For those unfamiliar with this little feature, it’s a time in which we move our focus from Notre Dame and look outward to the rest of college football. While Shane and I do this in the HLS Podcast, we can only cover so many stories before we lose everyone with a two-plus hour episode. The Roundup will house those stories, plus those that really don’t need more than a quick link and mention.

As is tradition, the Roundup will also have a cold open of sorts. It may or may not have anything to do with college football (teaser for next week: it’s a recent drink trend). Bucking tradition, I am going to retire The Beer/The Booze section.

Let’s face it, maybe about 80% of my suggests were half-assed, nor overly interesting. That got worse when I had kids.

Added in its place will be an opponent watch of sorts. While Irish Elvis will hold down the fort on the strength of schedule side, I’ll drop in some relevant news about our future opponent for your perusal.

Oh, and because so many awesome stories are in The Athletic these days, those links will be denoted with ($). If you don’t have a sub, and would like support HLS, we can get your 40% off your first year.

So that’s the 411 on this little feature. Let’s get to the news so I can close some tabs on my browser…

The Roundup

Oh hey, here’s a shocker, Jim Harbaugh might be a dick. Remember when Harubaugh went on the radio and said, because of current transfer rules, kids might make up a mental health disorder? Well, it turns out he may have just had a specific athlete in mind ($) when he said that and the picture isn’t a pretty one. None too pleased with his portrayal in this tale, Harbaugh decided to fire back at Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell, who then fired back at Harbaugh once again.

Secretly in the bad guy category: Dabo Swinney. It seems that Kelly Bryant not getting a ring triggered this post, but there is no better collection and details of Dabo’s troublesome takes an actions. Dabo “aw shucks” it and isn’t robotic like Saban so too often he gets a free pass. So if you ever wonder why folks like me are sour on him, here ya go.

THE dumbest trademark application ever. If this goes through, I’m going to put up merch with “THE” on it in our store, just to see what Ohio State’s cease and desist looks like.

Mike Leach, forever weird. Stories about Wyoming, having a freshmen make him a specific kind of coffee, dipping, getting his players to dip, and demanding one of his players write “fuck” on a whiteboard because he left out the word in his notes while quoting Leach: all just a part of a perfectly normal QB meeting with the pirate ($).

I still want the sponsor to be Popeyes. But I’m happy the Bahamas Bowl has brought in some solid ROI for a *checks notes* Chicago suburb.

Stupid academic eligibility rulings, not just for the NCAA. The Michigan High School Athletic Association saw a Northwestern commit took too many classes before he entered high school so they took away his final year of eligibility. Seriously.

In case you haven’t noticed, college football is celebrating 150 years. This past week, that’s brought out loads of “all time” rankings and retrospectives. Both Sports Illustrated and ESPN named their top programs of all time. SI also ranked the best CFB games of all time. Finally, new ESPN employee, Bill Connelly, listed his rankings based on 150 years of #sportsmath. Spoiler alert, here’s your #1:

Excited about that new QB that transferred to your favorite team? Don’t be ($).

Opponent News

So was Bobby Petrino trying to light Louisville on fire? Because it sure seems that way based on what their new head coach had to say. Also, I would highly recommend hearing that post read aloud by Rakes on his recent podcast who joined up with Notre Dame Our Blogger to break down the entire schedule.

It seems like Virginia Tech has some issues as well. Attrition certainly is a word you could use to describe Justin Fuente’s struggles with the Hokies last season. One of the things that healed the wounds: turkey bacon. *blinks repeatedly*

A look a where Notre Dame stands in the world of college football. Pro Football focus ranked all 130 FBS QBs and The Athletic took a special focus on the top draft-eligible offensive tackles coming into the season ($).

The post (Re)Introducing the Friday Roundup appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

While the Irish are moving forward with Greg Hudson as interim defensive coordinator, Hudson is likely a bandage on a salt-filled wound. Pending a turnaround of historic proportions, Hudson won’t be leading the defense in 2017.

So who will?

PREREQUISITES FOR PICKING A DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

The following shortlist/wish list was comprised under the two following premises:

1. Nobody with a resume that has a large emphasis on NFL experience.
   Bill Connelly, a college football junkie and overall statistics wizard, shares this prerequisite when hiring new coordinators.
   He writes: “Rule 1: Don’t look for NFL experience…On the defensive side, the percentages are similar. Of the 34 coordinators with recent top-10 defenses, only eight had NFL experience, and only four had more than three years in the NFL: Vance Bedford (2014 Texas, six years), Dan Quinn (2012 Florida, 10 years), Todd Grantham (2011 Georgia, 11 years), and Clancy Pendergast (2013 USC, 15 years).”
   Using this information, Connelly concludes, “Successful NFL-to-college transitions are the exception, not the rule.” After the VanGorder experiment went down in flames, Irish fans would agree. Football is football, but Saturday and Sunday are two massively different beasts.
2. Nobody tied to the Brian Kelly coaching tree.
   Yes, this rule is largely due to VanGorder’s long standing ties to Kelly and his dismal lack of success. It’s also because one of Notre Dame’s most successful recent hires is Mike Sanford, the current offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Sanford is a top offensive mind and phenomenal recruiter, who reportedly chose Notre Dame over Ohio State. Notre Dame has the ability to lure coaching talent to South Bend. There’s no reason a qualified person needs a tie to Brian Kelly or the university.

Ohio State’s Luke Fickell

Credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Fickell has been a Buckeye from birth.

He spent his entire playing career in Columbus, where he played at DeSales High School and later at Ohio State. He has served as an assistant coach at Ohio State for over ten consecutive seasons. His only coaching experience outside of Columbus was a one year stint at Akron in 2000 as the defensive line coach.

Fickell coached under Jim Tressel until 2011 where he resumed the role of interim head coach after Tressel’s resignation. During the 2011 season, Fickell amassed a head coaching record of 6-7, but was retained on the staff as co-defensive coordinator following the hire of Urban Meyer in 2012. While his record as a head coach is underwhelming, one could also argue it is a poor sample size.

His production as co-defensive coordinator speaks for itself. Over the past three seasons the Buckeyes have ranked 42nd (2013), 11th (2014), and 8th (2015) in the S&P+ overall defense rankings (a brief introduction to the S&P+ rankings system can be found in a previous post here, and here as explained by the mad scientists behind the system). This is Fickell’s first year as the sole defensive coordinator. Potentially bringing in over a decade worth of winning culture is alluring, but what would it take for the Irish to pluck the loyal Buckeye from Urban Meyer? Likely a lot of cash and a desire for change.

Clemson’s Brent Venables

Credit: Getty Images

Similar to Fickell, Venables also has coached under highly successful head coaches.

From 1999-2011 he served as linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, and associate head coach at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops, and since 2012 he has served as defensive coordinator at Clemson under Dabo Swinney. In 2006, Venables was a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is awarded to the country’s top assistant coach.

Over the past three years the Clemson Tigers have ranked 12th (2013), 2nd (2014), and 4th (2015) in the S&P+ overall defense rankings. This defense is a large reason to Clemson’s recent ascension up the college football mountain. Would a lateral move from Clemson to Notre Dame make sense for Venables? Over the past few years he has been rumored as a potential candidate for a number of head coaching jobs including Miami, Kansas, Arkansas, Kansas State (his alma mater) and Texas Tech. Once again, this hypothetical decision could come down to a desire for change and a hefty sized contract.

LSU’s Dave Aranda

Credit: USA Today Sports

Perhaps the hottest name in college football, Aranda finds himself in a peculiar position in his first year at LSU with the recent firing of Les Miles. The firing has led to Aranda’s “promotion” to associate head coach.

Aranda has shown the ability to produce top 15 results in lightning fast time. In 2012, one year as defensive coordinator at Utah State, the Aggies boasted the nations 7th best scoring defense, 13th in rushing defense, 8th in pass-efficiency defense, and 14th in total defense.

Aranda moved on after one year to coach at Wisconsin. Under Aranda, the Badgers ranked 10th (2013), 29th (2014), and 7th (2015) in the S&P+ overall defensive rankings. The three years spent at Wisconsin was his longest consecutive tenure within one program, thus demonstrating he is fully willing to make a move for greener pastures. However, would Aranda consider Notre Dame? Yet again, perhaps it’s not the pastures that are in need of being greener, but instead the more green ($$$) that needs to be passed down.

These three coaches are all brilliant college football minds and would provide a much needed instant upgrade to the Notre Dame football staff. Any one of the three would also be a huge splash hire, proving that the university is committed to ponying up the dough to acquire these kinds of assets.

Without any concrete information, this list is purely conjecture and wishful thinking. But, rest assured, Notre Dame has already made phone calls in the hopes of luring a top notch defensive coach to South Bend.

Cheers and Go Irish!

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