stats. This risky gamble was even more significant given that you played a cupcake schedule in 2024. Arguably the weakest in 20 years, and in 2025, you open with a stretch that you could easily go 0-6 if you don't play well. We are not playing well, AND we are 0-2. Not really a shocker. Especially considering it was a risk MF could have easily avoided.

2. Running off Pat Coogan - This guy had the internet ready to run through a wall with his pre-game OL speeches. They played well last year, better than anyone would give them credit for. You don't always need the talent as much as you need a guy who can lead and inspire those around him. Coogan was that. Why was this a risk? It was a major and avoidable risk that is amplified because you also lost your other three MAJOR on the field leaders - Watts, Kiser, and Leonard. Last year's team had four phenomenal, seasoned leaders, two on both sides of the ball at all times. Were they the best player on the field? Outside of Watts, no. Did they keep it together and motivate in ways that skill can't? Yes. This year, we have ZERO leaders of this caliber, so it was a serious mistake to send off the only one you had left. Especially at such a critical position group, OL. The risk-reward wasn't there, and it shows.

3. The easiest of all - Hiring a guy without a coaching job to lead this defense. Chris Ash hasn't ever done anything to make one think this guy could be a plug-and-play solution for ND's defense. Do we have talent? Yes. That doesn't mean you just insert a coach with no history of doing well. Ash wasn't even a coach on a team in 2024. This was an easy pass. It was kind of an important decision. So far, through two games, it's clear why almost everyone had no idea who Ash was and why he was on the bench. His Defense has no clue what they are doing. The backend is as confused as one could be, and the DL is even more non-existent than it already was. Additionally, we spent the last several years under Golden playing downhill, pin your ears back, aggressive, and attacking MAN defense. Now we play on our heels, on ice skates, wait and take it in the chin ZONE defense. It's a huge risk taking on a coach with no history of doing anything. It's an even bigger risk taking it on with the depth ND had. One that now looks worse than at any point in the past four seasons.

Marcus has done well taking risks on the recruiting trail. He's royally screwed up risk/reward on the field in his four seasons. These three moves, this past offseason, were the riskiest and most unnecessary gambles a coach could make. These are degenerate trader-type moves. Absolutely mind-blowing to be honest. For all the good MF has done, the number of self-inflicted total head-scratcher moves MF and his staffs make is utterly shocking. Especially in year four. He's still not there.

Just based off this, if you have the chance, invite MF over for poker night. It's a guaranteed win because he clearly does not understand risk/reward.