[coloradobuff]

My prediction is Cincy's Brian Kelly. Great offensive mind and can relate to players better than Weis.
Who you like to replace Weis in South Bend?

[IrishTim]

Kelly is my prediction as well

[iceminers26]

Kelly will not leave Cincy, come on, who in God's name would want the Irish coaching job.

[daneblazer]

Joe Cox & Willie Martinez

[Shortstop]

Lou Holtz wants to come back...

[iceminers26]

LOU

[Shortstop]

[paste_me]

charlie stays

[iceminers26]

look at legendary lou back in his hay day, hope he makes the comeback

[paste_me]

Lou Holtz wants to come back...

really? that would be rather amazing...

[iwantcougars]

mike leach will have my vote, but the priest dont want because of his sarcastic comments on press releases

[Shortstop]

[Shortstop]

[Shortstop]

Tim Brown was awesome at Notre Dame!

[iwantcougars]

isnt dr lou grabbing tim brown butt in the last pic?

[Shortstop]

isnt dr lou grabbing tim brown butt in the last pic?

Probably.

[BigdaddyQH]

Notre Dame may not be able to fire Fat Charlie. 18 Million is a lot of money to pay out. Then you have the extra added bonus of paying a new coach millions more. Notre Dame is not a top college power any longer, no matter what the dreamers and Irish fans may think. Their recruiting is going to get killed. They are in an isolated city where the weather really sucks. They have to achieve high academic standards. Now what kid in his right mind wants to go there, especially with a football program who last made history by losing more consecutive bowl games than any other school?

So that is what a new HC would have to look forward to. Kelly may take the job, but he is better off at Cincy. Meyer would be a fool chasing that dream. Chucky looks like the person who is most likely to get the job now, especially if they fire Charlie now, or right after the Stanford loss. Gruden is available. He only has to fullfill his T.V. duties once a week.

[IrishTim]

Kelly will not leave Cincy, come on, who in God's name would want the Irish coaching job.

What do you think brings you more prestige, winning a title or BCS game at Cincinnati or Notre Dame?

[IrishTim]

Notre Dame may not be able to fire Fat Charlie. 18 Million is a lot of money to pay out. Then you have the extra added bonus of paying a new coach millions more. Notre Dame is not a top college power any longer, no matter what the dreamers and Irish fans may think. Their recruiting is going to get killed. They are in an isolated city where the weather really sucks. They have to achieve high academic standards. Now what kid in his right mind wants to go there, especially with a football program who last made history by losing more consecutive bowl games than any other school?

So that is what a new HC would have to look forward to. Kelly may take the job, but he is better off at Cincy. Meyer would be a fool chasing that dream. Chucky looks like the person who is most likely to get the job now, especially if they fire Charlie now, or right after the Stanford loss. Gruden is available. He only has to fullfill his T.V. duties once a week.

You may be right about a lot of things, but $ is no issue at Notre Dame. With a monthly endowment exceeding $50 million per month (that's in a bad economy and with many alumni withholding donations because of Weis) and a total endowment ranked #13 in the country, Notre Dame is doing fine economically. In fact, ND weathered the financial crisis better than almost every other school because of its unique policy that buildings must be 100% funded before they start construction on them, unlike many other schools (including the Ivies) which start building and then seek out of the money for them.

And if historical precedent means anything, Swarbrick and Father Jenkins will give a few trustees a call and a handful of them will come up with the money for the buyout by themselves. ND's endowment will not be touched.

And Gruden has a 0% chance of coaching at ND. It's going to be Kelly.

[MartinBlank]

ND's endowment is top 20.

A phone call to Purcell gets Charlie paid off.

ND is not like any other place in major college sports. When they wanted a new Hockey Arena---they simply made a few phone calls. When it came time to renovating the JACC--again, it was just a few guys with very very deep pockets.

Paying Weis the money owed on his contract will be very easy for them.

BSJ--Business Sports Journal----did a great financial survey about the financial strength of ND's football program-----they still earn more money than every other 1-a program. They do this--EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NOT BEEN GOOD IN 16 years!

ND is aware that if they ever manage to get the right guy---the money is going to pour in.

I play golf with a guy who went to ND's Law School----he insists that Swarbrick is going to get a great name.

I am going to say it will be Stoops, Kelly or Patterson.

[polson22]

a few comments/questions:

i dislike the charlie weis hype/willingham hate monster, but really what's the point of getting rid of charlie now? clausen and golden tate will be seniors and their staying for senior year is your best chance of winning. i would say totally imperiled if charlie is fired.

does ND get top recruiting classes? the recruiting rankings seem to show it but i wonder. i'm thinking they get alot of kids that are highly ranked, but also thinking that in florida, texas, california etc. there are tons of excellent kids that never get any recognition. i hate to say it, but i'd say ND is very very strong with white recruits but i have to wonder if they're overated as a group.... anyway, either you can get top players to ND and ND has but they haven't performed on the field or ND's recruiting classes are very overated. I'd bet on the latter.

in conjunction with the previous comment, i don't think ND can expect 9-10+ wins every season any more, and the alumni/students/admin should realize that. and i also think they should think about hiring a coach who can install unique offense and perhaps defense. i don't think ND can do it on dominant talent any longer.

[MartinBlank]

a few comments/questions:

i dislike the charlie weis hype/willingham hate monster, but really what's the point of getting rid of charlie now? clausen and golden tate will be seniors and their staying for senior year is your best chance of winning. i would say totally imperiled if charlie is fired.

does ND get top recruiting classes? the recruiting rankings seem to show it but i wonder. i'm thinking they get alot of kids that are highly ranked, but also thinking that in florida, texas, california etc. there are tons of excellent kids that never get any recognition. i hate to say it, but i'd say ND is very very strong with white recruits but i have to wonder if they're overated as a group.... anyway, either you can get top players to ND and ND has but they haven't performed on the field or ND's recruiting classes are very overated. I'd bet on the latter.

in conjunction with the previous comment, i don't think ND can expect 9-10+ wins every season any more, and the alumni/students/admin should realize that. and i also think they should think about hiring a coach who can install unique offense and perhaps defense. i don't think ND can do it on dominant talent any longer.

All perfectly reasonable statements.

Although----this has all been said and written about ND before.

In the 60's----ND was "done and couldn't win again"----then they hired Ara.

In the 80's---Miami humiliated them 58-7----and Faust had driven the program into the toilet--again...everyone said ND couldnt win again. Then they hired Holtz who won 23 straight, won a NC---and produced boatloads of NFL players.

ND's biggest problem is ND.

They hire dumb.

Davie, Willingham, and Weis should not have been hired in the first place.

In 2005--when ND hired Weis----McCarten, and some other BOTs were making a play for Saban, but were vetoed.

If ND ever makes a smart hire---they will win again.

[polson22]

sorry, i mentioned white recruits, but obviously not too many beyond QB and Oline would qualify as such.

anyway, i still think there's something these recruiting rankings don't capture. i think sometimes guys are 5* or 4* recruits partly due to academics and often ND seems to get super-regional recruits from non-football hotbeds (oregon comes to mind for one)... i don't know. hard to explain

martinblank, liked your comments, but i wonder whether someone could come in like lou holtz (or jimmy johnson did at miami) and really get things going. seems like too much has changed since then. holtz also was able to influence admissions, something that i think would be impossible today.

[reverend]

What about Fitzgerald from Northwestern? I have heard his name thrown around a bit. He is a young energetic guy who has done great things at Northwestern with sub par talent and under tougher academic restrictions than what Notre Dame has.

[MartinBlank]

Fitzgerald is a really good young coach.

Not sure ND will hire him with the little experience he has.

And Fitzgerald is also a Northwestern Alum----would he want to leave his alma mater?

This has been a good thread---lots of good names.

Maybe we should hire for ND---we couldn't do any worse than they have.