Jack Swarbrick to step down in 2024

[Irish du Nord]

95% of the stuff the average ND message board fan blames on JS is really Jenkins / Admin / BOT's agenda being executed.

50% of the stuff the knowledgeable ND message board fan blames JS on is Jenkins / Admin / BOT's agenda being executed.

I have a life long friend who is a P5 AD and to see what is going on with ND and the unfolding late stages of the NCAA and the post NCAA world... through his eyes... is nothing like what gets reported or discussed on message boards.

Someday, JS's fingerprints will be all over the post NCAA world of college football

...and enjoy being in the B1G 24-28 side of the CFA cuz it's comin like Omar.

Do you think we’re gonna be East or West? Legend or Leader?

 

[GATTACA!]

The ACC having our away game football TV rights through the mid-2030s is/was a massive mistake by Jack that rarely gets brought up for some reason.

What other option did we have? The B1G wasn’t giving us a partial deal the way the ACC did. Who does that leave? ND to the SEC? Good luck getting the BoT to agree to that one. ND to the MAC??

 

[NDFAN2008]

Wonder if this is good for the football program?

 

[NDdomer2]

The opinions and questions that come from non ND fans about our AD are quite interesting.

 

[forkbeard3777]

The opinions and questions that come from non ND fans about our AD are quite interesting.

Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on Swarbrick as an athletic director? Looking at the athletic program as a whole, during his tenure, what were his greatest accomplishments? Failures? I think a good or great athletic director can work wonders, and I very well may be ignorant of the issue, but I'm not too sure what he has done to warrant any great praise.

Notre Dame is one of the very few universities out there that have certain built-in advantages that 9/10 universities simply don't have. They (like the University of Texas for example) are a premier brand that, in theory, should make the AD job easier. However, I'm not denying the hurdles that he may have faced with the President and/or the Board of Trustees. Taking my Texas example, above, they are really no different -- they have so much money, influence, and so many donors with "deep pockets" that it could make the job difficult.

 

[Irish#1]

What was Swarbrick’s greatest accomplishment at ND?

Maybe telling Kelly it was time to shit or get off the pot after the 2016 season.

Edit: Handing the scUM AD the notice that ND was cancelling the series right before kickoff!

 

[NDohio]

The work Swarbrick did while sitting on the CFP committee, securing ND a spot in the playoffs while remaining independent, might be his best accomplishment. There was a time during those discussions that college football pundits were speculating ND was going to be forced to join a conference in order to continue to be a part of the playoffs.

 

[stlnd01]

Maybe telling Kelly it was time to shit or get off the pot after the 2016 season.

That (which in turn launched Notre Dame's best five-year run of football since the early '90s), and navigating all the realignment and CFP renegotiating of recent years in a way that allows us to stay both relevant and independent, will probably go down as his greatest accomplishments.

For negatives (I don't really care about basketball so no comment there), we may need to wait a few years to know. It's too soon to judge the Freeman hire or our approach to NIL.

 

[Irish#1]

95% of the stuff the average ND message board fan blames on JS is really Jenkins / Admin / BOT's agenda being executed.

50% of the stuff the knowledgeable ND message board fan blames JS on is Jenkins / Admin / BOT's agenda being executed.

I have a life long friend who is a P5 AD and to see what is going on with ND and the unfolding late stages of the NCAA and the post NCAA world... through his eyes... is nothing like what gets reported or discussed on message boards.

Someday, JS's fingerprints will be all over the post NCAA world of college football

...and enjoy being in the B1G 24-28 side of the CFA cuz it's comin like Omar.

Yep, the final score or season record of whatever sport is just a by-product of what goes on behind the scenes. Budgets, Graduation rates, Title IX, contracts, Compliance, Student eligibility, Sports facilities maintenance, hiring staff, etc.

The guy wasn't perfect, but if it were up to me, I'd hire him again.

 

[forkbeard3777]

Maybe telling Kelly it was time to shit or get off the pot after the 2016 season.

He wasn't going to fire Kelly after one poor season.

 

[forkbeard3777]

The work Swarbrick did while sitting on the CFP committee, securing ND a spot in the playoffs while remaining independent, might be his best accomplishment. There was a time during those discussions that college football pundits were speculating ND was going to be forced to join a conference in order to continue to be a part of the playoffs.

This goes to my built-in advantage, premier brand aspect, above. College football is good when Notre Dame is good, in my opinion. The committee was going to do whatever it took to push the ball across the goalline to get Notre Dame in -- not that they didn't deserve to get in, either,

 

[forkbeard3777]

Yep, the final score or season record of whatever sport is just a by-product of what goes on behind the scenes. Budgets, Graduation rates, Title IX, contracts, Compliance, Student eligibility, Sports facilities maintenance, hiring staff, etc.

The guy wasn't perfect, but if it were up to me, I'd hire him again.

Those are all great points. Truthfully, the compliance aspect - i.e., not having any program on probation - is a great achievement.

 

[stlnd01]

He wasn't going to fire Kelly after one poor season.

There was a fair bit of pressure to. 2015 was a good year but 2013 and 14 had also been relative disappointments.

But maybe moreso than simply not firing him, Swarbrick (reportedly) pushed BK to revamp his coaching staff and bring in more outside/up-and-coming coaches, rather than hiring longtime collaborators as he mostly had to that point. Made an immediate difference, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

The expansion/construction project of Notre Dame Stadium is Jack's legacy for me. I absolutely think they did it right and knocked it out of the park.

 

[NDohio]

This goes to my built-in advantage, premier brand aspect, above. College football is good when Notre Dame is good, in my opinion. The committee was going to do whatever it took to push the ball across the goalline to get Notre Dame in -- not that they didn't deserve to get in, either,

Well sure everyone wanted ND in. The key was keeping ND's independence.

 

[TheProspector]

What other option did we have? The B1G wasn’t giving us a partial deal the way the ACC did. Who does that leave? ND to the SEC? Good luck getting the BoT to agree to that one. ND to the MAC??

This argument seems strawman'y to me. Giving the ACC 5 games a year plus giving away our away game TV rights through the mid-2030s at well below market rates in exchange for an Olympic sports home doesn't strike me as some masterstroke. As we're seeing now, the ACC needs us a lot more than we need them. They made out like a bandit on us.

In terms of options, ND could have kept the Olympic sports in the Big East while potentially negotiating with other conferences for certain sports like they do now (see ND hockey being in Hockey East and now the BIG) while also having complete football scheduling flexibility.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

This argument seems strawman'y to me. Giving the ACC 5 games a year plus giving away our away game TV rights through the mid-2030s at well below market rates in exchange for an Olympic sports home doesn't strike me as some masterstroke. As we're seeing now, the ACC needs us a lot more than we need them. They made out like a bandit on us.

In terms of options, ND could have kept the Olympic sports in the Big East while potentially negotiating with other conferences for certain sports like they do now (see ND hockey being in Hockey East and now the BIG) while also having complete football scheduling flexibility.

What TV rights, exactly, did Notre Dame give the ACC?

 

[TheProspector]

The expansion/construction project of Notre Dame Stadium is Jack's legacy for me. I absolutely think they did it right and knocked it out of the park.

I like the expansion/construction project, but I do think they screwed up not ripping out the upper deck portion of the north endzone to have the library/Touchdown Jesus overlooking the field like it did pre-1997 stadium expansion. I'm sure ND was hesitant at the time to lose the revenue taking out more seats, but that's not looking to be a huge issue going forward given decreased attendance for sporting events across the board.

 

[TheProspector]

What TV rights, exactly, did Notre Dame give the ACC?

Look up the ACC Grant of Rights. We can't break our agreement with the ACC without paying a sizeable exit fee (~$120 million) since they control all of their members tv rights through 2036. This is partly the reason the Florida State, Miami, Clemson coalition hasn't bolted to the super conferences yet and these schools are frantically looking for a legal challenge to get out of their TV deals.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Here is the Grant of Rights

Paragraph 1:

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this paragraph, the grant of Rights pursuant to this paragraph 1 shall not include any rights of a particular Member Institution to sports as to which the Conference and such Member Institution have agreed, as of the date of this Member Institution's execution of this Agreement or a joinder thereto, that such Member Institution will not participate as a member of the Conference.

 

[TheProspector]

Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on Swarbrick as an athletic director? Looking at the athletic program as a whole, during his tenure, what were his greatest accomplishments? Failures? I think a good or great athletic director can work wonders, and I very well may be ignorant of the issue, but I'm not too sure what he has done to warrant any great praise.

Notre Dame is one of the very few universities out there that have certain built-in advantages that 9/10 universities simply don't have. They (like the University of Texas for example) are a premier brand that, in theory, should make the AD job easier. However, I'm not denying the hurdles that he may have faced with the President and/or the Board of Trustees. Taking my Texas example, above, they are really no different -- they have so much money, influence, and so many donors with "deep pockets" that it could make the job difficult.

Swarbrick positives:
- Helped usher in an era of massive infrastructure overhauls for all of its sports.
- Helped keep ND independent in football
- Stabilized the ND football program
- Shitcanned Michigan from our schedule after their shenanigans during the early 2010s.
- Provided a vigorous defense of Manti Te'o during that incident (before all of the details were readily known)

Swarbrick negatives:
- Tethered us to the ACC which is a sinking ship. We are stuck paying a massive exit fee to get out of that contract which runs another decade.
- Handling of the Declan Sullivan situation calling the weather "Unremarkable" in the immediate aftermath
- Handling of the frozen 5 incident and rolling over (along with Fr. Jenkins) and letting the NCAA have their way with us.
- UnderArmour contract. Touted the inventiveness of taking stock options in the company as a part of the contract even though UA is a dumpster fire of a company (I'm aware much of the stock may have been sold off by Malpass before he retired).
- The comedy show that was the OC search this year and the laugher of a press release that was sent in the immediate aftermath.

Overall, a Notre Dame athletic director's main directive is the success of the football team. Swarbrick has succeeded there. While there is room for improvement, our football program appears stable and has kept a seat at the table amid massive conference realignment. Our olympic sports have held serve although I will note that most of the best ND coaches over Swarbrick's tenure were White hires (Jackson, Corrigan, Brey, McGraw). Swarbrick's legacy is still being written and the success or failure of Ivey, Freeman, and Shrewsberry will add or detract from his tenure.

 

[TheProspector]

Here is the Grant of Rights

Paragraph 1:

Explaining Notre Dame's realignment dilemma, ACC Grant of Rights fee

...

247sports.com

Big 12 Expansion, Notre Dame, And ACC Grant of Rights

Notre Dame has always been an Independent football program, and with Jack Swarbrick still leading the way, they aim to be Independent forever.

www.onefootdown.com

That partnership that Notre Dame formed with the ACC only got stronger this year with the new grant of rights deal. The ACC will launch a new ACC Network in August of 2019 with ESPN. This deal will last through the 2035-2036 season. It makes leaving the ACC almost impossible for any school that would wish to do so, and of course this means Notre Dame as well. The Irish are contractually obligated to join the ACC in football should it choose to leave being an independent behind.

See the One Foot Down blog for more detail.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I like the expansion/construction project, but I do think they screwed up not ripping out the upper deck portion of the north endzone to have the library/Touchdown Jesus overlooking the field like it did pre-1997 stadium expansion. I'm sure ND was hesitant at the time to lose the revenue taking out more seats, but that's not looking to be a huge issue going forward given decreased attendance for sporting events across the board.

I understand the sentiment. I personally have never felt that way myself regarding said issue.

 

[TheProspector]

I understand the sentiment. I personally have never felt that way myself regarding said issue.

Understood. I likely shouldn't say they screwed it up. It would have cost a boatload of money to rip that section out and not only that, you'd be spending money to LOSE revenue in terms of seating. So the reasons they didn't move forward with it (it was considered during the stadium expansion planning stages) are practical and financially sound.

However, Touchdown Jesus is such an iconic ND football image that drawing attention to it and making that a very unique part of our home stadium atmosphere would have been very cool in my opinion.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

The exit fee is separate and apart from the Grant of Rights.

ND only participates in the Grant of Rights for those teams who are ACC members.

ND didn't hand over any football (or hockey, I guess) TV rights.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

The exit fee is separate and apart from the Grant of Rights.

ND only participates in the Grant of Rights for those teams who are ACC members.

ND didn't hand over any football (or hockey, I guess) TV rights.

It would cost 120 million in exit fee and the GOR for 12 years. AT least 200 million buyout to leave the ACC

 

[TheProspector]

The exit fee is separate and apart from the Grant of Rights.

ND only participates in the Grant of Rights for those teams who are ACC members.

ND didn't hand over any football (or hockey, I guess) TV rights.

We receive TV revenue from the ACC as a part of our deal with them. Our current TV revenue comes from NBC for our home games (currently around $25 million per year) plus a portion of the ACC-ESPN deal as part of our membership with them (around $10 million per year).

Given the ACC tv contract with ESPN runs through the mid-2030s, we're leaving money on the table by being associated with that conference. We can renegotiate the NBC deal in 2025 (figures currently in the $65 to $75 million range), but the ACC deal ain't changing any time soon which is the problem.

Said another way, even if we get $75 million a year from NBC, we'd still be looking at $85 million in annual tv revenue (NBC plus ACC) which is still a lot lower than the proposed BIG tv contract of $100 million plus per year.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

It would cost 120 million in exit fee and the GOR for 12 years. AT least 200 million buyout to leave the ACC

The most recent number I see for ND's share of broadcast revenue from the ACC is $17.4 million. That figure would also include ND's share for away football games against ACC opponents - which would be irrelevant if ND stops playing them. The upshot is that I'm not sure what proportion represents ND's share for non-football sports.

However, I've never seen the membership agreement so what I don't know (in the case where the ACC holds the rights of a member who leaves) is whether the leaving member is still entitled to a revenue share on the rights the ACC continues to hold.

In practice that situation would never exist but in the sense of measuring damages the theoretical cost of leaving (and getting the ACC to relinquish those rights) is the value of the rights to the ACC minus the amount they would have to pay to the leaving school.

 

[NDohio]

So, the ACC asked its members to sign on to something called a Grant of Rights agreement. What that does is ensure that through the length of the deal, which now runs through 2036) the ACC will own the broadcast rights to all of its member schools’ home games. This essentially locks schools into ACC membership for that span. The Grant of Rights, coupled with massive conference exit fees, was supposed to provide long-term stability.

Tackling the ACC's Looming "Grant of Rights" Question

The ACC has a Grant of Rights agreement with its member schools. What does that mean and what happens if it's broken?

boardroom.tv

Notre Dame is tied to the ACC’s grant-of-rights agreement in non-football sports. That deal runs through 2036.

Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame Football has the richest history in college football. Follow here for news, facts, analysis and more about the Fighting Irish.

saturdayroad.com

But reports also indicate that Notre Dame could avoid some of that bill, which could be lower given that the school's football program wouldn't be part of that deal.

Any fee that ND would have to pay, the school would likely make back in a year or two of being in the Big Ten.

https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/ncaa-football/college-football-news-big-ten-expansion-notre-dame

There would be a fee to leave the ACC, but it is not as bad as y'all are making it out to be...

 

[NDisme]

Swarbrick positives:
- Helped usher in an era of massive infrastructure overhauls for all of its sports.
- Helped keep ND independent in football
- Stabilized the ND football program
- Shitcanned Michigan from our schedule after their shenanigans during the early 2010s.
- Provided a vigorous defense of Manti Te'o during that incident (before all of the details were readily known)

Swarbrick negatives:
- Tethered us to the ACC which is a sinking ship. We are stuck paying a massive exit fee to get out of that contract which runs another decade.
- Handling of the Declan Sullivan situation calling the weather "Unremarkable" in the immediate aftermath
- Handling of the frozen 5 incident and rolling over (along with Fr. Jenkins) and letting the NCAA have their way with us.
- UnderArmour contract. Touted the inventiveness of taking stock options in the company as a part of the contract even though UA is a dumpster fire of a company (I'm aware much of the stock may have been sold off by Malpass before he retired).
- The comedy show that was the OC search this year and the laugher of a press release that was sent in the immediate aftermath.

Overall, a Notre Dame athletic director's main directive is the success of the football team. Swarbrick has succeeded there. While there is room for improvement, our football program appears stable and has kept a seat at the table amid massive conference realignment. Our olympic sports have held serve although I will note that most of the best ND coaches over Swarbrick's tenure were White hires (Jackson, Corrigan, Brey, McGraw). Swarbrick's legacy is still being written and the success or failure of Ivey, Freeman, and Shrewsberry will add or detract from his tenure.

At the time UA stock was at an all time high, it plummeted after Plank made comments about trump IIRC