Notre Dame is a Fraud. Again

Submitted by skegemogpoint on October 7th, 2023 at 10:58 PM

Louisville has 25 new players in ‘23 obtained thru the portal. They just bludgeoned the Irish on both sides of the ball. Nobody - and I mean nobody - does less with more talent than godforsaken ND. 

Logan88

October 8th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^

Notre Dame was foolish to even promote him to HC. Blue Blood programs (including Michigan) should NOT take a chance on a completely unproven coach no matter how much the players like said coach or how "hot" he is.

I'll keep banging this drum as long as people keep lobbying for any of the coaches without head coaching experience (which is all of them IIRC) on UM's staff to take over if/when Harbaugh leaves.

Needs

October 8th, 2023 at 8:42 AM ^

The recent counterpoints are obvious, though. Kirby Smart, Dabo, Lincoln Riley. It depends on the coach, and not some hard and fast rule about head coaching experience. Previous head coaching experience, after all, did nothing to help Rodriguez or Hoke be successful. 
 

Also, Lloyd’s obviously a contentious topic given the way his tenure ended (and the lack of a clear successor) but the late 1990s was the best era of Michigan football before the current one. 

jhayes1189

October 8th, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^

I mean, Moeller and Carr were pretty good (I know Moeller coached Illinois) There is something to be said for continuity and stability. Having those massive overhaul years of roster turnover and systemic changes can be a major gamble for a program unless your current product is already broken. 
 

My hope is that we have at least one of the “head coach prospect” assistants stay with Jim for long haul like Venebles did with Dabo, Carr with Bo, etc…that way the transition is smooth as can be on all fronts, and preferably Jim sticks around in some capacity whenever he retires like Bo did. 
 

Honestly, eventually having Jay Harbaugh be the head coach one day almost sounds like the most ideal situation. 

Buy Bushwood

October 8th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^

ND has made some bad hires, so Freeman isn't unique (Gerry Faust, Charlie Weis, come to mind).  But, there is simply no way that someone with that little experience should be handed the keys to ND. When has that ever worked out? The only thing close I can think of is Lincoln Riley, whom I have very little respect for, and where we seeing the results of a being a HC too young, before you learn to be a complete coach, and therefore your career results in you reinforcing your own bad habits. Lane Kiffin was a flop that young.    

jhayes1189

October 8th, 2023 at 12:52 PM ^

I also agree with this take, but not because he was inexperienced as a head coach, but because he was only 1 year into his tenure at Notre Dame, and he had no prior connections to the program.
 

Lots of guys can come in and seem super great for a year, but have they showed any kind of longevity on the programs staff? 
 

Almost reminds me of a company making a splash hire in middle-management, and then suddenly he’s your boss shortly after even if you’ve been around the program for a long time, because the higher ups prefer him/her for some reason, then everyone under that person kind of falls apart as far as the company is concerned. 
 

Could explain partially why Mike Elston ended up here as he had a looong tenure and great success at Notre Dame (I know he played at UM), but go no look as an interim head coach. 

MRunner73

October 7th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^

Indeed!! ND is a fraud. On one hand, it diminishes OSU win at ND a few weeks ago as ND can't count to 11.

Look for USC to to give the Golden Domers a 3rd loss next weekend.

charblue.

October 7th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^

USC is apparently overlooking Arizona tonight. The Wildcats are shutting out the Trojans 17-0 early in the second quarter before a stunned Coliseum crowd in Los Angeles where the Dodgers are also getting shellacked by another Arizona team, the Diamondbacks, by a score of 9-0 midway through the contest. 

wolve1972

October 7th, 2023 at 11:12 PM ^

Notre Dame has really good talent. The problem - Freeman has NO business being the HC at a major football power. Some of his decisions are beyond stupidity.

EGD

October 8th, 2023 at 8:40 AM ^

Yes. That team was never going to win a national championship given how dominant Alabama was that year, but had the talent to play with everyone else on its schedule. They should have gone maybe 10-3, not 8-5.


Even despite some coaching issues, though, I still think that team would have won its division had Denard not gotten injured. 2013 is when the Hoke program really hit the skids.

Harball sized HAIL

October 7th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^

We should take this opportunity to recognize the win that the Tuffy Tuff McTuffsters squeaked out by 2 seconds and 2 inches against a team that just got splanked by the 4th best team in the 4th best P4 conference.