The Witch is Dead!

This wont get near as much play as the firing of Ty Willingham. Hell, it wont get near as much play as the firing of Bob Davie, but to Notre Dame, the evacuation of the position of athletic director by Kevin White is a far more momentous event than either of those 2 news items.

We have no idea if this was a true resignation or if White was finally forced out by those who actually care about Notre Dame. Lord knows if he got to walk out on his own terms, it wasn’t for lack of us trying. Allowing Kevin White to head the athletic department of Notre Dame was like letting Darth Vader take a piss in the Millenium Falcon. It was like letting George Lucas direct a movie after the original 3 Star Wars. Kevin White just did not get “it.”

White had been driving the Notre Dame athletic program perillously close to Justlikeeveryoneleseville, but thankfully the bus has stopped at a rest station and the powers-that-be, whoever they are (Are you there, God? It’s me, domer.mq. Thank you!), told Kevin White that it’s time for someone else to drive, and maybe we’ll look at a map before we hit the road again.

What almost makes this story impossible to believe is the notion that Duke, a program with one of the most storied Basketball teams in the land, may quite possibly look to White to hire the successor to Coach Mike Krzyzewski. I don’t follow NCAA basketball closely enough to know how near Coach K may be to retirement, but I do know that coach K has been at Duke “forever.” Can you imagine having Kevin White replace a legend? Good freaking luck, Duke. You’ll need it.

At any rate, people who had this story earlier than we did have also done more thinking on the matter. My brain still hasn’t gotten passed the initial shock of it all. It’s about as hard to process as “I just touched a boob!” for a 15 year old boy. It’s gonna take a minute, so go ahead and read up on what others are saying.

And to think, the staff of HLS were only moments away from purchasing FireKevinWhite.com. Maybe we should buy it anyway and sell it at a premium to some Duke fans in a year or two.

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ND picked up a player this week, as Pat Kuntz and Will Yeatman rejoined the Irish, while Aaron Nagel has decided to transfer.

Kuntz’s return, though still ‘unofficial’, is huge for the Irish. On an extremely thin DL, Kuntz will be a senior leader. Despite a lot of talented reinforcements coming in with the incoming freshman class, this team needs Pat Kuntz. We’re glad to hear that he’s back on campus, and we expect Pat to make opposing QB’s pay regularly from the DE position while Ian Williams should be the Irish starting NT.

Yeatman’s return is good news as well, bringing back more experience at a position where there’s plenty of talent. It will be interesting to see if Luke Schmidt stays at TE, as the position is 5-deep with some serious incoming talent in frosh Joe Fauria and Kyle Rudolph.

On the flip side, Aaron Nagel’s transfer is a bummer, man.

Aaron was one of the earliest commits in his recruiting class (2nd in the class I think) and is a great kid. He came out of High School with a 4.4 GPA and was, to a tee, a “Notre Dame man”. But, Aaron wants to play. And I don’t blame him. He’s been stuck at #3 in the depth chart for a while at his inside linebacker position, and ND has some serious talent coming in this Fall in the frosh class. I think Aaron saw the writing on the wall, and has decided that he has a much better chance to play elsewhere. It doesn’t appear that this has soured the relationship with ND or Coach Weis, at least according to Aaron’s father.

“Coach Weis is a stand-up guy,” the elder Nagel said. “He said he thinks it’s a mistake. He thinks Aaron showed a lot this year…But Aaron said, ‘Coach, I’ve made up my mind.’ He wanted an opportunity to compete for the second (linebacker) position, and he didn’t really get a chance.”

“Charlie’s a good guy,” Ron Nagel continued, adding that he and Aaron will both remain fans of Notre Dame. “I think he’s very misunderstood by a lot of people…I don’t blame Charlie Weis.”

Aaron handled this like a man, for which he gets his due respect. Best of luck to you Aaron. Wherever you end up, you’ll have a few fans here at HLS.

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Other SEC Coaches Vote against it.

Shocking.

Tidbit – Saban is crazy:

“Everybody knows I’m crazy, thinks I’m crazy. So what I think doesn’t really matter.”

That’s fun. 

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In a move that must seriously put his iron-clad reputation at risk, Phil Steele has picked ND as the #19 team in his preseason Top 25.

Even as an uber-ND fan, I think that’s madness. Sweet, sweet madness. The kind you only find in Dickens novels.

His thus-far revealed Top 25, exposed daily is:

#19 – Notre Dame
#20 – California
#21 – Wisconsin
#22 – Oregon
#23 – Tennessee
#24 – Florida St.
#25 – Pittsburgh

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s big reveal of #18, which, given the trend Phil’s established thus far, must be Duke.

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(HT: EDSBS)

Also, over at EDSBS, Orson had this to say about the notion that ND will be back:

Trev thinks Notre Dame recovers this year, which along with Phil Steele picking them as one of his most improved teams means you’ll get the floating head of Tom Hammond haunting your dreams with “WAKE UP THE ECHOES” for only the rest of the offseason.

Orson, for a real nightmare scenario, I give you this to haunt your dreams:

Gawd. If someone beat me over the head with a burlap sack full of infected needles while giving me purple nurples, I’d be enjoying my time more than when I spend it with that song. Quick, someone sing the Chicken Dance so I can get it out of my head.

Also of note: The singer of that song says “Notre Dame” almost as weirdly as Trev does.

Anyway, Trev, you were never that bad a guy, I guess. And I’m sure working for SprintTV will be just as lucrative as that ESPN deal you left, but you might want them to raise the teleprompter a bit, bud.

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Thanks to Blue and Gold, we have a healthy dose of perspective today.

Not as good as an appetizer platter (we got apps!) but still good.

Not too long ago, a co-worker that’s a USC alum postulated something like the following to me: “When did Notre Dame EVER have the upper hand in the ND-USC rivalry? It was like the 40’s.” I mentioned the DRUBBING/SHELLACKING/CRUSHING/ETC defeat that ND laid on USC at Notre Dame Stadium in 1996, but she quickly dismissed it. And I get why: it’s been a WHILE since ND was the power it’s purported to be, at least in terms of records and accolades. Heck, it was back in the early 90’s, when today’s top recruits were somewhere between 0 and 3 years old. But, it’s important to gain a little perspective on ND’s relative under-performance over the past few years. And the best way to do that is to realize that the “Top” programs of today had very similar issues not too long ago. Everything’s cyclical folks, and based on the way things have been going in recruiting, I’d say that cycle is starting to come back in ND’s favor. Over the last 14 years, ND has a winning percentage of about .60. Not great, but also not as bad as some droughts experienced by other perenial power programs (alliteration!).

Here’s B&G’s outline of a few of the “Top” programs’ most recent periods of relative underperformance, for that dose of perspective I think we all might need:

USC: 1980-2001
During this 22-year period, the Trojans had only three top-10 finishes despite dwelling in one of the country’s premier recruiting hotbeds. It took USC 23 seasons before it had as few as one loss in a season (2003), and it couldn’t defeat Notre Dame in a 13-year stretch (1983-95).

USC’s record in these 22 years was 156-98-7 (.611), which rivals Notre Dame’s .601 percentage since 1994. The Trojans fired four different head coaches during this time – Ted Tollner, Larry Smith, John Robinson and Paul Hackett – even though all but Hackett led Rose Bowl victories.

In the 12 years from 1990-2001, USC was 78-64-4 (.571), and six of them saw the Trojans lose at least six games.

Bottom Line: USC pretty much sucked until 2001. Since then, they’ve been great. But they sucked for 2 decades straight.

LSU: 1989-2002
In these 14 years, LSU fired three different coaches (Mike Archer, Curly Hallman and Gerry DiNardo), was 84-77-1 (.522) and had one top-10 finish.

Even under Nick Saban, hired in 2000, the Tigers lost at home to UAB in his first year, and lost five games in his third season.

Bottom Line: I don’t know if I’d call LSU one of the top programs today, despite their success last year, but it’s a pretty big turnaround from a .52 winning percentage to national champs (even with 2 losses).

OKLAHOMA: 1989-99
During these 11 years, the Sooners fired three different coaches (Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake) in a span of six years.

Add Bob Stoops’ 7-5 debut in 1999, including a loss at Notre Dame, and Oklahoma was 68-55-3 (.551).

Bottom Line: Oklahoma has had its ups and downs, but they’ve been solid for a while now. After a period where they went .551 for over a decade, that’s a pretty nice turnaround.

TEXAS: 1984-97
During this 14-year span, the Eyes of Texas were cast upon sorrow with no top-10 finishes, a record of 92-68-3 (.574), the firing of three coaches (Fred Akers, David McWilliams and John Mackovic), five sub-.500 finishes, plus five others years with at least five defeats.

Even with the hiring of Mack Brown in 1998, the Longhorns posted yet another five-loss season in 1999.

Bottom Line: Mack Brown knows what he’s doing, and he’s been doing it well for a while now. But for a long while before their recent/current success, the Horns struggled like a dancer in a crowded ‘Backer trying to pick up his/her feet from the super-glue-covered floor.

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Charlie Weis and his cohort of College Football Coaches finished their troop-visiting trip at the White House on Memorial Day. After expressing his gratitude to the coaches, President Bush asked Coach Weis to say a few words about their experience.

I think that Mr. President definitely had the inspired part right, but that inspire part definitely worked both ways. We went over there to help motivate the morale of the troops — but I think we came home probably more inspired than even they were. I mean, it was just an unbelievable experience to watch the enthusiasm and the pride and the teamwork over there.

I mean, I can’t — we saw thousands and thousands of troops, and when they heard that we were coming to the White House on Monday, to a man and to a woman almost everyone said, “Could you just pass on one message to the President,” and asked us to thank him for him supporting them. I mean, think about it — they’re there for four months, six months, a year — it was just unbelievable — from Germany, you know, seeing guys and girls that had gotten injured in battle; and their framework, their psyche; it was just an unbelievable experience.

And I think all five of us said we just wish we could have brought our players over there, you know, the 18-to-23-year-olds that we deal with, so they could see what maturity looks like at a young age and teamwork at its utmost. I tell you what, on behalf of all five coaches I can — it was just an invigorating experience, one that we’ll always treasure the rest of our lives.

And we got something special going on over there because there wasn’t one person, of the thousands and thousands of soldiers we met, that had one negative thing to say — and that’s almost overwhelming to think about it; not one. Now, there were a couple at the end-of-their-year tours that were very much looking forward to getting their call to get home. But I’ll tell you what, it was great. And what a perfect way to end up our trip, to end up at the White House on Memorial Day.

Thank you.

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While DickRod is busy trying to weasel his way out of a $4M “mistake” and Pete tries to pretend like he didn’t know about Bush’s parents’ house and Urban makes the Devil too warm, Charlie is visiting the troops. 

UND has the recaps 1 and 2 via Charlie’s daily blog, and Hannah and Friends have the pictures.

Enjoy.

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Can somebody please welcome Mr. Carlo Calabrese to the family????  Holla!

I love this kid.  He even LOOKS old school – tough, gritty, strong.  I am digging his commitment big time.

“I like hitting kids.  That’s my favorite thing,” he said.

Oh, and this:

“I just want the fans to know that they’re getting a tough, hard-nosed player that likes to hit the crap out of people.  That much I can guarantee.”

Awesome.

Carlo is a 4-star on Scout and in the ESPN 150.  Rivals is lazy so they haven’t rated him yet.  But let me guess what they’ll say:  Damn Good. Tough. 

Why? Oh I don’t know…

Note:  he’s smiling.

Carlo is a solid 6′2″, 225 pounds of mean.  Carlo makes me want to describe him in the way that many people describe Chuck Norris:  

Carlo once sacked a quarter back using only his pinky finger.   

Carlo Calabrese doesn’t read books – he stares them down until they give him the information he wants. 

When Carlo Calabrese does a push up, he isn’t lifting himself up – he’s pushing the world down. 

This is another great get for Corwin Brown – the man is clearly a recruiting machine.  And I bet Carlo’s Jersey hometown makes him feel right at home with Charlie as well.

And I leave you with Carlo bringing a world of hurt down on his sad, measely opponents:

EDIT:  MQ just nicknamed Carlo The Juggernaut.  I must agree.  Carlo “The Juggernaut” Calabrese is Irish.

Note:  In the off chance that you’re in the 1% of broadband-enabled people that haven’t seen this video, watch it at work – not the most appropriate language. 

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I’m probably going to be off-line tomorrow. After all, the security guys in my building gave me the evil-eye and that “so you’re the reason we have to keep working this week” look this morning. Don’t want to really test their patience any more than I need to.

Ah, Memorial Day Weekend

The Roundup:

• You probably noticed, but BGS is writing again after taking some time off to write for a publication that has yet to recognize the genious and earnings potential of HLS.
• This is a pretty audacious list to try and compile. Nothing from Groundhog Day?
• How great would it be to see Charlie continue “blogging” thru the season? Even if it were ghostwritten?
• Who would win in a fight today, Zibby, or Tyson?
• 2 years ago I had a similar experience to this, convinced I’d reached mile 18 only to learn I was at mile 13.
• Look! Adam Rittenberg just rewrote a piece that’s been rewritten a dozen times in the last 2 years. In art class he uses trace-paper.
• Like a 15 year old victim of unrequited love, I just don’t get this and I refuse to believe it’s really over.
• Pretty ironic to see Dick Rod waxing philosophically about agreements made without writing anything down. What was that about improved facilities that were verbally promised to you at WVU, coach?

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I honestly don’t care what you think about Ty as a coach – whether he should’ve been fired or not – whether it was because of race or not – you canNOT think that he got a raw deal when you read this. 

[Notre Dame] paid Willingham $650,000 from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, as part of its settlement with the current University of Washington coach after Notre Dame fired him on Nov. 30, 2004. The amount of money is the same the school paid to him in compensation as reported on the 05-06 tax form.

That’s right.   Ty made $650-freaking-grand last year.  From Notre Dame.  You think Charlie was paid too much for the 3 wins his team produced? (For the record, I do.)  Ty coached another team at another school after being so bad at coaching and recruiting that he got canned, and got paid more than Chuck.   On TOP of his UW salary.  How about them apples? 

If I’m Ty, I’m laughing all the way to the bank on this one.  If only I could be so bad at my job that I’d get fired, and then get paid over half a mil to take another job somewhere else (where I would still suck).   What.  A.  Life.

Someone fell off the lucky tree and struck every branch on the way down. 

That’s right people.  My ND contract was #1!

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Okay, not news. 

But the fact that his web site shared the Draft Day Party Video is.

It may take a minute to load, but it’s worth it to share in the excitement that was Trevor getting drafted.  I’m no Eagles fan (go ‘lers), but the reaction made me really happy for him and his family.   Good work, Trev.

HT: BGS

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Generally speaking, I’m most-of-the-time okay with Michael Rothstein’s writing at his “Irish Insights” blog.  While not the most prolific/inspiring writer, he gets some good stories at times.  And while he loooooves to cover the mundane during the off-season, so do we, so we can’t knock him for it.

But, Mike, seriously, you can’t call out Tim Brown for his ‘poor’ stock picks one freaking week after he picked them!  That’s just not how the analysis of financial instruments works.  Ever read “Random Walk”?  No?  Shocking. 

I know you like to cover any and everything ND, and Tim Brown’s foray into picking stocks is kind of a fun story.  But please, please please leave the commentary on the quality of those stock picks to people who actually know a tiny little bit about stock valuation, PE ratios, DCF, etc.  Because 1) It’s unfair to Tim and 2) It makes you look a bit foolish.

So just a public service announcement so folks don’t necessarily write Mr. Brown off this early.  Maybe he’s great, maybe he’s terrible.  But one week means nothing.

PS – Your assertion that it’s harder to make money on stocks in a poor economy shows just how much you have to learn.  You may want to hit up Mr. Brown and get some lessons on Shorts, Straddles and general Value strategy.

PPS – Yes, I’m a finance nerd. 

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Ouch!

Listen up fellas.  If you drive around with a loaded .45 and a couple doobs, you will be dealt with seriously on this team.  You will be punished severely! 

Oh man, I really hope I’m not expelled.  That’d suck.  I wouldn’t get to play anymore, I wouldn’t get this high quality education I’m getting, no more sorority girls!   Dude, I’m seriously going straight this time.  No more guns, no more drug-

 

I am laying down the LAW this time.  You will be suspended for TWO games – Western Carolina and Chattanooga!  You won’t get to play in these very, very important opening games this Fall!  That’s right! 

Sweeeeeet.  Who cares about those 2 games?  Other than using them to potentially pad my stats, they’re meaningless.  They’re not league play, and I’d have only played the first half anyway because the 2nd and 3rd string guys will play mop-up duty the rest of the way.  Score.

Hey man, do you know how to get your hands on an AK-47?  I heard that all the guys at Florida have ‘em so I’m going to get me one. 

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Ty Willingham recently said that one of the main reasons more minorities are not hired into head coaching positions in college football is because of the existence of a “Good Ol’ Boy Network.”

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said he believes there’s still a “good ol’ boy network” that keeps minorities from getting head coaching jobs in college football. “No question,” Willingham said. “You’ve got to explain the numbers. There’s more than one answer. But it’s alive and well in certain places, yes.” Minority hiring practices and the possible implementation of a playoff system were two hot-button topics discussed Friday morning at a college football forum organized by the National Football Foundation. Coaches and college administrators batted around the idea of whether colleges could implement something akin to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, whereby schools would be required to interview a minority applicant for any head coaching vacancy.

When asked how many minority coordinators, the usual “stepping stone” position of many eventual head coaches, Willingham has hired during his career as a head coach, Willingham replied, “I’m sorry. Ty Willingham is not hear at the moment, but if you leave your name, number, and the purpose of this question, Ty Willingham will get back to you shortly.”

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