Links o' the day

The big news today is the UConn-ND College Gameday Extravapalooza Basketball game. I would load you with links, but it's easier being played or has been played at the time you read this. News to follow. Rakes of Mallow has a gameday thread.

Football news of the day is the decommitment of highly ranked safety Byron Moore from USC, and the apparent news that Notre Dame is now his leader. Hey, I'll take it. Moore could help boost a disappointing class. His commitment would boost the Irish recruiting class back into the top 20. The kid can certainly play, and his list of offers (LSU, USC, UCLA, Cal) is reason alone to be excited. UHND's Frank V. has that news and an updated look at the recruiting board. He is much more optimistic than I am.

In non-ND football news, BC has hired former Navy coach Gary Tranquill as its offensive coordinator. I can't wait to beat down BC next year. Spaziani is not a good head coaching candidate, and they will have little talent compared to next year's ND squad. If Charlie can't put them away next year then ND needs to put Weis away. 

Finally, Dr. Saturday has an interesting look into how college football scholarships work.

Alright, that's all for now. Go Irish! Be Huskies!

Links o' the Day(s)

Real work has kept me from writing the past couple of days, so I'll leave a links post with a collection of all things important (and some not).

Jack Swarbrick is taking some heat for his comments on a college playoff, and rightfully so. Swarbrick said that there was "zero momentum" for a college football playoff, dispite the fact that a solid contingency, if not the majority, of college football fans want one. This is one of the things that frustrates me about Notre Dame. I love the tradition of the school, but there's no need to be stuck in the past. I had some other comments on the quote in a previous post.

Blue and Gold has a couple of articles up of interest. The first is that Tim Grunhard met with Charlie Weis and Jon Jenkins. Grunhard is still considering the options (go back to class at ND or coach HS football). Grunhard told the Kansas City Star that he was leaning towards staying with the high school team, but has not made an official decision at this point. If I had to take a guess, I would say that Grunhard ends up taking the job at ND, but that's just personal speculation.

Second, John Hanesworth has an article on what it takes to follow Brady Quinn. Hanesworth says that he feels Clausen can meet Quinn's junior seaon statistically speaking. The key factor in this off-season is Jimmy Clausen improving his decions. If he can protect the ball, as he did against Hawaii, then Clausen could become the next great Irish QB. He certainly has the arm strength and the physical skills, but too often he forces a ball into double coverage or panics in the backfield and throws to his first receiver (no matter what). I'm not on the same bandwagon as Hanesworth, but I think Clausen can improve next year and be a BCS QB if he improves his decisions.

Rob Ianello was named the best recruiter in college football by Michael Collins of Bleacher Report. Ianello certainly is a great recruiter in a staff of many. Heading into the season I thought he would be the man to replace Haywood as offensive coordinator (in name). I was most amazed at the fact that Ianello was personally responsible for bringing two five-star and 13 four-star prospects to the Irish (in three years).

Gary Gray is looking to enroll back at Notre Dame this summer, according to an ESPN story posted on IrishEnvy. I'm glad to see that Gray is committed to this team. He's a good player who can help strength the depth and talent of our secondary. Apparently Gray left school because of academic issues.

Irish Eyes has the recent week in recruiting covered, including this past weekend's Junior Day. Also, Bob Wieneke believes that Cierre Wood can make an instant impact next year. I disagree with this, solely based on the depth chart, but there's no way I'm going to argue with the head of the class getting playing time.

The College Gameday crew will be at the ND-UConn game this weekend. Better this weekend than last weekend. I wonder if Digger will continue to match his tie (ugh).

Now for other news, starting with Rich Rodriguez getting paid $6.6 million dollars for coaching scUM to a 3-9 record last year. Nevermind the fact that Michigan's unemployment rate has hit double-digits.

Andy Staples has put out some great stuff on the past four years in the recruiting scene. Article one and article two can be seen here.

Finally, one of my favorite writers, Sally Jenkins, has a list of ten ways President Obama can change the sports landscape. Number 1?

Liberate college football from the tyranny of the Bowl Championship Series. You've pledged to use your muscle to do away with the skewed BCS system and to create an eight-team playoff. Actually, this may be one of the easiest things to accomplish in your first term. Opposition to a playoff comes from the despotic cartel made up by the major football conferences, which seek to hoard the millions of dollars in bowl revenue for themselves -- and depend on the tax-exempt status they lobby for in Washington. Here are the names of the college leaders on the BCS Presidental Oversight Committee: Chairman David Frohnmayer (Oregon), Rev. John Jenkins (Notre Dame), Robert Khayat (Mississippi), Mark Nordenberg (Pittsburgh), John Peters (Northern Illinois), Harvey Perlman (Nebraska), Graham Spanier (Penn State) and Charles Steger (Virginia Tech).

These individuals preside over a commercial swindle. According to the Wall Street Journal, the bowls have become a $400 million-a-year industry, and bowl executives earn salaries of between $400,000 and $500,000. The bowls no longer serve any discernable educational purpose -- the participating teams often have graduations rates worse than 50 percent, for which they are rewarded with extravagance. Players in this year's BCS bowls received gifts such as Tourneau watches, Apple iPods and $300 worth of Sony electronics.

Take away their tax exemptions. Hand the BCS college presidents a bunch of 1120 forms and tell them to start filling them out. They'll buckle.

Additionally, we recommend that the college football season be shortened. Schools begin playing in phony made-for-TV money games in August and the championship isn't decided until the second week in January. A season should begin in autumn and end on New Year's Day, so that everyone can get back to school.

I agree Sally. I agree.

I'll be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled blogging.

Irish considering ex-Huskie coach for OC opening? Plus! Bill Diedrick news

A small note on John Berkowitz's blog has the Irish considering former tight ends/special teams coordinator Brian White as a potential offensive coordinator for the Irish.

Tight ends coach/special teams coordinator Brian White is rumored to be in the running to replace Mike Haywood as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. That would be a nice bounce for White who was impressive in his one year at UW.

I'm confused. I thought we only had one staff opening, and it's on the defensive side of the ball (defensive line). Furthermore, White worked under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin (which is good), though it was in a run-first offense (which adds to the offensive identity complex we already have). Berkowitz obviously likes White though, so if some sort of shakeup were to happen then it's a possibility.

UPDATE: Florida has hired White. So, once again, Urban waits to see who we are interested in and gets them (I kid).

Other coaching change news. Jon Tenuta is being considered as a defensive coordinator at The U. Also mentioned on that link is that offensive genius Bill Diedrick has left powerhouse Indiana State. Trent Miles already has a replacement in line.There's only one spot left for Diedrick... Slippery Rock U.

New Rivals Recruiting Rankings Out

The latest Rivals recruiting rankings are out, and the Irish are at a Willingham-esque 21. LSU is at the top spot with four 5-star recruits, a number only equaled by USC (of course).

I've held to the statement that this recruiting class isn't up to par with Notre Dame standards and certainly isn't nearly as good as many people think it is. It isn't that there aren't quality prospects in the class but rather that there aren't any superstars. Cierre Wood is the closest we have to a star, but even he isn't a 5-star prospect.

Another issue is the lack of recruits. Right now there are only 17 commits, and there aren't many more prospoectes that the Irish could realistically land. Manti Te'o is still on the board, but I expect him to go to USC. Tyler Gaffney is also still on the board, but it will be tough to get him off of the West Coast (its 20 degrees in South Bend right now, can you blame him?)

Many people bash recruiting rankings. The usual argument goes something like this: "Well, how many 5-star recruits did Utah have??". Well, if you aspire to be Utah then that argument is fine. If you aspire to be USC or LSU, however, you need the top prospects. It isn't an exact science, but recruiting rankings are relatively accurate.

Links o' the Day

Big news of the day is Brian Hardin's comment to BGI that the Jon Gruden rumors are "ridiculous".

“It’s ridiculous that this rumor has even gained the traction it has over the past few days. I hesitate to respond to it at all because by dignifying this ‘report,’ I set myself up to be forced to set the record straight on future rumors. But it’s obvious that some people out there are trying to sabotage our recruiting efforts and it’s unfortunate that their agenda has been published and reproduced in recent days,” Brian Hardin, Notre Dame’s Director of Football Media Relations, told BGI.

I seriously doubt that a writer for the New York Daily News had Notre Dame's recruiting efforts in mind when he first brought the topic up. It's much more likely that he saw Charlie Weis as a coach in question at ND (and how couldn't you after last season) and talked to a few people that agreed. Who is the most reasonable name out there as a potential coaching candidate? Well, Gruden, obviously.

I don't really understand why Hardin wouldn't think that this would become a story. The Irish tried to get Gruden befored hiring George O'Leary, and would have gotten him if the Raiders hadn't requested a multi-million dollar buyout for his services. It was apparent that Gruden's name would be connected to Notre Dame the second either he was fired or Charlie Weis was fired. And to blame it on the media is gutless. Blame it one the wording of Jack Swarbrick's statement or the inabilities of your head coach, but to say that a NYDN writer is trying to sabatoge the program is bogus.

BGS posted their thoughts on the Alford hire sometime late last night. The most notable point made was the comment from Mike from Card Chronicle.

In losing Alford, the Cardinal football program is not only losing one of the hardest working and highest energy guys it had, but perhaps its best recruiter.

I like to hear that. It appears that Weis has put together a real solid staff for next season. We now have a hand-picked offensive line coach and an up-and-coming running backs coach in place. If Steve Stirpling is hired to coach the defensive line then the Irish will have a knockout staff, so no more excuses. It's now on the players and the coach as we head into next season.

IrishEnvy has an unofficial list of the visitors for this weekend's ND Football Junior Day. It includes seven offered recruits, 12 prospects, and Christian Lombard, ND's first member of the class of 2010. The 2010 class is loaded with talent from the midwest, so this is an important start for the 2010 recruiting season.

IE has a preview of the UConn basketball game. I don't think there's any question that, at this point, the Huskies are the better of the two teams, but the Irish haven't lost at home in 44 straight games. It's a crucial game for the Irish to win if they want to turn around their momentum in a tough stretch of games.

IrishIllustrated has a ND Baseball preview for those interested.

Dr. Saturday has a couple of interesting articles up. The first answers some off-season questions, most notably regarding the GRob hiring (he is skepticle) and the Gruden hiring (he seems skepticle of the sabatoge efforts). Also, DS has linked to many of the early top 10 lists across the web. It seems that Texas and Florida are the early favorites to play in the championship game.

Finally, USA today has a story on the rejection of an early signing period by the American Football Coaches Association. Apparently the vote wasn't even a close one.

That's all for today's links. Oh, and a big Cheers! are in order for the 44th President of the United States, Barrack Obama.

More rumors regarding Jon Gruden

Fan Nation, a sister-publication of Sports Illustrated, has a story in its "Truth and Rumors" section about the possible hiring of Jon Gruden.

With each passing hour, speculation is mounting that former Bucs coach Jon Gruden could become the next coach at Notre Dame. Apart from the rumors published recently in the New York Daily News, we're hearing more and more talk pointing to the possibility that something will be going down, apparently right after the Irish's incoming recruiting class give their binding, written commitments to attend the school, on the assumption that Weis will be the head coach. And so, once it's too late for the recruits to change their minds, they might find out that they'll have a new head coach when spring practice opens.

I still don't think this will happen, especially the way it is described here. The heat that ND would take for hiring a coach after NSD, and thus breaking a promise to every recruit from this year's class, would be nearly insurmountable in future recruiting years.

Would I like to see Jon Gruden coaching at ND? Sure. He would be a huge upgrade over Weis, who has (to this point) proven himself as an average college head coach, but you can't do it following signing day. It's falt out unethical.

Links o' the Day

The big news today is that Tony Alford was named the new RBs coach for the Irish. We posted our thought on the hiring earlier today. 29-48-10 is pleased to see that we are bringing in a coach who is used to prepping backs in a pass-first offense (if that is in fact what we are sticking with). Rakes of Mallow has a few thoughts as well. I like the hire and think that Alford could become what we all expected of Mike Haywood.

Now to some personal business. Our article on the Grad Assistants was picked up yesterday by IrishEnvy and NDLNA. Thanks to both of those sites, and thanks to many of the new viewers who stopped by yesterday. We were very proud to bring the story a public audience and hope that those who checked the article out will spend some time on the rest of the site as well. While Bryant is expected to accept the deal, Grunhard is apparently on the fence. I hope Tim joins the Irish, but we wish him the best of luck with whatever decision he makes.

Dr. Saturday takes a look at the Gruden to ND rumors. An interesting (and funny) read.

IrishEyes has a Big East basketball update. Get informed!

Greg Robinson has been hired by Michigan to be their next DC. GRob was a dreadful head coach, maybe the worst in D1-A last year (though he did beat the Irish), but he's always been a very good DC. We'll see how he works out early next year.

USC has hired former Denver Broncos OC Jeremy Bates to the same position. Bates was liked by Jay Cutler and will now have to fill the void left by Steve Sarkisian's new gig at UW.

Finally, Bruce Feldman and Pat Forde take a look at the difficulty for black coaches trying to find head coachings gigs.

Thanks again to all the new readers. Feel free to email me at TheDailyShillelagh (at) gmail (dot) com. I hope you stick around and enjoy the site.

Tony (not Steve) Alford named new RB coach

Charlie Weis has annuonced that Tony Alford will be the new Notre Dame running backs coach. Alford, who comes from Louisville, has spent 14 years coaching running backs at five different schools (UL, Iowa St, Washington, Kent St, Mount Union). He has also recruited some of the most plentiful states in the country, including California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas.

We took a look at Alford when his name was announced as being under consideration last week. It seems to be a good hire. Weis mentioned that Alford's name was brought up everywhere he went for advice.

The hiring of Alford also makes it apparent that Charlie Weis will act as his own OC next season. UHND too a look at Alford's recruiting impact. While Haywood wasn't nearly as good of a recruiter as we thought he would be, Alford appears to be the real deal. The Lemming believes that Alford could be responsible for bringing in three or four top prospects in next year's class.

Welcome to the squad Tony, I wish you the best of luck.

Rumors floating about New Irish GA's

Rumors are circulating that Bryant Young and Tim Grunhard have been named Graduate Assistants to Charlie Weis' staff.

The information has popped up on Irish message boards today.

Grunhard is a Chicago native who started every game on the 1988 National Championship team. He was a second round draft choice of the Kansas City Cheifs in 1990 and went on to start 164 games for the Chiefs, the third most in franchise history.

Young was a three-year starter at defensive tackle on the early 90s Irish squads. He was an All-American in his senior year with 6.5 sacks and 67 tackles. He was drafted in the first round by the 49ers in 1994 and won a Super Bowl with the team in his rookie season. Young was a four-time Pro Bowler and was named to the NFL All-Decade team in the 90s.

I like both selections based on their position of expertise. Having former greats at the offensive and defensive lines is a nice addition given the performance of the Irish at those positions in the past few years. Both players grew up in Chicago, so they have ties to the area, which will be important given the large amount of talent coming from Chicago in the next recruiting class.

Congrats to Bryant and Tim. We're glad to have you on board.

Swarbrick speaks to SBT (Part 2)

The SBT ran the second part of their Q&A with Jack Swarbirck. Here's a few notes from the interview.

- Swarbrick doesn't seem to think that a college playoffs will happen any time soon. At a recent panel with three other AD's, none would give a playoff more than a 15% chance of happening (including Swarbrick himself). Kind of disappointing coming from the ND AD. I was hoping for more of a progressive stance from Swarbrick, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Swarbrick could have a lot of impact in making a playoff happen if he wanted to get behind the case, but the AD at the university of football in America seems to like the bowl system. And Swarbrick never said he was in favor of a playoff, despite being asked directly if he did.

- Swarbrick says he will stay committed to the 7-4-1 scheduling idea. Fabulous. Now we can have two enticing games a year and nine duds, just like last year and the year coming up. I wonder if losing the sellout streak at a nuetral field game against Washington State (or Baylor, or some other major conference cupcake) would change his position. JS also came out and said that the neutral field games has little to do with actual football and everything to do with exposing ND to different areas in the country. More from Notre Dame Inc.

- Swarbrick thinks we can get back to the national elite level, though he didn't think so before taking the job at ND.

Links o' the Day

News of the day is obviously the Super Bowl. Two former Irish players will be playing in the big game as members of the Cardinals (who are seven point underdogs). So congrats are in order to Bertrand Berry and Mike Gandy.

The Irish basketball team is beginning to feel the heat from the press. Brey's boys are going to need to regroup after a disappointing loss to Syracuse on the road. Their redemption could come against UConn at home, or they could fall to 3-4 in the Big East. IE has a good recap of the events leading to this point (and a bit of a look ahead) for those of you just getting over your football hangovers.

UConn's Jeff Adrien doesn't seem too worried about playing the Irish in South Bend. In fact, Adrien doesn't seem to put much value in the nation's longest home winning streak.

"It's going to feel good to break (Notre Dame's) home winning streak," Adrien added. "It's a tough place to play, but we can do it. We almost did it last year."

UConn will be tough to beat (they've only lost one game this year), but Adrien seems a bit flippant about playing a tough team at a tough arena. There's a big dish of crow being prepared in the dining halls.

OK, back to football, and the Irish's claim for the 2008 National Championship! According to the College Football Transitive Property, the Irish were just 5 steps (just 5 steps!) away from winning the National Championship. And here I thought we collapsed down the stretch.

Matt Hayes must believe in the CFTP. He has the Irish ranked #11 in his pre-pre-pre-season rankings. Honestly, I can't believe that anyone can put the Irish in the top 25 based on last year's finish, but to each his own. Hayes is putting a lot of creedence in the bowl win, believing that the momentum from that game will cancel out having a coach lose his team after the 7th game of the season.

BGS has a recap of the High School All-American games and the Christian Lombard signing, all of which happened before we started up. Lombard is a 5-star prospect at tackle, and hopefully he can provide some protection on the end of the line.

Blue and Gold has a dissertation on coach speak, aka the way coach's spin their excuses. I'm pretty sure I've heard all of these from Coach Weis in the past two season.

Is Greg Robinson going to become the new DC at Michigan? Sure seems to be the case. Robinson's SU teams lost to everyone but the Irish, but he has always been a good defensive coordinator, so we will see how the move goes. There's also still a chance that GRob will head to UCLA, but scUM is the favorite at this point.

Did you get your tickets to the Joe Tiller roast? If not, you're S.O.L., as the event is sold out. I can see how plenty of people would want a chance at this one. It's easy to look funny when Tiller is your taget.

The Atlantic has a feature on the Hardest Job in Football: television producer. See what it takes to get all of those cool images (and a sober Brent Musberger) on television.

Finally, the Onion has some coverage on Tiresome Tim Tebow, the first 32-year-old sophomore to win the Heisman.

Class of 2009 Commits- #2 Cierre Wood

Cierre Wood is, at this moment, the star of the 2009 recruiting class. Wood is a four-star running back out of Oxnard, California. Rivals has him rated as the 8th best back in the country, while Scout has him as the 6th best. He is 6-0, 196 lbs., and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. Wood had offers from USC, UCLA, Auburn, Cal, Florida, Nebraska, and North Carolina, an impressive lest of West Coast powers.

In his senior year, Wood totaled 1,622 yards on 143 carries, including 20 touchdowns. He also caught 8 passes for 182 yards and 4 TDs. Those numbers come despite an injury in Santa Clara's 9th game of the season. Wood was even more impressive in his junior year, amassing 2,612 yards on 178 carries, including 34 touchdowns. He also equaled his senior year recieving stats with 7 catches for 191 yards and 2 TDs.

Wood is a terrific athlete with the ability to run between the tackles and make plays outside of the tackles. The LA papers were going ga-ga over Wood, and getting him out of the Southern Cal area is very impressive. There will be four players ahead of him on the depth chart when Wood enters, but none of the four have set themselves apart from the pack. It will be interesting to see what type of impact a player of this caliblre can make.

Two Irish to play in Super Bowl

Congrats to Bertrand Berry and Mike Gandy of the Arizona Cardinals for making it to the Super Bowl.

Berry is in his 12th season in the league. This season he had 7 tackles and 2 sacks . Gandy is an 8th year pro who protected Kurt Warner's blind side in all 16 games this season.

Pittsburgh has been tough this year, especially on defense, and it looks like Gandy could have his hands full with LaMarr Woodley.

I like the Steelers early, but it would be great to see two former Irish players to get Super Bowl rings.

Tom Zbikowski plays for a shot in the Super Bowl

Tommy Z will play in the Ravens' secondary today with a shot at the Super Bowl on the line. 

Zbikowski has 19 tackles on the year, one of them for a loss.

It will be a tough game for Baltimore, having to play in Pittsburgh against the best defense in the NFL, but I will Zibby the best and hope to see an Irish alum in the Super Bowl.

Will Yeatman talks to Inside Lacrosse

Will Yeatman sat down with Inside Lacrosse magazine for a Q&A. He addressed his transfer, life at Maryland, and why he left Notre Dame. Here's an excerpt from the Q&A:

Q: Why did you leave Notre Dame?
Yeatman: Obviously some incidents occured. But the big thing for me was more my unhappiness. I thought [college] was supposed to be the best time of my life. And I wasn’t happy. I felt I needed a change, things weren’t right.

It’s not like I was running away from things at Notre Dame. There are so many people there that I love. I loved the lacrosse coaches and players and there were so many coaches in the football program who cared for me. For me, I was unhappy and I really needed a change in my life. I wasn’t running away from things at Notre Dame. I simply wanted a better place for me.

Q: Anything you’d like to add?
Yeatman: Yes. The relationships I had with people at Notre Dame were always great. There are so many great people there who I care about. Certainly my coaches and teammates are people I always loved. They were never the reason I left. I left because I felt I needed a change in my life. That’s something I’d like to emphasize.

You have to admire the class that Yeatman shows in his responses. I think it's pretty obvious that the Notre Dame higher-ups wanted Yeatman out after his incident, but I still disagree with the decision. Yeatman wanted a change and got it, but he never blasted the University on his way out.

I'm sorry Yeatman had to leave, but I wish him the best with the rest of his career.

The Good Ole Days: Lou Holtz's 1988 Summer Conditioning Program

There's a real gem floating around the internet. Lou Holtz's 1988 summer conditioning program has been posted, and it's eye-opening when compared to the current S&C program. Before comparing it to the pathetic excuse of a conditioning program Weis has implemented, lets look at what type of program Lou ran.

Lou ran what was called a "split program". On Mondays and Tuesdays the team would run training at full intensity, concentrating on chest, back and triceps on Monday and shoulders, legs and biceps on Tuesday. Wednesday would be a day of rest. Thursdays and Fridays would be run at a lighter intensity, with the Monday muscles being worked on Thursdays and Tuesday muscles on Fridays. This took injury susceptibility into account, keep the athletes in shape but also healthy. 

Setting goals in all areas of training was a very important part of Lou's S&C program. Setting goals in the 40 yd dash, vertical jump, bench press, and 300 yd shuttle were mandatory. A bit of a change up from Weis' optional speed training.

There really is no comparison between the program of 1988 and 2008. One is a complete college strength and conditioning program, focused on improving strength, speed, and injury resistance and developing teenagers into men. As mentioned above, Weis does not require speed training for any athletes, which shows when we play teams like USC. Also, Weis' strength program needs to be questioned based on the way our players are thrown around, especially on the line of scrimmage. Weis runs a pro-conditioning program, which puts the responsibility on the athlete, even if the athlete doesn't have the work ethic of a pro player. 

I'm somewhat surprised that Ruben Mendoza has not been fired this off-season, though there is some time left. Anyways, take a look at Lou's program, and maybe someone can send it Coach Weis' way.

The rumors have begun; Jon Gruden to coach the Irish?

And so it begins. Rich Cimini, a Jets blogger for the New York Daily News, has an interesting observation for Irish fans.

By the way, one of my Bucs peeps tells me that the word around the Bucs is that Gruden could be going to Notre Dame to replace Charlie Weis. Sounds a little farfetched, but as the theory goes: The school will buy out Weis as soon as he signs his recruiting class, in two or three weeks, and hire Gruden. Heard from someone close to the Notre Dame program that there's a weird vibe around the football offices. Hmm.

I'm not buying it. The amount of heat that the Irish Athletic Department would receive by firing Weis after his class is locked in (a class that was promised would come in under Weis), may be too much to recover from. If we are to get Gruden it would be after this upcoming season and following a poor performance by Weis' team. 

I think it is completely possible that Swashbuckling Swarrrbrick makes a call to Gruden and tell him that he can have the job if Weis doesn't win 9 or 10 games. That way he knows the situation, as does Weis, and we aren't scrambling to find a coach while in transition.

Links o' the Day

The big news from yesterday is obviously the basketball team getting blown out by the Syracuse Orange. The Irish would continually get the game down to 5 and 6 points in the second half, only to allow the Orange to go on a run of their own and extend the lead to double digits. Luke Harangody scored 25 points and had 16 rebounds, but he missed 19 shots and was pushed around down low by a much bigger defender in Arinze Onuako. Onuako and Rick Jackson abused Luke Zeller and Zach Hillesland, making the two Irish forwards look like big white stiffs. The Irish basketball team needs to improve their road game if they want to be ready for March Madness. 

Okay, back to football. Heisman Pundit, the preeminent source on Heisman Trophy news, has his first Heisman Watch of the year. HP has Colt McCoy as his leader in the pre-season, with Tim Tebow and Jahvid Best following at #2 and #3. Sam Bradford is at listed at #10, which would seem insane at first, but his reasoning actually makes quite a bit of sense. If someone is to win a second Heisman next season, it would be the messiah (Tebow), not Bradford. 

Sad news from the NCAA. Miles Brand has revealed that he has pancreatic cancer, and that the long term prognosis is "not good". Brand, 66, has run the NCAA since 2003. He is now going under chemotherapy and will know the success of his treatments in the next few months. I wish Brand the best.

Tim Tebow continues to grow tiresome. Tebow apparently ripped off his sling during the Florida's basketball game against Arkansas, saying "Don't worry about this. I'll be fine." Thank God we only have one more year with the messiah, and then he can fade into the land of Andre Ware and Ty Detmer.

Finally, life is good for the quarterback of Texas. God bless the Colt.

Jack Swarbrick talks to SBT

Eric Hansen has a two-part interview series with AD Jack Swarbrick. Part 1 was published on Friday and Part 2 will be published Monday. Here's a few interesting items from Part 1:

- Swarbrick and Charlie Weis are working together to accomplish the things they talked about in the December California meeting. The AD also says that the changes were not as much about people as they were gameplan and the responsibilities of the staff. Hopefully that means we won't be seeing Weis take over play-calling in the middle of the season again.

- Swarbrick says that maintaining our independence is critical, and one of his main priorities. That's a breath of fresh air when comparing it to Kevin White's flirtation with the Big Integer.

- Hansen asked Swarbrick about the negative connotation that goes along with Charlie Weis' name. The AD then respoinded by asking anybody to "point out an incident in the past year, past eight months, that has contributed to that." I would like to point to exhibit A; the loss to Syracuse. I would like to point to exhibit B; "We're going to pound the football". I would like to point to exhibit C; a complete meltdown in the second half of the season....

- Swarbrick is confident that we will win games in 2009. I am not. I would like to see a lot of wins, but I'm certainly not confident that we will. We went 6-6 this season against a similar schedule as the '09 slate. Weis' teams have shown a lack of off-season improvement, and the strength and conditioning program is still optional (that kills me).

So I'm not confident. But I look forward to Part 2 of the interview on Monday.

ND-SU recap: Where was the defense??

Notre Dame got pasted by Syracuse today, right in front of my eyes, by a score of 93-74. A good, but not spectacular, Syracuse team put up 93 points . The Orange shot 55.2% from the field and had six players in double figures. Arinze Onuako and Rick Jackson dominated down low all game long, pushing Luke Harangody around on the block. It was a really, really poor performance from a team that said they wanted to be in contention for a Big East Championship all year long.

The crowd was over 30,000 strong, and only a speck of them were in green (one other in my entire section, a section filled with some of SU's finest students... vomiting on their shoes), and very loud. And they had plenty to cheer about. I thought the Irish had to do four things inparticular to win a tough game on the road. Let's take a look at how it went:

1) Harangody had to beat Onuako down low. He didn't even come close. Gody had 25 points and 16 rebounds, both impressive figures, but he missed 19 shots, including two from beyond the arc (?). AO spent most of the game doing pullups on the rim.

2) Kyle McAlarney had to have a big game against the the combination of Andy Rautins and Paul Harris. McAlarney did his job, scoring 24 points with 5 assists and 4 boards. The guy sitting behind me just kept shouting "Not McAlarney! For God's sake, just don't let McAlarney beat you!" and 23 would proceed to drill another three. He did take one awful three from too far out, banging it off of the backboard like Kobe did when he tried shooting left handed, but then he drilled one from the same spot on the court the next time down. He wasn't the problem.

3) Tory Jackson had to limit his turnovers, keeping the crowd down and making the most of the Irish possesions. He had three turnovers against just five assists, scoring seven points but shooting 1-7 from beyong the arc. He was obviously rattled on the road, and I truly couldn't understand why he kept jacking up threes.

4) I thought we needed a lead early to quiet the crowd and give the Irish momentum. Didn't even come close. 'Cuse was on fire early and we never came within five points in the second half.

Brey shoulders some of the blame too. He refused to call for a double team down low, even though Jackson and Onuako made Luke Zeller and Zach Hillesland look like a couple of big white stiffs. Harangody looked like he wanted to double team, but never committed to switching.

Also, with the score 54-49, the Irish were making a comeback and Jimmy B called a timeout to settle his team down. The Irish D then let Paul Harris get behind EVERYBODY for an easy dunk. How a coach lets his team come out of a time out so unprepared is beyond me.

This team has some obvious flaws, the biggest being their inability to play well on the road, especially recently. They are 2-3 this year in straight-up road games and 2-2 on neutral courts, a 4-5 record combined. They still have road games against Cincinnati, UCLA, West Virginia, Providence, and Connecticut. I can see wins against Cinci and Providence, but the other three are going to be tough given our recent performances on the road. Following that there is the Big East Tourny, played at the Garden. Brey has to fix this pronto, before it becomes dibilitating.

Another issue is shot selection. Harangody can't be jacking up threes, and Tory Jackson needs to take a long two instead of a three. There's something about that extra two feet that throws him off. Zeller and Hillesland aren't good enough outside shooters to play a European-style big game, so get them on the block and see if they can hang on to a rebound or two.

The next three games will be crucial. The Irish have Connecticut and Marquette at home before heading out to Pittsburgh for the third leg of the gauntlet. If they win two of three they will be 14-6 and there aren't any problems (at that point). If they lose two (or even all three?), then they go to 13-7 and it's time to phone Houston.

We will see if this team can compete on a national level in the next three games. We will see...

Irish Hoops takes on the 'Cuse today

And we'll be there with a full report to follow the game.

To get you started, here's a preview from one of my favorite beat writers, Mike Waters. It's from the Syracuse paper, so expect an Orange angle, but Syracuse and Notre Dame are facing a similar situation; an extended string of tough games in the nation's toughest conference. Both teams have lost their last game, which makes this one that much more important.

The new 'Cuse football coach Doug Marrone will be speaking at half time. Not that anyone in Syracuse cares (or even remembers that there's a football team here).

Irish Eyes also has a preview from the Irish side of things. You can check that out here.

The big matchup will be between centers, as Luke Harangody goes against Arinze Onuaku. Onuaku averages 12 pts and 8 boards a game, but his defense is what the Orange want to see today. On the flip side, Harangody has to have a big game down low. If he can be a threat on the block it will force the 2-3 zone to contract, opening the outside for McAlarney and the rest of the bomb squad.

McAlarney will be going up against Andy Rautins, who tweaked his knee in SU's last game. Look for Paul Harris to take the defensive duties on McAlarney early, especially if there are any effects of Rautins' knee injury still lingering.

Finally, Tory Jackson has to limit his turnovers while playing on the road. It doesn't take much for the Dome to get loud (there isn't much to cheer for here in Syracuse), and a turnover gone the other way for a dunk will get the 30,000+ on their feet. Two years ago we won by keeping the crowd quiet for most of the game.

Getting an early lead is key. Not only will it keep the crowd down, but Syracuse has been very good at coming from behind late in games this season. A lead is good in any situation, but the larger it is, the harder the comeback will be. Simple equation, I know, but very important to remember as the second half goes on.

I'll have a full first-hand report following the game. Until then, Go Irish!

Links o' the Day

The SBT's Eric Hansen talked to Hayden Fry about the latest Irish coach, OL coach Frank Verducci. Fry was extremely complementary (as you would expect him to be), describing Verducci in the following way:

"Charlie will be extremely happy with Frank's organizational skills," Fry said Friday via telephone from his home in Mesquite, Nev. "He's fundamentally sound. He relates to the players, very sensitive to his players. He's extremely intelligent. He's a first-class person. He's a great recruiter. And he's a very handsome gentleman. I just can't say enough good things about Frank Verducci."

Fry also said that Verducci will "do anything that the head coach tells him to do," which is no good. Verducci has to stand strong with his blocking philosophy, and he can't be afraid of standing up against Weis. Latina's biggest flaw was that he let Weis tell him what to do instead of implementing his plan, and now Jon is on the unemployment line.

CFN has a list of the top 100 players returning for 2009. Not a single player listed is on the Irish. How far things have fallen. Can you imagine the teams of Lou Holtz not having a single player in the top 100? It was surprising when Holtz's squads didn't have someone in the top 10.

In other news, Boston College continues to fall apart (hooray!) as offensive coordinator Steve Logan has decided not to return. Fredo now has to replace both coordinators on Spaz's new staff. We should beat them next year.

Utah held a champion's parade in Salt Lake City to celebrate their undefeated season. Fans were cheering "We're number one!" despite the fact that they ended the season.... uh, number two.

Oh, and the Lingerie Bowl will be back in its 6th installment. Adjust your TiVo sets accordingly.

Jon Gruden Fired in Tampa Bay

I must admit, I was not expecting this. Golden Boy Jon Gruden has been fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (along with GM Bruce Allen) after the team lost their final four games and missed the playoffs for the fourth time in six years.

Gruden won a Super Bowl with the Bucs in his first season as coach, a feat that Tony Dungy was never able to accomplish in any of his years in South Florida (The Glazers fired Dungy as well). ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that Gruden was "blindsided" by the move. Makes you wonder whether or not he would have still declined the Tennessee job (assuming he was offered, as everyone is) had he known this was coming.

A lot is made about Gruden falling in and out of love with quarterbacks at the drop of a dime. The fact is that Gruden never really had a quality guy behind center while with the Bucs. None of his QBs broke the 3,000 yd mark since 2003, when Brad Johnson threw for 3,811 yds. Johnson is now approaching 40. It's not saying much when Jeff Garcia is the best QB you've had in recent years.

That light murmur you are hearing is the sound of a few Irish fans starting the "Gruden for OC" movement. I love Jon Gruden as a coach. I wanted him to coach the Irish when Willingham was hired, and I wanted Gruden when Weis was hired. I wanted Gruden this off-season, but not as my top choice. I think he's a damn good coach, a Super Bowl winner, and an offensive mind (with, ahem, head coaching experience). But let me be clear; He would be an awful choice as offensive coordinator. He would be another NFL guy, with an NFL system, and has made it clear that he would hate recruiting. No thanks.

However, if he is still unemployed and Weis' Irish go 6-6 next season..... I'm just saying.

Luke Fickell turns down Irish offer

Luke Fickell has declined Notre Dame's offer to become the new DLine coach. Fickell was offered the job recently, but chose to stay at Ohio St. I never really understood why Fickell would take the job, especially when you consider the move from being Ohio State's DC to ND's DLine coach.

It now appears that the Irish will turn to former Michigan DL coach Steve Stirpling. The general consensus among Irish fans is that Stirpling would be a solid hire. I had a few thoughts in yesterday's post identifying the two candidates, but people who know better than I are telling me that this is a good move, so I'm beginning to get behind the idea of having a Michigan Man coach the D-Line. Michigan's total defense fell more than 40 spots nationally last season, moving from 24th to 67th in the country. A lot of that can be attributed to a change in coaching styles and the pathetic scUM offense, but it's still a nice stat to see when considering a relavent candidate.

Links o' the Day

Not much in the way of Irish football news to touch on today, but we'll work with what we have.

Charlie Weis has offered Davin Gardner, a top QB prospect from the class of 2010. Gardner is a 6'4", 196 lb dual-threat quarterback out of Inkster, Michigan. He has offers from scUM, Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and most of the other Big Ten schools. He runs a 4.63 40, and displays good leadership and mobility (according to Scout.com). Gardner looks to be in the mold of a Vince Young/Terrell Pryor, which would be a nice thing to have, but Weis has said in the past that he cares about a QB's throwing ability, not his running ability (you know, if you put much creedence in Weis' words of wisdom).

The Irish basketball team is preparing for their big matchup at the Carrier Dome tomorrow. Possibly because I'll be in attendance. Probably not. Either way, it will be a very tough matchup for the Irish. This year's Syracuse squad is playing with chemistry, and they have many of the pieces you look for in talented college team. The game is at the Dome, which is never fun, though I do remember being in attendance for an Irish win in Syracuse a few years ago (was it '04?). Rakes of Mallow has a good preview of the game (and a review of the Louisville matchup). I'll have a full report following the game on Saturday. Go Irish!

Also on the basketball front, IrishIllustrated had a nice feature on Brey's "rant" concerning Luke Harangody's viability as a player of the year candidate. Personally, I think Harangody is a terrific player, but not POY quality. That's not a knock against him, there's just some really great players out there this year.

II also has a preview of the hockey's teams matchup with Lake Suprior State for those interested.

The Chicago Tribune's Fred Mitchell has a story on Jeff Samardzija's hopes of becoming the Cub's 5th starter this season. Samardzija was lights out in the Joba Chamberlin 8th-inning-guy-soon-to-be-a-starter role last season.

Oh, and the University sold $150 million in bonds. Why couldn't they have done that before making the decision on Charlie Weis?

So who's staying and who's going pro? Deadspin has a complete list. The biggest news is Petey Poodle's disgust with Mark Sanchez's decision to go pro. A lot of people are having fun with this. Subway Domer has an accurate take, but the great Orson Swindle has the real scoop over at EDSBS. Petey claims he was upset about the room's furniture, namely the lack of a podium, but no one's really buying that. Maybe he's just upset that Mitch Mustain has moved closer to the QB1 spot (hint: because he's not that good).

Other eligibility news: Percy Harvin is going pro. It will be interesting to see if he can beat Darren McFadden's sub 4.3 40 from last year's combine. Clemson's CJ Spiller will be back next year. LSU's Andrew Hatch is transferring (back) to Harvard as he resumes life as a true student-athlete.

Coaching news: Kyle Wittingham was (deservedly) named Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, noted face-slapper (and slappee) John L. Smith has accepted a job under mentor Bobby Petrino at Arkansas. There's a lot of good things happening there.

That's all until tomorrow. I'll be back after the ND-SU matchup and a lunch at Joey's.

More Coaching Candidates Emerge

A couple points of interest were buried in Eric Hansen's comment on the Verducci hire. Two new names were mentioned as coaching candidates for the RB and DL coach openings.

Hansen says that "Among the names surfacing in connection with the [DL] vacancy are Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell and former Michigan defensive line coach Steve Stripling. Weis also is interviewing running backs coaches to replace new Miami of Ohio coach Mike Haywood. Louisville’s Tony Alford is among the top candidates for that spot."

Stirpling was fired as Michigan's DLine coach when Rich Rodriguez took over following the 2007 season. Stirpling was scUM coach in 2006, when the Wolverines led the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 43.4 yds/game. Stirpling's DLines were strong in all three efforts against the Irish. Michigan gave up 105 rushing yards against ND in 2005, 4 rushing yards in 2006, and -6 rushing yards in 2007. In three games, ND could only amount 103 rushing yards combined. I'm not sure if that is a credit to UM's defense or a discredit to the ND rushing attack the past couple of years. Stirpling was a solid DL coach, but I feel a bit dirty taking a former Michigan man.

On to Alford, the RB coach candidate. This past season was Alford's second at Louisville. He is considered a fiery guy and a very good recruiter. Anthony Allen set the school record for rushing yards in a game with 275 yds against MTSU in 2007. Before joining the staff at Louisville, Alford coached 1,000 yard rushers at Iowa State from 1995 through 2001. Louisville averaged 164.5 rushing yds/game in 2008 (46th nationally) and 146.1 rushing yds/game in 2007 (65th nationally). Alford would be an decent hire. He coached in a zone-blocking system at Louisville, and if Weis is committed to the scheme then they need a coach who knows it. It might be nice to see some intensity from our backs, as well.

Oh, and just for a comparison, ND's rushing stats for 2008 and 2007 are 109.7 yds/game (101st nationally) and 75.3 yds/game (116th nationally). Yes, it was that bad.

Class of 2009 Commits- #1 Jake Golic

As we near National Signing Day, I'd like to take a look at the recruits who will make up the next class of Fighting Irish football players. The Class of 2009 has 17 commits so far (with the possibility of a couple more), so we have some work to do. Without further adu, meet the first commit to this year's class, Jake Golic.

Golic is a 6-5, 220 lb tight end from West Hartford, CT, and is the son of (you guessed it) Mike Golic, a former Irish defensive lineman and current ESPN radio broadcaster (his main attraction is the ability to talk with an entire donut in his mouth). Golic's uncles, Bob and Greg, also played for the Irish.

Scout rates Jake Golic as a three-star prospect (and the 54th TE nationally), while Rivals has him as a two-star prospect. He had an offer from UConn and interest from Rutgers, BC, Florida, Maryland and Ohio State. Golic announced his decision on April 4th, 2008, telling Michael Rothstein "I wasn't waiting for offers. I was waiting for Notre Dame the whole time. I couldn't really care what happened besides that. I was just waiting for Notre Dame to come."

In 2008, Golic had 43 catches for 613 yards and 8 TDs, along with 32 tackles and 4 sacks. The year before he caught 29 balls for 396 yards and 4 TDs, along with 17 tackles, 2 sacks and a fumble recovery. Golic was a second-team All-State selection and also played in the 2008 HS Army All-American Bowl.

Golic will enter ND third or fourth on the depth chart, behind Kyle Rudolph, Joseph Fauria, and Mike Ragone (if he is healthy). ND also has a commit from TE Tyler Eifert in this same class. This should give Golic some time to get his body ready for D1-A football, along with time to adjust to the speed of the game. While not a player that most expect to contribute right away, Golic could turn out to be a solid player at Notre Dame.

Luke Fickell offered D-Line coaching job

Charlie Weis is apparently turning his attention to the D-Line now that Frank Verducci has been hired to fix (resurrect) the line on the other side of the ball. His first target? Ohio State Co-Defensive Coordinator Luke Fickell.

Doug Lesmerisis of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer is reporting that Fickell has been offered the job. The moron's who were disappointed with "the lack of wow factor" in the Verducci hiring would get what they want if Fickell were to accept the offer, but will he?

Fickell played nose tackle at Ohio State from 1992-96, got his first coaching job at Ohio State, and has only left Ohio State once, to take a two year stint as D-Line coach at Akron before returning to OSU. He is listed as a co-defensive coordinator (though he isn't first in line with that title, falling second to Jim Heacock) and is seen as a possible successor to Jim Tressel. He has spent most of his life in Central Ohio, and his connections in the area are very, very strong.

So why would a candidate go from being a DC to a D-Line coach? I'm not quite sure. Fickell played under Tenuta at Ohio State, so there is an obvious connection there, but I can't imagine that would be enough to sway him. The Irish already have two DC's, and adding a third would be laughable. The only possibility would be if the Irish were to pay him more, but even that might not be enough.

Fickell coached Special Teams in his first two years as a coach at OSU before being promoted to linebackers coach. He has spent the past five years at that position, coaching All-Americans AJ Hawk and James Laurinaitis (among others). It would be a huge pickup if we can get him, but I have my doubts.

Links o' the Day

The big news is obviously the hiring of Frank Verducci as O-Line Coach. This means that John Latina is out. I like the hire, and Latina had to go. Here's some other viewpoints: South Bend Tribune, Irish Eyes, and Blue-Gray Sky.

Jashaad Gaines is no longer enrolled at ND. Might come back, might not. We Shall See.

JonesMan over at IrishEnvy has a great breakdown of the current recruiting situation. I personally don't think this class is very strong this year, but there is still some time to close a few big names.

Speaking of recruiting, 5-Star LB Manti Te'o has set his last two recruiting visits. Te'o will visit Stanford this weekend and USC on the 30th. I don't think we have much of a shot with Te'o anymore.. you know, the whole getting-pelted-with-snowballs-while-watching-the-Irish-lose-to-SYRACUSE thing. I'd place my bet on USC.

In other news, Sam Bradford is returning to OU, while Mark Sanchez is leaving. Allow the Mitch Mustain project to commence (will it end with Aaron Corp beating him out in the spring? Extremeley possible). Cameron Sexton will not be returning to UNC next season, choosing instead to "pursue personal goals", and former USC wideout Vidal Hazelton will be transferring to Cincinnati. I wonder if he will catch any passes from the buster wearing #2.

Mark Sanchez (may be) going pro

Chris Mortensen is reporting that USC QB Mark Sanchez will be entering the draft. Sanchez's father Nick, however, is saying that Sanchez "is still undecided". Apparently Sanchez's family would prefer he stayed at USC for another year. I'm sure Poodle Pete would agree.

Sanchez killed ND, as did many of the USC QBs who came before him. Sanchez was 22-31 for 267 yards and two TDs last season, though the Irish did pick off two passes in the game. He was also 21-38 for 235 yards and four TDs the in 2007. A 2-1 TD-INT ratio and a 62% comp rate. I'll let that pass.

If Sanchez were to leave, the USC starting spot will either go to Aaron Corp or Mitch Mustain (Mitch Mustain project.... COMMENCE!).

Jashaad Gaines no longer enrolled at Notre Dame

The Journal Gazette's Michael Rothstein is reporting that Jashaad Gaines is "not enrolled at Notre Dame this semester."

Gaines, a safety out of Las Vegas, has two years of eligibility remaining. He has played in nine games in his three seasons at ND.

Just because Gaines is not enrolled does not mean that he will not be back in the fall. This is the same thing that Pat Kuntz and Darrin Walls did and the same thing that Gary Gray is doing. In fact, the piece seemed to come with a  positive spin. 

John Latina out (Rejoice!), Replacement Hired

I'm not completely sure which story should be chosen as the lede, but John Latina has resigned and Frank Verducci has been named the new Offensive Line Coach. 

Let's start with the positive news; Verducci's hiring. Verducci comes from the Cleveland Browns, previously coaching under Romeo Crennel, the Patriots DC when Weis was their OC. Verducci (I keep wanting to refer to him as Tom) resurrected Jamal Lewis's career in his first year, which is a pretty impressive feat in its own right, but he also turned rookie LT Joe Thomas into a pro-bowler.

While his recent jobs were in the NFL, the majority of Verducci's experience comes from his ten years under Hayden Fry in the 80s and 90s at Iowa. The Hawkeyes' run-first offense proved effective while Verducci was there, posting three of their top ten single season rushing totals in school history. Verducci also coached twelve NFL linemen while at Iowa, six of whom were first team Big-10 selections. Hawkeye center Mike Delvin was selected Big-10 offensive lineman of the year and was a first-team All-American in 1992. 

Verducci is also a very good recruiter. The Lemming named him one of the top 10 recruiters in the country in 1990 as did SuperPrep's Allen Wallace from 1990-92 and 1995. Verducci has ties to the Jersey area, which adds to Charlie Weis' Armpit of America Empire.

Verducci will get four lineman back from last year's starting offensive line; tackle Sam Young, guards Chris Stewart and Eric Olsen, and center Dan Wenger. Guard Trevor Robinson, who saw significant playing time down the stretch, will also be returning. The experience is always good, but we have yet to see if any of these guys can push D-Lines around. The Irish offense was halted last year by the running games ineffectiveness. We will see if that is a matter of technique or talent when the fall rolls around. 

I like the fact that Verducci was heavily involved in a very strong running attack while at Iowa. It shows that he can put together an effective running game in a conference that places an emphasis on run-stuffing defenses. The Irish offensive line needs to vastly improve in the run game in order for the offense to succeed. A strong ground game will take pressure off of the passing game, allowing playmakers Michael Floyd and Golden Tate to get single coverage. A turn around may come more quickly than we expect if Verducci can turn this OL around in the off-season. It may take more time than that, though.

Charlie Weis had a few comments regarding the coaching change. You could probably track those down if you felt they were important.

In order for Verducci to be added to the staff, John Latina had to be removed. He resigned in order to "pursue other opportunities". Latina had to go this off-season, and this move surprises few, if any. The Irish line the past two years has been abysmal. The Irish averaged only 2.1 ypcin 2007, but Weis said he didn't want to make anyone the scapegoat for the season's poor performance, so Latina stayed. There was little improvement in last year's performance, so the decision had to be made. We wish Latina the best, but I won't be upset to see a competent line next season.

Also of note, D-Line candidates have been interviewed, but no decision has been made yet. Weis is also looking for a RB coach to replace Mike Haywood.  

Links o' the Day

This will be a (you guessed it) DAILY feature on TDS. Each day I will post links to relevant stories about Notre Dame football (and college football in general) from various websites and publications. Since this is the first go around, I'll reach back a bit deeper than just one day.

Two points of note from The South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen. First, Gary Gray will not be enrolled at ND for the spring semester. Gray missed the Hawaii bowl for "personal reasons", but still has the opportunity to enroll at ND for the fall semester last year. This is what Pat Kuntz did in the recent past. Second, Jappy Oliver has resigned as D-Line Coach. It was first reported that Oliver had been fired, but the latest statement from Notre Dame spokeman Brian Hardin specified that Oliver had resigned "to pursue other career opportunities." Oliver is the second coach to leave the staff this off-season, following current Miami (Ohio) head coach Michael Haywood.

The guys at NDNation take a look at the impact yards per carry have on a team's performance. It is astonishing to me that none of Charlie Weis' four teams have averaged above four yards a carry. 2007's 2.1 ypc is embarassing, but there was an improvement last season, though it was only to 3.4 ypc. A lot of that has to do with the O-Line, but a certain amount of blame must be put on the backs for a lack of patience.

The ever-informative gentlemen at Blue-Gray Sky take a look at the revolving door that is the off-season roster. Will Yeatman is out, Darrin Walls is in, and recruit Marcus Pollard decided to go in a different direction (specifically Westwood, CA). Piggybacking on that, the AP has a story that introduces us to the three newest members of the football team: Cornerback E.J. Banks, linebacker Zeke Motta and nose tackle Tyler Stockton. (WSBT)

In other news, LeSean McCoy is going pro. McCoy would have been arguably the best back the Irish would have faced next season. Pitt isn't nearly as strong without him, which makes next year's schedule a bit easier (if that is actually possible). Following McCoy is phenom Michael Crabtree, though Taylor Mays will stay another year, gaining nothing more than 12 extra months of injury risks (oh, and Javorski Lane is really, really big).

That's all for today. More to come tomorrow.

The State of the Union, Some Info About Myself, and Things I Plan to do (but my not)

Irish fans, alumni, players, and coaches, the State of the Program is... up in the air. The Fighting Irish have looked good at times over the past two seasons, but the feeble finish to the 2008 season was followed up by an even more curious bowl victory. One minute you think the Irish are headed down a path of struggle and despair, the next you think anything is possible. Such has been the way for Fighting Irish fans overthe past decade.

There's no doubt as to Charlie Weis's near future, he will be the head coach of the football team for the 2009 season, but anyone thinking he is secure past that either knows something I don't (which is entirely possible) or is far more optimistic than I will ever be (which is also certainly possible, if not probable). The 2009 season looks to be unpredictable, and seven months (and 22 days) is a long week to wait for signals.

...which gives me a lot of time to get a blog ready for the season. Let me start by giving you some information about myself. I'm a recent college grad with a love of journalism. I've written for trade publications in the Los Angeles area and small-city sports pages, along with independent magazines and web-zines while in college. I've spent much of the past five years covering the Irish for various websites, and while I don't pretend to have some vast knowledge on the topic, I do feel that I can put together a solid product whichI hope you will enjoy.

Not everything I write will be positive, just as not every play on the football field will not gain yards, but I promise to present an independent, honest, hard-hitting view of things everytime you click on the homepage.

Over the next few months I plan to look forward to the upcoming spring practices, provide recruiting coverage leading up to National Signing Day (and beyond), and even throw in a bit of basketball news. If you don't like what you read here then feel free to turn the dial to the right. Those of you who enjoy the page, I recommend that you e-mail me (the address is TheDailyShillelagh (at) gmail.com) and continue to read and comment on the posts.

As I continue to post in the coming weeks, I hope to introduce to some features and re-occuring posts (such as the day's top links) that will be a staple on the site. I hope you continue to read the blog, and feel free to send your comments at any time.

Thanks,
TDS