In an overwhelming landslide, the 2000-09 decade will be remembered as the worst in Notre Dame football annals. Besides the sporadic play on the field that has included three seasons under .500 with three different coaches, a 6-6 campaign and a 7-6 finish, one of the primary reasons why this decade has been so dreadful is the seemingly incessant inquiry, “Who’s going to be the next coach?”
It started with Bob Davie during the 5-6 season in 2001 in his fifth season. The answer was George O’Leary — for four days anyway. A fabrication in his résumé led to O’Leary’s resignation, and the hiring of Tyrone Willingham.
After three seasons, Willingham was jettisoned, and Charlie Weis was hired to take charge. And now, rumors proliferate — just like last November — about possibly a fifth change in nine years.
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If the Irish replace Weis, it will put significant pressure on Swarbrick to make a great hire in his place.
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As the shampoo bottle says, “Rinse, lather, repeat.”
One side of Notre Dame people believe change must occur, while another might be fearfully thinking, “What if this gets screwed up again?” and would rather stay the course and hope for the best.
Neil Hayes, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times summed it up best when he wrote: “Weis coming back isn’t the worst-case scenario, believe it or not. The worst possible outcome involves the Irish making another bad hire. Another season of Weis is preferable to three or four more years driving on a roundabout that leads the program back to where it started.”
The simple response to another disappointing season is, “Fire the coach!” The not so easy answer is who do you hire that 1) actually wants to be here, 2) does not have any notable skeletons in his closet, 3) has won consistently on the big stage, 4) accepts the Notre Dame culture with its restrictions, which include being in an isolated city in a cold climate with stringent standards and 5) has a fan base that for the most part believes a national title is a birthright despite averaging only seven wins per season the last 15 years — and that includes a Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, who was 23-11-1 from 1994-96 before taking leave.
The media-driven “informal coaching search” has a preliminary list that features Florida’s Urban Meyer, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly.
With Meyer vying for a third national title in four years, this is no time for outside distractions for him. Every decade there is a “fantasy coach” Irish fans dream about — Don Shula in the 1970s, Bill Walsh in the 1980s, basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski in the 1990s, and even Jon Gruden at the start of this decade. Meyer has been the fantasy for about five years.
Maybe in five years from now (hopefully not another rinse, lather, repeat situation) but the timing wouldn’t seem right for Meyer now.
In the 2001 and 2004 coaching searches, Stoops' name was mentioned but I gave it a zero percent shot. If anything were to happen this year, I might give it a 10-to-20 percent shot just because Stoops might be falling into the Holtz or Steve Spurrier syndrome where he might not feel as much appreciated anymore. All three built monster programs — but monsters need constant feeding, and you can easily grow weary after about a decade, so you pack it up and look for a different challenge. Stoops recently is looked at as a coach who “can’t win the big one anymore,” and his four-loss campaign so far this year is drawing more ire.
Kelly, on the other hand is on a dramatic ascent this decade, winning two national titles at Division II Grand Valley State, turning around a Central Michigan program in three years, and leading Cincinnati to a BCS bowl last year and a 10-0 start this year. If everything else in his background checks out okay, Notre Dame would seem like the next logical step for this Irish-Catholic.
If the Notre Dame brass feels a change is necessary, these three are the probable favorites among Irish faithful. What about some other names that have been bandied about?
Jim Harbaugh — A personal favorite because he has recruited well nationally at a high-profile academic school where six wins a season is cause for celebration. He’s imbued a blue-collar, physical culture at a finesse school in just three years. Among 64 BCS schools, only Stanford, Duke and Baylor have not had a winning season from 2002-08, but he changed that dramatically this year.
He possesses fire and a remarkable competitive streak, including going for two against USC when leading 48-21. But he might be waiting for alma mater Michigan, the NFL (where his brother coaches the Baltimore Ravens), and the affinity for Notre Dame might not be there.
Gary Patterson — Brilliant job at TCU (83-27 record with four straight bowl wins), but from the outside looking in, he seems comfortable where he’s at. He’s a hero in the state and has an excellent recruiting base. Don’t mess with being happy. He reportedly turned down a $2 million offer from Minnesota a couple of years ago. Yes, Minnesota isn’t Notre Dame, but this seems similar to Hall of Fame coach George Welsh being plenty happy at Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s. Dick Bumpas is Patterson’s defensive coordinator. He coached at Notre Dame in 1990-91 when the Irish defense was vilified under coordinator Gary Darnell. Now he has one of the best defenses in the land.
Chris Petersen — The Boise State coach sure knows how to win (45-4) but he also is Moby Dick in a pond. I believe one of the requirements before coming to Notre Dame is having tasted some failure and defeat (Ara Parseghian going 0-9 at Northwestern in 1957 to go with other setbacks Lou Holtz released by Arkansas in 1983 after a 6-5 season and going 4-7 and 6-5 the next two years at rebuilding Minnesota). Your teeth usually need some cutting before coming to Notre Dame. It was a rough go for previous Boise State head coach Dirk Koetter at Arizona State, as it is with Dan Hawkins at Colorado (16-31 in his fourth year).
Pat Fitzgerald — The 35-year old is thriving at his alma mater Northwestern (26-22), where six wins per season is like a BCS bowl season. Word on the street is he’s not necessarily fond of the Irish, but that’s something the Notre Dame brass would have to find out on their own. Probably could use a little more seasoning.
Paul Johnson — I wish he would have been approached in 2001 because his triple-option attack with Carlyle Holiday, Julius Jones, Ryan Grant and others could have thrived. One of the best coaches in the land, but he’s an ideal fit at Georgia Tech. He’s already won Division 1-AA titles at Georgia Southern, so the Peach State seems like home to him and his family.
Kirk Ferentz — Has built a solid program at Iowa in his 11 seasons, going from 1-10, 3-9 to 7-5 his first three years and sharing two Big Ten titles before going into a 19-18 slump from 2005-07. Would the 54-year-old be amenable to a new challenge?
Kyle Wittingham — Great record at Utah (45-16, including 4-0 in bowls), but the BYU graduate has been ensconced in Mormon country for most of his coaching life, with several years in between at Idaho State. Probably a tough geographical and cultural fit at Notre Dame.
Tony Dungy — Super Bowl champion, a pristine past with a powerful Christian lifestyle and quite familiar with athletic director Jack Swarbrick from their time together in Indianapolis. But a move from the NFL to college is usually not in the cards. Not everyone adapts to recruiting as well as Weis or Pete Carroll did.
It’s easy to release, but not so easy to find. Ultimately, Notre Dame’s decision will be whether it believes it can find someone better than what it already has with Weis.
