Posted on 11/30/2004 10:47:49 AM PST by Flightdeck
I disagree totally. He'll end up in South Bend one day. I mean, he's still only 42, meaning he has at least 20-25 years of coaching ahead of him (and he will, since the guy have never wanted to be anything but a coach). Who wants to put up with the stress and strain of being an NFL coach for 20 years?
He'll be in South Bend before he's 50, and he'll do what so many have failed to do since Lou Holtz: bring Notre Dame football back to real prominence.
Sorry Sean, but the Utah's of the world cannot compete week end and week out with the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC 10. They can probably get by for a couple of games, but they do not have the team to stand in with an SEC type schedule. I dare think that if USC, Oklahoma or Auburn played Utah this year, Utah loses by 3 to 5 touchdowns. Sorry, as a 54 year observer of SEC and Big 10, old Southwest Conf. football, Utah does not match up at all.
You better get him before we LSU fans do: Davis has applied for the LSU spot before and has already said he'd replace Saban if Nick left this season.
Yes, just as UCLA's recruiting classes under their prior coach were always top 10 in the country for several years running and they wound up firing the guy. I forget his name now. Shows how much he remainded in the mind.
I don't know about the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and Big 10, but the PAC 10 is well-known and oft-played in these parts, and we (meaning Utah and other other top rank MWC teams) just aren't intimidated by them week in and week out.
Regardless of conference, when the mighty fall, they seem to fall hard--witness Nebraska, Washington, Penn State.
For that matter, BYU beat Notre Dame this year, and BYU's program is sucking wind.
Urban Meyer. This could be a very short search, a match made in Golden Dome heaven. The wildly successful Utah coach has an out for Notre Dame in his contract. He was an assistant there for five seasons in the 1990s. And he's never avoided speaking glowingly about the school when asked. "It truly is one of the great places," Meyer told ESPN.com in September. "It's college football in its truest form. It's true student-athletes. You can't say that about every university. Most universities can sneak guys into certain majors -- and, if some of them succeed there, that can be good. But that doesn't happen at Notre Dame."
In case it doesn't work out with Meyer -- and let's face it, Meyer is No. 1-10 on this list -- a look at the potential second tier of candidates in alphabetical order:
Butch Davis. Suddenly unemployed, and with a much better track record as a college coach than a pro coach. Florida has its eye on Davis, though, and he might prefer returning to the recruiting wealth of the Sunshine State.
Kirk Ferentz. Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White and Ferentz are friends dating back to the days when White hired Ferentz as head coach at Maine back in 1990.
Jon Gruden. His dad coached there, and he went to high school in South Bend. Gruden was thought to be in play briefly after Bob Davie was fired, but now he's in the first year of a contract worth more than $4 million annually. Notre Dame won't be paying anywhere near that.
Dan Hawkins. It's a huge step up in wattage from Boise State, but the man's record is 44-6, he seems to have the right perspective for Notre Dame, and his offense is pyrotechnic. Hawkins told ESPN.com in late October that, as a Catholic, Notre Dame was one of the places he could, in his dreams, see himself coaching.
Lou Holtz. Available. And he knows how to beat USC.
Bobby Petrino. The Louisville coach is the only guy in the country with better offensive statistics to his name than Hawkins. But the Auburn fandango last year could cause schools to approach him with caution -- and when it comes to recruiting, the academic requirements at Notre Dame are much different than at Louisville.
Nick Saban. Because what list of Cadillac jobs, pro or college, is complete without the LSU coach?
Bob Stoops. He passed on a chance at the Notre Dame job before Willingham was hired, and has said a blue million times that he's happy at Oklahoma. But if he's going to listen to Florida -- and the whispers suggest that the Gators might make one more run at him after the Big 12 title game -- why not listen to Notre Dame, too? What better legacy than to be known as the guy who restored arguably the two greatest traditions in college football?
Jeff Tedford. The creative California coach has worked miracles with the Golden Bears but has been frustrated by the slow response to needs for upgraded facilities. If he's looking to walk from Berkeley, this would be a prime destination.
I repeat, Utah would not stand up to USC, Cal, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M (maybe), Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Miami, VA Tech, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. Make Utah play a schedule such as these teams play week end and week out and Utah will not be 11-0. Ain't gonna happen. You can hope all you want to, but it ain't gonna happen. The New Mexico's, Wyoming's, Colorado State's, etc. are not in these other team's leagues. Sorry.
It would be fun to find out.
Utah's offense is first rate, and can compete against anyone in the country. Utah will score at least 30 points against any team in the country. On the other hand, Utah would struggle defensively against a team that has a strong running game complemented by tall outsized receivers. Even at that, the defensive secondary are fast and have good hands (which has helped the Utes achieve a remarkable turnover ratio). If Utah scores 30 points, you're saying they would lose 51-30 or 65-30.
Those kind of lopsided scores would require a weaker Utah defense than it has and a lot more turnovers than its offense is accustomed to giving up. I don't see it. A more likely score would be 35-30.
Just three weeks ago everyone was talking about what a juggernaut Wisconsin was. In retrospect, a lot of that was reflected glory from the fabulous history of its conference.
I'm not saying the SEC, ACC, Big 10, and Big 12 aren't great, tough conferences. They certainly are. But I think there's a lot of wasted talent on some of the teams, too. And sometimes the hype about particular teams is just that: hype.
>>ND tried getting him before they hired Ty<<
Huh? If this were true, he would have been there and not at Utah.
ND hired George O'Leary and then "asked" him to resign when the flap about his resume came up. The "reinterviewed" Willingham to deflect the criticism about not hiring a black coach. They decided to go ahead and hire him.
The really should have left Bob Davie alone. Until ND joins a conference or quits playing such a rough schedule (and I'm a HUGE fan of a tough schedule), 7 or 8 wins is about the best they can expect.
Auburn would beat Utah by 5 TD's, and I am NO Tiger fan. I think the best bowl may be Louisville v. Boise State. That could be a very good Liberty Bowl.
They spanked the PAC-10's Arizona, too.
The Utes fielded a very fine and well-coached team this year. I'm sure it wouldn't injure your dignity too much to graciously admit it. ;-)
If you say so, pardner. I'm sorry. The Utes suck. I just didn't realize it until now. I was going by how I saw them play this year. My mistake.
Heck, Auburn would probably beat them by 12 touchdowns with their third string on offense and cheerleaders on defense.
That'd be fun to see.
Sheer nonsense. Other than USC, ND didn't play a really good team this year (Michigan is laughably overrated, and they play in the Big 10-which is weak this year, Tenn had a hurt QB and didn't deserve to be ranked).
I don't see all these other mediocre teams losing by 30-40 points when they play a decent team. The problem has simply been coaching, Ty Davie, or Bob Willingham if you will were so disorganized not only in their predictable game plan, but even their press conferences it was apparent these guys couldn't motivate an Eskimo to buy a space heater.
ND has had 3 successive poor coaching choices(including OLeary). It was obvious the moment they hired these guys that their records, or lack there of didn't come close to matching up with ND. People were whining in the 60s after Kuharich about the academics or the schedule, but as soon as they got a good coach all that talk magically disappeared. So will be be if the University opens its sizeable wallet for once.
No conference, no schedule changes, no whining, no excuses. Go Irish.
They don't match up because the playing field in Div 1 football is not set up fairly. The BCS schools get the cream of the crop because they have a shot at a National Championship, the non BCS schools don't. Why would a kid go to New Mexico if he is being recruited by Oklahoma? If Auburn is so s@#t hot why do they schedule cream puff schools on their non-conference schedule? Why not sack up and play Utah, Fresno State, or Boise State. I know why, because they have seen Wisconson,Kansas State Texas A&M, and North Carolina get whacked by these guys in the past!!!
Untill there is a real Div 1 playoff that includes all conference Champs it's all crap and speculation.
>>Sheer nonsense. Other than USC, ND didn't play a really good team this year (Michigan is laughably overrated<<
Huh? How about Michigan, Purdue, Boston College, Tennessee, Pitt. Saying Michigan is overrated doesn't prove they aren't good.
If you truly believe USC was the only "good" team Notre Dame played, you either don't know the definition of "good" or are ignorant of who they played. Either way, I can't argue with you when your baseline is so distorted.
If you look at the Mountain West's non-conference schedules, you will see they schedule BCS schools, they are trying to play the best teams they can. Their non conf. schedules are not cake walks by any means, unlike some schools in the SEC (Florida, Auburn) And no it's not Oklahoma's fault they get picked over New Mexico, but if each conference had an oportunity to play for a National Champinship, then the New Mexico's of the world might just be able to keep that kid at home and become a better program. Once again without a true playoff only the BCS schools will always be the have's, and the non BCS will be the have not's. Lets settle it on the field and give everybody a shot, hell it will be alot more fun!!
This is a bit off-topic, but I think the conferences are getting too big. I don't think any conference should have more than eight teams. You have built-in inequity when all of the members of a conference don't play each other. Also, some of the conferences are becoming geographically dispersed in a way that's ridiculous.
It all comes down to money, if your conference has 12 teams, you get a championship game = more money!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.