Tip of the Cap to Captain Jack
I know folks on this board love to flame on Swarbrick, but that dude did a great job of balancing 'student-athlete' at an academic institution with competing at the highest levels.
He upgraded every sport but basketball...and maybe fencing; he organized the rebuild of the stadium (while getting academic buildings included); he continued to secure ND the media cash on the level of a big conference all while maintaining ND's independence. And the coup de grace is he secured an additional home game if we win on par with a conference champion. The dude is a negotiating ninja.
If I were to ding him on anything, it'd be the NIL posture; it feels like he was reactive there.
And this year's ND schedule is Exhibit A in striking the student-athlete balance. To set the Irish up for a good run and avoid the inevitable blues around mid-terms that seem to befall ND every year since the Reagan Administration, he built in 2 bye weeks to allow our players to study and get healthy.
So pour one out for Captain Jack, an alum very committed to student-athletics and to ND in particular.
Replies to: Tip of the Cap to Captain Jack
"Captain Jack?" Hopefully not a reference to the Billy Joel song.
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Doesn’t everyone get two bye weeks now?
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I'm Pretty Sure They Used to Have 1
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Correct but you made it sound like Jack uniquely got us 2
Everyone has 2
He did as ND used to only take 1. He uniquely changed it for ND.
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Thank you, did not know that
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