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

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I think he'd stay as an NFL coordinator if he gets canned by Houston and hope for another NFL HC job. (Especially since "retreading" head coaches is common.)

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things about the program we can discuss, like recruiting.

instead of on field performance.

Recruiting is the main point of discussion the entire off season. During the season it would be nice if we could talk about what's happening on the field, but that would probably be too painful.

other aspects of the program, including the coach's performance. Look, I'm not in the least pleased with what's happened this year, and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Kelly will never be able to get the program to the heights it reached in the past, but he's here to stay for probably at least one more year. Many on this board want him gone right now, but do you really thing that's going to happen? I don't, and the comments from Swarbrick seem to support this.

It is inane to think Fleck will be the next ND head coach assuming it happens in the next 2 years.

His coaching resume is completely bereft of major college football experience save a year as a grad assistant at Ohio State under Tressel. He has never been a coordinator which is almost a basic requirement for real success at the Power 5 school. It is silly to think that a guy with that absence of experience at the Power 5 level can run a program that aspires to be as good as Ohio State, Michigan, or Alabama.

More than anything else, if he is the best we can do, the program will essentially have been relegated to Ivy league status.

Bob
Charlie
Faust
etc....

There's no fascination. He happens to be an interesting coach out there. It's a discussion board. Thanks for the input.
Every other poster says we can't get elite. How about looking for elite in the making?
There were people saying no way to Urban Meyer because he didn't have enough experience at a big program. Well Utah took that chance. What if ND had? How nice would life be right now if O'Leary was still with Ga Tech, Willingham being Willingham and Weis calling plays for NE and ND being bored with success under Myer. Dreamland, fantasy? Sure. But we didn't take a chance on a young coach who loved ND at the time. And isn't this fun discussing another potential coaching search to take us to the promised land?
There's a lot of coaches out there and I certainly don't know who is interested, if they have an ND out clause or what their feelings on tunnel smoke, jumbotrons and piped music are.
You put up your suggestions and somebody will laugh at you for dreaming or being too old fashioned or being too cautious.
Go Irish!!

We had just gone 10-3, and most of the fanbase still thought that the Willingham staff was poised to get N.D. into the championship picture. I get your point about the major schools not giving Meyer a sniff at that point, but N.D. wasn't short-sighted in failing to hire him then, as there was no reason or opportunity to do it at that point. He had just finished his second year at Bowling Green, while we had just won 10 games in Willingham's first season.

No one worth paying attention to thought Meyer wasn't ready when he left Utah. In fact, at the time. kevin white and ND were roundly chided for letting him get away and mishandling the whole process. Comparing Utah to taking a chance with a guy out of Bowling Green and ND taking a chance with a guy out of BG is silly. Utah was exactly the correct move for Meyer at the time as he built his experience and capabilities to be ready for a Power 5 school.

And yes this is a discussion board so I get the silly random speculation shit but sometimes it can be hard to ignore the inane repetitive ignorance of some posters.

And there is nothing wrong with calling that out.

btw, I am not sure where you get the notion that "every other poster says we can't get elite" unless you are defining elite as Saban/Meyer/ Harbaugh plus perhaps one or two other guys. There are no other "elites" in college football but there are plenty of other high quality guys that will come to ND. And I agree that we should be looking for the next Urban Meyer and not settle on a strong coach who may never get there. While guys like D'Antoni and Patterson are solid coaches and better than Kelly, we can do better than that. PJ Fleck or anyone else in the MAC just ain't it now.

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I guess I assume too much to think that the average poster on this board knows something about college football.

Anyone who really thinks Fleck might be the next ND coach really doesn't.

I presume then you feel ND can and will land an established big time coach who wants to be at ND. (I never really thought Kelly embraced the magic of ND). Rather than going the route of USC or a less prestigious program and hire an unproven...LIKE FLECK!

ND doesn't have a program if Fleck is the next coach or anyone with similar credentials.

ND won't have any problem attracting a quality coach the next time the job opens. I'm not quite sure how you define "established big time coach" or "unproven." In my mind, there are really only 3 or 4 college guys in the country for which there would be no question about their ability to be successful and none of those will be ever coaching at ND anyway.

The names to focus on for the next coach will be current younger head coaches at the secondary Power 5 schools with good pedigrees and solid experience, i.e., Doeren at NC St, Durkin at Maryland (my favorite), maybe Campbell at Iowa St, maybe Dana Holgorsen at WV, maybe Bryan Harsin at Boise St. etc. Herman is another guy who gets lots of pub but he will in all likelihood end up at his pick of Texas/LSU/possible USC at the end of the year especially with the Big 12 not expanding.

There maybe some more 'established' guys like Mullen, Chryst , Patterson, Peterson, etc.

I'm not "recommending" any of these guys per se nor do I have any insight as to their career aspirations(i.e., Peterson is unlikely to leave the west coast, not sure Patterson is a good fit at ND, Herman will be at Texas/LSU etc) but any of them are far more 'accomplished' and experienced than anyone you can find in the MAC.

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I remember when Turner Gill's name was bandied about here and elsewhere before the Kansas debacle.

I must admit to knowing practically nothing about Fleck until this weekend. I'd seen his name mentioned here a couple of times and decided to look him up. He seems to me to be in the Holtz style when it comes to caring about his players and motivating his players. He is projected as being the next Urban Myer.
Most here will say no since he has little experience. Can we wait till he gets two programs under his belt? Would he want to come then when he has his choice of programs (if his star continues to rise).
I don't know if he is a tactical mastermind but we haven't had that much success with the last two so called gurus and tacticians. Maybe we need something fresh, someone who cares about the players someone who is a motivator and leader. We need someone who inspires greatness in his players and coaches. Does he do that?
Many will quote Parseghian about needing every moment of his coaching experience to survive at ND. Maybe in this new time of athletics we need a new young mind, spirit and enthusiasm.
I don't know. Kelly seems to have lost that fire that he had. We need it back.
Go Irish!

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Well you hope he has his finger on the pulse of football landscape. He must know who people are speaking highly of. And by people I don't mean myself.

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Being dominated by Bama in the playoffs last year with his best team ever had to put a realization in that he isn't winning a title at MSU. Not to mention it was by a coach that bolted MSU because he realized he couldn't win a title there.

Now he is in a down year which is probably solidifying that thought. If he wants a chance at a title, he needs to make a move. And he isn't getting any younger.

If ND wants him, present themselves well, and pay him then I personally think he'd bite.

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At MSU, he has job security. If he has a couple of 8-5 seasons, he's not going to have the MSU faithful angrily breathing down his neck. Their fanbase is a good bit more patient than ours.

Furthermore, he seems to have settled in a nice comfort zone in the Big 10.

I'd be happy if he were our next coach, but...

I'm just not sure Job Security is that big of a deal. He's 60. So staying at either program another 10 years isn't likely.

To me it boils down to a championship. If he wants to win one, and I think he does, he needs to take a chance. Is ND the right school? I don't know. That's up to Jack and the gang to sell.

Honestly, I think LSU will make a big push for him if the strike out with Herman.

"He isn't getting any younger" is the kind of analysis a top-rack ND forum poster does. The rest of us are left grunting out incomprehensible Cro-Magnon gibberish.

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I appreciate the compliments.

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T would love to see woodstockirish get the job. The guy is a genius in my book.

Again -- please check your e-mail.