The Final Hours

While nothing is official yet, it appears that Cincinnati Head Football Coach Brian Kelly will officially accept the Notre Dame coaching position this evening. I have no inside info or any sources more than you do, but some of the best in the Notre Dame coverage business (Tim Prister, Mike Frank), think that all things are pointing to Kelly. The crux of the timing is that tonight is Cincinnati's team banquet - where Kelly would almost have to address the Notre Dame job one way or another. He could have his resounding "I'm here at Cincy to stay" moment, but many educated Notre Dame people think he will reveal that he has accepted the Notre Dame job. 

Vatican Smoke has been silent during the coaching search for a few reasons. First, there really was no info that was wholeheartedly reliable. The lack of information created a vacuum for every internet rumor known to man. The guys at Blue Gray Sky even planted a rumor, tracking it from an email and a few tweets all the way to a national news source. Jack Swarbrick has played this very close to the vest - kudos to him for that. Second reason for silence - since the Irish are not going to a bowl game, we have the entire offseason to dissect the hire - as well as dissect what went wrong with the Charlie Weis era. I felt that judgement and predictions would be wasted energy until we actually hire a coach and some time. 

Bottom line here is that Vatican Smoke supports whomever Notre Dame and Jack Swarbrick hires. Swarbrick is a Notre Dame alum that is intelligent, experienced, and not an academic trying to play athletic director (Dr. Kevin White anyone?). The public is not privy to the decision process, and quite simply alums and fans must do something that should be natural to Notre Dame fans: have faith. A coaching search is hardly a matter for the Pope, but rather, I mean that we need to have faith in our Athletics Director, trusting that he will make the right choice. Everyone knows that this is one of the most important decisions Jack Swarbrick or Father Jenkins will ever make in their lives - so don't you think they want to get it right? 

Not all coaching hires are definite successes or failures. Remember, when Lou Holtz was hired, it was a very ho-hum hire, bringing in a coach who got ran out of the NFL and had been a head coach at 4 colleges. What about how we felt when Charlie was hired? Not many Irish fans thought he would fail - but rather the question was how many championships he would win, and how fast. If Charlie Weis taught us anything as ND fans, its that we'd rather be happy in 3 years than at the press conference to announce our new coach. 

Lets be patient, have faith, and reserve judgement until the proper time.