Tenutacious D

The 2007 Irish defense finished 39th in the country in total defense, about 28th against the pass in the nation, and about 55th against the run. This was the best Irish defensive performance since 2003, sadly. The defense gave up fewer big plays that past years, and was generally better than 2006 team, which gave up 40 points 3 times, including a 38 point performance by North Carolina (pre-Butch Davis). Only two teams scored 40 points against the 2007 Irish, ironically both being service academies (Navy & Air Force - both with top 5 running games in the country last season).

Giving up 40 points is hardly the best measure of a defense. Rankings against the pass and against the run can also be misleading, especially when opposing offense preferred and were successful using one attack instead of the other. However, no matter which way you view the numbers, the 2007 defense was clearly improved under first year Defensive Coordinator, Corwin Brown. The 2007 Irish finished better significantly better against the pass, and about the same against the run, while giving up fewer points and fewer 40+ point games.

Now enter new co-Defensive Coordinator, Jon Tenuta. Tenuta had previously been Defensive Coordinator at Georgia Tech for the past 6 years. Much has been written about Tenuta, including a spring post on this blog. During his time in Atlanta, Tech's defense compiled some DECENT stats:

• Top 30 in the Nation in defense - yards allowed, defense - scoring, and sacks for the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons.


• 2007 Tech Defense led the nation in sacks, averaging 3.5 per game; in addition, the unit finished 4th in the nation in tackles for loss.

These accomplishments at Georgia Tech are extraordinary, given that theTech program did not have elite athletes like the surround SEC or ACC schools may have had. Certainly there was talent at Tech, but that talent is a rung below what the Irish have in the Sophomore and Freshman classes, as well as what's coming into the program.

As if Irish fans need anything else to fire them up, a few quotes from Tenuta surfaced at a charity golf event recently:

Such was the reaction when new Notre Dame assistant head coach for defense Jon
Tenuta told the crowd of local Irish-backers on Friday that, this fall, the
team will "blitz about 80 percent of the time."

(in reference to the '07 Tech defense's success)

"We did it with an attacking, ball-hawking defense that brings it all the
time," said Tenuta, who will share responsibilities with last year's
defensive coordinator, Corwin Brown, a fragile alliance in which who has the
final word is not clear.

"That's the same way we're going to play up here. It's not three
yards and a cloud of dust any more, it's all this spread stuff. We're going to
try and confuse the front five and never let the quarterback set his feet."

Hard not to get excited about that as the season rapidly approaches (6.5 weeks until first college games on August 30th, 7.5 weeks until Irish open against San Diego St on September 6th).

So remember, when at some point this fall or next fall, you begin to hear about the surge in talent at Notre Dame, don't forget the biggest "signing" we had all off-season - Jon Tenuta.

Jack the AD

Notre Dame is set to announce its new Athletic Director later this week, when its expected that 1976 ND Alum John "Jack" Swarbrick will be the man. You can read a nice piece in the Chicago Tribune about Jack, and another piece here on Irish Eyes, both of which gets into a bit of his background. Essentially Jack is a lawyer with a major law firm in Indianapolis, IN, born in Bloomington, Indiana, who has been working in sports in some capacity for 25 years. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1980, and he's largely responsible for bringing the Super Bowl and other sport events to Indiana.

The Pope will break it down for you with a quick list of his pro's and con's for this hiring:

Pros

• He graduated from ND - this cannot be understated. Weis was an ND grad, as many of us just feel safer with the program or department in the hands of an alum. Instantly most alumni will have a connection with Jack that we did not have with Kevin White.


• He's a smart guy - Stanford Law, on top of the ND degree. Not bad


• Been around sports - Successfully brought the Super Bowl to Indianapolis, has been chairman of the Indiana Sports Corporation, and also represented various parts of US Olympic teams like Gymnastics and US Rowing.


• He's been a finalist for a few Athletic positions - he was a finalist to be chairman of the NCAA back in 2002, losing to Miles Brand, who sucks. His familiarity with the NCAA will certainly be a huge benefit that most other candidates wouldn't have. He was also runner up to be Commissioner of the Big 12. Obviously this guy wants to get into sports administration/leadership.

Cons

• He has never been an Atheltic director - huge hole on his resume. Most ADs at Notre Dame had been ADs at a few stops before ND, just like Kevin White. No substitute for direct experience.


• No direct football experience - He has advised sports programs legally, and organized Indiana to be the host for Olympic qualifying events, the Super Bowl, etc. But at Notre Dame, managing the Football program is the real job of the AD, and he has little direct football experience dealing with the huge issues facing Notre Dame football: scheduling, BCS/Conference affiliation, and coaching.


• He's been a finalist for a few Athletic positions . . . but has never been hired.

My gut is that this is a good hire. Jack has been successful in the business world, not in the world of college athletic administration. Being an AD is just like promoting a product, protecting a client, or being a CEO. And too often the Academic type don't get the "big picture" when making decisions, which a CEO or a high ranking executive has been trained to do. I think based on the limited amount of information I've read about Jack, that he's our guy.

Will be interesting to see the press conference, likely later this week.

Grizz Summer Improvement

A hot stove" of Grizzlies activity over the past couple of weeks:

• Grizz hire Kevin O'Neil as defensive expert/assistant coach



• Grizz officially sign Marc Gasol from Spain



• Arthur and Mayo make summer league debut

Kevin O'Neil is known as a defensive specialist, and his hiring is a welcome one. Experience on both the college and pro level will give him a better chance than most at fixing the biggest problem the Grizz have - defense. Hard to measure the impact of an assistant coach. Boston hired Tom Thibodeau, a defensive specialist, before this past season, and we all saw what happened there - the best defensive team in the league, and a NBA Championship. Certainly the big acquisitions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were the most important ingredient, but defensive coaches can bring an attitude and a commitment to the defensive end that the Grizz sorely lack. Lets hope the former coach that appeared in "Hoop Dreams" can do the same with the Grizz.

Marc Gasol is an exciting signing for the Grizz, but certainly one that most fans will not blink twice at. I've covered Gasol quite a bit, and made no qualms about my thoughts - Gasol will be more liked and better for the Grizz than his brother. That doesn't mean he will be an all star, but he will be a better fit, being younger, tougher, and bigger than his older brother. Gasol is a big center that is a much more natural center than his "softer" brother Pau who is more of a forward without power. Marc can bang, get tougher points and rebounds, and play some defense. He doesn't have the shooting or post skills of Pau, but he will develop and certainly be more palpable to Grizz fans.

At the end of the day, OJ Mayo and Darrell Arthur will need to be the sparkplugs to get this city back to the FedEx Forum. They perform well, the Grizz are in pretty solid shape. They bust, the Grizz are in trouble. Mayo has already brought excitement to the city, as he is having a great summer league week (scored 26 points last night, including a 69 foot buzzer shot!). That said, I think Arthur is the key. Mayo is money in the bank to be a productive NBA player. If Arthur can turn himself into a fundamentally sound starter that can give us rebounding and athleticism at the PF position, then this past draft would be considered an enormous success. There have been numerous comparisons between Arthur and New Orleans' David West - if those hold true, the Grizzlies are going to be darn good in 2 or 3 years.

With the signing of Marc Gasol, plenty of cap space, and rookies Mayo and Arthur, things are looking up for the Grizz. Interesting article here on Sporting News. The writer mostly makes fun of the Grizz, just like all the other national media looking for a story in July, the sahara of the sports writing calendar. But I enjoy how he leaves room at the end of the article for the Grizz to "surprise" him. I really do think a lot of the pundits out there are starting to realize that the Grizz are getting younger, gaining assets, and preparing for a surge in a few years.

Most still laugh at the Pau trade, but lets recap the Pau trade, yet again: The Grizz received cap space, Marc Gasol, Javaris Crittenton, Darrell Arthur, and a 1st Round pick in 2008 for Pau Gasol. As I've said over and over, lets wait for 2-3 more years before judging who got the better of whom in the Pau Gasol trade with LA.

Busy week of posts coming . . .

Been a long last week for the Pope. Even the Vatican is on a fiscal calendar and has to make quarterly reports/adjustments etc. There are tons of great topics out there including updates on the ND Athletic Director search, ND football player and recruiting news, the Cardinals at the All-Star break, and the beginning of the OJ Mayo era for the Memphis Grizzlies. Plenty coming your way, sorry for the outage last week.

Happy July 4th - Go Cards!

Big weekend for America and Baseball, particularly for the Cardinals and Cubs. The midwestern rivals are 1-2 atop the NL Central, and meet in a 3 game series at Busch Stadium this weekend. Here is a quick preview of the games, with the Cards pitcher first:

• Friday - Looper (9-5) vs Zambrano (8-3)


• Saturday (on Fox) - Lohse (10-2) vs Lilly (9-5)


• Sunday - Wellemeyer (7-3) vs Marshall (0-2)

Zambrano is making his first start since missing a few starts due to a slight injury. The Cardinals are set up pretty well with their best 3 pitchers right now, throwing in the series. Would be nice if we had Wainwright, Carpenter, Clement, or a few of the other pitchers that are stashed away on our DL. But I like our chances. The walk-off HR by Troy Glaus last night was very exciting, good for momentum heading into a big weekend series at home. Should be a lot of fans there also given the holiday weekend.

These games are important, for a few reasons:

1. Cards are 2.5 games back of the Cubs; the winner of the series gains serious momentum heading into the 2nd half of the season


2. The Cards have not yet played at Wrigley this season - there will be 6 games at Wrigley in August and September, while only 3 more after this series at Busch [interesting note: the Cards and Cubs play 15 times this season total - 9 at Busch, 6 in Chicago - that's the definition of the "unbalanced schedule" that you hear about]


3. These games are always important - two midwestern teams with fans in very close proximity of each other. Very similar to the Red Sox and Yankees at least geographically, in that everyone in the entire region typically favors one team or the other.
   

If the Cards can get a sweep or even 2 out of 3, I think the Cardinals will show they are here to stay. If the Cubs dominate, the tone could be set for the second half. Hard to project so much in one series, but I'm a big believer in letting the first place team know that you are going to take their spot if they slip just a little bit. Have a great weekend.