Chucky to ND?

Its ridiculous, but the rumors of Jon Gruden becoming the next Notre Dame coach have gotten to an "absurd" level. If you remember, Jon Gruden attended Clay High School in South Bend, where his father was an assistant under Dan Devine at Notre Dame. Gruden did not attend Notre Dame, feeling he could get more playing time as a quarterback elsewhere. He was right, as he was a backup at Dayton most of his career. During the coaching search of 2002 (that eventually produced Ty Willingham), Gruden openly discussed his affinity for the Irish numerous times publicly, fueling speculation that he would be interested in the ND job.


Now that he has been fired by Tampa Bay this past Friday, the speculation begins again. From the New York Daily News Blog of Jets beat writer Rich Cimini:

"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. Hmmm"

Amazing. I can understand hearing about speculation that Weis will be fired after another potentially mediocre Irish season in 2009, with Gruden then being a potential candidate. But firing him right after the recruits sign? That's the most lowdown thing I have ever heard of, and certainly something that is not the Notre Dame way of doing things. While many hate Notre Dame, few can accuse the school of dirty recruiting tactics (deceiving or lying to recruits, money, cars, etc.). I think this comment was erring on the side of ridiculous.

Weis hired a few more assistant coaches, including Tony Alford, running backs coach formerly from Iowa St and Louisville. More to come on these guys later. But make no doubt about it - the most important assistant coach, Frank Verducci - offensive line coach - was already hired. Defensive Line coach is soon to come. The talk is also that the offensive coordinator spot may not really exist with Weis essentially filling it.

News & Notes

Ok, the posting layoff is over. In the week's since Notre Dame's throttling of Hawaii on December 24th in the Hawaii Bowl, a few coaching and personnel decisions have been made:

• Will Yeatman, former starting tight end, has transferred to Maryland to play football and lacrosse (he was 1st team All-America in lacrosse as a freshman). Yeatman was one of the players at the off campus party in September, where he was arrested yet not charged for under age drinking. The 20 year old had an amazing .02 BAC level - making him 3 times below the legal limit of any state. ND promptly suspended him for the entire semester, largely based upon his previous DUI the year before. It was time for him to leave, although ND as usual treated him like a nefarious criminal for a very simple offense. Still no charges for that arrest because the officers entered the house without permission (illegally) and the cases are being thrown out. The best blocking TE on the roster, his loss will be felt. Lucky for us, the ND tight end talent is deep enough to cover, assuming no injuries.
  
  
  
• Offensive Coordinator Mike Haywood has become the head coach of Miami of Ohio. Mike was a good assistant coach and has the experience to take the jump. Its hard to be an offensive coordinator under Weis, so this loss is not huge. So far, the Irish program has not replaced Mike. There are rumors that no offensive coordinator will be hired, just a few offensive assistants under Weis. I am fine with this, as we saw how well the Irish offense performed in the Hawaii Bowl when Weis was in the booth, calling plays, just like an offensive coordinator.





• Defensive Line coach Jappy Oliver is gone, to pursue other opportunities. A few names are floating around for his replacement. There has been talk of Luke Fickell, Ohio St Linebackers coach, joining the Irish staff. Whether he would be defensive line coach or an additional linebackers coach is anyone's guess.





• Offensive Line coach John Latina is also out, having been replaced this week by Frank Verducci. You can read all about him and some insight at the great blog Blue Gray Sky. In short, he has about 12 years of college experience preceding his last 8 years in the NFL. He is a New Jersey native that is exactly what Weis wanted - someone that speaks his language (NFL) but has worked in college (recruiting). It doesn't hurt that Verducci's father and brother are football coaching legends in New Jersey, which always helps in recruiting. Verducci has been OLine coach for the Cleveland Browns the past few years, employing the often controversial Weis scheme of "zone blocking". Many old timers hate this, but its what the OLine and Weis are used to. This is likely the most important coaching hire in Weis's career, so hopefully he got it right. Time will tell.





• 2007 starting corner back Darrin Walls has returned to campus, after moving home for the fall semester for "personal reasons". Walls was the best corner on the team in 2007 (remember his interception and then 60 yard TD return against Penn St?), as well as a top 50 recruit 3 years ago. He has 2 years of eligibility left, and is adding to what most think is the strength of the Irish, the defensive backfield. Next season, the Irish will have have 4 highly talented and experienced corner backs - 1 senior (McNeil), 2 sophomores (Blanton & Gray [hopefully - there are rumors of academics or transferring]), and 1 junior (Walls). After improving significantly in pass defense from 2005 to 2008, 2009 will be our best defensive backfield in 15 years.




• One more tidbit, not personnel related: The Irish scored more points (49) than any other team in any of the 34 bowl games this year.
  

Of all the news and notes, the hiring of the offensive line coach Frank Verducci, is the most significant. During the 4 years of Charlie Weis, the Irish have experienced the 3 worst rushing years in Notre Dame history. Some blame the lineman, or the scheme, while others blame the coaching. No matter what is the reason, the inability to run the ball has been the biggest disappointment and potential harbinger of failure of the Weis era.

A good example of the importance of the run game was this season, for instance. Everything started off great for the Irish offense. We passed the ball deep, and it worked well. Once teams adjusted by dropping more defensive backs deep (2nd half of the North Carolina game) we had to respond, but couldn't. What should be the offensive response when the defense backs up? Run the ball. We were unable to do that, so we were screwed offensively. Teams figured this out, and just deep covered us to death, knowing that their defensive lines and inside linebackers could handle the Irish run game with no help. Against Hawaii the talent level showed and we simply outplayed them and had a great day against a poor defense.

If Weis can find a way to run the ball even remotely like our teams pass the ball, he will finish his contract. I truly believe this is the missing ingredient, as the defense and talent level are improving each year. The flip side of this is simple - if Weis and Verducci don't make significant inroads in the running game - this coming fall - then they will both be fired. Lets hope they do.

Happy New Year

Been slow on the posting the past few weeks. A big reason for that has been laziness around the holidays. A bigger reason is that we have all offseason to break down the Hawaii Bowl, recruiting, and the 2008 performance by the Irish. Much more good discussion to come in the next few weeks.

Surface level reaction to the Hawaii Bowl has been great. The obvious plusses are finishing the season on high note, young players gaining confidence, and getting the 15 year bowl drought off the Program's shoulders. Certainly all of the positive must be tempered by the 2008 season, which saw an 8-4 caliber Irish team go 6-6.

The not as obvious but very important benefits of the bowl performance are the effect and recruiting and the media watchdogs. Recruits have clearly been impacted based on what I have read from the articles flowing from the All America High School all star game. Committed players have been eased, and uncommitted players were impressed. And the big win by the Irish will be fresh in the minds of many recruits well into the summer time.

As for the media, this game "shakes (some) of the (Weis) haters off", as Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton once said about his haters. The win doesn't give Weis stability as much as it makes writing negatively about Weis more difficult. At least until next season. There is an effect on recruiting here as well, as its much easier to recruit in a kid's living room without Weis job security updates running every 15 minutes on the bottom line.

More to come later. As always, discussion is encouraged.

I love being wrong . . .

Wow. Who is this Irish team that we are watching, and where is the mediocre squad we've seen the past few months? Jimmy Clausen is playing the greatest game as a QB that I have ever seen - ever. 5 TDs and 87% completion, 400 yards, midway through the 3rd quarter?!? Wow.

Merry Christmas!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow . . .

For those that read this blog, you are familiar with my game "predictions". I predict the outcome of the game, and a few significant things that happened. Then I check my predictions after the game. More than just specific predictions, I try to really discuss what the story of the game will be. If I pick Jimmy to have a good game passing, or the Irish defense to have a field day. So when reading my specific predictions, enjoy them for what they are, which is mostly a "feel" for how the game will go for the Irish. Now onto my "predictions".

Tomorrow night, at 7pm central time on ESPN, America will be opening presents, at church, or watching the Irish play Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii bowl. The Irish have been in Honolulu since Friday, but there hasn't been much "buzz" coming stateside. For one, everyone is in the Christmas mood. Second, the real "bowls" don't start until New Years Eve.

What has been filtering back through the news wires is a sense of how BIG this game is for Hawaii. Numerous papers and persons are saying "this is the biggest game in Hawaii history, including last year's historic BCS Sugar Bowl appearance." Yikes, not good for the Irish. The Warriors are excited by two things about this game; first, the Irish are very beatable. I will not further dissect this. Second, the game is on prime time on ESPN, and more people will be watching this game than the Sugar Bowl last year (ie. Notre Dame is playing).

So when I tell you I am trying to predict how the game will go, the fact that this game has become the Super Bowl for Hawaii football certainly factors in.

• Prediction 1 - The Irish defense will play another solid "bend but not break" game, giving up 250 yards total offense and 24 points. Hawaii is not a great offense like recent years, as stated in my post just below with all of ND and Hawaii's stat rankings for the season (check it out). Hawaii's offensive average this season is 345 yards per game, so holding them to 250 is more than we should need.
  
• Prediction 2 - Maurice Crum goes out in style, with 1 fumble recovery and 1 big interception. Maurice Crum has been a 4 year starter and the heart and soul of this team. A two time captain, he wants to win his last game and end the 15 year bowl win draught.
  
• Prediction 3 - Jimmy Clausen has a solid day, but different than his other solid days. Early this season, Clausen was on fire. People forget how good he was. The problem was that he was reliant upon the deep pass, and had trouble with the intermediate pass. Late in the year, he couldn't hit the deep routes and his performance declined significantly. Look for Clausen to have a good game with checkdown WRs and lots of swing RB passes. A solid 289 yard, 2 TD and 1 INT effort.
  
• Prediction 4 - Special Teams touchdown early calms the Irish. Whether its a punt return or a kickoff return or a block, something will need to happen to settle the Irish down. I predict Golden Tate on a punt return midway through the 1st quarter.
  

Game prediction time -

ND 27 Hawaii 21

The Irish make 3 TDs and 2 field goals, holding off the late charging Warriors barely. Hawaii's kicker has had a worse year than ours, so missed field goals by Hawaii force Hawaii to have to go 80 yards for the game winning touchdown with a minute to go. The Irish hold the Warriors off, but they come very close to scoring. An exciting ending and fun game to watch.

Merry Christmas and GO IRISH!!!