# Notre Dame's new head football coach will be... **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 25, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860 "2009-11-25T02:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/21 "2009-11-25T14:20:42Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Who are the great players he’s recruited, then? It’s fairly well known that Charlie basically stole Clausen and Manti Te’o straight from Pete Carroll. Crappy recruiters don’t do that. Michael Floyd and Golden Tate are two of the best receivers in college right now. Sam Young is a top OL talent. He’s had a couple elite tight ends (Rudolph, Carlson). QB backup Dane Crist was a 5 star recruit. You’re seriously the first person I’ve encountered to suggest Weis can’t recruit. Even admitted Notre Dame hater Mark May of ESPN will admit that Weis is an excellent recruiter. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/22 "2009-11-25T16:34:31Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Huh? Weis is an amazing recruiter - that’s the least of his problems. The problem was that he had no head coaching experience, and was crappy at player development. This is the general consensus. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/23 "2009-11-25T17:05:19Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Gruden just re-upped with ESPN for another 2 years on MNF. If he wanted to coach again, he wouldn’t have done that. Plus, don’t look for ND to go for another guy with no experience/aptitude in recruiting - that was Weis’ main problem. Though I wonder if the ability to have 15 QBs on the roster is making him think about it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/24 "2009-11-25T17:07:48Z")
Pat Fitzgerald. Makes sense to me - young, hungry, experience in a school where academics are central, clean, and has the right type of name. It makes me feel old that I remember watching Pat Fitzgerald play for Northwestern when I moved to the US and now he is coaching. ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/25 "2009-11-25T17:51:00Z")
I think Kelly would be the best choice for Notre Dame, but I am not sure (aside from a huge paycheck) why he would leave Cincinnati. He has a pretty sweet monetary package at UC, which also insures his assistants are taken care of. They have added some incredible facilities there, he has made some serious inroads with local recruiting, and is generally worshipped by the local media. He also has very little competition in the Big East for a BCS bowl shot every year, with Pitt and West Virginia being the only consistent competition. Now, I am not equating ND’s tradition with UC’s- ND can generally pull players that UC cannot based on rep and potential exposure because of their NBC deal. Succeeding their would also make anyone who takes the job an instant hero (and villain), but beyond that, not much is guaranteed at Notre Dame. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/26 "2009-11-25T17:53:02Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Pat Fitzgerald. Makes sense to me - young, hungry, experience in a school where academics are central, clean, and has the right type of name. > > It makes me feel old that I remember watching Pat Fitzgerald play for Northwestern when I moved to the US and now he is coaching. Except Pat has said repeatedly that he has no intention of leaving NU at this point (or at any point, really). And he was assitant under Walker, who once he (Walker) committed to not leaving, saw that commitment through. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/27 "2009-11-25T17:56:33Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Pat Fitzgerald. Makes sense to me - young, hungry, experience in a school where academics are central, clean, and has the right type of name. Nah. He’s coaching at his alma mater and even took a potshot at Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago: “Even though we’re similar academically, we’re in a little different boat as Stanford and Notre Dame. We’ve been consistently winning since 1995. They’re still saying they can do it, but we’re doing it." ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/28 "2009-11-25T18:00:00Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > You’re seriously the first person I’ve encountered to suggest Weis can’t recruit. Even admitted Notre Dame hater Mark May of ESPN will admit that Weis is an excellent recruiter. I go by results. That has much more to do with athletic talent than with play-calling. The “great athletes” ND is alleged to have are 6-5. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/29 "2009-11-25T18:11:34Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > News this AM is that Weis is flying back to South Bend with the team after Stanford, not staying in CA to recruit as he had planned. I consider that confirmation. He won’t have to hang around looking for his enourmous kicked ass. Stanford is gonna hand it to him. Personally, I hope he stays. I like to watch ND lose. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/30 "2009-11-25T18:15:52Z")
Is there any veracity to the “Notre Dame academic standards are too high for the average dumb jock to attain” meme? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/31 "2009-11-25T18:17:41Z")
It’s certainly true that ND academic standard thin the pool of potential recruits significantly. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/32 "2009-11-25T18:24:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Nah. He’s coaching at his alma mater and even took a potshot at Notre Dame a couple of weeks ago: > > “Even though we’re similar academically, we’re in a little different boat as Stanford and Notre Dame. We’ve been consistently winning since 1995. They’re still saying they can do it, but we’re doing it." While I like Pat Fitzgerald very much, factually, he’s certainly wrong about that statement. Notre Dame is 15 games better than NU since 1995. The Wildcats have had 7 losing seasons since '95, while the Irish have 4. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/33 "2009-11-25T18:59:31Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I go by results. That has much more to do with athletic talent than with play-calling. The “great athletes” ND is alleged to have are 6-5. But that’s not because they aren’t great athletes who were heavily recruited by other big-name programs. It’s because Weiss is no good at teaching talented but raw, young, immature, undisciplined high school graduates how to become mature, disciplined young men who can not only make spectacular throws and catches but can reliably perform the workaday roles required to succeed at the upper levels of college football. Or in other words, he’s good at recruiting but he sucks at developing talent. The success of someone like Paterno isn’t due to always having the best athletes, but rather due to the fact that Paterno knows how to teach kids how to play the best football they possibly can. That talent is the single most important talent for a college football coach to have, and it’s one Weiss hasn’t got. Convincing some high school star to come to your school is trivially easy by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/34 "2009-11-25T19:12:48Z")
Weis’ greatest failing to me is not having any good lineman on either side of the ball. I don’t know about recruiting that type of talent or how ND’s linemen were rating coming out of high school, but neither line has been any good for a long time. As said above, Weis has done fine recruiting so-called skilled position players, but the guys who are supposed to block and tackle haven’t blocked or tackled very well. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/35 "2009-11-25T19:21:19Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > Except Pat has said repeatedly that he has no intention of leaving NU at this point (or at any point, really). And he was assitant under Walker, who once he (Walker) committed to not leaving, saw that commitment through. That’s true. There’s never been a football coach to say things like that and then make the change of heart later. I am sure he likes coaching at Northwestern. But with the amount of money ND can through at him, as well as the chance of coaching a team on national TV every week, that is given a back door opportunity into major bowl games, I think it would be hard for him to turn down. I might be wrong as to whether he would take it, but my guess is ND will go after him hard. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/36 "2009-11-25T20:33:22Z")
> [@Theodore\_Striker](#): > > I think Kelly would be the best choice for Notre Dame, but I am not sure (aside from a huge paycheck) why he would leave Cincinnati. > > He has a pretty sweet monetary package at UC, which also insures his assistants are taken care of. Kelly makes under $1.5 million/year. That’d be a starting point at Notre Dame. And every head coach hire in the country gets to name his assistants. If his assistants are that good, he’d be giving one of them a very strong chance to succeed him. > [@](#): > > They have added some incredible facilities there, he has made some serious inroads with local recruiting, and is generally worshipped by the local media. All of these would be enhanced in South Bend. Starting coaches are given ridiculous amounts of latitude at ND. > [@](#): > > He also has very little competition in the Big East for a BCS bowl shot every year, with Pitt and West Virginia being the only consistent competition. Meh. It’ll take a few straight seasons of going undefeated before being considered for the National Championship. Any year ND goes undefeated puts them at the top of the discussion every single year. I’m not saying Kelly can’t do it, but I am saying it’d be a hell of a lot easier at ND. > [@](#): > > but beyond that, not much is guaranteed at Notre Dame. I will point out that a top 8 finish guarantees the Irish a BCS bid each year. So there is that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/37 "2009-11-26T16:04:30Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Is there any veracity to the “Notre Dame academic standards are too high for the average dumb jock to attain” meme? Why call it a meme? God I hate that word. Their standards are higher. For instance they require incoming students to have three years of math. They don’t redshirt. Any top coach would be foolish to take the job and not have free rein to recruit. ND will not be at the top level again unless they relax their standards. Let the dummies play! ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/38 "2009-11-27T04:35:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Why call it a meme? God I hate that word. Their standards are higher. For instance they require incoming students to have three years of math. **They don’t redshirt**. Any top coach would be foolish to take the job and not have free rein to recruit. ND will not be at the top level again unless they relax their standards. Let the dummies play! Wha? Look at the guys with RS [here](http://notredame.rivals.com/croster.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/39 "2009-11-27T13:07:59Z")
It’s not an official redshirt. Players staying a fifth year have to pick up extra courses, many decide to take grad classes or a second major. It’s a pretty bogus distinction, I’ll agree. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860/40 "2009-11-27T16:19:26Z")
Latest rumor: Weis contract will terminated Monday. If a new head coach is also announced Monday, it will be Stoops, otherwise, it will be Meyer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/notre-dames-new-head-football-coach-will-be/518860.md?page=3)