Next ND Offensive Coordinator - the search

[Pennick44]

I am excited about two fairly young coaches running the ND offense.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

No, it's Freeman's fault that he settled for Gerad Parker

That is a fact, no reason to settle there. At least try to con the fanbase and wait a few days.

 

[sfk324]

I can see the decision to not invest that kind of money in buying out Ludwig. Especially if you’re also thinking about raises to fend off competition for guys like Mickens and Stuckey, as was floated yesterday. It’s a huge check to hire a coordinator..

But then just giving up and pivoting to Parker, and THEN hiring Watt, just feels like giving up. (Guidugli is fine as a QB coach).

Maybe it’ll work out on the field this fall but I don’t know how you’re supposed to recruit with any credibility when that’s your move. No matter what you thought of Rees this is a massive downgrade.

The money was $0. There was ultimately no buy-out cost to ND. The only cost was going to be salary.

 

[Crazy Balki]

No, it's Freeman's fault that he settled for Gerad Parker

He didn't "settle" for Parker.

If he settled for Parker, he wouldn't have waited this long to hire him. He clearly reached out to other candidates and they either fell through or weren't ideal fits.

The notion that he "settled" makes no sense knowing what we know, that Freeman interviewed several people and eventually landed on Parker (which, again, was not his first choice thanks to the admin).

 

[Irish4life]

That is a fact, no reason to settle there. At least try to con the fanbase and wait a few days.

He could've gone after other outside candidates at this point. Would've needed to be an expediated process but it's not like they had to have someone by today.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

College football insider reveals how talks fell apart between Notre Dame, Andy Ludwig

.

www.on3.com

However, ESPN reporter Heather Dinich said paying the buyout wasn’t necessarily the issue. Ludwig changed his mind.

“They had two coaches that they were really interested in for their offensive coordinator position: Collin Klein at K-State, the offensive coordinator, and Andy Ludwig, the offensive coordinator at Utah. Brought both of those assistant coaches in for interviews, and they both fizzled,” Dinich said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “There was strong interest on the part of Notre Dame in both of those coaches, the latest was Andy Ludwig and that fell apart this weekend.

“My sources at Notre Dame told me that they were willing to pay the buyout, but by the time it all got figured out, Ludwig got cold feet and apparently, he’s got a great deal at Utah, and that’s where that stood.”

Free article

Not sure what to make of this.

“My sources have told me an internal candidate — their tight ends coach, Gerad Parker — just crushed an interview, a formal interview, on Tuesday,” Dinich said. “He’s put himself in a very strong position, but the interview process is ongoing. At this point, Paul, with the twists and turns this coaching search has taken, I’m not filing anything to our news desk until it’s a done deal.”

I think Jack figured he could talk Utah down on the buyouts and Utah stands to gain nothing from that. They held firm and ND walked. Now everyone else in the world knows how Utah conducts their business. Utah Football goes on and nobody is talking about them now.

 

[Irish eyes]

Is his ND jersey even clean yet?? We go from best offence line coach to rookie.... What??

 

[irishog77]

I can't imagine Freeman is in a position to make a salary offer or have any authority in saying they'll pay the buyout.

He goes to Jack, and between Jack and the admin, they figure out the salary and buyout issues, and get back to Freeman on whether he can pursue Ludwig. Given the rumors that ND had the wrong numbers, it stands to reason that the admin/Jack permitted Marcus to pursue him based on the old contract numbers and then backed out when they realized the actual buyout was significantly higher.

Again, that's above Freeman. So yes, very easy to absolve Freeman from all this.

You can choose to not, but it's a pretty weak hill to die on.

Under that scenario, yes, I agree with you.

But we have to at least assume the bad info came from Ludwig. Ludwig is the only source possible for ND to have his contract to look over. It’s not on Swarbrick then if he’s being fed bad info. By Ludwig himself. I mean the buyout increased by almost 2.4 million! And then that doesn’t even include the OL’s buyout and then both their salaries. ND was looking at 6 million just to get an OC and OL on campus. Despite ND being made fun of, 6 million is NOT the going rate for poaching assistant coaches in college football. And for who? 2 guys that nobody on this board knew existed 2 weeks ago. And 2 guys that haven’t been poached (or really even looked at) by any other programs.

Who else did Freeman offer that Swarbrick (or the BoT) balked on him hiring? If MF limits his coaching searches to 3 guys, that’s on him. That’s not on the administration. He’s known HH has been leaving for awhile. TR almost left last year. He’s known he may leave again for awhile. So the timeline of interviews and hirings are somewhat on Freeman. He doesn’t receive absolution because it’s been difficult. As I pointed out earlier, the timeline with these hirings isn’t far out of the norm in college or pro football.

When MF hired Parker last year, there were rumors it was an insurance policy against TR leaving. It was well-known TR would leave sooner rather than later. So MF was thinking about Rees leaving a year ago. But now, in the present, his search for an OC was basically Klein, Ludwig, and Parker- the guy he hired a year ago as an insurance policy about the eventuality that did, in fact, occur.

So again, I don’t absolve MF for “being stuck” with Parker when he should have already had some candidates in mind and/or interviewed more guys.

If you want to believe MF was screwed over on Ludwig, fine. But nobody at ND screwed him over for not having other candidates to interview.

 

[Irish4life]

He didn't "settle" for Parker.

If he settled for Parker, he wouldn't have waited this long to hire him. He clearly reached out to other candidates and they either fell through or weren't ideal fits.

The notion that he "settled" makes no sense knowing what we know, that Freeman interviewed several people and eventually landed on Parker (which, again, was not his first choice thanks to the admin).

It's been a 2 week search lol, Miami went 2 months before they found their guy. Freeman could've easily waited another week, or circled back to other candidates that he liked.

 

[Giddyup]

Ok. He went from Ludwig to Parker. MF needs to own it. I’m fine giving him a chance but if we hire watt we really don’t want experience.

 

[Irish4life]

College football insider reveals how talks fell apart between Notre Dame, Andy Ludwig

.

www.on3.com

Free article

Not sure what to make of this.

I think Jack figured he could talk Utah down on the buyouts and Utah stands to gain nothing from that. They held firm and ND walked. Now everyone else in the world knows how Utah conducts their business. Utah Football goes on and nobody is talking about them now.

This is after initially balking. The Utah 247 guy reported that ND came back ready to pay, and Ludwig told them he was staying at Utah last night.

 

[Giddyup]

Under that scenario, yes, I agree with you.

But we have to at least assume the bad info came from Ludwig. Ludwig is the only source possible for ND to have his contract to look over. It’s not on Swarbrick then if he’s being fed bad info. By Ludwig himself. I mean the buyout increased by almost 2.4 million! And then that doesn’t even include the OL’s buyout and then both their salaries. ND was looking at 6 million just to get an OC and OL on campus. Despite ND being made fun of, 6 million is NOT the going rate for poaching assistant coaches in college football. And for who? 2 guys that nobody on this board knew existed 2 weeks ago. And 2 guys that haven’t been poached (or really even looked at) by any other programs.

Who else did Freeman offer that Swarbrick (or the BoT) balked on him hiring? If MF limits his coaching searches to 3 guys, that’s on him. That’s not on the administration. He’s known HH has been leaving for awhile. TR almost left last year. He’s known he may leave again for awhile. So the timeline of interviews and hirings are somewhat on Freeman. He doesn’t receive absolution because it’s been difficult. As I pointed out earlier, the timeline with these hirings isn’t far out of the norm in college or pro football.

When MF hired Parker last year, there were rumors it was an insurance policy against TR leaving. It was well-known TR would leave sooner rather than later. So MF was thinking about Rees leaving a year ago. But now, in the present, his search for an OC was basically Klein, Ludwig, and Parker- the guy he hired a year ago as an insurance policy about the eventuality that did, in fact, occur.

So again, I don’t absolve MF for “being stuck” with Parker when he should have already had some candidates in mind and/or interviewed more guys.

If you want to believe MF was screwed over on Ludwig, fine. But nobody at ND screwed him over for not having other candidates to interview.

Did not read

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

College football insider reveals how talks fell apart between Notre Dame, Andy Ludwig

.

www.on3.com

Free article

Not sure what to make of this.

I think Jack figured he could talk Utah down on the buyouts and Utah stands to gain nothing from that. They held firm and ND walked. Now everyone else in the world knows how Utah conducts their business. Utah Football goes on and nobody is talking about them now.

I expected this sunshine pumping sooner.

 

[Giddyup]

Is Ludwig the only guy out there? The answer is no. Plenty of coaches out there with experience

 

[Crazy Balki]

It's been a 2 week search lol, Miami went 2 months before they found their guy. Freeman could've easily waited another week, or circled back to other candidates that he liked.

Smfh.

Miami could afford to wait.

Spring practice is in less than a month. ND needs to get ready and have their staff in place well before that. This idea that Freeman could've waited another week. Clock is ticking, so no. They can't really just wait it out.

Also, why do you assume that he didn't circle back around to those names? And again, Parker was part of that group.

We heard about other names. There's a very real possibility that there was no interest or it wasn't a good fit. So what point is there for Freeman to circle back around to those names if nothing has changed. If Candle doesn't want to leave his head coaching job, why bother asking again?

We're basing all this on the notion that Freeman just decided "fuck it" and nabbed Parker.

Again, time is not on ND's side. They need to work quick.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Is Ludwig the only guy out there? The answer is no. Plenty of coaches out there with experience

It's not just about experience. It's about fit and interest.

If a guy doesn't fit what Freeman wants the offense to be, then why would he pick him?

If a guy isn't interested in leaving their current spot, then why would Freeman pursue him, especially with little time to work with?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

This is after initially balking. The Utah 247 guy reported that ND came back ready to pay, and Ludwig told them he was staying at Utah last night.

I doubt the part about the search still going is true either.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Under that scenario, yes, I agree with you.

But we have to at least assume the bad info came from Ludwig. Ludwig is the only source possible for ND to have his contract to look over. It’s not on Swarbrick then if he’s being fed bad info. By Ludwig himself. I mean the buyout increased by almost 2.4 million! And then that doesn’t even include the OL’s buyout and then both their salaries. ND was looking at 6 million just to get an OC and OL on campus. Despite ND being made fun of, 6 million is NOT the going rate for poaching assistant coaches in college football. And for who? 2 guys that nobody on this board knew existed 2 weeks ago. And 2 guys that haven’t been poached (or really even looked at) by any other programs.

Who else did Freeman offer that Swarbrick (or the BoT) balked on him hiring? If MF limits his coaching searches to 3 guys, that’s on him. That’s not on the administration. He’s known HH has been leaving for awhile. TR almost left last year. He’s known he may leave again for awhile. So the timeline of interviews and hirings are somewhat on Freeman. He doesn’t receive absolution because it’s been difficult. As I pointed out earlier, the timeline with these hirings isn’t far out of the norm in college or pro football.

When MF hired Parker last year, there were rumors it was an insurance policy against TR leaving. It was well-known TR would leave sooner rather than later. So MF was thinking about Rees leaving a year ago. But now, in the present, his search for an OC was basically Klein, Ludwig, and Parker- the guy he hired a year ago as an insurance policy about the eventuality that did, in fact, occur.

So again, I don’t absolve MF for “being stuck” with Parker when he should have already had some candidates in mind and/or interviewed more guys.

If you want to believe MF was screwed over on Ludwig, fine. But nobody at ND screwed him over for not having other candidates to interview.

Uh, these coaches have agents y'know.

So no, Ludwig wasn't the only source possible for ND to have his contract.

 

[sixstar]

Tired: MF was courting Ludwig at the ND hockey game while Parker attended as a 3rd wheel.
Wired: MF was courting Gerad Parker at the ND hockey game and flew Ludwig in to hold Parker's jockstrap.

 

[Dale]

College football insider reveals how talks fell apart between Notre Dame, Andy Ludwig

.

www.on3.com

Free article

Not sure what to make of this.



I think Jack figured he could talk Utah down on the buyouts and Utah stands to gain nothing from that. They held firm and ND walked. Now everyone else in the world knows how Utah conducts their business. Utah Football goes on and nobody is talking about them now.

This heightens my assumption that ND thought they could negotiate this down.

ND knew about the buyout, didn’t want to pay it.

Ludwig and agent goes back to Whittingham and company to tell them. Not only do they not let him out of it, someone on Utah’s side likely even is the reason Thamel had the story.

The story is now ND won’t pay it and the deal is off, whereas ND wanted a Yes from Ludwig on the job and to continue discussions on the money. Even eventually giving in if needed.

At this point Ludwig just decides to stay after the mess.

 

[NDQuebec]

Or maybe we could actually give the guy a chance. None of you were called to be the OC nor consulted about it. Maybe working with better talent, he will be much better than he was at West Virginia. They only thing that really matter is what the players think. Not what arm chair QB's think.

Let's face it. Parker is not a top level OC or anywhere close to it. Notre Dame is not the place, or at least it wasn't, to give the guy a chance, as you put it. Call fans arm chair QBs or whatever you want, but the vast majority of us, and people in the college football world, will all say that ND settled for a very mediocre OC. Just because the players like him doesn't mean he is qualified to be the OC at Notre Dame. If hired, it would be a massive letdown. Notre Dame can and should do much better than that.

 

[irishog77]

Uh, these coaches have agents y'know.

So no, Ludwig wasn't the only source possible for ND to have his contract.

His agent works for him. He does what Ludwig asks him to do and has the info Ludwig provides him. He represents him and stands in for him for negotiations, offers, and contracts.

So Ludwig, OR THE AGENT HE PAYS TO REPRESENT HIMSELF, provided the contract.

Swarbrick nor any other person at ND was the source of Ludwig’s contract.

 

[Giddyup]

ND leaks what they want the public to hear.

 

[Irish4life]

Smfh.

Miami could afford to wait.

Spring practice is in less than a month. ND needs to get ready and have their staff in place well before that. This idea that Freeman could've waited another week. Clock is ticking, so no. They can't really just wait it out.

Also, why do you assume that he didn't circle back around to those names? And again, Parker was part of that group.

We heard about other names. There's a very real possibility that there was no interest or it wasn't a good fit. So what point is there for Freeman to circle back around to those names if nothing has changed. If Candle doesn't want to leave his head coaching job, why bother asking again?

We're basing all this on the notion that Freeman just decided "fuck it" and nabbed Parker.

Again, time is not on ND's side. They need to work quick.

I'm not asking to wait for 2 months I'm asking for another week before going to Parker. I assume he didn't circle back because ND tried to hire Ludwig again last night. And by that point, he decided to stay at Utah. Hiring a guy with little to no play calling experience, after publicly stating that was an extremely important factor in who his OC was going to be is dumb. Also, with Hiestand retiring, it opens up OC/OL coaches to the process too.

 

[nin05]

 

[Crazy Balki]

His agent works for him. He does what Ludwig asks him to do and has the info Ludwig provides him. He represents him and stands in for him for negotiations, offers, and contracts.

So Ludwig, OR THE AGENT HE PAYS TO REPRESENT HIMSELF, provided the contract.

Swarbrick nor any other person at ND was the source of Ludwig’s contract.

Regardless, your point is still false.

ND could've gotten the contract and spoke with multiple parties not including Ludwig directly about his buyout. Could've been reps from Utah, could've been his agent. The idea that Ludwig directly provided the numbers.

And where does Freeman fit into all this? It's a contract issue. That is Jack and the BoT's domain. So it stands to reason that Freeman's involvement in contract negotiations were minimal.

 

[IrishSpartan]

This has become word vomit. Sorry but give the guy a minute at the OC position before you say the sky is falling. Also Watt hasn’t been hired yet so maybe wait for the dominoes to fall before you whine. I get it your all upset that the coaching hires look shaky but if you seriously blame Freeman on any of this your an idiot who is just reading article titles.

JS and RP are the bastards in this story. JS seems to be on a power trip and RP needs to be outright fired for his role in all of this.

 

[irishog77]

This heightens my assumption that ND thought they could negotiate this down.

ND knew about the buyout, didn’t want to pay it.

Ludwig and agent goes back to Whittingham and company to tell them. Not only do they not let him out of it, someone on Utah’s side likely even is the reason Thamel had the story.

The story is now ND won’t pay it and the deal is off, whereas ND wanted a Yes from Ludwig on the job and to continue discussions on the money. Even eventually giving in if needed.

At this point Ludwig just decides to stay after the mess.

I could buy this story.

In addition to maintaining there was much more to the story than ND wouldn’t pay 2.8 or that ND had the wrong contract, I conceded some disconnect/miscommunications on somebody’s part.

No way was it ever as cut and dried Thamel or The Driskell’s version.

 

[arrowryan]

I think Tom’s source is FootballScoop

 

[Giddyup]

HOT DIGGITY DOG