Comments on: The three star conundrum

By: Carroll Merriman

Carroll Merriman — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:54:33 +0000

Oh my god you will not belief this. Our mindless dog simply just farted on my arm!? I mean what’s the problem with this!? I feed that thing and I receive that in exchange. I yet can not belief that. Anyway, you hold quite a few interesting facts there in your post. I knew Yahoo are going to bring me to a few fascinating stuff today . Okay have to search for this pet now! Have a great day you all!

By: Daniel Feller

Daniel Feller — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:29:31 +0000

I got to hand it to you. This was a great article and I agree 100% I’ve been watching ND recruiting for about three years now and in my mind I was thinking that ’09 was going to be a blow out season and we would easily get into a bcs game. I don’t care the level of the recruit, I just care the level of play. And based on his track record, I believe Brian Kelly will have these guys roaring and raring to go next season. I think we’ll surprise a lot of people.

By: Terry again

Terry again — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:57:55 +0000

StephenofTroy – Re. – your reference to Dick Cheney. One of my favorite t-shirts says “I’d rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than for a drive with Ted Kennedy.”
Just thought you’d like to know that.

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:50:16 +0000

The story is told that just before the 2008 ND – BC game the BC coach asked his players “How many of you were recruited by Notre Dame?”
Not a hand was raised.
BC 17 ND 0
It’s the coaching
When Ara Parseghian came to ND in 1964 the first team he fielded was made up ENTIRELY of players he had not recruited. He came to within a few minutes of a National Championship with players that had gone 2-7 the previous year.
It’s the coaching.
Last season Cincinatti, with 10 new starters on defense was 12-0 and ranked as high as #5 with 2 and 3 star players.
It’s the coaching
Granted they got blown out by Florida but Florida had both superior players and superior coaching.
The measure of a coach – any coach – is what he does with what he’s got. So far Kelly has done fine work with the material he’s had. Now that he has reached the big stage – can he bring the Irish back to prominence? Given his record so far I think he can, but we’ll have to wait another 7 months before we begin to find out.

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duvet coveres kings size — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:48:38 +0000

I believe my sister is planning something the same. Best of luck to you.

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By: kejji

kejji — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:27:17 +0000

Can’t remember what thread it was, but I remember that on average the players lost 13 pounds apiece..that is unacceptable and I don’t understand how the coaches didn’t pick up on that.
I’m sure Coach Kelly will rectify that.
I remember reading another Irish blog awhile ago…I believe “rakes of mallow” and the administrator had a thread about the importance of good nutrition…and he commented on the fact that he would see the players on campus pigging out at various eating joints…and he was very concerned about it.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:17:06 +0000

Yes, there was conversation about that subject about a week or so ago. Apparently the defensive players lost considerable weight during the season. I’m not sure what that thread was. Perhaps someone else remembers.

By: jim fenlon

jim fenlon — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:57:35 +0000

Does anyone know whether Notre Dame has a training table? Unless I’m mistaken Nebraska made a living for three decades off less than four or five star athletes who were developed nutritionally and in the weight room and they have a reputation for welcoming and developing walk-ons.

By: jfrie63780

jfrie63780 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:45:33 +0000

I think the actual number of top 100 recruits would be 400 not 100. You have to figure in the fresh-senior classes. So the percentage will be different than that of just one class of 100.

By: kejji

kejji — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:17:40 +0000

robertg will jump on the shillelagh wagon as soon as they start winning on a regular basis..then he will take credit for the improvement because of his “behind the scenes” work.

By: grandpashyena

grandpashyena — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:38:27 +0000

5,4,3,2,1, blast off to Alfa Centauri. Jake, you are probably right. Fair weather friend, that robertg.
He needs to hole up in the silo and practice “wax on, wax off”, for about twenty years.
robertg—-Look eye, always look eye.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:15:27 +0000

Robertg will credit Weiss if the Irish win and blame Kelly and the “cancer” that has invaded ND if they loose.
He is currently preparing his next rant from the bowels of an abandoned missile silo in Montana.

By: grandpashyena

grandpashyena — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:18:10 +0000

In a tip of the Hatlow Hat to ND. I hope the same can be said for the Irish. Though the recruit class won’t be at USC, Texas, Florida level it will be solid. The new coaching staff will have good material and should certainly not lose to any but the top teams. And who knows, in a few years the Irish can be back up in the top level of teams and can look forward to championship play. It will be interesting to see if robertg will come back around to embracing the Irish if they are at the top or has be taken his ball and gone home except to a few banshee (Irish analogy) cries from the basement of his disbarred world. Any thoughts?

By: grandpashyena

grandpashyena — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:50:07 +0000

Interesting posts about USC and their year. Folks that beat them this year better frame and cherish the win. I feel that SC will return with a vengance once they get a little more playing time and coaching under their belts. These are talented kids. No doubt about it. They are going to come back bigger, better coached and motivated to prove that this year was a fluke. The new recruiting class is the usual high quality athletes. The PAC 10 especially better watch out. USC rightly feels that it belongs at the top.

By: kejji

kejji — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:55:23 +0000

Hard to venture a guess as to the coordinators for reasons you mentioned…crazy season in the Pac-10, although I must say even tho’ it was a painful year for the Men of Troy, they gained gobs of experience and will be a force to reckon with next year because of their trial-by-fire season.

By: kejji

kejji — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:38:57 +0000

So. If an Escalade leaves South Bend going west to L.A. at 57 miles per hour and a Range Rover leaves L.A.heading east to South Bend at 72 miles per hour. Where and when will they simultaniously run over robertg?
Anyone? Anyone?****************************************************
That math question is only workable if Tiger Woods is driving the Escalade and Joe McKnight is driving the Range Rover.

By: StephenOfTroy

StephenOfTroy — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:35:30 +0000

kejji, good post and thanks for the Hayes quote. What DO you think of the new SC offensive and defensive coordinators, by the way? Kind of hard to evaluate them this year considering the inexperienced defense, freshman QB, and key injuries on offense, IMO. (I’d be more bashful about talking about USC on this blog, but Keith Arnold made Joe McKnight’s rides to and from campus the subject of an entire post, so what the heck…)
grandpa, do I get extra credit for knowing that the math problem cannot be solved? Robert will not be hit by any car. He’s writing his posts from the “secure undisclosed location” previously used by Dick Cheney (in other words, the “foreign language” section of Barnes & Noble in Oklahoma City — you’ll never see a soul there).

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:43:25 +0000

As fast as possible!

By: Art Vandelay

Art Vandelay — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:36:34 +0000

Hey, nobody told me there was gonna be math on here.

By: grandpashyena

grandpashyena — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:32:27 +0000

Bill, the number of recruits are not 100. The number of “top 100 recruits” playing in this years bowl games are 8.4% of the 1496 total players in all the bowl gsames. The rest of the “top 100 recruits” were not on a team that made it to a bowl game.
So. If an Escalade leaves South Bend going west to L.A. at 57 miles per hour and a Range Rover leaves L.A.heading east to South Bend at 72 miles per hour. Where and when will they simultaniously run over robertg?
Anyone? Anyone?

By: bill litke

bill litke — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:27:33 +0000

it’s probably me, perhaps the “new math”, but if there are 100 “top” recruits and 1500 (so sue me, I rounded up by 4, did I mention I’m lazy!) overall players in all bowl games, then according to my math, that works out to 6.7%!!!…again, I probably missed something but it would be mathematically impossible for any number above the 6.7% (again, I rounded up) using the numbers described…help!!!

By: kejji

kejji — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:18:09 +0000

Slightly skewed view by the Count in my estimation…just because USC has many of the top 100 picks does not mean they will automatically win when these players are thrown in there too soon as starters..they need time to develop.
They lost eight starters on defense last year and did not have one senior on the defensive line.
I think Matt Hayes from the SportingNews has it right when he says: “USC didn’t lose games this fall because it is all falling apart.It lost games because-for the first time under Carroll-it started a freshman quarterback from Day 1. The Trojans also played with a completely revamped defense full of inexperience that couldn’t rely on physical ability in crunch time.
The step back this fall has more to do with inexperience in key positions than USC losing it’s mojo, or Carroll losing top assistant coaches and not finding qualified replacements.
The biggest improvement for most young players comes from the first season as starter to the second.USC isn’t going anywhere,people.”
Notre Dame better hope he is wrong…..but I don’t think so.

By: StephenOfTroy

StephenOfTroy — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:47:21 +0000

Solid article, Mr. Arnold. Well-thought-out and clearly presented.
I agree that Weis didn’t get much out of his 3-star recruits, but I don’t think that’s the main reason the Irish didn’t win. I think they didn’t win under Weis because he failed to motivate any players to play to their full potential for 60 minutes, whether you’re talking about Golden Tate or the O-line.
If a 3-star recruit never blossoms, can we not chalk that up to coaching failures? Moderately talented players, placed in the correct situations and buoyed by great players, play above and beyond their previously anticipated capability.
Take the Chicago Bulls of the 1990′s for example. John Paxson, Ed Nealy, B.J. Armstrong, and Steve Kerr are names you may not know, but they’re championship players. They would definitely not be championship players (and you wouldn’t know their names) had Phil Jackson not been a superlative coach (and had Michael Jordan not been a more than superlative player).
Finally, I think it IS fair to compare ND to the top three teams over the past 5 years. Certainly, the Irish’s fan base continues to believe ND should be winning titles or at least contending for them.
At any rate, it was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
GO IRISH!