Offseason Update

Lots going on since my last post.

I never did finsih the post-season wrap-up that I should have, mostly due to a lot of personal and professional turmoil that has limited my posting time. But now that things are settling down a bit, I should be a bit more regular in my posting (probably on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

I'm going to put in my 2 cents on the offseason moves so far, rating Weis' ability to respond to the weaknesses I have perceived in the program.

To identify what I think the weaknesses were, let's look at some of my posts this past season:

"Coach Weis still needs to turn the offense over to someone else - someone whose FULL TIME JOB is to make sure that it is effective and runs smoothly. He still needs to hire a legitimate special teams coach, and replace Latina as O-line coach. He still needs to work a little harder on fundamentals and assignment football in practice, and a little less on X's and O's. He needs to trust his very talented staff, and focus on player development like he used to as a position coach."
"I believe, as I've stated before, that he needs to hand off the reins of the offense to someone else, and focus on his head coaching duties ONLY."

So, lets take these criticisms one at a time, and see what Coach Weis has done to address them:

Problem 1: Turn the offense over to an offensive coordinator.
I've been harping on this one all season, and part of last season. I felt that Weis needs to focus on the bigger picture as the head coach, and get out of the minutiae that the coordinators have to focus on. At no time was this a bigger problem than at the end of the Navy game, when Coach Weis was so involved in the minutiae of the gameplan that he failed to notice what the rest of the stadium saw - we needed to attempt the field goal.

Weis' response:

Well, I'm going to try to cut the proverbial -- the figurative -- umbilical cord and try to move myself a little bit away from being the sole primary guy on the offensive staff. So in the springtime we'll start off with the offensive staff running the offense. That means (offensive coordinator) Mike (Haywood) will write the scripts and set it up on offense, and that means that all the offensive coaches now won't have to worry about the ever presence of the head coach breathing down their neck all the time. I'm trying to do this. This is a tough one for me to do, but I'm trying to give them an opportunity to run the offense with me interjecting rather than me demanding and telling them everything that we're going to do. So that's how we're going to run this in the spring.

Finally giving up the reins of the offense is, in my opinion, Weis' biggest move of the offseason - now he can focus on the big picture (kind of - more on this later). Whether Mike Haywood is the guy to do this with or not remains to be seen, but I hope that now that Weis has let go of the reins, he keeps them in the hands of the coordinator, and doesn't take them back at the first sign of trouble.

Problem 2: Hire a legitimate special teams coach
Our special teams play the past few seasons has been horrendous. Something had to change, and my approach would have been to fire Polian and hire a proven special teams coach that can identify and develop the particular types of talent that are needed for special teams.

Weis' response:

As far as special teams go, I screwed that up last year. Brian Polian is going to be the special teams coach. He's not coaching defense. He's just coaching special teams, and I'm his assistant. So the only two people who will be coaching special teams this year will be Brian as the special teams coach, and that's his, and I'm going to be his aide because since I've been here I've been talking about how special teams, special teams, special teams.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to meet with Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, who I think has done the best job of anyone in the country on special teams. I've already set up an appointment with him. I don't know whether or not I'm bringing Brian or not at that time, but I know one thing: I've got to figure out a better way of getting special teams righted, and I think (Beamer's) done the best job of anyone I know in college football with special teams. I asked him if I could mention his name at the press conference to make sure that I was not overstepping my bounds and got his permission to do so.

But we already have a time set, and before spring ball starts I'll be flying over there to spend some time with them to see if we can't get this righted. Brian will be the special teams coach, it'll be his deal, but I'll be his assistant. And I think when the head coach makes himself an assistant to an assistant coach, I think it might create a little sense of urgency with us on special teams.

I've coached special teams in the past myself, and I think that we can't be hypocritical. I think we really need to move in that direction, and I think by me pulling away from the offensive staff, it'll give me a lot more time to do just that.

Well, I wanted to see Polian out the door, but Weis is clearly not ready to do that yet, with Polian's family ties. So I can forgive him for that. But something had to change as far as the special teams, and Weis is not simply letting things stay the same. If you asked me who I would talk to about special teams, 10 times out of 10, I'd say Frank Beamer. And that is exactly what Coach Weis is going to do. And although he didn't fire Polian, he certainly isn't cutting him any slack, by making himself the assistant special teams coach. Although I'm a little uncomfortable with that level of involvement (I think Weis needs to be more big picture, and less involved with minutiae), I think it's a pretty clear statement to Polian that he needs to bust his ass to turn this thing around, or else Coach Weis will be on him like flies on shit. And, Weis does have experience as a special teams coach, so he isn't simply giving Polian a job to do and then hanging him out to dry.

Problem 3: Make coaching changes.
OK, so I'm doind a little revisionism on my calls for change posted above, as I had called for Latina and Polian's jobs, and both are still on the staff. However, it was my frustration with the status quo that led me to call for change, and Weis has clearly not been sitting on his laurels when it comes to shaking up the staff to keep things fresh.

Weis' response:

As you all know, last week we announced that (assistant head coach/defense) Bill Lewis was going to move over from a coaching position into administration. A little background on this. Back in early December we were on the road recruiting in some little cafe waiting to go into a home visit, and he informed me that he had to get both his hips replaced. So he gave me like his game plan that we had talked about where he was going to have one hip replaced, then coach spring ball, then have the other hip replaced, then be ready for the start of the season, which I thought was a little optimistic on his part.

I said I would heed his advice and then come back. So I thought about it for a while, and I came back, and I said, listen, Bill, here's what we're going to do. Let's get one done and let's get the other one done. (Defensive coordinator) Corwin (Brown) will coach the DBs in the springtime and you go ahead and get those done and get healthy, and let's get you ready for the season so we don't have any downtime and leave some margin for error in case anything went wrong when we have that done.

In the meantime, over the holidays, (Notre Dame athletics director) Kevin (White) and Bill had some coffee, and they were talking, and Kevin asked Bill if he had ever considered going into administration. Everyone loves Bill. He's beloved by our staff, and I think the feeling is common for anyone who knows him. If he'd be interested in going into administration.

So Bill was a little bit worried that he was doing something behind my back, and he came to me and we talked about it. I said, `well, I'm not aware that you had the conversation, but it's fine with me.' And he goes, `well, I'm going to actually consider doing it.' I said, `well, listen, we're in no rush here, you have no timetable. I already told you what we're going to do as far as coaching goes. If you want to do that, that's on you and we'll address it after recruiting is over.'

So now it got to be January, and I wasn't really sure which way this was going to go. He had met with both Kevin and he had met with (Notre Dame senior associate athletics director) Bill Scholl, and this wasn't like etched in stone yet but this was something that was a possibility more than a definite.

I was now on the road spending some time -- a whole entire week with Corwin, so we were addressing this issue while we were on the road, and we threw about a number of possibilities where if Bill decided to step aside, what would we want to do. The number one thing I wanted to do was make sure that he had an idea guy. I told Corwin, `as long as you're defensive coordinator, you're always running the defense, you're always calling the defense.' I think if Bill steps aside, that veteran coach is something that we need to replace with a veteran coach.

So we threw a couple names about and started making a few phone calls. At the end of the day when it was all settled, one of the guys that was available, fortunately for us, one of the guys that was available was Jon Tenuta. So I called Jon and we had met briefly -- we had talked briefly at the AFCA convention on January 7th when I was out there to pick up the Presidents Award for graduation rate. I bumped into him and we talked a little bit at that time.

I'm flying back from California, and it rattled through my mind, like God, this guy is on the street. This would be a great guy to help, and that's really how it played out.

So I talked to him a couple times and Corwin talked to him a couple times, and Corwin and Jon have a very close mutual friend at Virginia. Jon went to UVa, Corwin coached at UVa. They have a very close mutual friend that they're both very close with, so they both inquired about each other, about the chemistry and working with each other, because to me it was important to Corwin and to me that there be chemistry, because without chemistry it doesn't make any difference how good a coach you have if there's no chemistry.

So Corwin and Jon met, and I flew Jon in under the radar to meet with Corwin and I for a day, which he did, and went back and kind of had the plan in place where if, in fact, it came down with Bill, that's the direction we were going.

So when rumors start spreading in recruiting, I think it's important never to lie to any kids about what's going to end up happening. So rather than -- I got a hold of Bill, and I said, `look, rather than waiting until next Thursday until the day after recruiting is over, it's an issue, we're going to address it, let's address it right now.' So he decided that he was going to move over there. As a matter of fact, Bill Scholl hadn't even had an opportunity really to talk to his entire staff about it yet because it hadn't been an issue yet. But we felt that it was only the right thing to do to make sure that we were honest and up front with everyone, and I kind of force fed -- Bill's kids weren't even quite ready because we weren't even going to address it until the Thursday after recruiting was over.

So he decided that's where he wanted to go, and we got everything worked out with Jon, and as a matter of fact we had -- before I announced it that day we had a contract faxed in because it isn't like he had a contract signed. Everyone had him pegged that he was coming here already. We had to get him a contract and he had to fax it in just so we had a copy of a signed contract so we could legally say that we were going ahead and hiring him.

But it was after a lot of due diligence that started back in December, and there were some people involved in this possibility, and what I'm really happy about is twofold. Number one, that Bill is staying at the University because it's somebody who -- I love the guy, and the last thing I'd want is for him to not be part of our program. And I think with him staying on in administration I get the best of both worlds. And with Jon, obviously we get an experienced coach that Corwin can lean on as an idea guy that can really help as our defense evolves and can really help our defense.

Corwin will coach the defensive backs and Jon will coach the linebackers with assistance from other people, and that's the way that'll go.

Major coup with ND signing Jon Tenuta, the defensive mastermind of Georgia Tech's blitz-happy defense that tore us up to start the season. As the old adage says, f you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The kind of experience that Tenuta brings to the staff is invaluable. What makes this hire particularly exciting in my view is that Tenuta should have been up for head coaching vacancies with the success he's had at coordinator, but instead he's taken essentially a position coach position with Notre Dame. And Tenuta himself stated that the opportunity to work with Coach Weis was a big reason for his decision.

What this tells me is that it isn't just 18-year old kids that Weis has been able to sell this program to - there are veterans of the college game that see the potential of this program and want to get involved.

I'm still holding out for some changes to the offensive line, but that may simply be something that is addressed in practice and through player development (our numbers are getting closer and closer to competitive levels as far as scholarship athletes go).

Summary

The rest of the problems I discussed above won't be answered until Spring practice begins, but so far, Weis has shown an impressive ability to identify the weaknesses not only within the program, but also within himself, and then the courage to take steps to address them.

I love the changes so far, and can't wait to see how they translate into improvements on the field.

Jacobson's bigotry swept under the rug.

I just spent the last half an hour surfing the internets attempting to find some reports about the profanity-filled attack on Notre Dame and christianity that a Belvedere vodka-swilling Dana Jacobson apparently unleashed at the Mike & Mike roast last weekend.

However, that "paragon of integrity" over there in Bristol (ESPN) has apparently quickly and efficiently swept the incident under the rug. They've thus far been successful in preventing any video from the event from surfacing, and have strong-armed their mainstream media buddies into not reporting on the incident. Even the suits at ESPN have already forgiven and forgotten - Jacobson was not fired or even publicly denounced for her rant.

Pardon the language, but according to the few blog and newspaper reports that I have found, Jacobson (a Michigan alum) apparently thought it was OK to roast Mike and Mike by saying "Fuck Notre Dame," "Fuck Touchdown Jesus," and even just "Fuck Jesus." It amazes me not only that the powers that be over at ESPN haven't picked up on this, but also that the Christian Right hasn't signed on to denounce her slurs at their Lord and Savior.

But apparently, since the slurs were aimed at the Catholics, they just don't really care that much.

Jacobson's bogitry swept under the rug.

I just spent the last half an hour surfing the internets attempting to find some reports about the profanity-filled attack on Notre Dame and christianity that a Belvedere vodka-swilling Dana Jacobson apparently unleashed at the Mike & Mike roast last weekend.

However, that "paragon of integrity" over there in Bristol (ESPN) has apparently quickly and efficiently swept the incident under the rug. They've thus far been successful in preventing any video from the event from surfacing, and have strong-armed their mainstream media buddies into not reporting on the incident. Even the suits at ESPN have already forgiven and forgotten - Jacobson was not fired or even publicly denounced for her rant.

Pardon the language, but according to the few blog and newspaper reports that I have found, Jacobson (a Michigan alum) apparently thought it was OK to roast Mike and Mike by saying "Fuck Notre Dame," "Fuck Touchdown Jesus," and even just "Fuck Jesus." It amazes me not only that the powers that be over at ESPN haven't picked up on this, but also that the Christian Right hasn't signed on to denounce her slurs at their Lord and Savior.

But apparently, since the slurs were aimed at the Catholics, they just don't really care that much.

Integrity in recruiting? What a novel idea!

I have ripped Jeff Carroll of the South Bend Tribune pretty good in the past, and I still think he's the definition of an assclown. However, I think every recruit that wants to understand Coach Weis should read this article.

In the wake of a 3-9 season, we have the #1 recruiting class in the country. I've blogged previously about how unprecedented that is.

What's more impressive, however, is Weis' commitment to his word above all else - even getting the top recruiting class.

After last year's last minute defections, Weis was fustrated with the recruiting system, and not just because he got so publicly burned. Weis is a true Notre Dame man, a man of integrity whose word is his bond. And these 18-year-old kids took advantage of his honesty and left him holding the bag.

So almost one year ago, on the afternoon of National Signing Day, Weis established a new regime in recruiting - an all in / all out approach where he will hold his recruits to their commitments. Once they are verbally committed, no more visiting with other teams, or we yank your offer.

That ultimatum was tested earlier this week, when Buford, GA defensive end prospect Omar Hunter was wavering on his commitment to the Irish and had begun talking to the anti-Weis in recruiting integrity: Urban Meyer. Rather than bending over to pressure to maintain the highest profile recruit in decades at the position of highest need for the Irish, Weis kept his word.

Multiple sources have confirmed that earlier this week, Weis told Omar that if he chose to talk to or take a visit from Urban Meyer, that he would rescind his offer. And when Omar called his bluff, he did just that.

After a 3-9 season when it became painfully obvious that we need a lot more talent to finish rebuildng the Notre Dame mystique, Weis just dumped the player most likely to have the greatest impact on the Irish next year.

And I applaud him for it.

I defy you to point to a coach from another BCS bowl team from the past decade that would have the balls to withdraw an offer from a #1 recruit. They just don't exist.

Except at Notre Dame.

Good luck to Omar Hunter - I hope he finds a better place for himself. I have no hard feelings towards him, it's just that if you aren't 100% sure that Notre Dame is the place for you after visiting, we don't need you. Not that we didn't (or still don't) want him here - we do. We just don't want to trick kids into committing here unless they are ready to bleed blue and gold.

To get a sense of what I mean, read this quote:

"Sitting there and looking at stuff, I just got the feeling that this is the place for me. I didn't get a feeling like that from anywhere else as much as Notre Dame. 'This is the spot for me. This is a place I can have a career and keep going.' It was just a good school for me to go to."

That's the nation's top wide receiver prospect Michael Floyd, who was joined this week by another top receiver in Deion Walker of Christchurch, VA. Add in Goodman (who caught the winning TD in the Army All-American Bowl Saturday), and you've got the best receiving class in the country by a wide margin headed to Notre Dame.

Does losing Hunter hurt? Sure. Are we a better football program today because of his decommitment? Absolutely.

New Blog

With the basketball season now in full swing, I thought I would diversify my blog experience and start writing about my Indiana Hoosiers (currently ranked 13th in the country) in addition to my Notre Dame football blog.

I'll still post here as often as I can, and my hope is that by adding another topic to my blogging, I won't get burned out as quickly, and can post more often.

Maybe I'll even start a Redskins blog someday, who knows?

If you like college basketball, check out my basketball blog here: Hoosier Heaven

Thanks for reading, and I promise (again) that my season recap will be coming soon. I just need a little more time to lick my wounds.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

I'm working on the season breakdown for the Fightin' Irish, but I wanted some distance from the disappointing season before I finish it, to try to make sure my analysis is not tainted by my personal disappointment in our final record.

Lucky for me, it's bowl season, which means the same thing it means every year: BCS controversy. So, I'm setting up my annual playoff bracket which I do every year. It's all broken down below, but the most important aspects are the inclusion of at least 2 non-BCS teams, so that the Hawaiis of the world get their shot at the MNC.

Here is how my system would play out for this season, with my picks (or actual winners) in bold:

Week 1: Championship Week
- require all major BCS conferences to have a championship game
- this is the first round of the playoffs

ACC Championship game: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College

Big East Championship game: West Virginia vs. Connecticut

Big Ten Championship game: Ohio State vs. Illinois

Big 12 Championship game: Oklahoma vs. Missouri

Pac-10 Championship game: Southern Cal vs. Arizona State

SEC Championship Game: LSU vs. Tennessee

Independence Bowl: Independent/BCS at-large Hawaii vs. Non-BCS Boise State

Capital One Bowl: BCS at-large Kansas vs. Non-BCS Brigham Young

Second Round
- played over Christmas

Cotton Bowl: SEC Champion vs. Big 12 Champion
LSU vs. Oklahoma

Gator Bowl: Independence Bowl Champion vs. Big Ten Champion
Hawaii vs. Ohio State

Fiesta Bowl: ACC Champion vs. Capital One Bowl Champion
Virginia Tech vs. Kansas

Orange Bowl: Big East Champion vs. Pac-10 Champion
West Virginia vs. Southern Cal

Third Round
- played over New Year's

Rose Bowl: Gator Bowl Champion vs. Orange Bowl Champion
Hawaii vs. Southern Cal

Sugar Bowl: Cotton Bowl Champion vs. Fiesta Bowl Champion
LSU vs. Kansas

Championship game (played the week after New Year's):

Rose Bowl Champion vs. Sugar Bowl Champion
LSU vs. Hawaii

This system allows the remaining bowl games to remain in place, comprising the teams that are bowl eligible that did not get into the playoffs. Under this system, the only people who currently play in bowls but will not are the losers of the Conference championship games, and a couple of the fringe teams that don't really deserve bowls for a .500 season.

The games are all played during traditional bowl times, except some New Year's bowls are being moved to Christmas. The other bowls could be used to fill up the season between Championship week and the second round.

There are no complaints from non-BCS schools, as they get two slots (from five conferences). There may be some complaints about who gets the at-large BCS slots, but they can't complain too much, because they didn't win their conference.

It maintains traditional bowl matchups in most seasons (SEC-Big 12 Cotton; Big 10-Pac-10 Rose, etc.).

And, most importantly, it gets decided on the field.

Now we just need to make it happen.

ND Heisman Candidate?

I've heard some rumblings on the sports networks lately about the possibility of a defensive lineman ala LSU's Glenn Dorsey or Virginia's Chris Long being considered for a Heisman invitation. A pair of defensive linemen in a year where no offensive player has stepped up to the plate to claim their stake to the Heisman. Intrigued by this possibility, I thought I'd compare some statistics.

Which of these three players would you invite to the Heisman ceremony?

#1:
35 solo tackles, 26 assists, 61 total tackles
11.5 tackles for loss for 48 yards
6 sacks for 40 yards
3 pass breakups, 4 QB hurries

#2:
30 solo tackles, 39 assists, 69 total tackles
17 tackles for loss for 104 yards
12 sacks for 104 yards
1 interception, 7 pass breakups
21 QB hurries
1 forced fumble, 1 blocked kick

#3:
47 solo tackles, 57 assists, 104 total tackles
7 tackles for loss for 36 yards
3 sacks for 23 yards
5 pass breakups, 6 QB hurries
2 fumble recoveries, 2 blocked kicks

Looking at the numbers, it's clear that the second two lineman stand head and shoulders above the first, and the numer of tackles and turnovers by the third candidate are truly impressive for a defensive lineman.

So who would you invite?

The #1 candidate is the highly touted LSU lineman Glenn Dorsey, the leader in support for Heisman votes for s D-lineman.

The #2 candidate is Chris Long out of Virginia, who is clearly diruptive in the passing game, but not exactly dominant against the run.

The #3 candidate is our very own Trevor Laws, who has been shut out of this discussion due to his team's dismal record.

I submit that Trevor Laws is quite simply the most dominant defensive lineman in the country, and that if anyone should be invited to New York off the defensive line, it should be him.

Just a little more support for my contention that the Heisman goes to the best player on the #1 team at the end of November, not the truly best player in college football.