Next ND Offensive Coordinator - the search

[MacIrish75]

We need to bank on the fact that ole War Daddy lives up to his apparent new nickname on the recruiting trail and that he can just at least be an equivalent to Rees in terms of playcalling.

After all the angst last night, that really is an incredibly low bar.

 

[NDRock]

ISD was right when they said to expect the spin on the Ludwig thing. It’s in Utah’s best interest if Ludwig “said no”and after the PR hit ND just took, it was also makes them look better if he declined.

 

[irishff1014]

Most of the ND beat I've read have said he's a very good and hard working recruiter.

Matt Freeman from ISD says he is. I haven’t looked to see who he actually recruited here.

 

[irishff1014]

Swarbrick, the low dog, needs to do some media and clear up who is responsible here - either him and those above him for not paying the "buy out" or else they were prepared to pay it and Ludwig said no which means it is kind of Freeman's fault essentially for not selling the program.

Jack has proven he doesn’t care about anything but his paycheck.

The men’s basketball program is in absolute shambles. Now the Football program looks like a circus.

But his worthless ass will come out and try to sell the fact we are almighty independent. He’ll have his nose stuck up in the air like we are better than everyone and we aren’t. Join the BIG 10 conference collect the big media contract and go on like Wisconsin, Minnesota and the occasional Iowa.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Jack has proven he doesn’t care about anything but his paycheck.

The men’s basketball program is in absolute shambles. Now the Football program looks like a circus.

But his worthless ass will come out and try to sell the fact we are almighty independent. He’ll have his nose stuck up in the air like we are better than everyone and we aren’t. Join the BIG 10 conference collect the big media contract and go on like Wisconsin, Minnesota and the occasional Iowa.

Maybe take a break for a bit? You're posting an incredible volume of negativity so I think we are all clear on your stance.

 

[ndgoldendomer]

At this time you have to move on and hope these new hires are successful. What else can you do? Either that or stop watching or stop being a fan altogether. I am not willing to do that.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I have learned the term "War Daddy" out of all of this and have Ryan Grubb turning down Nick Saban to thank for it.

In the end Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame all got bridesmaids at OC. How they all went about it however was quite different. Lessons learned.

 

[ThePiombino]

ND fans doing mental gymnastics to justify this hire is peak Stockholm syndrome.

 

[notredomer23]

ND fans doing mental gymnastics to justify this hire is peak Stockholm syndrome.

I’ve yet to see one post justify the hire. It happened. What are we supposed to do, stop supporting the team?

 

[ThePiombino]

I’ve yet to see one post justify the hire. It happened. What are we supposed to do, stop supporting the team?

It's all over Twitter already. Spin cycle in full effect. And honestly, maybe people no longer supporting the team (at least financially, if not emotionally) would actually send a fucking message that we're not ok with the admin pissing on our backs and telling us it's raining.

 

[NDdomer2]

I’ve yet to see one post justify the hire. It happened. What are we supposed to do, stop supporting the team?

you got a lot of people on ignore?

as to part 2 - there were definitely some folks claiming they were going to do just that so, i guess, yeah.

 

[Irishdrunk]

At this time you have to move on and hope these new hires are successful. What else can you do? Either that or stop watching or stop being a fan altogether. I am not willing to do that.

True but let’s stop the narrative that this is Freeman’s team or that we are shopping down a different aisle or that we are a legit Top 10 Program because we are not. Fans blamed Kelly for holding us back but ignore all the arguments Kelly had with Swarbrick and BOT. Kelly found a more committed program in LSU and fans were angry at Kelly.

This episode shows where the problem lies with ND and how we won’t be competing for Nattys with such lack of support.

If fans took half their silly anger with Kelly and directed their ire at this fraud of an AD and BOT who emasculate their chosen HC that might do something.

 

[Irish#1]

Obviously Brick was running interference for Freeman’s hires. MF knew he wanted his buddy Parker all along.

Referring to Swarbrick as Brick is an insult to the legendary Brick.

 

[Irish#1]

ISD was right when they said to expect the spin on the Ludwig thing. It’s in Utah’s best interest if Ludwig “said no”and after the PR hit ND just took, it was also makes them look better if he declined.

They can spin anyway they want, but someone from Utah turning down Notre Dame is not a good look for Notre Dame. If Ludwig was from a blueblood program, I get it, but not Utah.

 

[TheProspector]

Swarbrick, the low dog, needs to do some media and clear up who is responsible here - either him and those above him for not paying the "buy out" or else they were prepared to pay it and Ludwig said no which means it is kind of Freeman's fault essentially for not selling the program.

Swarbrick will do press other than during times or situations that reflect positively on him? Surely you jest.

No man is better at finding a camera when things are good or better at avoiding a mic when things are bad.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

ND could have gone for Kevin Sumlin, but all the wine on campus in the chapels would have needed to be put under lock and key.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

Has anyone heard anything about OL besides Chris Watt? What's done is done with regards to hiring Parker, but I could feel a lot better about it depending on who the OL hire is. If they use some of the not-buyout money, maybe they can pull in someone like Bill Bedenbaugh for a Co-OC/OL role.

 

[SoIll]

I woke up not as pissed about the hire. Maybe he'll be fine. Feel for Marcus, but if that MF JS goes out and hires Chris Watt for the OL job. I will riot

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Has anyone heard anything about OL besides Chris Watt? What's done is done with regards to hiring Parker, but I could feel a lot better about it depending on who the OL hire is. If they use some of the not-buyout money, maybe they can pull in someone like Bill Bedenbaugh for a Co-OC/OL role.

After everything we have just seen, do you honestly think this is a plausible hire they will make?

He's making $800K a year to coach OL at Oklahoma. Even if ND would be up for doing it, why would BB want to come? That's a quick phone call.

Have not seen anything yet other than Watt, not even a puff article listing a bunch of candidates yet. They could really do with getting someone with a lot more experience and better results, even at the G5 level. Chris Watt isn't being mentioned if he didn't attend Notre Dame. Full stop. If we're talking about lazy, cheap hires THAT ONE will take the cake when all this dust settles.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

I woke up not as pissed about the hire. Maybe he'll be fine. Feel for Marcus, but if that MF JS goes out and hires Chris Watt for the OL job. I will riot

I woke hoping it was a joke and a new name would appear. Nope, still Parker.

This should be interesting

 

[NDFAN2008]

Not sure what Watt would be a bad higher? It has been said from current and previous players that Watt would help train them in the offseason. Hes been with the guys for a few years now and know the brand.

 

[USAF Irish12]

That is not what the article said. She glossed over the details, and by doing that it sort of sounds like ND didn't screw up as much as we thought, but yes, they still did. All you have to do is re-read the article and you can see the key details.

The article states that the buyout was an initial sticking point and ND let Andy Ludwig get on a plane thinking it was a deal-breaker. That means that Ludwig got on the plane thinking the deal had fallen through, so all he had to do during his flight back was make peace with the idea that he would be going back to Utah to remain their coach. By the time ND was able to tell him they were willing to pay the buyout he had already made up his mind he was staying and it's hard to blame him at that point. It's also likely that by the time ND got back to him he already had time to see the whole ordeal blow up nationally and it's very possible that also played a role in why he said no.

This means that it's obvious if ND hadn't screwed up in the first place by playing hardball or suffering from sticker shock, or whatever you want to call it, and simply agreed to the buyout right away - something they eventually did anyway - they would have had a deal in place before Ludwig ever got on a plane. And by the time Ludwig ever got on any plane, it would have been after ND had made sure he had signed his deal and was simply going home to get ready to make the move from Utah to SB. That obvious scenario didn't happen because ND screwed up.

So all the things we thought before this article are still true.

That’s a good point, but a lot of reading between the lines…

 

[Giddyup]

So now that Freeman hired his drinking buddy for OC, do we need a new TE coach?

 

[ThePiombino]

So now that Freeman hired his drinking buddy for OC, do we need a new TE coach?

No.

 

[MacIrish75]

I’ve yet to see one post justify the hire. It happened. What are we supposed to do, stop supporting the team?

@CoachB #ragequit last night.

 

[MacIrish75]

I woke up not as pissed about the hire. Maybe he'll be fine. Feel for Marcus, but if that MF JS goes out and hires Chris Watt for the OL job. I will riot

I need you to be more specific if this is Mother Fucker or Marcus Freeman.

 

[SoIll]

Referring to Jack, but if Marcus hires him... I am concerned.

 

[irishnd31]

I need you to be more specific if this is Mother Fucker or Marcus Freeman.

 

[Dale]

6 Thoughts on a Thursday

Thoughts on the chaotic week caused by Ludwig buyout debacle, how the athletic department needs to respond to support Marcus Freeman and the program, why at least Notre Dame's coaching staff can now be aligned under Freeman, and more

t.co

Jamie spitting exactly what I was thinking with regards to Ludwig:

The gist of what I wrote is that I think he could have done very well with Notre Dame’s talent at running back. The combination of him and offensive line coach Jim Harding together would have elevated the running game.

In the past 10 years he coached five skill players who became NFL Draft picks. Notre Dame had 17 over that same time. It would have been very interesting to see what he could have done while working with more talent.

The big question that remained with him was whether or not he could help Notre Dame become more explosive in the passing game. In the last 14 seasons, there was zero evidence to suggest he would do that.

His offenses have finished 59th, 78th, 48th, 46th, 60th, 102nd, 116th, 110th, and 79th in receptions of 20+ yards over the last ten seasons (I took out the Covid season of 2020 when Utah played less games).

Here’s where the eventual national champion finished in that same category: 3rd, 15th, 2nd, 1st, 11th, 56th (Bama with Hurts), 3rd, Alabama 51st, 15th, and 3rd.

Eight of the ten finished in the top-15 and five of the ten finished in the top-three. The two exceptions that didn’t finish in the top-15 were Alabama in 2017 and Alabama in 2015. They had the top ranked defense in DF+ both those seasons.

Ludwig had numerous 1,000 yard backs. His only 1,000 yard receiver since 2009 was Jared Abbrederis at Wisconsin. Some of that is the lack of talent he inherited. Some of that is that he hasn’t had a passing attack that has been aggressive attacking down the field.

Personnel is a part of it (Cam Rising’s arm: not great!), but when someone is a coordinator for as long as Ludwig has been and he hasn’t done something that is very important for offenses that win championships, that’s kind of a big deal.

Ludwig was not going to be a home run hire in my opinion. He was going to be a ground rule double. Maybe even a standing triple based on working with better talent and Harding being a package deal with him.

The missing piece was the explosive passing game. That’s a pretty important piece to not have.

It was confusing from the beginning to me to see people head over heels over a run game with a limiting passing attack, something we all agree is setting us a part from a true contender.

Hartman could have broken through that for 2023, but it wasn’t long term something that screamed home run.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Three programs worth less than ND yet have competed for national championships recently on a yearly basis. I realize ND has tougher admissions/academic standards but it shouldn’t hamstring them this much.