Inept Leadership

[DScottND]

One reason why we have not hired a good coach in the last 4 hires - Bob, George, Ty and Charlie (I still hold out hope for him as I will never quit being a fan) is the awful leadership at the top of the university. Someone please explain to me what the hell went on from Saturday night through today. If they were evaluating the program why the hell not do it after the Syracuse game I think that game gave you all you needed to draw a conclusion about the program - why wait and drag the program through this when a contingent plan could have been put in place barring the outcome of the USC game. Instead we spent 4 days being dismantled in the media and 4 days of hurting recruiting and undermining our coach. This sort of leadership has surrounded the university for years and has worked itself all the way down to the team. What just took place was a total display of arrogance and will serve to hurt the university in the future as it will cost them the support of many alumni for jerking them around. I am sick of the mismanagement that has been taking place if I didn't love the university and the team so much I would have packed it in.

[D Fence]

Not sure where the arrogance comes in, but who's to say they haven't been doing evaluations all along? Swarbrick mentioned they typically speak with all the people involved with the program, and at some point I think he indicated they speak with players to get their sense of commitment to the coach. Given that the team probably flew back to South Bend Saturday night or Sunday morning, it would seem he would have had to speak to some of the team before the game.

 

Apparently Swarbrick spoke to Weis with enough time for him to confidently go into recruits' homes after the game (Teo, Evans, Wood) and confidently say he would be back next season, along with the assistants (Ianello visiting Watt). So they were able to put speculation to bed. Outside of the media and many of us clamoring to get scoop as soon as it comes out, he took the time to speak with the people involved and I applaud him for not biting on the media's attempts to get an angle on this.

[D Fence]

Also, keep in mind that the 'contingency' plans are a tricky thing. Word gets out when people are seen in the same town together (i.e. "why is Swarbrick flying to Gainesville?", etc.) or if they have conversations with other coaches. By building a contingency plan, they would be contradicting themselves by publicly offering support and this would undermine all their credibility.

[DScottND]

My point is if they are evaluating all the time why the silence since Saturday? It was disfunctional to the root and caused way more harm than any good. So you say he wanted to get players feedback? Since when do you let the inmates run the prison? If he truly was basing this decision on player feedback which will be distorted in either direction the university is more incompetent than I thought. The facts are this he should have had his decision 95% of the way made leading into the USC game then take Sunday to evaluate if that game changed your thought process - if Charlie is the Coach squash the rumors and release this statement on Monday - I ask again give me a positive for him to wait until today - I will give you a list of negatives. Time is not on ND side on this if they wanted to retain Charlie - stop sugar coating every decision.

[D Fence]

I'm not going to get into an argument with you on this one, but the fact of the matter is that Swarbrick got into a discussion with the media right after the game and outlined his process. Why should he give an indication of his intentions until he is ready? Because we want him to? If his decision was 95% baked after the SC game - and no one outside of his closest confidants will be able to answer that question, so you can't assume that it was not and I cannot assume that it was - why make a statement like 'we're 95% sure he will be back'. The fact of the matter is that things change all the time, and it would not be wise to go public until you have a chance to talk 1 on 1 with the people you need to. Maybe he has his discussion with Weis yesterday and Weis could have said 'you know what Jack, I'm not getting it done here and will step down and spend time with my family'. How would that look - on Saturday coming out saying Weis is our coach and then three days later saying, well, he's really not because I just spoke with him and he wants to step down?

 

In terms of the inmates running the asylum, it's not like he has to go to the players and ask "do you think I should fire the coach?". There are many crafty ways to ask questions of people to get a sense for how engaged they are to use as input for their decisions.

[DScottND]

I am not trying to get into an argument either - I just believe all of which you outlined could have taken place during the week leading up to the USC thus saving the university the black eye it received over the past few days - just an additional black mark to add to the numerous we have had since the mid 1990's perhaps some are just accepting this as the way it should be. Again not trying to argue I respect that we can have differences and respect yours.

[D Fence]

Sounds good - I would feel more uncomfortable it I didn't see articles from visits to people like Teo, Evans, Wood and Watt all coming out with really positive things to say about their meetings with Weis. I think some discussion happened where Weis was comfortable enough to go out to these kids and confidently say he would be back, and that's what I mostly care about - the incoming recruits.

 

The speculation about coaches always happens to every school. It usually happens where some people in the media look for reasons to develop a short list, then publish it. Then the coaches on the short list come out and say "I'm not interested" and there is a perceived black eye for the school, which I don't think is entirely fair. But it happens to a lot of schools. After the Les Miles fiasco at UM, there were a number of coaches who had to come out and say 'no thanks' and they were sweating it out for a good month or so until Rodriguez was named.

[DScottND]

However the difference between your example with UM and the current ND debacle is that UM actually made a coaching change.

[D Fence]

Agreed - I was just referring to the speculation piece, which comes out when there is a change or even when there is uncertainty about whether a change will occur as what happened over the last few days.

 

I understand that you would have liked this to be put to bed right away, but hopefully for the people for which this matters most - the current players and incoming recruits - this will be a non-issue over the next few months. We'll see how it plays out.

[krazyglue]

One key that I think both of you are missing here is why was this has become an issue at all? Let’s face it, ESPN and other media need to sell this type of thing. Hell even before the season started ESPN had a coaching "hot seat" list. That’s before even one game was played. Did they do that because they were in the know that if a coach didn't get x amount of wins he was defiantly getting fired? No. It’s to create controversy and thus sell ESPN.

 

Last night ESPN had "Breaking news" that Charlie was not fired. How is that even news? I think Lane Kiffin put it best this year when he said "I have not been told by Al Davis that I’m not the head coach, so until he tells me directly we’re going to keep plugging away". Charlie is still the head coach until he ain't and he is still plugging away. But the media are trying to manufacture a story out of nothing. It's all designed to get viewership and readership.

[ND in OH]

One key that I think both of you are missing here is why was this has become an issue at all? Let’s face it, ESPN and other media need to sell this type of thing. Hell even before the season started ESPN had a coaching "hot seat" list. That’s before even one game was played. Did they do that because they were in the know that if a coach didn't get x amount of wins he was defiantly getting fired? No. It’s to create controversy and thus sell ESPN.

 

Last night ESPN had "Breaking news" that Charlie was not fired. How is that even news? I think Lane Kiffin put it best this year when he said "I have not been told by Al Davis that I’m not the head coach, so until he tells me directly we’re going to keep plugging away". Charlie is still the head coach until he ain't and he is still plugging away. But the media are trying to manufacture a story out of nothing. It's all designed to get viewership and readership.

 

Speaking of Kiffin did you hear his acceptance speech after being introduced as the Vols next coach?? It was a riot!! Paraphasing, he thanked Al Davis for the opportunity to coach the Raiders and how that experience would help him in the future, since he had never dealt with such a dysfunctional organization in his life. It was hilarious!!

[jon33dn]

ha... just wait for southern football fans lane....

[krazyglue]

ha... just wait for southern football fans lane....

 

I work literally minutes from Bobby Dodd stadium and you would never know that Ga Tech was even in Atlanta because of all the rabid UGA supporters. Hell there was some rumblings around here about trying to get Richt out after such a disappointing season. If that tells you anything about SEC football.

 

I missed the Lane speech, but that sounds great! I think Lane is a good coach and I think he will succeed at UT if given a far shake. That old fart in oakland needs to stop getting in the way of progress.

[1qa]

On Saturday, Swarbrick laid out the process by which he would be evaluating the coaches and programs at ND. And, he indicated he would review the Football program with Charlie next Monday.

 

The fact that he said he needed to review the year (and perhaps consult others.. Fr. Jenkins, players?, coaches, faculty, alumni) indicated that the administration does not have strong confidence in Charlie.

 

I doubt he would have said we need to review the program if ND had just beat USC.

 

The silence between Saturday and now reinforces the shaky ground on which Charlie finds himself.

 

The tepid, non-endorsement press release articulates the displeasure, yet affirms that Charlie is in charge for now... and that basically, given the circumstances, Charlie was the best option.

 

I liken the situation to Ty Willingham last year... people were calling for his head... the AD stuck out his neck to keep him... and this year, without doubt, Ty was removed... not unexpectedly.

 

Charlie will be in the same position next year unless he can get things together.

 

Why wait the year? Part financial, part continuity... part time to vet and refine the "short" list... partly to prepare the players.

 

So, now, we are officially on the Charlie Death Watch.. here's hoping he can turn things around.

[Guest SirJohn]

We have always to my 50 years of ND gotten a media black eye. I quit worring about it, just post the news and go thumb suck with my ND throw.

[krazyglue]

On Saturday, Swarbrick laid out the process by which he would be evaluating the coaches and programs at ND. And, he indicated he would review the Football program with Charlie next Monday.

 

The fact that he said he needed to review the year (and perhaps consult others.. Fr. Jenkins, players?, coaches, faculty, alumni) indicated that the administration does not have strong confidence in Charlie.

 

I doubt he would have said we need to review the program if ND had just beat USC.

 

The silence between Saturday and now reinforces the shaky ground on which Charlie finds himself...

 

I believe that Swarbrick said he would do an evaluation with ALL ND sports programs including Lady's soccer (one of the top in the nation). An indication IMO that it was business as usual.

 

The "delay" in talking to Charlie IMO again showed that it again was not a big deal. Everyone was going about business as usual.

[OddThomas]

I don't get the sense that leadership at the top is suffering, quite the contrary. I think Swarbrick gave the public a sense of what he was doing and followed through. I think he analyzed the situation and believes the timing isn't right to change coaches. We've certainly learned around here that isn't always a good thing.

 

You fire Charlie now and for certain some bad things will occur, losing recruits, losing existing players and creating another media fiasco. What good coach would want to walk into that. How do you pay him after the offer Charlie received? A year from now most of these kids will be juniors and sophs, the recruiting class will be here and the public and the players will better understand if a change is needed.

 

Most importantly a new coach would be walking into a better situation, ergo the chances are better that we would be able to hire a top tier coach.

[DScottND]

OddThomas -

You are talking about if this was the right decision - my premise has nothing to do with the decision, but rather the tactics. Every bit of work that was done could have been done the week leading up to the USC game and if the decision was to keep Charlie squash all the rumors and release the statement Sunday or Monday and save all this drama. Drama does nothing but deminish the program hurt recruiting and turn away fans. This is yet another example of poor planning. Remember I am not speaking of the decision but the timing.

[potownhero]

I am more depressed now than I was after either of the past two games. I was so looking forward to getting a winning coach on board. Knowing we have no shot to be great next year is flat out depressing. I can only imagine what how depressed the players are...realizing that they have all of this talent that is being wasted due to a head coach's inability to teach/inspire/motivate and a stooge like Swarbrick who's too much of a pu$$y to make a move.

 

My roommate is trying to get me to go to watch his Gators this weekend and to quote him "root for a Winner of a coach". He thinks its a no brainer that they will beat Bama. I might go ; I hate the Gators but they seem to always have eye candy show up.

[crouchingjedi]

Let not your heart be troubled. For some reason I have hope in this Swarbick guy. Everything he has touched has turned to gold, and I believe (I can't tell you why) that he wants to be known as the person who put ND football back on the map--with or without Charlie.

 

I found the following analysis of the official UND statement from bluegraysky very interesting in terms of the lawyerspeak of Swarbick's statement (credit to http://www.bluegraysky.blogspot.com):

 

"For those fans still inclined to rage, rage against the dying of the light, notice that Swarbrick in his lawyer-esque glory leaves the future pretty much wide open, e.g., we're going to "move forward under his leadership," rather than commit to and fully support Charlie. What's striking is what Swarbrick did not say. No definite time frame is indicated; not even Charlie will be our coach in 2009. At this point, the odds of ND reversing course are extremely low, but the tepidness in this statement is revealing. Swarbrick said the very least he could have said, while still supporting Charlie for the time being.

 

Moreover, I think there's a pretty definite undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the whole thing in Swarbrick's words. "This past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program," and we'll "make changes wherever we think they are needed" should be a harbinger of further developments."