Looking ahead to Spring Practice

I still have a feew movies to watch to judge the baseball films, but I'm working on it.

I've read some reports over the past week that Jimmy Clausen has gained 17 pounds since last season, and that Sam Young has put on over 30 pounds of muscle. If true, these increases in strength should provide some hope for improvement on offense, assuming some other members of the team have had similar gains.

Actually, looking forward to this year I have a lot of optimism that I didn't think I'd have, considering the continued youth of the team. However, I've said time and time and time again that junior year is usually the breakout year for player development. And when I look at the list of rising juniors, I'm very encouraged.

James Aldridge was a 5-star running back when he was signed, but was hobbled by an injury and never seemed to perform up to his potential in the first two years. However, a healthy offseason of conditioning and another year in the system makes me think that, despite the promise of Allen and Hughes, that Aldridge is the man to watch in the Notre Dame backfield this year.

Richard Jackson was a 4-star receiver that looks and runs so much like a prototypical receiver at 6'2". But, Jackson never seemed to make a big impact in his first two years, and most people have all but forgotten about him. He is another player to watch closely this spring for signs of a breakout year. I've loved everything I've seen from him physically in practice, but he never seemed to get the mental aspect of route running. Watch this guy VERY closely...

Robby Parris and George West have a lot of potential, and have actually demonstrated some ability to back it up on the field. If this group makes the leap that so many juniors do in route running and awareness, this could be a very dangerous and scary deep position for the Irish this year - the competition should be fierce up and down the receiving corps.

Toryan Smith is an inside linebacker that has been riding the bench for much of his career, despite having the prototypical skills for a dominant inside linebacker. It seems like the Irish always have a linebacker waiting in the wings for their turn to shine, and Smith seems poised to be that player. Brockington has shown consistency, but none of that breakout potential.

Sam Young is a 5-star prospect preparing to enter his third year as a starter, and will likely be the rock that this new line will be built upon. Of all of the rising juniors, this is the one I'm most excited about. Offensive line, as I've said before, relies more than any other position on physical development. His added 30 pounds have filled out his frame to go with his natural ability, and he can finally be the road grader we need to anchor this line.

Dan Wenger is poised to take over for departing fifth year senior John Sullivan - a sure sign that the development cycle for linemen is starting to come together. Weis raved about his effort and motor all last year, when he was cross training at guard and center. With him likely moving into the spot as the #1 center, he should be able to focus all of that drive on being a rock on the line.

Eric Olsen, Matt Carufel, and Chris Stewart may not have the standout potential of Wenger and Young, but they are all entering their junior years, giving us a solid front line of junior linemen that may be able to gel this year - with a couple of seniors ahead of them, we can finally put together an entire offensive line of upperclassmen, without being forced to dip into the young'uns.

Ryan Burkhart has been horribly inconsistent in his career. Although kickers don't need the physical development that other positions need to be successful, their mental development, discipline and maturity are required for success. Remember our last good kicker, D.J. Fitzpatrick? He had ONE punt in his career before his junior year. Nick Setta broke out as a junior, despite getting the nod as a sophomore. Only Hentrich was outstanding as an underclassman. I'm really hoping I'm right on this one...

Luke Schmidt might be able to push the strong yet thus far ineffective Schwapp, creating some competition that could give us a reliable short down and distance, goal line threat.

Paddy Mullen and Kallen Wade are the biggest keys to our success this year. Our lack of depth on the defensive line has been well documented, and if these two can step up their game to the next level, we could get some much needed insurance if one of our top linemen go down. With the timing of their development, I wouldn't be surprised either or both to perhaps even push Hand and Williams for a starting position. (Nobody's going to displace that crazy son of a bitch Kuntz)

This year's juniors are Weis' first full class, and they were the kids that, at the time, had us all believing that we had found our savior in Coach Weis, and that he would lead us to the promised land. They were our first top 10 class in a long, long time - finishing four spots ahead in Rivals rankings than the 2003 class featuring the following record setters, professional athletes and overall standouts: Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Vic Abiamiri, John Carlson, Ryan Harris, Trevor Laws, John Sullivan, Tommy Zbikowski, and Chinedum Ndukwe.

That 2003 class gave us the boost we needed to right the ship and stop the bleeding in Weis' first year - their junior year.

Consider where those future stars were going into that season:
Brady Quinn: Two year starter that had done well, but hadn't done anything to be remembered for.
Jeff Samardzija: Hadn't started a game until the Oregon State bowl loss, with only a handful of catches in his career.
Vic Abiamiri: Had a disappointing sophomore year after exploding onto the scene as a freshman, logging only 15 total tackles.
John Carlson: Six catches for 31 yards as a sophomore, seeing only spot time to relieve Fasano.
Ryan Harris: Okay, so Harris was a freak of nature, and was already dominant going into his junior year, his third year starting.
Trevor Laws: 17 total tackles, 2 for loss - never started a game.
John Sullivan: Had his first year as a starter his sophomore year, but really broke out his junior year.
Tommy Zbikowski: Started his sophomore year as a strong safety. Hadn't yet returned a punt...
Chinedum Ndukwe: Had just moved from receiver to safety, and only played on special teams.

With a couple of exceptions, these NFL-caliber athletes broke out in their junior year, paving the way for Notre Dame's improbable run to the Fiesta Bowl in Weis' first year.

Sure, there are plenty of question marks going into the season - but the more I look at the player development required to create a championship caliber team, the more I think that this is the year we turn the corner.

Step 2 continued: Hoops Edition

Basketball

High School

Hoosiers
Basketball Diaries
Finding Forrester

Love & Basketball: This is a great love story not only about the love between the main characters, but also a love story about their love of the game. It's worth watching, but didn't make the cut.
Teen Wolf: One of the campiest films of all time, I almost left it in the top 3 for the memorable cisual of Michael J. Fox in a cheap werewolf costume flying through the air with a basketball. Then I woke up.
Coach Carter*: Too formulaic and straight Hollywood-true-story to really get consideration - it's really a thinly veiled remake of Lean On Me. It's still worht watching, and I can't help but enjoy Samuel L. Jackson, one of the great actors of our day.

College / Amateur

Glory Road
He Got Game
Blue Chips

Semi-Pro*: I hate Will Ferrell with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns. I refuse to include any of his useless sports films in my list.
White Men Can't Jump: The last one out, in tourney lingo, white men can't jump was a very good film, but didn't quite measure up to it's closest rival - He Got Game.
The Air Up There*: A ridiculous premise prevented this film from ever getting off the ground.
The Sixth Man*: Disney didn't capture any magic with this one, falling well short of the bar it set with Remember the Titans. Plus, it got negative points for depicting the school that currently employs the former Notre Dame head football coach that shall not be named.

Pro

Eddie
Celtic Pride
Space Jam

A disappointing list of films for the professional category, I'm not sure I'd include any of them on a great sports movie list. But all three make the cut by default. (I previously had Blue Chips mistakenly categorized as pro, when it is a college b-ball movie)

Step 2: Separating the wheat from the chaff

Now that I have a fairly exhaustive list of films, it's time to start eliminating some movies so I have a more manageable list to work with. I'm limiting each category or subcategory to 3 films (except college football, as this is a college football blog - they get an extra film), so some worthy films aren't going to make the cut.

Below are my eliminations for football and their justifications. The other categories will follow, as there are several films I still need to watch. Now is the time for you to step up to the plate and start defending your favorites - this list is still fluid and up for debate.

Football

High School
Varsity Blues
Friday Night Lights
Remember the Titans
Little Giants: A little too campy, and lacking a real emotional pull or enough legendary comic moments to make the cut. Plus, Rick Moranis always gave me the creeps
Gridiron Gang: I liked this film, but it doesn't get to that next level that the remaining films do.
Radio: This was the toughest of these films for me to cut, and it had some basketball along with the football, giving it a multiple sport bonus. But it was fairly close to Remember the Titans in type of film, and I felt (completely subjectively) that Remember the Titans was a little more impactful.

College / Amateur
Rudy
The Program
Knute Rockne: All-American
We Are Marshall
The Waterboy: Great comedy, but simply doesn't stack up to the other films - heck, the one-liners from The Program are more memorable.
The Longest Yard: I expect to get some flack for this one, as it is a cult classic, but I just didn't feel attached to this film or it's remake when I watched them.
Necessary Roughness: Much like the Waterboy, there was too much camp and not enough substance here...

Pro
Any Given Sunday
Brian's Song
Jerry Maguire
The Last Boy Scout: Football isn't central enough to this great film for it to make the cut.
Invincible*: I still haven't watched this film, but it never seemed to generate the buzz of the films left on the list.
The Replacements: I liked the Replacements, which I watched the evening after my previous post, and enjoyed it. But in the larger scheme of things, it felt like a cheap knock-off hybrid of Any Given Sunday and Necessary Roughness.

The calm before the storm - Movie edition

I've been a little remiss in my posting lately, trying to get my new practice up and running. I've got a tiny little office in the back of a scuba shop, and a couple of clients, but a long way to go.

Plus, there isn't much news to be had until spring ball gets underway. That said, I've had a little bit of time on my hands this weekend, and while we wait for spring ball to start, I was watching a little TV this morning. There were a bunch of sports movies on the tube, so I watched The Legend of Bagger Vance, and am currently watching Varsity Blues as I write this post.

All these sports movies got me wondering what the greatest sports movies of all time were.

Certainly, that title is far too subjective to come up with a definitive answer, but I thought I'd take it on anyways. Obviously, a person's rooting interests and hometown can have a significant impact on this discussion as well, but I'm going to take a couple of weeks and several posts to take it on.

To do this right, I'm going to need some help from you, the readers.

To start this off right, I want to get a list of the best movies for each sport to review. So, if you have a couple of minutes, I'd like you to help me round out the following list of films. Feel free to nominate your favorite movies in each category that I might have missed, and I'll try to get caught up on the films I haven't seen yet.

The list of all sports movies is far too long, so I'm only looking for movies that have enjoyed a significant amount of popular and critical praise, or have at least developed a strong cult following. The list is going to trend towards more dramatic films, but particularly good comedies are included as well.

This list is only the movies I've seen, so if a great film is left off, that's why - please leave it in the comments so I can get up to speed on the great films. Movies in the list below with an asterisk are films I haven't seen yet, but need to...

Football

High School
Varsity Blues
Friday Night Lights
Radio
Remember the Titans
Little Giants
Gridiron Gang

College / Amateur
Rudy
The Program
The Waterboy
The Longest Yard
Knute Rockne: All-American
We Are Marshall
Necessary Roughness

Pro
Any Given Sunday
Brian's Song
Jerry Maguire
The Last Boy Scout
Invincible*

Basketball

High School
Hoosiers
Basketball Diaries
Finding Forrester
Love & Basketball
Teen Wolf
Coach Carter*

College / Amateur
It occurred to me the other day that I've never seen a college basketball movie, despite my annual March Madness obsession and love of the Hoosiers. Help me figure out what to watch to fill this category out!
Glory Road*
Semi-Pro*
White Men Can't Jump*

Pro
Blue Chips
Eddie
Celtic Pride

Baseball

High School / Sandlot
The Sandlot
Field of Dreams
Bad News Bears

College / Minor Leagues
For The Love of The Game*
A League of Their Own
Bull Durham

Pro
Major League
Angels in the Outfield
The Babe
The Natural*
Eight Men Out*

Hockey
The Mighty Ducks
Miracle*
Mystery, Alaska*
Slap Shot*

Golf
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Happy Gilmore
Tin Cup*
Caddyshack
The Greatest Game Ever Played*

Boxing/Fighting/Wrestling
Rocky (this subsumes all 27 Rocky movies...)
Cinderella Man
Million Dollar Baby
Ali
Raging Bull
The Hurricane*
Honorable Mention: On the Waterfront* ("I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody.")

Racing
Speed Racer* (Coming soon...)
Cars
Talladega Nights
The Fast and the Furious
Herbie movies
Days of Thunder
National Velvet
Seabiscuit
Hidalgo

Olympic Sports and Other
This category includes track and field, cycling, swimming and diving, and is a general catch-all for anything that might not have been included above.
Breaking Away
Cool Runnings
The Big Lebowski
Kingpin*
Dodgeball*
Swimfan*
Pride*
Chariots of Fire
Ready to Rumble
Karate Kid

Soccer
I hate soccer. They are automatically disqualified from consideration. So are surfing movies.

So that's my list. Let me know what I've missed, and the next posts will start separating the contenders from the pretenders.

Best DT in the nation?

The NFL Combine is all about measurables, so let's see how Laws stacks up against his competition in this year's draft class:

(Note: All-everything over-hype machine Glenn Dorsey did not participate, so we'll have to wait until his pro days to see how he stacks up...)

Measurable	Trevor Laws	Sedrick Ellis	Kentwan Balmer	Pat Sims
Height	6006	6004	6044	6021
Weight	304	309	308	310
Tackles - 2007	112	58	59	37
Bench Press	35	34	33	20
40 yard dash	5.08	5.24	5.28	5.06
Vertical Leap	30.5"	-	-	27"

No matter which way you slice it, Trevor is clearly the best all-around athlete among defensive tackles. He's stronger than anyone else, as fast or faster than everyone else, jumps higher than anyone else, and has more production on the field than anyone else. People sometimes knock his height, but he's half an inch taller than the highly touted Sedrick Ellis, who nobody knocks for his height.

In short, Trevor showed the world what I aleady knew - he's a monster. And because of the hype surrounding Ellis and Dorsey, some team is going to get Laws at a bargain price. Hell, anything outside of the top 10 picks is going to be a bargain.

I expect that Laws will only keep moving up the draft boards over the next couple of months, as his interviews and Wunderlich results can only help him - he did go to Notre Dame, after all, where he got a top-notch education. I'm curious to see Dorsey's Wunderlich score, being from LSU and all.

Either way, Laws has done his alma mater proud this weekend, as he has throughout his career. Best of luck to you, Trevor!

Grab-bag Commentary

No big news to report right now, that I haven't already covered, but I (finally) had some free time on my hands, so I thought I'd comment on a couple of my observations and completely unsubstantiated rumors I've heard around campus. (Yes, I still get to campus now and again to keep my finger on the pulse of Notre Dame football - and no, I won't reveal my sources...)

First thing that I wanted to talk about is a recent article in the Tribune, with a rundown of the 11 players who need a strong offseason. First on the list was Jimmy Clausen, which I agree with. But I don't agree with the reasoning. Jimmy had a tough season as a true freshman, getting sacked four times as much as Brady his freshman year but still putting up comparable numbers. And I agree that adding a couple of punds to his frame would be good insurance for the long season, considering the pounding he took last year. But I think the biggest adjustment Jimmy needs to make is an attitude adjustment, according to some of the grumblings I've heard. Again, these grumblings are completely unsubstantiated, and I'm hesitant even to mention them. But, I don't think that a stronger work ethic would hurt, as would more involvement with his teammates. Granted, he was a true freshman last year, and was thrust into a leadership role. This offseason is the time when he has to step up to the plate and not just accept that role, but to grab that role and run with it.

Jimmy came into Notre Dame on the heels of the most hyped recruitment in history, complete with over the top announcement at the College Football Hall of Fame. But hype doesn't translate into leadership easily. He needs to take a page out of Brady's playbook and go into the off-season with the mentality that he will outwork everyone in the weight room - and also do that work WITH his teammates. I've heard rumors of Jimmy having a separate training program from the rest of the team, and I hope that's just plain wrong. Team building happens more in the weight room and at the training table than anywhere else, and Jimmy needs to establish himself as a leader by participating in those sacred rituals.

If Jimmy doesn't do that, he should look out, because from all reports Dayne Crist is that type of player. The kind of kid that will go into the weight room and training tables and MAKE himself the leader of the team.

Enough picking on Jimmy, though.

I also just read the Tenuta presser, and I'm excited about his place on this team. I was concerned last year with the rapidity of Brown's ascent to this coordinator position. He is an impressive guy, and a spectacular motivator. But I was worried about the added responsibilities. Now, Brown has an assistant who is one of the most respected defensive coordinators in the game. Tenuta's ideas will surely help translate into a high-pressure blitz-happy offense that strikes fear into the opposing QBs. More importantly, however, now Brown has someone to turn to when he comes across a situation he hasn't faced before, as Tenuta has seen it all in his long career. It brings a level of stability into this exciting young defensive staff, without detracting from the new mentality.

I'm out of time for tonight, and if you don't care about my personal life, please stop reading now. For the rest of you, however, I wanted to let you know that I've decided to open my own legal practice here in South Bend. I'm going to take the Michigan bar in July so that I can represent people on both sides of the state line, and I'm hoping that between now and then I'll be able to put away some money to rent some office space.

If there is anyone out there with some advice for a new attorney who is trying to hang out a shingle, I'm all ears. E-mail me at: nwaechter@hotmail.com

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.