Posted February 13, 20232 yr With HH retiring (again), wondering who his replacement might be: Assuming Ludwig is the new OC, I see these two candidates being on the list: Jim Harding (Utah OL Coach) Chris Watt (ND GA for OL) Any others?
February 13, 20232 yr Read something yesterday that said the staff is aware oi who the new OL coach will be. With that being said, I would suspect it is Watt.
February 13, 20232 yr I assume Harding is coming if Ludwig accepts the OC job, but just an educated guess. Not sure if he would be in the running to take over Utah OC or not. I thought Watt would be a good choice too, but insiders are indicating that he is not in the running.
February 14, 20232 yr 23 hours ago, Jersey Irish said: Read something yesterday that said the staff is aware oi who the new OL coach will be. With that being said, I would suspect it is Watt. Big IF, that's the case, is that a deal breaker for some OC's not having some say on the staff?
February 14, 20232 yr Author 23 hours ago, Jersey Irish said: Read something yesterday that said the staff is aware oi who the new OL coach will be. With that being said, I would suspect it is Watt. Yesterday, they probably thought they knew who the new OC would be as well
February 15, 20232 yr Looks like Watt is going to be the choice. Well=respected in the ND coaches' room and Hiestand gave him a stamp of approval.
February 15, 20232 yr Author Glad for the nation-wide searches Jack spearheaded. His definition of "nation-wide" must be walking down the hall to see who is in an near-by office.
February 15, 20232 yr 4 minutes ago, jbrown_9999 said: Glad for the nation-wide searches Jack spearheaded. His definition of "nation-wide" must be walking down the hall to see who is in an near-by office. You don't want Jack to overwork, he only makes a couple million a year. 😆
February 16, 20232 yr Author I am hoping that the delay in announcing an OL coach actually means that Freeman is allowed to look beyond just hiring Watt.
February 17, 20232 yr IDK. It's February. Time is not on our side. I gotta think we're limited on the college front. That dust is fairly settled by now. And if NFL candidates aren't loving recruiting and NIL... I wouldn't see too many exciting names we could bring. Maybe. Hiestand was a semi-retired rental (and a great one), but there aren't many like him. Were it not for the OC "national search" shit show, I would not be disappointed with a young, hungry, ND alum and Hiestand protege that is Chris Watt. Fairly, I won't be disappointed with it at all anyway. Freeman knows if he has the room and the skills. No recruits could have thought Hiestand would hang around forever - and it won't surprise me if he makes some guest appearances, or at least grabs an occasional beer with Watt. Not sure he's even moving from South Bend. Is his house for sale? That said, I fully acknowledge that ND is really leaning into the negative optics of all these comprehensive national coaching searches. And it's warming up Freeman's seat to produce this season - but let's go!
February 17, 20232 yr Maybe they can convince Hiestand to come out of retirement. Think of the positives for the school ….No buyout clause to pay, no relocation expenses , he knows / worked with the new OC, even the positive PR the school could spin , of how Jack convinced Hiestand to come out of retirement. Edited February 17, 20232 yr by ND_JACK
February 17, 20232 yr 1 minute ago, ND_JACK said: Maybe they can convince Hiestand to come out of retirement. Think of the positives for the school ….No buyout clause to pay, no relocation expenses , he knows the new OC, the positive PR of how Jack convinced Hiestand to come out of retirement. Ha ha ha. That would be the boldest move to satisfy the masses!
February 17, 20232 yr It would be surprising to name Watt, but after Parker, who knows. I would think a majority of current P5 OL coaches would crawl through broken glass to coach ND, which is one of the Top 3 schools for OL. Can you imagine getting the opportunity to coach potentially two First Round OTs, Alt (2024) and Fisher (2025)? Not to mention a returning OC, and solid options at OG - Kristofic, Schrauth, etc. I would think ND could be very choosy with this hire.
February 18, 20232 yr 28 minutes ago, tneun89 said: It would be surprising to name Watt, but after Parker, who knows. I would think a majority of current P5 OL coaches would crawl through broken glass to coach ND, which is one of the Top 3 schools for OL. Can you imagine getting the opportunity to coach potentially two First Round OTs, Alt (2024) and Fisher (2025)? Not to mention a returning OC, and solid options at OG - Kristofic, Schrauth, etc. I would think ND could be very choosy with this hire. April 22nd- 5 weeks would be March 25th. My deadline for this hire like March 10 or 11th @tneun89Do you know when Notre Dame's Spring break is? I'm assuming 3 practices per week for 5 weeks.
February 18, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, tneun89 said: It would be surprising to name Watt, but after Parker, who knows. I would think a majority of current P5 OL coaches would crawl through broken glass to coach ND, which is one of the Top 3 schools for OL. Can you imagine getting the opportunity to coach potentially two First Round OTs, Alt (2024) and Fisher (2025)? Not to mention a returning OC, and solid options at OG - Kristofic, Schrauth, etc. I would think ND could be very choosy with this hire. Makes you wonder why Harry left
February 18, 20232 yr 36 minutes ago, FaithInIrish Forever said: April 22nd- 5 weeks would be March 25th. My deadline for this hire like March 10 or 11th @tneun89Do you know when Notre Dame's Spring break is? I'm assuming 3 practices per week for 5 weeks. Spring break is March 11-19. Heard that practice starts on March 22, but don’t think that’s been officially confirmed.
February 18, 20232 yr 13 minutes ago, tneun89 said: Spring break is March 11-19. Heard that practice starts on March 22, but don’t think that’s been officially confirmed. Yep. So the press conference would be Either Monday the 20 or Tuesday the 21st thanks. Any position coach should be on campus at least 2-3 weeks before practice
February 19, 20232 yr I just hope like hell that Hiestand’s retirement wasn’t based on the false believe that they had Ludwig wrapped up and he was going to bring his line coach. We need a guy like Hiestand, but if they hire a guy like Watt that will be another nail in the coffin. This is taking a long time and it comes on the heels of the Ludwig disaster. So, I assume there’s some real strong conversations going on between Freeman and Swarbrick.
With HH retiring (again), wondering who his replacement might be:
Assuming Ludwig is the new OC, I see these two candidates being on the list:
Jim Harding (Utah OL Coach)
Chris Watt (ND GA for OL)
Any others?