Next ND Offensive Coordinator - the search

[Irish#1]

For an academic institution they’re not good with contracts

You'd think they might have the law school give it a quick look. "Hey this contract expired! Did he sign a new one?"

 

[Pete]

If it’s true that Notre Dame let BK and Rees walk without collecting buyouts, you could see them expecting Utah to do same.

Then they’re a bunch of fucking idiots. 1. For turning down the buyout 2. Thinking another university is just as dumb

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Again, TIFWIW:

Driskell just said that the people responsible for getting Ludwig's contract to know what the details were got his old contract, which showed a 450K buyout. It wasn't until later that they got the $2.8 Million number. They tried to get Utah to budge to bring the number down, and Utah wouldn't. Another part of the issue was that Jack wasn't high on Andy Ludwig and therefore wasn't in favor of paying the buyout.

No one got suspicious about it being on a dusty scroll?

 

[ndgoldendomer]

As an Irish fan who lives in West Virginia and sees a lot of WVU games, Parker is, without a doubt, a terrible choice for the OC. The combination of Parker and Brown at WVU together was brutal. Watching Parker's offense at WVU was like watching lead paint dry and then eating the paint chips after.

 

[Free Manera]

Wonder if Ludwig was purposely withholding the buyout info until he got the offer from ND.

Bare minimum due diligence from Swarbrick's office would be getting the contract from Ludwig's agent to review the buyout terms. You do that after the initial Zoom call, at the latest, and long before you bring him to campus for a photo op. Unless his agent provided the wrong contract, which I think we would have heard about, this was just a failure by the ND admin to get the facts.

 

[Irishdrunk]

Brutal take. We’re at least Michigan with more history/tradition, and I think we’re better than that.

You think so??? I can say w confidence this administration is committed to being a Top 25 program.

Iowa is a good comp unfortunately-

 

[goldendomer89]

You're pretty much proving the point. And, the program sustained success after the departures because they found other quality coaches.

Brian Kelly was insanely successful at ND with the admin being "cheap". When Kelly lost Elko, he hired Lea. Maybe Parker is Freeman's Lea, doubtful but we'll see. When Lea left, Kelly hired Freeman. Notre Dame never stopped Kelly from hiring quality coaches. Notre Dame is not stopping Freeman from doing the same. They might be stopping him from hiring one/singular quality coach but there are a lot of them out there. If we end up with Parker, it's because that's where Freeman's search landed. Not ND admins.

I'm sure Kelly got tired of having to work harder to find and retain assistants because of ND being hesitant to operate like a real blue blood program. That's the reason he's in Baton Rouge now. Freeman is now experiencing the same thing. He can obviously do better than Parker, but it's more difficult when you get undercut after identifying the guy you wanted. There's no excuse for HC's here to have to deal with this nonsense.

 

[Irish#1]

He also said that Jack didn’t think Ludwig was the right hire, so he didn’t support Marcus and push for the money.

I've been a fan of Jack's, but if this is true, he's lost my respect. I've had managers present someone they wanted to hire that I wasn't a fan of. I let them know I wouldn't hire them, but still let them make the hire. You have to put some trust in your staff.

 

[rtrn2glory]

how in the baker's fuck is our staff supposed to recruit with this disfunction. What a train wreck!!

 

[sfk324]

If it’s true that Notre Dame let BK and Rees walk without collecting buyouts, you could see them expecting Utah to do same.

This is the generally accepted narrative. However, two caveats: 1. nobody with knowledge has said anything one way or the other; 2. the belief (as far as I can tell) is based on the fact there are no public expenditure disclosures from LSU or Alabama (the latter of which would not have to be reported yet, though); however, it's unlikely this would have been paid by the university and rather would have been paid by booster(s), perhaps as a donation to ND so everyone wins (ND gets the money, booster gets a tax deduction, state school doesn't have to deal with any potential PR issues).

 

[dublinirish]

 

[Irishdrunk]

This is the generally accepted narrative. However, two caveats: 1. nobody with knowledge has said anything one way or the other; 2. the belief (as far as I can tell) is based on the fact there are no public expenditure disclosures from LSU or Alabama (the latter of which would not have to be reported yet, though); however, it's unlikely this would have been paid by the university and rather would have been paid by booster(s), perhaps as a donation to ND so everyone wins (ND gets the money, booster gets a tax deduction, state school doesn't have to deal with any potential PR issues).

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner! The issue with ND not being a legit Top 5 program is because we don't have a great Booster and Alumni network truly involved in the Football Program.

 

[dublinirish]

 

[sfk324]

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner! The issue with ND not being a legit Top 5 program is because we don't have a great Booster and Alumni network truly involved in the Football Program.

It's not the donors/alums. The University is very wary of booster involvement after Kim Dunbar.

 

[Irish#1]

We should look into Tommy Ress from Alabama. Young guy with high upside, well thought of in NFL. Previously coached and played at Notre Dame. Seems like it could be a good fit.

We can't afford the buyout.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Sources inside the Gug say Klein bombed the interview and Ludwig put Jesus down as a reference because they grew up together and he wouldn’t vouch for him.

 

[Irishdrunk]

It's not the donors/alums. The University is very wary of booster involvement after Kim Dunbar.

Understood - The University was wary of Boosters even before that. Its like fighting with one hand tied behind your back though.

 

[Katzenboyer]

Would want a OC who has experience teaching QB's

We need to fill "three" positions - OC, OL, and QB coach.

Any combination of OC/OL + new QB coach OR OC/QB + new OL coach would work for me. If Grimes checks both those boxes, ND should make a call.

 

[NDBoiler]

We can't afford the buyout.

That would be such an ND admin move right now lol. Don’t enforce the buyout when he leaves, then pay a buyout to bring him back 😂

 

[allenm5333]

We need to fill "three" positions - OC, OL, and QB coach.

Any combination of OC/OL + new QB coach OR OC/QB + new OL coach would work for me. If Grimes checks both those boxes, ND should make a call.

Irish illustrated suggested rb too…

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

You're pretty much proving the point. And, the program sustained success after the departures because they found other quality coaches.

Brian Kelly was insanely successful at ND with the admin being "cheap". When Kelly lost Elko, he hired Lea. Maybe Parker is Freeman's Lea, doubtful but we'll see. When Lea left, Kelly hired Freeman. Notre Dame never stopped Kelly from hiring quality coaches. Notre Dame is not stopping Freeman from doing the same. They might be stopping him from hiring one/singular quality coach but there are a lot of them out there. If we end up with Parker, it's because that's where Freeman's search landed. Not ND admins.

This is where I'm at. 100%.

Up until a few weeks ago, most of us didn't know who Andy Ludwig was. Suddenly he became this perfect fit, a "home run" hire. Then he's at a hockey game with Freeman. Now nothing comes of it. Life truly does come at you fast. Freeman may have wanted him, and whatever the hold up was, it isn't happening. I think it's stupid he couldn't get the guy he wanted because of a buyout but ultimately that is no excuse to just hand the keys to Parker now for OC. Or Stuckey or McCullough. Keep searching.

There are a lot of very talented playcallers out there they still have the ability to interview and hire who can put you closer to a championship. Guys who maybe have a playbook that isn't exactly perfect for the current offensive personnel but know how to coach and will make it work and mesh with Freeman the head coach. He's not in The Gug right now most likely. Find that guy.

 

[stlnd01]

It's not the donors/alums. The University is very wary of booster involvement after Kim Dunbar.

Boosters have caused massive headaches at various schools but FFS Kim Dunbar was 25 years ago. Maybe we could have figured things out by now?

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

This will be used against us unmercilessly on the recruiting trail. ND is not willing to pay to get the best, they go cheap or go home. We truly love to shoot ourselves in the foot. Is it Catholic guilt? What is it?

 

[Irish#1]

I still have a headache.

 

[Free Manera]

Boosters have caused massive headaches at various schools but FFS Kim Dunbar was 25 years ago. Maybe we could have figured things out by now?

Was just about to say this. Try to improve the system? Nah, throw out the boosters with the bathwater.

 

[PANDFAN]

Irish illustrated suggested rb too…

like he's leaving?

 

[WilliamWallace]

Fuck that’s a lot of reading, I didn’t think that was possible in one day!

 

[irishog77]

Ludwig provided the contract to ND. It's the only way they could have looked it over. It is entirely possible Ludwig pulled an O'Leary and didn't realize he needed to update what he gave them, or didn't even really know what he was giving them (forgetting/not realizing his contract rolled over), or did it purposefully to perhaps gain a new deal from Utah (least likely scenario, I would say). Then finally, when the rubber met the road, all the details of buyouts came out and it was a bridge too far. It was probably a bridge too far because of some sort of doubt on Freeman's part (or perhaps Swarbrick's), or Ludwig demonstrated to somebody at MF/JS/BoT level of hiring that he was a boob or perhaps dishonest.

But as multiple posters have been pointing out for a week now, the "beat" guys don't know shit. I'm not sure why we're taking snippets of what they have said for the last 15 hours as gospel truth now. There are WAYYYY too many details of the story from last night, and now Driskel's, that are missing for it to make sense.

 

[Free Manera]

like he's leaving?

Might be yeah. 247 has been alluding to it for awhile. Loy wouldn't name names but everyone knew he was talking about McCullough.

 

[irishog77]

I'm not big on hiring an OL coach to double as OC. Too many players and positions on the fieldd for him to be responsible for while also running and calling the entire offense. Yeah, yeah, I know they can bring in a GA to be the de facto coach of the OL, but I think the OL is too important to have a GA running it.

QB or TE coaches calling and running the offense seems like such an easier route, and often better route. The QB and TE rooms are much smaller than OL rooms, as well as their presence in games and practice.