Though most of the names being mentioned as potential replacements for Charlie Weis in South Bend come from the ranks of the current NCAA-level coaches, there’s one name that makes us think the Irish could take a different approach.
Pete Carroll.
Earlier this decade, Notre Dame’s arch rivals from Southern California took a chance on a two-time failed NFL head coach, who sparked one of the greatest runs in the history of college football.
So with an abundance of candidates available for NFL head-coaching jobs after the 2009 season, it’s impossible to rule out the Irish taking a different approach.
Sure, the “different approach” arguably came upon hiring Weis, who served as offensive coordinator of the Patriots and who eventually settled for the Notre Dame job once he realized that, for whatever reason, he wasn’t going to be an NFL head coach.
But maybe the Irish will aim a little higher this time. Despite Jon Gruden’s mild connection to the program (his father coached there when Gruden was in high school), we wouldn’t be shocked if the powers-that-be decide to make a very big splash — possibly by courting one of the men who will be at the top of the list for the NFL teams seeking new head coaches, regardless of whether he could find South Bend on a map.
We’ve got nothing to base this on other than a hunch. (And since it was a hunch that told us the Redskins would be good this year, we’re starting to wonder whether our hunch machine is a quart or two low.)
For now, the obvious candidates are Florida’s Urban Meyer and Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly. Meyer, as pointed out by John Taylor at CFT, has given the perfunctory public denial. But while the words on paper might keep the Gainesville recruiting class together, the flat, shifting-eyed delivery was less than convincing.
Bottom line? The process of filling the Irish job will be fascinating. The next regime might be the school’s last chance to avoid being regarded as a perpetual second-class team whose best hope is a top-20 finish and the Gator Bowl, and the folks who run the school are surely smart enough to know it.
How about Carol Channing ? Bum Phillips ? Pete Carroll. Give me a break.
Jim Bates should be the next IRISH coach.
Meyer publicly Spurned ND five years ago; most press reports had the Meyer to Notre Dame a done deal and next thing you know Florida is holding a Press conference….
“We’ve got nothing to base this on other than a hunch.”
So this is just like the rest of your posts.
Belechick’s coaching tree looks more pathetic than Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.
Look, Notre Dame will always get good TV ratings, they have lots of fans, and NBC is heavily invested in Notre Dame football.
That said, I personally could not care less. I don’t have anything good or bad to say about Notre Dame football. Notre Dame University is a very good academic school. As for its football program, I don’t care. I cheer for other teams.
Please Kelly, don’t leave us here at UC. The city will not be able to handle it.
JRC007, why do you read this then? If you think the posts are done on hunches, don’t read it. It’s irritating when people bash this site in the comments section, but yet continue to come to the site. Sounds like a love-hate relationship to me.
“The next regime might be the school’s last chance to avoid being regarded as a perpetual second-class team whose best hope is a top-20 finish and the Gator Bowl, and the folks who run the school are surely smart enough to know it.”
You mean they aren’t ALREADY regarded as a perpetual second-class team whose best hope is a top-20 finish and a Gator Bowl?
Sure, the “different approach” arguably came upon hiring Weis, who served as offensive coordinator of the Patriots and who eventually settled for the Notre Dame job once he realized that, for whatever reason, he wasn’t going to be an NFL head coach.
For now, the obvious candidates are Florida’s Urban Meyer and Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly. Meyer, as pointed out by John Taylor at CFT, has given the perfunctory public denial. But while the words on paper might keep the Gainesville recruiting class together, the flat, shifting-eyed delivery was less than convincing.
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Wow, 2 really stupid comments. Weiss wanted the head coaching job at ND. He lobbied for it, and got it. It wasn’t like he wanted all these NFL jobs and said, oh well, ill settle for ND. Give me a break. And Urban Meyer has said publicly and repeatedly in the last 5 years during both potential ND coaching changes he is not interested. He is coaching a 2 time national championship program, is a top paid coach, and has great weather, great AD, and a great school to be at. Florida is the big time, who leaves the big time to go to another big time without a falling out? Cinncinattis coach makes sense, but give the Urban Meyer unconvincing crap a break…
Oh god Mike – this is a stretch even for you.
Meyer had the chance (remember?) but realized winters are a bit more pleasant in Florida, recruiting is easier and Notre Dame is a way over-hyped program and will not be as good as their glory days in our lifetime. Who knows, maybe Dan Snyder will think he can turn the program around…
Unfortunately, the part about Pete carroll going to Notre Dame might be more accurate then the part about the “folks” who run the school being smart. At least the people responsible for the football decisions.
Since Florio loves throwing names out there in order to generate responses, I see where Jerry Glanville’s available.
IMO, ND has little choice but to make a big splash with a big name coach. Right now ND is becoming an afterthought in college football. The tradition is fading fast. If they end up with a coach that doesn’t have “name recognition” they will lag in recruitment and set the program back even further. Sad how what was once a dream job has become a 2nd choice.
Filbertkiwi71 says:
“Belechick’s coaching tree looks more pathetic than Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree”
Perfection is hard to duplicate, what can you say? I don’t see this as an indictment of BB, rather I see this as a testiment to his coaching abilities. Some people are great coordinators, period. They don’t have what it takes to succeed as a Head Coach, and there’s no shame in that.
Belichick has a knack for picking people for his staff, and somehow gets the best out of them within his system. They somehow think that THEY are the genius, and leave New England to apply the skills that they think THEY have, and the results are obvious.
How is this a reflection on Belichick?
I’m surprised that Skip Holtz isn’t being thrown around more as the potential replacement for Weis. He has ties to the school and he turned around an East Carolina program that had won 3 games in 2 seasons. (1-11 in 03 and 2-9 in 04). Being able to recruit around much bigger schools has been his strong suit. Plus, having Chris Johnson on your resume doesn’t hurt either.
@ducej11-thanks. It is irritating that JRC007 and several others read the site continuously, yet bash the authors of the site. They have nothing better in their life to do than continuously be negative. It makes them feel better about themselves and their own lives. Pathetic.
“Filbertkiwi71 says: November 24, 2009 9:48 AM
Belechick’s coaching tree looks more pathetic than Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.”
Well said, Filbertkiwi71, Well said!
Filbertkiwi71 says:
“Belechick’s coaching tree looks more pathetic than Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree”
Richm2256 says:
“Perfection is hard to duplicate, what can you say? I don’t see this as an indictment of BB, rather I see this as a testiment to his coaching abilities. Some people are great coordinators, period. They don’t have what it takes to succeed as a Head Coach, and there’s no shame in that.
Belichick has a knack for picking people for his staff, and somehow gets the best out of them within his system. They somehow think that THEY are the genius, and leave New England to apply the skills that they think THEY have, and the results are obvious.
How is this a reflection on Belichick?
======================
You could make the argument that Belichick has made the most out of the coordinators he has had while they were at NE.
It could also be said that he has done a poor job at mentoring those coordinatoors so that they can succeed at the next level.
Regardless, I think there is enough evidence at this point, that teams should take a much more serious look at Bellichick’s coaching tree before they hire anyone else from his staff.
I agree that there is nothing wrong with being a great coordinator, but IMO it seems as though their is a level of arrogance from some of these coordinators after they have left NE which is just not warranted. I don’t have a great deal of sympathy for them if/when they fail at the next level.
You bashers… try working on reading comprehension.
Florio isn’t saying Pete Carroll is GOING to Notre Dame, of course he’s not going to Notre Dame. Nor is Urban Meyer, nor Bob Stoops, nor Santa Clausen.
He’s saying that Carroll’s success at USC may cause Notre Dame to choose a good NFL coach with less than a stellar record in the Pro’s as Weis’ replacement.
Hence the name Jon Gruden at the end of the article. I wonder if Lou Holtz would come back ; )
NCAA football is better when Notre Dame is on top of their game. I hope that’s soon.
Notre Dame isn’t even a top 10 job anymore. I really wish you would stop projecting “big names” into the mix. Why would someone like Urban Meyer want to coach there? I’m sure he would love to leave his perennial top 10 team in sunny florida to come to Indiana to coach a bunch of overrated losers.
“ducej11 says:
November 24, 2009 9:55 AM
JRC007, why do you read this then? If you think the posts are done on hunches, don’t read it. It’s irritating when people bash this site in the comments section, but yet continue to come to the site. Sounds like a love-hate relationship to me.”
This seems obvious, but I would not know what he is basing the post on until I read it.
I come to this site, less and less, to read links to actual news. It used to be a good site for that. Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more just posts containing pure opinion or baseless speculation.
I was surprised that Mike didn’t mention the possibility of Dana Jacobson becoming the next ND head coach. j/k
The only people that think Notre Dame is a big deal are the people at Notre Dame. The job just isn’t that prestigious anymore. Why would Meyer leave Florida for that?
Notre Dame is basically Northwestern now. Every once in a while, they’ll go on a great run. Nothing more. Everyone knows it except Notre Dame. If I were a top recruit, why would I go there over Miami, USC, Florida, Florida State, hell, even Arizona State?
It really doesn’t matter who the Fighting Irish recruit to coach the team. Until Notre Dame loosens up on their academic standards they’ll be relegated to the 2nd tier indefinately. Unfortunatly, the vast majority of blue-chip prospects aren’t what you’d refer to as Rhodes Scholars.
JRC007, this site started as a true blog… Not a news site. espn.com, nbc.com… these are news sites.
The commentary is what brings people here! Or, it is what brought me here…. The tongue and cheek comments, the reaching for stories etc…
If this site become news only… I’l go somewhere else.
and Napoleon Florio, all 4 feet of him, says,
and the folks who run the school are surely smart enough to know it.
Sure they do. They hired Bob Davie, a high school coach, they hired that whore of a man, Kevin White as Athletic Director he’s long gone to Duke, a fine athletic institution, they hired Ty and they hired that fat-ass Charlie Weiss-guy.
Hey-Napoleon- how in the hell would they- they being Notre Dame, “surely be smart enough” to know anything? and you seemingly know less.
If Kelly is smart, he will stay at UC. He is in a BCS conference and has a chance to be in a BCS bowl game every year. He keeps this up and he can be a top ten team every year, with a shot at the BCS Championship. Notre Dame is now irrelevant. Great school, but the academic standards are too high for some of the best athletes to go there. They don’t redshirt anyone. They are living on name alone, and Kelly has a chance to make a name. Of course, if he doesn’t take it, his name will still be in the hopper as long as he is having success, like Meyer’s name is always being bounced around.
Hmm, that’s funny, my browser indicates I’m at nbcsports.com.
Obviously it is not a news site. I didn’t say it was. I said I came here to read links to news. Or even read rumors that are out there, as opposed to rumors that are started here.
The title of the post “Notre Dame job could have impact on NFL coaching carousel” implied, to me anyhow, that there might be, you know, some substance in the post.
Since this site tends to start its own rumors, I made a short post noting that “based on a hunch” seems to be the basis for a lot of posts here.
The inane commentary is not what brought me here, but to each his own. In any event, lighten up.
Meyer definitely won’t be going to Notre Dame. The last time he wanted the university to relax some of its admission policies to get like sevne guys in (or so was the rumor). I’ll put Florio’s house up on the block that Kelly will be the guy (and if not Notre Dame is doomed to 6-5 for awhile).
why would meyer leave florida for ND? florida is a 100x more appealing, and he’s getting paid a lot of money, winning championships, etc….
why move to a school that has a harder time competing at the top level, higher restrictions for student athletes, and an alumni group that is dissecting every move you make, constantly hanging over your back watching you critically?
frankly i think ND is floating a lot of these names/rumors out there to make it sound like a hot ticket of a job. it’s about as attractive as the Buffalo head coaching job, or Cleveland for that matter.
john gruden.
I don’t really know why the discussion has turned to Meyer or Carroll. Neither of those guys would affect the NFL coaching jobs. I think the point here is that ND could reach for someone who is a hot commodity in the NFL. Imagine the impact on NFL hiring if ND were somehow able to attract Cowher, Shanahan, or one of the other out of work former SB winners.
Hell, I’d like to see Marty Schottenheimer! (Well, Cowher would be at the top of the wish list, though I can’t imagine he’d go that route.)
ND sucks the big one. Join a real conference and lower your standards. Great athletes aren’t always the smartest people out there. I hope they mess up worse then they have with the Weiss hiring. I am thankful that I was able to take all the crap in the world from ND followers when I was a kid, to only now be standing over them with a lougie about to drop in there face. Its great that ND sucks and hasn’t been relevent in over a decade. My only hope is that they hire Andy Reid, so the Eagles can get a coach who can think on his feet. And maybe have a balanced attack.
Also anyone who comes here and bashes the site for speculating should pay attention to the name of the site. ProfootballTALK.com, talk being the key word there. Its not Profootballfacts.com you wormburners. Lay off Florio and his gang of gossipers, they are in my opion the best gossipers in football.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bobby Petrino emerge as a candidate for the Notre Dame job. He’s a proven college head coach who took his current position because he was miserable in the NFL. There would be no risk of him jumping to the pros, nor would there be a bigger college program that he could aspire to. He’s not the finest human being on earth, but he seems like a match for what Notre Dame is seeking.
I wonder when Nick Saban’s name will start to emerge.