Heard it from a friend, who heard it from friend

[Mook]

who heard it from another you been messing around.....

Stoops may not really be staying at OU......Notre Dame looking like a very real possibility.....

[Mook]

It's worse than horrible........don't sell it short :D

[Killian]

"The big one" is always the game you lose. I'm sure Mack got labled for that after he lost to Tech. OU curb stomps Tech, but Stoops gets no credit for it. He loses a close game to Texas, and he can't win the big one.

I think his "Big Game Bob" reputation was a bit over hyped, but the guy is one of the top 3-5 coaches in college football. He doesn't have an .800 winning percentage because he can't win football games.

[Mook]

I remember Roy Williams couldn't win the big one either in CBB for quite awhile......I guess he's a better coach now.


In my opinion Stoops would be making a mistake if he makes this move....

[Killian]

I remember Roy Williams couldn't win the big one either in CBB for quite awhile......I guess he's a better coach now.


In my opinion Stoops would be making a mistake if he makes this move....

There is no logical reason for him to make this move, which is why I don't think he will make it.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

If Stoops can't win the big one, how did he win the big one?

[Mook]

There is no logical reason for him to make this move, which is why I don't think he will make it.

I agree completely and I'm certainly not saying this is 100%.......but I'm inclined to believe what I've heard.....

[Killian]

This is the day in which we live, from a Notre Dame blog:


Friday, December 04, 2009
Anatomy of a Rumor | by Jay
Here's an object lesson in how rumors get started, and how quickly they spread in the internet age.

1. Friend of BGS decides (not at our behest, by the way) to email the rumor site FootballCoachScoop.com with a choice tidbit. FootballCoachScoop seems to post all kinds of unsubstantiated rumors, and said friend wants to see how easy it is to get something started.

2. Friend composes a very short, but specific email: I used to work in the athletic department at Notre Dame (a lie), and I have heard that Jack Swarbrick is interested in Bret Bielema, the head coach at the University of Wisconsin. This was at 6:56pm last evening. The email is sent from a free gmail account. There is no other email sent from friend, no attempt to "sell" the rumor beyond the initial communication.

3. Meanwhile, friend has another buddy randomly tweet a few times about the Bielema rumors, and goes to bed.

4. FootballCoachScoop does not reply to the email. FootballCoachScoop does not ask any followup questions. FootballCoachScoop, to friend's knowledge, makes no attempt to verify emailer's bona fides in any way.

5. The next morning, FootballCoachScoop runs the rumor almost verbatim. Friend chuckles and shares the development with a few friends.

6. Later in the day, BGS notices a piece posted to "the Examiner", a Huffington Post-style blogging site that allows anyone with an email address to register as a "reporter." Joshua Burns picks up on the FootballScoop item and pens this:


Notre Dame AD to talk with Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema this weekend
December 4, 2:15 PM Cincinnati Bearcats Examiner Joshua Burns

Another day, another new name has surfaced in the Notre Dame head coaching search.

According to FootballCoachScoop.com, Irish AD Jack Swarbrick is "very interested" in talking to Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, after the Badgers trip from Hawaii this weekend.

Bielema's name has not been mentioned in prior discussions about the Notre Dame opening. He joins a list of reported candidates that includes Jim Harbaugh (Stanford), Skip Holtz (ECU), Randy Edsall (UConn), and Brian Kelly (Cincinnati).

Bielema was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1993 to 2001. He then became the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002 to 2003. He took the same position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004.

The Wisconsin coach joins a chaotic rumer mill surrounding the Irish head coaching void left by the firing of Charlie Weis. Most expect answers to many of the questions surrounding the search after this weekend, the last regular-season weekend before bowl games begin.
"Examiner" posts have sometimes popped up in my google reader, linked alongside legitimate news stories from legitimate news outlets. I wonder if it will show up.

UPDATE: voilà, there it is.

In the meantime, please know that to our knowledge, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Jack Swarbrick is in any way interested in Bret Bielema as the next coach for Notre Dame.

And please, most of all...don't trust the internet!

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I think they should get a good coach with a low profile and a good attitude

Pat Fitzgerald

[Killian]

I think they should get a good coach with a low profile and a good attitude

Pat Fitzgerald

I'll fucking quit watching.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

What's not to like? He's a hell of a coach.

[Laxplayer]

Here's the problem as I see it. #1 ND can't hire someone that's not a big name college coach. They have to hire someone that makes the other coaches in CFB say, "wow, they hired who? I can't believe it!" This person also has to be someone that top notch recruits recognize. How many top recruits know who Brian Kelley is? ND has become a shell of itself. When most of us were young ND was everything along with SC, Penn St. Michigan, Bama etc....but kids today have no idea about the history, tradition of many schools and furthermore they don't give a shit. They want a school in a great climat with tons of pu$$y running around with minimal clothing on. ND is a very tough place to recruit due to the weather, academic requirements, loss of some prestige and mediocrity. IMO if they hire Kelley the streak vs. $C will last for many more years. I hope I'm wrong but this is just the wrong hire.
As a true fan, I'll suffer through and deal with the fucking asshole homer $C fans here in LA but I'll be wishing that one day ND does return to prominence in the world of CFB and not turning down bowl games named after some yard power tool.

[SunCoastSooner]

I heard it was going to John Blake or Norm Chow... :wink:

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I agree. Talk about a guy who can squeeze a lot of good out of limited talent....

Can squeeze a lot out of a little. Tough guy. Was a tough player. Was a winner. Has integrity. Carries himself well and doesn't act the jackass in front of a mic. Players respect him and play hard for him. Understands how to be a disciplinarian without treating his players like dogshit (sup Mangino). So, naturally, NDfan ain't interested. He's not looking for a step down anyway.

[Killian]

Doesn't act like an idiot in front of a mic? Check his interview with CNNSI. He's been a head coach for all of 5 minutes. Everything you described could be applied to Willingham in 2001.

If the search goes beyond Kelly, they're fucked.

[King Crimson]

If the search goes beyond Kelly, they're fucked.

that would be my read of the situation. you could still get a quality guy, but the perception will be that ND has settled for less. at least you've got the NFL thing out of your system.

[Van]

Bribe Jon Gruden until he can no longer say no. That's their best bet at bringing ND back to where Lax wants them, as opposed to simply making incremental improvements.

ND has to get someone in there with a big enough name to recruit those Leroys they need to win again. Pat Fitzgerald ain't gonna do that, and neither will Brian Kelly.

To compete with Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops, both on the field and in the living rooms of recruits all across the country, you can't hope to do it with Pat Fitzgerald or Brian Kelly, especially when you're representing a tough sell like Notre Dame. You need someone with name recognition among your target audience. You need someone ND Nation can get behind as a symbol of resurgence.

Hiring Pat Fitzgerald says, "Northwestern? We're fucking doomed. We don't even matter anymore."

[Van]

It needs relevancy, to young, black men. That relevancy is becoming smaller and smaller in the ND rearview mirror, with every mile they distance themselves from their glory days. Fitzgerald or Kelly don't promise that return to glory to young, black men, the way a hotshot, highly visible, charismatic and young Super Bowl winning head coach offers them.

He may not ultimately end up being the answer, but right now ND is searching for a promise. They're searching for hope, and real upside. Gruden offers more of that than any other viable candidate.

Fitzgerald and Kelly offer them what they already have: ND, as a selling point. They offer nothing else. There is nothing compelling about either guy that will give Leroy reason to say no to Urban Meyer, Nick Saban or Pete Carroll. Sure, Fitz or Kelly will still land guys here and there, but they won't compete in numbers, and without those numbers the wins won't come.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

ND needs to go after the total package: experienced college head coach who's currently relevant, proven winner, and good recruiter. Of the feasible available candidates, Kelly would be the best choice. He's pretty much a carbon copy of Urban Meyer. Meyer didn't have name recognition when he was hired by Florida, but it didn't matter, because he understood the blue print for success as a college coach. Which, more often than not, is a tad more complex than showing up in a kid's living room, flashing some Super Bowl rings, and watching him sign on the dotted line while you sit back and collect your crystal footballs. Besides, good recruiters can recruit anywhere. And that's Meyer and Kelly to a tee. If it can be done at Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Utah, etc., I'm fairly certain it can be accomplished at Notre freaking Dame, with its infinite resources at one's disposal. Hell, Weis brought in great players to ND. But he couldn't coach.

Bring in a good football coach who knows what he's doing, first and foremost. Do that, and the recruits will come.

[Van]

Hey, by all means, absolutely, if they can get Meyer, get him. I'd take Stoops too, as a very distant second.

Somehow though, I don't necessarily see Kelly or especially Fitz as being Urban Meyer, so it remains to be seen how valid of a comparison that is.

Of the guys they can get, since Meyer ain't an option, I'd put Gruden first, Stoops second - and I'm talking strictly hypothetically, because I have no idea if they can really get Stoops - then Kelly, with Fitzgerald last.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Swarbrick apparently wants a coach with a proven track record at the college level. That apparently would eliminate Gruden from further consideration.

Fwiw, I think Swarbrick has it right: Stoops as the "pie in the sky" choice, and Kelly as the fallback, "safe" choice. If the search goes beyond Kelly, we're probably screwed.

Of the lesser-tier names, if it goes that far, my choice would be Skip Holtz. Alum, son of a ND coaching legend, and he has done enough at East Carolina to warrant moving up on the coaching ladder. I'm not sure he's ready for the ND job, though.

[Van]

Jsc, outside the state of Louisiana, and maybe a few pockets of Michigan, your coach is almost universally viewed as a buffoon, and a guy who purely lucked into his one silly title, by way of Nick's recruits. Nobody puts him on the same level as Saban, Meyer or Carroll.

[TheJON]

I said a few weeks ago that if ND wants Stoops, the only way you're getting him is if you open your wallet and let him know he's the one and only coach you're going after. Do this and they have a shot. This does seem like the time to leave OU if he ever will. But please don't do it Bobby. Your dad will be turning over in his grave. If Kelly, Gruden and Stoops turn it down I would go after Bielema. They need a defensive minded head coach anyways. I wouldn't make him my top option by any means, but he would be at the top of my "B" list. I know Killian has already said he wouldn't want him but I just don't see who else on the "B" list is any better. As a young coach he's won 10+ games (assuming they beat Hawaii) 3 times in 5 years at a BCS school. And he's a defensive coach. Plus, he's a good recruiter. To me, he's the best of the 2nd best group.

[Van]

Bielema is a slappy head coach from the Big 10, same as Fitzgerald, and these are of course the two guys chosen by two of the Big 10 honks here.

Just say it: "We want ND to stay irrelevant."

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Hey, by all means, absolutely, if they can get Meyer, get him.

What I'm saying is Urban Meyer didn't have the name recognition you're waxing about when Florida hired him. But it didn't matter.

[Van]

He'd done a lot more than Fitzgerald.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

When Spray mentioned those specific qualities, I threw out Fitzgerald's name. Though I think he's a great coach, especially with what he has to work with, he wouldn't be my #1 choice, Kelly would be (of those feasible).

[Laxplayer]

So it sounds like you painted yourself into a corner where whatever hire ND does make will fail because of your unrealistic standards.
Pat Fitzgerald and Brian Kelly would be fine hires. The "WOW" factor will never apply because those coaches that would make others go "WOW" don't want to coach at ND.
Sorry you had to find out this way.

My standards are not unrealistic. It's Notre Dame and to a lot of kids Notre Dame is nothing special anymore which is exactly why you need a Wow coach. Who the hell is Brian Kelley to come into some kids house in South Central LA to sell ND. They've never fucking heard of him so what's his selling point? Now, Bob Stoops comes into the kids living room and you've got everyone listening. That's the difference. Maybe those WOW coaches don't want to coach at ND, however you'll never know if they do until you ask and open the briefcase of cash for them and let them know there's a lot more of that if you win. Van has it right. Kelley, fitzgerald etc.....represent exactly what they've had in the past. Mediocrity and if you want to be irrelevant then hire one of these guys.

[King Crimson]

the level of "buzz" about Stoops to ND has really dropped off on the OU homer boards since about Wednesday. doesn't mean it's impossible, but the level of concern is not what it was.

edit: http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/O ... NTNe938491


"A few hours after Stoops' text, OU sports information director Kenny Mossman released this statement from the Sooner coach: "For the third, and hopefully
final time, let me again state that I will continue to be the coach at Oklahoma. I appreciate the history and tradition of Notre Dame. I also appreciate the history and tradition of Oklahoma, and I have been part of building that tradition here.

"I work for a wonderful president (David Boren) and athletic director (Joe Castiglione), who have created an incredible work environment at OU. There haven't been any plans for a meeting or negotiations with Notre Dame and there will not be. Any reporting to that fact is completely erroneous. I will not be the next coach at Notre Dame."