White Out

Against my promise of last Friday, I am posting again today about Notre Dame. Two things happened over the weekend, one of which being a huge occurence:

• Kevin White is no longer the Athletics Director at Notre Dame. He has accepted the same position (with the addition of Vice President at the front of his title) at Duke University. At first glance, this move was one of job security for Kevin White. It was long known that White opposed the firing of Tyrone Willingham in 2003, but the move occured anyway due to pressure from the Board of Trustees. In addition, it was also reported that he was against the 10 year contract given to Weis just months into his first season. White likely saw that he was going to be held accountable for decisions that he wasn't fully controlling. I'm sure the less intense and microscoped environment of Durham will be a much better retirement than in South Bend, where he could have been one more bad football season away from being fired. We can't forget that he signed Bob Davie to a contract extension in early 2000, only to fire him later that year. Then he hired George O'Leary, who was on campus for 7 days before being fired due to resume issues. And then he hired Willingham and oversaw that debacle. No doubt that non-football sports made enormous strides under White however. Overall it was a great job in non-football sports but a sub-par one for Notre Dame football.



• Notre Dame and Utah will likely play in 2010 at Notre Dame stadium in a 1 game deal. This is a good move for the Irish, as we get a brand new flavor that is also a competitive college football team. Certainly they are not tier 1, but they are a solid opponent that is respectable and (should be) beatable. Always good to keep the schedule fresh and geographically spread out.

Right now there is no timetable or official hiring schedule for a new AD. The South Bend Tribune has created a list of candidates of interest, with really only two things connecting them: Athletics Directing experience, as well as passing through Notre Dame at some point in their lives. Prediction from my seat: Lawrence "Bubba" Cunningham, who has a few huge things going for him.

1. He graduated from ND (twice, 1984 & 1988)



2. He was an athlete at ND (golf)



3. He worked in the Athletics office at ND for 15 years (!!) after college, being the lead negotiator in the current deal with Adidas.



4. He has now been a full athletics director at two schools (Ball St. & Tulsa)

I met the guy once, and he was super charismatic and classy - perfect for this role. Certainly I think there is one other viable candidate that I just must mention . . .