My only hope for ND and HC Freeman is that he sticks to his word of being his own person. He can listen w/out showing his hand when the AD or the Admin. or the media or the big donors or alumni or any other group wants to bend his ear, but still make it his team because, it will be on him at the end of the day.
Bill Parcels came very close to getting canned when with the Giants. He knew it was his name on the line and on the team, and he had his staff and his team (and got LT) to do it his way or the highway.
Not exactly the same variables, but bottom line is he has to have all staff and players buy in. AND he has to make the difficult decisions that his gut tells him to make. Even if it riles (the above groups) and fan base.
For example, what we saw from that bowl game wasn't too promising from both coaches Rees and Freeman, but Freeman really had no time to learn the language of the Offense let alone for playing a bowl game. (BK really screwed ND we all know it, it's done).
For the Bowl game, I believe Freeman gave Rees the leash on offense simply because he had zero time to assess that side of the ball (and the language to control it). So we were left to witness was insanely stupid. Throw 67 times and hardly try any runs or make halftime adjustments. You have Alt and Kristofic playing much better going in, you have Patterson. You have Blake Fisher back and looking even better than ever. He simply dominated. I said it right after the game, he made RT look easy.
Then you have Chris Tyree, Logan Diggs and Audric Estime to choose from to run (actually a much stronger group than the WR group!) Yet Rees chose to pass 67 times. And guess what? WRs can get gassed too! So, not only were the guys on offense gassed, then we had Freeman's defense ineffectively gassed by ineffectively pressuring most of the game and second half. In Arizona weather. It was a bad game plan from both sides of the ball - actually hurting each other come 4th quarter.
I'm worried I saw no adjustments. Is that youth? Too much youth in key coaching roles? Communication re. game plan? It was a big ask to make it work in less than a month.
I guess all that throw-up and disgust (above) had to come out. But the point I wanted to make was that if Freeman sees the weakness (as I do) is Tommy Rees, he needs to man up and let him go. Rees will get this year simply because Freeman has too many other positions to fill while keeping recruits loved, and getting love to new recruits, and the 9 million other things now on his agenda (being HC).
Bottom line is I think ND can win an NC in the short term but only if we get a better and more experienced OC. I still feel pretty good about Freeman because again, it was a big ask in little time, yet not pleased with the game plan(s) not being modified for the 2nd half. Freeman could've said "Let's try some running plays and let's see if Buchner is feeling it for some of it this half". Or something similar, because it's his freaking team. Then, the choice for DC we still won't know about for a year, but I'll stop here.
Bill Parcels came very close to getting canned when with the Giants. He knew it was his name on the line and on the team, and he had his staff and his team (and got LT) to do it his way or the highway.
Not exactly the same variables, but bottom line is he has to have all staff and players buy in. AND he has to make the difficult decisions that his gut tells him to make. Even if it riles (the above groups) and fan base.
For example, what we saw from that bowl game wasn't too promising from both coaches Rees and Freeman, but Freeman really had no time to learn the language of the Offense let alone for playing a bowl game. (BK really screwed ND we all know it, it's done).
For the Bowl game, I believe Freeman gave Rees the leash on offense simply because he had zero time to assess that side of the ball (and the language to control it). So we were left to witness was insanely stupid. Throw 67 times and hardly try any runs or make halftime adjustments. You have Alt and Kristofic playing much better going in, you have Patterson. You have Blake Fisher back and looking even better than ever. He simply dominated. I said it right after the game, he made RT look easy.
Then you have Chris Tyree, Logan Diggs and Audric Estime to choose from to run (actually a much stronger group than the WR group!) Yet Rees chose to pass 67 times. And guess what? WRs can get gassed too! So, not only were the guys on offense gassed, then we had Freeman's defense ineffectively gassed by ineffectively pressuring most of the game and second half. In Arizona weather. It was a bad game plan from both sides of the ball - actually hurting each other come 4th quarter.
I'm worried I saw no adjustments. Is that youth? Too much youth in key coaching roles? Communication re. game plan? It was a big ask to make it work in less than a month.
I guess all that throw-up and disgust (above) had to come out. But the point I wanted to make was that if Freeman sees the weakness (as I do) is Tommy Rees, he needs to man up and let him go. Rees will get this year simply because Freeman has too many other positions to fill while keeping recruits loved, and getting love to new recruits, and the 9 million other things now on his agenda (being HC).
Bottom line is I think ND can win an NC in the short term but only if we get a better and more experienced OC. I still feel pretty good about Freeman because again, it was a big ask in little time, yet not pleased with the game plan(s) not being modified for the 2nd half. Freeman could've said "Let's try some running plays and let's see if Buchner is feeling it for some of it this half". Or something similar, because it's his freaking team. Then, the choice for DC we still won't know about for a year, but I'll stop here.
