Those were the words that the ND security guard used to greet Mr. Jack Swarbrick at the campus gate on the day that Jack’s appointment as the 12th ND AD was made official.

I link to the WWL article, mostly because it has some great quotes that show that Jack ‘gets it’.  These include:

“I believe that I accept this job on the threshold of extraordinary change in intercollegiate athletics in America,” Swarbrick said. “I have my theories on what that change may entail and where the industry is headed, but I think they’ll be enormous. There’s much about this industry that you won’t recognize in 10 years. We must be at the forefront in that. We must participate in dictating that change. Notre Dame cannot have that dictated to it. And I love the challenge of accepting that responsibility.”

Fantastic.  ND will dictate.  ND will lead.  Things Kevin White did not want to do, or could not do.

“Jack is a Notre Dame person,” said [CEO Mark] Miles, who has known Swarbrick since 1985. “He kind of walks the walk and talks the talk. He believes in the university.

“He’s very bright and competent. He does not care about having the limelight. He’s not the kind of person who comes into the room and expects everyone to take notice and yet he is a great leader. People respect not just his integrity but his confidence and his intellect right away.”

Clearly a quality guy by Mr. Miles’ estimate.  And the repeated mentions of integrity when describing Jack screams ND to me.

“You have to approach a job like this knowing that you have to want this more than anything else. And I do that. I do that because I love challenges,” Swarbrick said. “The challenges here are significant and I would argue they are even bigger than those. The challenges are not of problems, not of shortcoming but of great strides and high goals. “

Understands that ND is a unique challenge, and a unique entity.  Soul Management.

“Notre Dame has given me so much in my life, I can’t wait to give more back to it.”

Gets it. Gets it. Gets it.

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