Not long after Freeman was hired, we heard that Chad Bowden, his recruiting assistant at Cincy, would be joining him at ND.
What?
Obviously, this was a package deal that Freeman won in his negotiations. (When Lea came with Elko, it was as a recommendation, not as part of a package deal, and Lea filled the LBs coach position, which needed filling. A new position was not created).
This has never happened before. Now, there seem to be complications that have arisen, and the deal seems to be on hold, at least for now.
ND supposedly had a hiring freeze and the optics are not good on this.
And they shouldn't be.
Coaching staffs have always been limited in number, so is this a new expansion? Do we get around it by declaring him to be part of the support staff? Are we going to get into the Alabama ruse of having legions of support staff and analysts? If a DC can leverage having others included with his hire, where does that stop? Does ND want to enter the slippery slope of a mushrooming football factory bureaucracy?
The NCAA better wake up and start setting firm limits on staff numbers before it gets totally out of hand.
Before we start engaging in the business of creating fabricated, BS titles like the Frank and Mary Hayes Director of Defensive Recruiting, we should wake up, too.
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You have to be really special to make it into the Order....-20 at least.
There are other organizations this poster would have no problem gaining acceptance to: Wild Ass Speculator Club (originally founded as the H.U.M.A. Association), the Grand Society for the Overwrought, and the I-like-to-get-my-panties-in-a-bunch Bunch.
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First of all, how do know what took place in negotiations? You don't. So, it's not that "obvious". It may have been negotiated for, or it may have come as a recommendation after he was hired, which is more likely. Otherwise, there wouldn't be this uncertainty on whether the hire will be allowed. If it was a demand by Freeman and agreed upon during negotiations, then the whole "package deal' would be in question.
Second of all, what is wrong with a coordinator wanting his support assistant to be hired along with himself? Even is it came as a stipulation of his own hire. A person can ask for whatever he wants during negotiations. I seriously doubt that he held a gun to the heads of Kelly and Swarbrick. They were free to say no if they felt it was inappropriate or unworkable. I, for one, like that ND is thinking somewhat out of the box regarding their recruiting efforts.
Bad optics? Meh. To whom does it look bad. If they can lift the hiring ban, they will, and not many will really care.
As far as the NCAA looking into putting limits on analysts and support staff, that's a different argument. I would NOT say you're wrong on this. I haven't looked at the size of other schools' support staff. Although, I'm sure there are many that have larger staffs than Notre Dame. But, it's not very transparent, so I haven't seen hard numbers and don't have a strong opinion on the matter. I would say it's worth looking into by the NCAA, but I think the NCAA is more likely to lose their jurisdiction over college football before too long. There soon might be a new structure for governing football.
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"The NCAA better wake up and start setting firm limits on staff numbers before it gets totally out of hand." WOW... that ship has already sailed a decade or more ago. Such a insignificant reason for outrage.... to be honest, more of this is needed if a school like Notre Dame wants to win a championship. We are playing against a stacked deck and, I would say, against "cheaters" from the Sport Factory schools. We should not "cheat" but we need to use whatever ethical and legal options we have to be competitive.
and the person hired is good at what they do consistent with ethics. We are now trying to hire Ivy League type professors who are swaying our students way more left than our intentions were for a Catholic school.
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