So everybody wants to bitch and moan, but you want some actual solutions to start shrinking the gap?... Here are two.
1. Jack Swarbrick, you have to ****ing pay people. You operate one of the riches programs in the country, but you have no problem allowing an elite coordinator / recruiter leave for a better situation. Unless Notre Dame is willing to pay highest rates to assistant coaches in the country and attract the best assistants in the business, guys that should be head coaches at lesser schools (Brett Venables) but who are coordinators at your school because you backed a Brinks truck up into their yard, you're NEVER going to overcome the talent gap through coaching and development... Because the schools that have more talent than you, have better, higher paid coaches than you as well. That's to simple truth. You need an elite coach / recruiter at every coaching position. You can't have 3-4 good assistants, and a bunch of middle of the road guys.
2. This is the most important thing that should be taken away from this post and the conversation that needs to be had with the following assistants.
- Autry Denson should be fired. I don't care how productive your running backs have been. I really don't. Look around America, there are 20+ running backs coaches who backs produce just like yours do. Anybody who has every spent a second coaching football knows that it's the easiest position on the field to coach. There are 20+ other guys in a America that coach the running back position every bit as well as Autry Denson and half of them do it without the offensive line talent that Notre Dame has (which I'll get to in a second). It comes down to this, if you're not an elite recruiter, you receive you pink slip tomorrow... Autry Denson is responsible for recruiting South Georgia and Florida, the most talent rich region in the country. Who the **** made that decision? He's horrendous recruiter. One of the worst at a major school, nationally. ND needs a savage in that region. A guy that not only lands top running backs, but a guy who recruits top talent at other positions as well.
I'm sorry Autry, you're a decent RB coach and a bad recruiter. I'm going to find a guy who is a dog recruiting Florida speed and can coach running backs. You're fired.
- Jeff Quinn should be fired. Your offensive line is terrible. It was mediocre all year. You gave up 6 sacks yesterday and it could have been 10 if Ian Book didn't scramble like crazy. Ian Book was running for his life against Pittsburgh for **** sakes. He was running for his life against USC. They could get push against Ball State. Let that sink in for a moment. You did a terrible job not only on the field, but in a stellar year along the offensive line, after ND has put 4 OL in the first round of the NFL Draft in the last 5 years, and won the Joe Moore award last year, you failed to land a single top 100 recruit on the offensive line, let alone 5 star. You allowed 5 star offensive linemen to go to schools where they will be wasted, instead of coming to Notre Dame to play for OL U.
I'm sorry Jeff, you're offensive line pales in comparison to Clemson's, Alabama's, Oklahoma's and Georgia's and you've proven that you can't recruit the monsters go to other schools. You can land 275lb undersized guys, but the truly elite guys don't want to play for you. You're fired.
- Brian Polian, your special teams are average at best and terrible at worst. We saw zero improvement from your units throughout the season, but more importantly, since you took over as recruiting coordinator, ND has landed 1, 5 star prospect. The last player of that level that you personally recruited was Manti Te'o, in 2007, 11 years ago. You've landed absolutely nobody that matters relative to winning a championship since then. You're known to be some "guru" on the West Coast in recruiting. With USC and UCLA in the tank, and Stanford on the decline. the worst they've been in years, you can't pull a single top recruit out of California. Not a single difference maker... Seriously... Not one. How is that even possible with the amount of resources ND spends maintaining a yearly fingerprint in LA.
I'm sorry Brian, your special teams are average and you can't pull a single top 100 4 star, or 5 star out of California, while Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and Clemson can. Their recruiter is out recruiting you and for that reason, have a happy new years, but please clean out your desk. You're fired.
- Del Alexander, your wide receivers are the definition of average. They drop way too many passes (2nd year in a row) and you refuse to play the young guys over the old guys when they **** up or give poor effort. The same bullshit every year. No accountability whatsoever, and since Mike Denbrock left, not a single wide receiver has flourished into an All American caliber players under your watch. Furthermore, the only top 100 receiver you've landed since you got here is Kevin Austin. Why? Explain yourself? Why can't you out recruit teams like Michigan at wide receiver? Why can't you recruit along the lines of Oklahoma? I'm not asking you to recruit like Alabama and Clemson do, because I'm not naïve. But even among your peers you're an average recruiter. You're a West Coast guy, played wide receiver at USC, have ties to LA, and they have 5-7 top 100 WRs each year in California. You can't land one?
I'm sorry Del, Notre Dame is not a place for average and that's what our receivers have been since you got here, as has your recruiting, save Kevin Austin. Why did we hire a USC guy? You're fired.
- Tommy Rees. Congratulations for winning the QB coach of the year award tutoring a kid who is capable, but is limited in his ability make throws downfield. Nice job with development, please continue to do a good job with him... Now let's get serious for a second. If Notre Dame is ever going to win a national championship, did you see the three other guys that were in the playoffs? Lawrence, Murray and Tua?... That's what the Notre Dame quarterback needs to look like in terms of arm talent. You already signed a kid this year that was an afterthought and can't throw like that, let's make sure that Jurkovec keeps developing and that we evaluate Drew Pyne. If he can't make throws like Murray or Lawrence, pull his scholarship and lets land a kid who can. In terms of 2021, you have one job. Land a top 5 quarterback that can make all the throws, or find a new job.
Tommy Rees, you're on notice, not because you did a bad job coaching, but because you're not getting it done on the recruiting trail. You have one more years to fix that.
- Chip Long. Continue to develop as an offensive coordinator and land somebody of substance on the recruiting trail, outside of a white tight end that ND can land yearly, or you're fired. Nothing more needs to be said.
Chip long, you're on notice, Just as Tommy Rees is. I want you to spend no fewer than 100 hours per week recruiting until spring practice. You have one more year.
- Clark Lea, I have no problem with your coaching. You did a damn fine job this year in your first go around. But you have some explaining to do. Last year Mike Elko landed 5 top 150 players on the defensive side of the ball, coming off a 4-8 season, when Notre Dame had no momentum. This year you only landed 3 top 150 players on defense (1 top 100) coming off of a 10-3 season in which ND built a lot more momentum and recruits were listening. Why?... Why did your former boss out recruit you coming off the worst season ND's faced since 2009, when you have a much, much better situation to recruit from the following year?
Clark Lea, keep up the good work coaching, but if you don't match or surpass Mike Elko as a recruiter in the next two cycles, you'll be finding a new job. Not a threat, just a stern warning. Have a great New Years, take a couple days off and get ready to come back to work in January and prepare to put in 100 hours per week recruiting with your friend, Chip Long.
Lastly, a public service announcement to all ND assistant coaches. You get paid a bundle of cash. The new expectation of you is that you will slave for that cash. Each of you will work 100 hours per week in recruiting until spring. That leaves you 68 hours per week to sleep. Get 6 hours per night and you have 26 hours per week to spend awake with your families. I'm going to work the same schedule. We're going to fix this. It starts with recruiting and it starts next week. Rest up. Turn your phone off. I don't want to talk to you for the next few days. Right now I need to go hire a running back coach who is on board with the plan, a wide receiver coach that is on board with the plan, and a special teams coordinator that is on board with the plan... By the way, Terry Joseph, you're now the recruiting coordinator (because you're a damn good recruiter) and I'm getting you a raise to 1.5 million per year. You will land a top 8 class next year and you be responsible for no fewer than 2, 5 star, and 6 top 100 recruits, coming off our playoff run and undefeated regular season.
Happy New Years Boys!
