Next ND Offensive Coordinator - the search

[Irish du Nord]

Watt to OL coach would be worse than any of BK's lazy nepotism hires. At least those guys had experience.

Like Tommy Rees to QB coach from never being a position coach at any level?

I’m not on board with Watt at all though

 

[Irish du Nord]

Swarbrick is fitting everything in his budget. Kelly is laughing his ass off at the Swarbrick Shit Show.

Kelly should focus on his marriage lol

 

[ColinKSU]

I don't want to ever hear a ND beat writer tell us that a coach opening at Notre Dame is extremely attractive and that people from around the country will be beating the door down to get an interview.

 

[irish2104]

I don't want to ever hear a ND beat writer tell us that a coach opening at Notre Dame is extremely attractive and that people from around the country will be beating the door down to get an interview.

Right??? what a complete load of BS...

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

February 15 is a new record for the earliest Notre Dame has ever tanked a season. Impressive, efficient work.

Well to be fair in the last season of Weis and Willingham I knew the season was over in December the following season.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Like Tommy Rees to QB coach from never being a position coach at any level?

I’m not on board with Watt at all though

Rees didn’t do very good as qb coach … was always very very slow to make obvious changes and we know about his recruiting issues until recently

 

[Luckylucci]

Again, you don't go from Ludwig to Parker without ever having a conversation with Joe Moorehead. Or getting Sean Lewis, Jason Candle, etc. on campus. And, not own this decision. It's as simple as that. Freeman is hiring a guy that is very close to him and he trusts. He owns this decision. I want nothing more than Marcus Freeman to lead ND to NC so LFG Gerad Parker. But, he owns this nobody else. Taking one candidate off the table doesn't lead you here unless you want it too.

 

[tussin]

Watch Parker win the Broyles next year.

 

[MacIrish75]

Except we know that's not true.

Freeman interviewed multiple names before keying in on Ludwig, and Parker was among the names that would be considered from the beginning.

Since the Ludwig fiasco, Freeman has locked things down and there's been complete silence on who they've interviewed or contacted.

So, how do we know if Freeman didn't contact more QB or OL coaches? Nobody is going to have that knowledge because the admin fucked it up for everybody else.

We don’t know. That’s literally why each of those assertions starts with “if.” It’s not the admin’s fault IF he’s only interviewed Watt for OLC.

 

[Luckylucci]

Watch Parker win the Broyles next year.

Similar to Freeman taking over ND. First time HC's don't take over top 10 programs often, if ever. First time P5 OC's don't take over this much offensive firepower that often, if ever. He's got an incredible opportunity in front of him.

 

[Giddyup]

The ship has sank and fans still have a hard-on for Brian Kelly and not Jack Swarbrick. So many smart fans here. Lol

The ingratitude is amazing on here considering the guy was the best thing to happen to ND football in 30 years. Don’t play the jilted lover.

 

[GoIrish41]

Almost feels like Jack pushed Parker on Freeman.

 

[irishog77]

Yeah, that's not Freeman's job to inquire about his fucking buyout.

They have lawyers and agents to figure that out, along with the people who actually deal with the budgets. Freeman needs to question him on football-related matters to make sure he's making the right call.

I will absolve Freeman considering the absolute screw job his bosses made and the fact that this was done so late in the process with a limited pool of candidates, many of which come with their own slew of questions and concerns, especially with very little time prior to spring. That made the idea of promoting from within more viable.

Ok, fine. That would assume then that Freeman also never made him an offer himself or mentioned a salary to him either.

I don't think that's the case.

Or the best case scenario then was that Freeman was clueless in how offers are made, who makes them, who decides the salary, that he has an actual budget, etc. But I have a hard time believing Freeman is so naive that he thought it was as simple as finding a guy he likes, he tells Swarbrick, and then BOOM, it's done.

But sure, absolve Freeman in all this.

I won't.

 

[Giddyup]

Ok. If Chris Watt is the o line guy I seriously think we’re fugged.

 

[Luckylucci]

Almost feels like Jack pushed Parker on Freeman.

Definitely not. Parker is Freeman's guy. It's the whole reason he's at ND.

 

[ColinKSU]

Again, you don't go from Ludwig to Parker without ever having a conversation with Joe Moorehead. Or getting Sean Lewis, Jason Candle, etc. on campus. And, not own this decision. It's as simple as that. Freeman is hiring a guy that is very close to him and he trusts. He owns this decision. I want nothing more than Marcus Freeman to lead ND to NC so LFG Gerad Parker. But, he owns this nobody else. Taking one candidate off the table doesn't lead you here unless you want it too.

You're right that he 100% owns the decision to hire Parker. As much as I disliked the job Rees did, I didn't hold it against Freeman. This one, though? It's gonna get real bad if it goes like I expect it to go.

 

[slick7410]

I'll try to throw a little sunshine out there. I think long term this is an upgrade at the program level.

Tommy Rees was a C-Level QB and because of what he was able to attract in talent - that was a C-Level offense (cool plays or not), unfortunately its not Alabama.

Ludwig seems nice, but he's an oh well for me; he's not 5+ Million in a year package to start.
---------------------------

Hope-ium engaged (because I'm still going to watch)- obviously Freeman knows recruiting is the only chance - he's said it.

When Javon McKinley's your #1 receiver, you gotta scheme up some shit. If the WR can run by a guy, its a touchdown - even if I call it.

Enter Parker -

• 3 years recruiting coordinator at UT Martin to start
• 1st real D1 job is hired and learns from Doc Holiday (that's Urban at Florida's recruiting coordinator and guy)
• Next becomes recruiting coordinator at Purdue; 4 years experience
• Trouble - DUI, immediately hired by David Cutcliffe (we seem to respect) ; then James Franklin - who seems to hire a good team at minimum ; West Virginia - doesn't seem great - now he's here.

Enter Guidugli -

• 4 years as recruiting coordinator at CMU -seems like a theme
• At Cincinnati and must be vouched for by guys that Freeman respects

That seems to be a team that knows how to organize and prioritize recruiting - so if anything, hopefully we'll have a talented offense.

 

[bumpdaddy]

Again, you don't go from Ludwig to Parker without ever having a conversation with Joe Moorehead. Or getting Sean Lewis, Jason Candle, etc. on campus. And, not own this decision. It's as simple as that. Freeman is hiring a guy that is very close to him and he trusts. He owns this decision. I want nothing more than Marcus Freeman to lead ND to NC so LFG Gerad Parker. But, he owns this nobody else. Taking one candidate off the table doesn't lead you here unless you want it too.

The problem is they were already down in the pecking order and might have even been eliminated as possibilities for whatever reasons. You don't know if they were still viable candidates. They also have contracts to deal with, so you have no idea if their buyouts are also prohibitive according to the standard that was set with the Ludwig decision, so circling back to them might not be an option.

You are assuming those guys were still possibilities when you have no idea if that's true.

 

[GoIrish41]

Definitely not. Parker is Freeman's guy. It's the whole reason he's at ND.

Good point.

 

[Giddyup]

Shit. I’d rather have Hiestand than Watt.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

I don't think anyone can question it. Parker and whatever the QB coach's name is are guys Freeman worked with at Cincy. These are his hires. I want nothing more than for Freeman to succeed, but I feel these are bad hires that he made.

 

[irishog77]

I am going to get behind Parker because he obviously wasn't who they wanted and he has been given the opportunity now regardless of how it all went down. He didn't ask for it and it will now be a career defining promotion for him one way or the other. Not the hire I wanted but I want the guy to do well. Simple as that. He may very well be getting set up to fail due to all of these shananigans, so I hope they go out and get a very good OL coach with that being said.

Guidugli, FFS, spent a lot of time in the Arena League after his college career was over. You have to love football if you're willing to do that for as long as he did. The dude turns 40 next month and interviewed for a MAC HC job a few months ago. Talk about an opportunity now.

The OL coaching hire is going to say a lot and if it is Chris Watt, I really question the motivation behind that hire.

Really have to hope so much goes right at this point, but it's frustrating that all these guys are being put in this position. I hope they all coach their asses off and get something out of it all.

He interviewed for the job. I would think he did, in fact, want it. Besides, he and MF are supposedly great buddies. I'm sure he's let it slip that he'd like to be an OC or a HC.

Who is putting these guys in that position? Nobody is forcing them to coach at ND. They're accepting the jobs Freeman is offering them. They're getting promotions and more money. It's not like they're falling on their swords or taking the fall for Freeman.

 

[Giddyup]

Dude had a dui? How did TNUdome let Parker near campus and into the Gug?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Hilarious scenario is that Parker and Gino do really well. They get interviews down the line and ND says what they said about Rees: "We'll pay to keep you."

They both walk and the process starts all over. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I just feel like none of them deserve any of this. Freeman, Parker, Gino, Hiestand. The Ludwig scenario never should have gotten to the point it did.

 

[Giddyup]

This is what happens when u hire a pup as HC. Not a big Rolodex.

 

[Luckylucci]

The problem is they were already down in the pecking order and might have even been eliminated as possibilities for whatever reasons. You don't know if they were still viable candidates. They also have contracts to deal with, so you have no idea if their buyouts are also prohibitive according to the standard that was set with the Ludwig decision, so circling back to them might not be an option.

You are assuming those guys were still possibilities when you have no idea if that's true.

Correct, to which money and buyouts likely isn't that issue with all of them. In fact, again, Moorehead never got a call. Freeman should own that. Lewis never made it to campus because his offense "wasn't a fit". Cool, Freeman owns that decision. I have no problem with any of these isolated decisions. But they were his decisions and they ultimately led us here.

 

[irishog77]

ND didn't hire Golden until around this time last year. The Ravens had been without an OC for weeks. They made their hire yesterday. Georgia lost their OC yesterday.

I get that the timeline has not been ideal to replace these coaches, but to act like this isn't a fairly common occurrence throughout college and the NFL is a bit much.

 

[sfk324]

If you're told you're shopping from the coaching bargain bin, it seems reasonable to take the bargain you are familiar with.

ND basically said they aren't going to pay a buyout for a coach. They had an offer from a BOT member to cover the buy-out and they said no. It would have cost ND zero dollars to do it. They still said no. At that point, if you're MF, why keep banging your head against the wall?

 

[NDWarrior]

Although it sounds like MF trusts Parker and all, it just feels like the momentum MF had going since his hire last year just got slapped down by Swarbrick or whomever and now he's caving and just filling seats

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

He interviewed for the job. I would think he did, in fact, want it. Besides, he and MF are supposedly great buddies. I'm sure he's let it slip that he'd like to be an OC or a HC.

Who is putting these guys in that position? Nobody is forcing them to coach at ND. They're accepting the jobs Freeman is offering them. They're getting promotions and more money. It's not like they're falling on their swords or taking the fall for Freeman.

It's Wednesday afternoon as I type.

Parker was at a hockey game on FRIDAY NIGHT with a guy from Utah who he figured he'd be reporting to before too long. He interviewed for the job only after they pissed down their legs and made idiots of themselves publicly. He likely had zero ambition for the job until all this blew up in the faces of the people who pay his salary as tight ends coach. He goes back to Purdue with Freeman. He's his guy. In the back of his mind he has to know how it all looks and all he can do is make the most of it.

Nobody wanted them here, nobody still wants them here for the most part, and they're walking into a situation probably knowing it full well. I really hope they succeed and use that success to move on in the end. Not like anyone is going to pay to keep them around anyway.