Golden Tate walked away from Notre Dame after one of the most electric seasons in Irish history. The Biletnikoff winner dazzled fans with nearly 1,500 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, to go along with electric touchdowns on the ground and as a punt returner. While the Irish's late-season swoon cost Tate an invitation to the Heisman proceedings, Golden's junior season capped a remarkable three-year career that started with a converted running back learning on the job how to play wide receiver, to becoming the most versatile offensive weapon in college football.

While he's busy in Arizona preparing himself for the biggest job interview of his life, he was nice enough to trade emails with me and let us know what he's been up to.

I hope you enjoy catching up with Golden Tate...

ITI: Last we saw, you were sitting next to Coach Weis and Jimmy Clausen announcing your decision to enter the draft. What have you been doing since then?

Golden Tate: Since then, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona to prepare myself for the events that I will have to do.

ITI: What kind of things are you focusing on in your training? What do you feel you need to improve on?

GT: I have really been focusing on the forty. I think that is the most important event for me to do well on. I have also been working on the other drills equally.

ITI: Do you have any goals for the NFL Draft? Do you plan on participating in all the tests at the combine?

GT: Only goal I have at this point is to impress the scouts with not only my athletic ability, but also my personality. Hopefully they will see the Golden Tate outside of football. Yes, I plan on participating in all the drills.

ITI: Have you had any interaction with your old teammates? What are they saying about the coaching change?

GT: I have had a few conversations and they all said it is really intense and they are all getting better.

ITI: How tough is it not playing baseball right now? Do you think about your professional prospects in baseball if you decided to focus on that sport instead?

GT: It's not tough at all. I do miss being around the guys, but that's about all. I think I made the right decision by entering the NFL draft.

ITI: How close are you to finishing school? Do you plan on coming back and getting your degree?

GT: I am 30 hours away from graduating. I juggled baseball, football, and school for 2.5 years and only have a year until I graduate. I plan on continuing school during my offseasons.

****

A special thanks to Golden for making time for me in the midst of a pretty crazy time for him. I wish him the best of luck and think some team is going to be very lucky to have him next year. 

Consider this a special off-season version of Catching Up. Monday marked the first day of training table meals for Irish athletics, the pilot program kicking off with a football team only dinner hosted weeknights in the Gug. The training table initiative, along with several other plans that are in the works, are being administer by Mike Karwoski, an associate athletics director at the university, who heads the Athlete/Sport Performance Program.

Mike was kind enough to answer some of my questions about the training table pilot plan, and the new Athlete Performance Program.

ITI: What was the impetus for starting the Athlete Performance Program?

Mike Karwoski: The impetus for us to review the concept of implementing an Athlete (or Sport) Performance Program was the arrival of Jack Swarbrick as athletics director in 2008. Jack's background and experience over the years included extensive involvement in both professional and Olympic/amateur sports. He has been exposed to and involved with many different sport organizations and different models in the areas of sports performance. As such, over the course of Jack's first 12 months he evaluated the things we were doing with regard to strength and conditioning, athletic training, sports medicine, nutrition, sports psychology and came away with the thought that we could benefit our student-athletes and coaches by trying to create a system in which all of these units reported through the same structure which would enhance our communication and the sharing of ideas to improve the overall performance of our student-athletes. The thought is to create a more scientific approach to the way we test, train, treat, rehab our student-athletes using the latest techniques and protocols. By creating a single unit encompassing all of these critical units the thought is that ideas and sharing of ideas and data will ultimately provide our student-athletes with innovative and cutting edge opportunities for performance enhancement. Generally speaking, we want to ask ourselves are we providing our student-athletes and coaches the best opportunity for peak performance.

ITI: Training table has been a hot-button issue, and the decision to start a specialized meal plan for athletes was a big step, especially in light of the weight-loss issues during last football season. Why has it been so challenging to get student-athletes to eat properly?

MK: First, it is important that I mention that the perception of training table is widely misunderstood. By having a training table, that does not mean that student-athletes are provided 3 meals ever day separate from the general student population. NCAA rules allow institutions to provide only one training table meal to student-athletes each day. In addition, NCAA rules state that partial and non-scholarship student-athletes may only participate in training table meals if they pay the cost difference between a regular dining hall meal and a training table meal. Clearly, those are important factors to consider for any institution that has a training table. What we know though is that nutrition and rest are two of the more critical issues affecting an athlete's on-field/on-court performance. The issues with nutrition and rest are not just a student-athlete issue but impact all college students. These problems exist on every college campus. Although we may not be able to completely impact the rest aspect of performance except by providing student-athletes with more time effective and efficient practices and training sessions and by educating them about the need for rest we can have a fairly significant impact on nutrition. We moved in that direction a few years ago by adding a full-time sports dietitian to our strength and conditioning staff. Currently, Erika Whitman is in that position and she makes every effort to meet with as many student-athletes as possible to discuss eating habits and making the proper dietary choices for those individual student-athletes. This is a huge challenge because the dietary needs of a 300 lb. offensive lineman are going to be different than those of a distance runner on the cross country team which will be different from the point-guard on the basketball team and the starting shortstop on the softball team. Body type, genetics and activity level all impact the dietary and calorie needs of individual student-athletes. We have been discussing the issue of training table for some time. First and foremost, because of Notre Dame's residential nature with the majority of students (and student-athletes) living on campus and having a meal plan to eat in institutional dining facilities, the creation of a separate training table just for student-athletes has bot been something that was widely embraced institutionally. Through education and data, I believe we have been able to show the need for a different nutritional model for student-athletes. By having a training table, the meal can be mandatory and monitored by both coaches and out sports dietitian. The issue with overall eating habits is typically (from what student-athletes tell us) a time management problem. With heavy class schedules, study needs, practice obligations and opportunities/activities associated with being a college student, decisions on what you do and what you "skip" need to be made every day. Unfortunately, rest and eating are usually two areas that do not get prioritized to the top of the list.

ITI: Each athletic program at Notre Dame has high expectations. What are some of the things this program does to help individuals and teams reach their goals?

MK: At this point, we are still developing the plan for our Athlete/Sports Performance Program. Generally, our focus has been on communication in terms of sharing data and ideas amongst our sports. We have great coaches and support staff in the areas of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, athletic training, etc. What we need to do is look at the services we are providing and ask if we are doing everything we can to help our student-athletes be successful. Further, we need to look at our specific sport training programs and determine if we are meeting needs properly. We want to make our training programs more individualized by sport and student-athlete because the needs are different. In addition, we want to try to introduce a more scientific approach in terms of screening/testing our student-athletes. We still have some work to do on the plan and certainly the implementation of things will be a long-term process. When a student-athlete graduates from Notre Dame, our goal would be for them to say that Notre Dame provided them every opportunity to be successful in their chosen sport and that we helped them improve.

ITI: In your research, did you find certain universities implementing programs like this successfully?

MK: There are a number of institutions who have some variation of a sports performance program. A small number have fairly advanced programs. Whether it be larger institutions with a hospital or medical school affiliation or institutions with an exercise physiology, sports science or athletic training educational program those places are generally a bit ahead of the curve. Resources associated with the hospitals and medical schools as well as access to research personnel has given these institutions a head start on others. The overall concept of sports performance and incorporating this type of program is fairly new to the college athletics landscape, but it is gaining traction. For the most part though, sports performance is about having all of the units impacting a student-athlete's performance working together to achieve the best results. There are also several private, for-profit models that exist and we have visited or communicated with some of those facilities as well and have an idea of what they are doing.

ITI: For the Athlete Performance Program to be a success, what goals do you need to achieve? 

MK: First and foremost, leadership from the athletics director and athletics administration is key. To our benefit, the implementation of our sports performance program is one of Jack's key strategic initiatives and he has communicated that widely within the campus community. Second, coach and support staff acceptance and participation will be critical. We have outstanding coaches and staff who have great experience, expertise and ideas in their areas of focus. Tapping into those resources has been extremely beneficial for me as I have researched what directions we should focus on both short term and long term. At the end of the day though, what we implement first as part of the sports performance program must show measurable results. Whether that be a modification of services currently provided, alterations to the training programs for student-athletes or the implementation of more scientific testing/screening protocols. If we do not show results in some measurable way early, you run the risk of losing interest/traction with the overall program.

While her allegiances might not be as well known as other celebrities, Hannah Storm takes a back seat to no Notre Dame fan. In between trailblazing a path as an award-winning sports and newscaster, raising three daughters, writing books, producing movies, and starting her own charitable foundation, Hannah never misses a Saturday with the Notre Dame football team.

I was lucky enough to track down Hannah on her commute home from work, where she co-hosts daytime SportsCenter with Josh Elliott. (As pictured.) We spent plenty of time discussing a journalism career that started as a student broadcaster at WNDU, the late game antics of this Irish football team, and everything in between.

I hope you enjoy Catching Up... with Hannah Storm.

ON JOINING ESPN AFTER A STORIED CAREER AT CNN, NBC, AND CBS:

I love news, political reporting and covering breaking news, and loved the diversity of morning television news in particular, but after several years away, I began to really appreciate the concept and quality of sports broadcasting. It's like doing breaking news all the time. Each game is an event. In a three hour show, you do quite a bit of breaking sports news, and you get to exercise those muscles a lot. Helping ESPN launch daytime SportsCenter, it was a perfect marriage with my experience and sensibilities. It worked with my personal life and having three children and being with them when they got off the bus, and not a lot of travel on the weekend. That daytime/morning slot, it has always been a big priority for me as a mom, and it felt like the best place for me to work. And the allure of being able to talk sports on TV for 15 hours a week, that was pretty powerful.

ON BALANCING FAMILY LIFE WITH HUSBAND DAN HICKS, NBC'S GOLF HOST:

One person is always at home. Dan is gone a good portion of weekends and the tail-end of the week. The weekends I usually have off, except during football seasons, where I work Sunday mornings, but it gives me all of Saturday and most of Sunday to be around. I have the furthest drive of everybody except one other regular anchor at ESPN, so I have a long commute every day, but I listen to the radio on the way in to catch up, and on the way home I do a lot of business. It usually works out where he's there to take the kids to school in the morning and I'm home when the kids get home. Our schedules balance out really well, but sometimes it makes it that we don't get enough time together, but in terms of our family as a whole, it works out well with our daughters.

ON STARTING A SPORTS-JOURNALISM CAREER AFTER GRADUATING FROM ND:

Sports were a part of my life, part of dinner table discussions and the fabric of my family. Sports were naturally where I wanted to go, but the only problem was there weren't women doing sportscasting at the time. It was a highly unusual career choice and one that was quite challenging to get off the ground. I literally send hundreds of resumes and tapes with my work in college where I was a news reporter at WNDU. I couldn't get anyone to hire me, and a male news director in a small market told me that a woman in that position is something the audience wouldn't embrace and a sports director wouldn't be happy working with a woman. On and on... I heard this from every single office I got into.

So my father, the ultimate optimist, said there are way more radio stations than TV stations, so I started applying for radio jobs. I went and made a radio tape, sat in the studio and recorded a couple of sports reports and started sending my radio tapes out. I got a job offer to do news in San Angelo, Texas and one to be a disc jockey at a heavy metal station in Corpus Christi. So I started DJ'ing in Corpus Christ and from there I kept trying to get into sports and finally I answered an ad for a job as a sportscaster in Houston during afternoon drive. It wasn't very far away, so I made another reel, recorded it, and literally drove my tape and resume to Houston, went to the office, and sat in the lobby and waited for the program director. I was nervous, but how else was I going to introduce myself? I gave a very quick hello and handing him my reel and resume. I got a call back within three or four days, and the only thing he said that he really liked in my resume was that I had gone to Notre Dame.

ON PUBLIC SERVICE HOLDING A SPECIAL PLACE IN HER HEART:

My mother was very service oriented when we were growing up. That was something that was also part of our family's fabric and something that flourished at Notre Dame, because there were so many opportunities to volunteer. I always dreamed of establishing a journalism scholarship of some sort, and also because I was born with a pretty significant birth mark on my face called a Port-wine stain, always wanted to help other children that were born in my position and needed surgery, but weren't as fortunate as I was. Now that I have the ability to put my name on a foundation, after leaving CBS I started the Hannah Storm Foundation. We do a journalism scholarship through the alumni office at Notre Dame that allows kids to actually get real practical experience and build a portfolio of things that are published when they leave school. The other big part of our mission is to advocate on a national scale on behalf of children with these birthmarks. We're working with the US government to change the insurance code so families will have an easier time getting covered, as well as going state by state getting Port-wine stains listed as medical procedures so people don't have to pay out of pocket to get these surgeries. There are a lot of people that have this condition and just because of a birthmark they aren't drawn to a profession in the public eye. It's not a cause that's talked about and I'm just very fortunate that I can have some type of celebrity that helps me bring a voice to this.

ON COVERING THE IRISH AS A NATIONAL JOURNALIST:

At NBC, I was told if there's ever a flicker of favoritism towards Notre Dame that it'd be the last Notre Dame game I'd ever do. NBC was really conscientious in a very responsible way of making sure that we were fair, and as a ND grad, they went to me and said that I can't show any favoritism for my alma mater. For me, it was a great exercise in being objective. Let's face it, as a news reporter and a sports reporter, it's critical.

Now that I'm at ESPN everyone who watches our show sort of knows that Josh like the Dodgers and the Lakers and I like Notre Dame, the Rockets and the Braves. Our show is very personality oriented, and when I was at CBS on the Early Show and now at ESPN, those kind of things leak out. Now I'm more well known as an avid Irish fan, although I obviously report the game objectively. There's no way to flip it around or make it into something it's not. If anything, I'm probably more brutally honest about my school because it's mine and I care so much about it.

ON THE FATE OF THE IRISH FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON:

With this team, who knows? They've played so many close games and they've had the luck of the Irish along the way, as well as made their own opportunities along the way. With this team, I wouldn't even try to predict the rest of the season. But I'll tell you one thing, you turn on a ND game, each week it's going to be exciting. I've been a little nervous and missed a few five o'clock masses because the Irish haven't wrapped things up, but I think it's been one of the most entertaining seasons in recent memory for sure. 

Just in case you thought life wasn't busy enough for Hannah, we also spent some time talking about her upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 project, a film called Unmatched. The movie chronicles the incredible 80 match rivalry between tennis stars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and was Hannah's first foray into the film business and was directed and produced with Emmy Award winning producers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern. Find more about the project here.

For more information about the Hannah Storm foundation, click here.  

   

So "Catching Up" was on a little bit of a bye week.

But we're coming back with a thunder this week and better late than never. After doing some hunting, I finally tracked down Denver Broncos right tackle Ryan Harris. Ryan is one of my personal favorites -- he's a graduate of both Cretin-Derham Hall and Notre Dame, a very good start -- and is the true embodiment of a Notre Dame student athlete.

As Ryan and the undefeated Broncos prepares for a Monday Night Football clash with the San Diego Chargers, you may be surprised how much he's thinking about another game this weekend as well.

ON IF HE'S FINDING TIME TO FOLLOW THIS WEEKEND IN SOUTH BEND:

Absolutely. As big as this week is for us, the Broncos, there are a lot of guys, coaches and players, talking about the big SC-Notre Dame game. That's one of the things coming to the NFL -- so many people ask about Notre Dame, it's one of the first things coaches ask about. Now that the big game is coming up, they're starting to show clips from my junior year, and it's just... man. This game is good for college football and just shows you what a wide range of the people that are paying attention to the game. It's not a bowl game, not a conference final or the SEC Championship or Big 12 Championship, it's just a game on Notre Dame's schedule. That speaks to how instrumental Notre Dame is in the world of college football.

ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHARLIE WEIS AND JOSH MCDANIELS:

The offense is very similar, but the difference is that in the NFL, they blitz every play and you've got 16 games against teams that blitz 60 to 80 percent of the time. Beyond the playbook, I think that it's the preparation to win. We really had that at ND, we felt that we had prepared so well that we were going to win the game because we knew what was going to happen, we knew the other team's tendencies, the same preparations and points of emphasis we did at Notre Dame are used at the Broncos.

ON HIS FEELINGS FOR WEIS AS A COACH AND A MAN:

Coach Weis always had a good game plan. He had great game plans, and I honestly don't know if there's a better coach in college or the NFL that keeps his players prepared like that. He still shoots us texts, talks to us -- he's always been great about shooting us texts at the beginning of the year or after a big game, he keeps us a part of the family. That's just another testament to the character of Coach Weis. No one is forgotten and you are a part of the Notre Dame family.

ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CRETIN-DERHAM HALL AND NOTRE DAME:

At Cretin, there's no question that academics are stressed. I remember every time I got a college letter, Coach Scanlan would always say, "make sure you're getting an education, too." In school, they'd make sure that no one was treated differently, even if you're an athlete. I think with the expectations that CDH has for its students, Notre Dame is one of the few colleges that can offer those expectations and a spiritual community while providing the utmost experiences in football and school. That's why I think Notre Dame is attractive to not just Cretin-Derham athletes, but also Cretin-Derham students. It's an environment we're used to.

ON SEANTREL HENDERSON:

I've met him a couple times and every time he's been kind, calm, cool, and collected. The thing people forget is that you're talking about a kid. A 17- or 18-year old young man who really -- and this goes for all recruits -- who can make that decision at 17? That's why I think getting them on campus is so good. You can see things for yourself. This is the expectation, this is the environment. You have no idea what 70,000 plus in a stadium feels like. No idea what the facilities are like, what the flight to these places is like. What classrooms, dorm rooms, living by yourself is like. I was fortunate that my parents were helpful and did a great job of guiding me. Seantrel has my best wishes, and of course being an ND alum, I'd love for him to go there, but he's got to make the right decision for himself.

ON HIS DECISION TO CHOOSE NOTRE DAME AS A PRACTICING MUSLIM:

It was the best place for me. Period. The environment, that community of faith that understands other faiths. I became a better Muslim because of the respect and real genuine faith that's practiced at Notre Dame. The respect and dialogue you can have with another student who also has faith, that's a big thing. Prayer is a big thing in Islam, and I wonder that if I went to a state school and said, "Hey guys, before we go to dinner, I've got to go back and pray," who knows what a guy outside of a religious community might say to that. At Notre Dame, it was always like, "Cool, take your time, go ahead and pray." That understanding helped me be secure in my faith and secure in my practice of faith in everyday life. If I went to a public school, that would've been harder to experience.

ON HIS HIGH SCHOOL MTV FAME:

I never made any money from it, but I get made fun of all the time for it. It's crazy how many people remember that episode. I look at it as a good experience though, because I learned at a young age that people recognized me just from that show. Learning that wherever  you are that you need to represent yourself the right way in public. A lot of times people -- athletes in particular -- learn that lesson the hard way. 

ON THE BIG GAME

As an Irish fan, of course I think it's an Irish victory. It's the only way I see it. That's how Coach Weis is preparing those guys. I almost guarantee he's preparing those guys to see the victory in the game plan and he's doing that right now with them. We'll see what happens, but I really think they can pull it off.   

One of my favorite Irish football players past or present is Shane Walton. Walton's story has been well documented. Recruited as a soccer player to Notre Dame, Shane was given the chance to walk-on during spring practice. After a handful of practices, coach Bob Davie and the defensive staff knew they had someone special, and the rest is history. Shane was named a consensus All-American cornerback during the magical 2002 season, the Irish's first consensus All-American since Bobby Taylor in 1994. His 2001 season included two interceptions, one a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown against Purdue quarterback Drew Brees.

It was great catching up with a former classmate, who now lives and works back in his hometown of San Diego. Here's more from Shane Walton.

ON BEING RECRUITED TO NOTRE DAME:

I wasn't recruited really at all to play football. My only offer was to play wide receiver at Fresno State. It was actually my soccer coach, Mike Berticelli, who got me my tryout. He originally wanted me to play soccer for two years, and I'd play spring football for my freshman and sophomore years, and make a decision on what I wanted to do then. I don't know if he thought I'd be a good football player or not, but he was actually the guy who spoke to Coach Davie and the staff, and got me a tryout with the football team in the spring. After three or four practices in the spring, Coach Davie saw that I could play, and he offered me a scholarship.

ON THE TRANSITION FROM SOCCER TO FOOTBALL:

There were parallels between the sports, but I basically had to reprogram my entire body. I went from being able to run fast for a long duration of time to having to add 25 pounds of muscle and being built more for quick bursts. That process took about a year to really transform. That was the toughest challenge. The parallels from soccer to football were tremendous, especially as a cornerback. Being able to read plays and what's developing, and the balance it takes to play soccer, that's incredible. The body control really helped me to be a good corner.

ON HIS MAGICAL SENIOR SEASON:

There are three types of people that play sports. There are people who don't mind losing. There are people who don't like losing. And then there are people like me, who hate and despise losing. I always expected to win, so when I lost, or when the team lost, I was devastated. That was the mentality of the entire defense. We never expected to lose. We didn't care what the situation was. I think that mindset permeated throughout the entire team.

ON BEING NAMED AN ALL-AMERICAN:

To be honest, it didn't really hit me until I was at the All-American things with all the other big time players. It's actually crazy, I never had a chance to sit back and look at what I accomplished until I was done playing football. I remember my mother and my friends being so proud of me, and I was like "what's the big deal, this is just what I do."  You know, you write for NBC, other people go to work and climb telephone polls, and we all just try to do the best that we can. And that's what I did. It just so happens that what society likes is athletics, so I'm in the limelight. It never really dawned on me. I never changed who I was, it just was something that I happened to do, and I was blessed to have a skillset that made me a decent corner.

ON TAKING DREW BREES TO THE HOUSE:

I used to love playing against Purdue, because that's when the DBs and corners had the most chance to succeed and shine. We knew coming into the game that Purdue was going to put the ball up 30-35 times. That was always a game I marked in the calendar that was fun.

As for the play, we were in man coverage, and my guy just ran basically a four to five yard cross. The inside linebacker made him bump over the top of him and that gave me the chance to get in front of him, and I just hopped in front of the pass. I don't think Brees ever even saw me. I just stepped in front of it and took it to the house.

ON GOING IN THE 5TH ROUND OF THE NFL DRAFT:

NFL coaches are egomaniacs. They feel like they can't coach you to run a 4.3 forty, to bench press whatever, to jump out of the stadium, but they feel they can make you into a player. That's why you hear of guys who have never done anything in college and they become great players, but you also hear of guys who were supposed to be great, got drafted high, but they never do anything. The NFL drafts on potential. They don't draft on what matters. They don't draft on heart, intelligence, because there's no real way to measure those. They draft off stuff that they can see. But what I had was heart, desire, intellect, and instincts, but there's no way to measure any of that.

ON A CAREER CUT SHORT:

I hurt my back in preseason. I just kept trying to fight through it. I was probably never over 80 percent at any time in my NFL career. I just remember playing against the Raiders, and I really tweaked my back, and I just kept fighting. They say, "You can't make the club from the tub." I was told to fight, to push through the injuries, that is was just sore and tightness. Then I remember we were playing Atlanta, and I couldn't feel my left leg. I was running down the field and I had no control of my left leg. It was hitting up against my right leg. I remember getting yelled at for not sprinting down the field. They finally determined I was having back issues so they gave me epidurals in the back at the doctor, until I finally flew out to see a surgeon in Los Angeles. He told me I needed surgery 3 months ago. It was just bad business all the way around, and one of the reasons I'm happy I'm not in the NFL right now.

I had a ruptured disc. My disc exploded and spinal fluid leaked onto my nerves, damaging and almost killing my nerves that went to my left leg. I couldn't lift my foot, couldn't do a heal raise. If you pinched my left leg I couldn't feel it. The leg shrunk an inch-and-a-half around. It was miserable. I couldn't stand up for more than a minute, couldn't sit down for more than two minutes, all I could really do was lay down in bed.

I got put on IR for the rest of the season. I rehabbed back home and was trying to come back in St. Louis during the offseason, but still wasn't healthy. They released me, then Pittsburgh picked me up for camp. I was out there for a couple weeks, and hurt my back again. I knew right there it was tough to bounce back. I had never had an injury that I couldn't bounce back from, but this was the one that I couldn't overcome.

ON DEALING WITH HIS CAREER BEING OVER:

It was tough for one reason. I would have rather been not good enough. I would've rather been cut because I wasn't good enough to make the team. I was 80 percent and I still made an NFL team. That's what kills me. In my heart and in my mind, I was picking up the game. I really thought that I was going to be one of the best playmakers in the NFL. That's me having confidence in myself, because that's what I thought I could do. Never knowing because of the injury is what's tough. It's like when a movie ends but they don't tell you the ending. I'd have rather been cut because I wasn't good enough, it'd be easier looking in the mirror.

ON THIS YEAR'S IRISH:

I follow them faithfully. As much as I hate saying this word, there's potential. I feel like they have the guys there, they have the talent, they have the speed, they have the depth, but I don't think they're living up to their potential right now.

ON PLAYING WITHOUT MICHAEL FLOYD:

First off, I think Floyd is amazing. He's a special player that only comes around every so often. But I do think, and I will always think this, it is still Notre Dame and we still have some of the greatest players to play college football on that team right now. So somebody needs to step up. If Rhema McKnight doesn't go down and get hurt, we never know about Jeff Samardzija. Same thing now. The talent is there, and someone needs to step up and become a man.

ON CHOOSING NOTRE DAME:

There were three things I was looking for. I wanted to go to a great academic institution. I wanted to go to a school with a great sports program as well. I'm a competitor and I like to be able to compete at the highest level. The third thing kind of tipped things in Notre Dame's favor. I'm a fan of history and tradition of schools, and Notre Dame outweighed everyone else. I was basically down to Stanford and Notre Dame. My mindset has always been that I played for my teammates that were here in the huddle with me, but I also played with all the people who wore the jersey before me. I don't think you can say that with a lot of schools, but at Notre Dame, that means something. 

Few Notre Dame fans will forget the unbelievable comeback victory the Irish snatched away from the Michigan State Spartans in 2006. (If you want a reminder, check out this link.) While the offensive heroics were supplied by Brady Quinn, Rhema McKnight, John Carlson and Jeff Samardzija, the key defensive plays were supplied by cornerback Terrail Lambert, whose touchdown and interception return put the Irish ahead in the final two minutes, and whose acrobatic interception with 40 seconds left in the game put the nail in the Spartan's coffin.

Terrail turned in a stellar career at Notre Dame, and is hoping to continue his football career in the NFL this season, waiting by the phone and staying in shape after being one of the last cuts by the San Francisco 49ers. Terrail was kind enough to trade messages and emails with me until we could find a time to talk late last night. He had plenty of insight on the Irish, playing Michigan State, and what the guys need to do to rebound from last week's tough loss.

On getting past a difficult loss:

It's one of the things that you learn when you develop into a mature football player, and it's just a part of the process of becoming a college football player. And I can say that when we found ourselves in that position, we'd say, 'Okay, let's identify what we did wrong or what got us in those situations and how can we avoid them,' and two, 'What's at stake with this next game?'

Every game that we approach we always did our best to approach each game as a one game entity. That game, that week, is our national championship game. That's the mindset we tried to develop, and that's one of the building blocks that they're developing right now. It's still a relatively young team. And looking at it from a positive standpoint, it's a great opportunity to show the maturity of the team, and I think they'll follow through with it.

On the transition between Willingham and Weis:

It was really about learning to deal with a whole other personality type. Coach Weis is perceived to have a so called "New Jersey" attitude and mentality, and he brought a lot of that to the team and saw it rub off on a lot of the team, myself included. It was somewhat of a new philosophy that you just bought into it. It took a while for it to happen, but you know -- I can definitely say that, especially looking in hindsight, looking at the program, it's something that's definitely happening. All the guys are buying in.

On his infamous cousin Lorenzo Booker, and his influence on choosing Notre Dame:

He was definitely one of the guys I really listened to in terms of being able to possess the capacity to make the decision that I had to make for myself. It's a big step, it's another chapter in a young man's life, and he gave me real sound advice in that regard.

One of the things he told me was that you're making the decision and it's the one time in your life that you want to be as selfish as you possibly can. Because when you're there for those 4 or 5 years at that institution of learning playing college ball, it's going to be you there, not anybody else in your family or your circle of friends or peers. At the very least, if you end up not liking it, you can hang your hat on knowing that you made your own decision.

I chose Notre Dame just because I always saw myself as a kid from the hood who got good grades and could play ball, and I wanted to be a part of something special. And I got that at Notre Dame.

On his epic Michigan State game:

Believe it or not, I wouldn't call it the highlight of my career, but more like my coming of age. I had come off a subpar game the previous week in the Michigan game giving up two touchdowns, but that week and the week following Michigan State, I remember going back to my room and learning the lesson that the most important thing on defense is the next play.

Just accepting the fact that when they throw the ball your way, someone is going to come down with it, and they're going to strike up the band one way or the other, so it might as well be you with the ball.

On what the Michigan State rivalry means to ND:

The first thing you know when you're playing Michigan State is that they're coming in with the mindset that they're the underdogs and they're the second class citizens and they're trying to prove something. That's their mentality, their identity, and they love to do that through their play on the field, and use that attitude of a blue-collar tough guy. And they are, I'll give them that respect.

It's a game you need to prepare your mind for. They're coming in with that attitude. There's going to be a lot of trash talking, maybe even a couple cheap shots, and it's going to get nasty, bottom line.

On the change to life in the NFL and his goals for after the NFL:

The biggest thing I noticed in the NFL is that the game is simpler in the standpoint that everybody is doing the same thing, but it all boils down to the execution. Execution is just so much more important at that level. The game is so cerebral. The physical aspects are different, and the speed is faster, but it's not as dramatic as people make it out to be.

After football, I'll pursue a career in cinematography. Hopefully a life behind the camera. It's a niche I developed, I took classes in it, and I got first hand experience behind the film cameras that people in the mainstream film industry actually use. I learned how to work with Final Cut Pro, use all sorts of industry software, and design three-dimensional sets using architectural software, as well as getting behind the camera, doing some grip work, and learning about lighting.

On picking Notre Dame and what makes it such a special place:

The passion is one of the things that makes Notre Dame so special. It's the fact that you can go across to other college campuses across the nation, it's been a trend for decades now where you really don't want to say it but you feel it as an athlete that you're being alienated away from the students because you're a football player or a basketball player, but that just wasn't the case at Notre Dame.

Because the students... they identified with you, they sympathized with you. If there's a loss on Notre Dame's campus, everybody's having a bad day. And if there's a win on campus, regardless of sport, but especially football, everybody's going to have a good day. Teachers, students, all the faculty members across the board, and I think that's because everybody identifies with each other.

A special thanks to Terrail for making time for Inside the Irish. Here's wishing him good luck on getting back onto the field. 
 

 

Pat Haden and Notre Dame football are improbably intermixed. That an award-winning quarterback at USC becomes a prominent part of Notre Dame football is undoubtedly odd, but Haden has become a staple of the Notre Dame broadcasts along with partner Tom Hammond.

In his own right, Haden is a fascinating character. He was a part of three Rose Bowl teams, a member of two national championship squads, and played professional football from 1975-1981. He was also one of the more distinguished scholar-athletes in college football's history, winning the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which he pursued during the offseason of his professional football career.

After a solid professional career, Haden made a career in broadcasting, and 22 years ago started a private equity firm that has been one of the more respected in the industry. Many question Haden's choice as a play-by-play man by NBC, yet after catching him on the phone during a layover in a busy terminal at LAX, it's clear that Haden is as smart, thoughtful, and as insightful as they come.

(Who knew USC made guys like that?)

I hope you all enjoy "Catching up... with Pat Haden.

On what he made of the performance against Nevada:

I just think they have pretty good players that they haven't had in a long time. I think that was my biggest observation, they were a deeper, faster, team. I thought they played brilliant on both sides of the ball. Jimmy Clausen was awesome and the blitzing defense of Jon Tenuta caused all sorts of problems against a pretty dangerous offensive team in Nevada.

On "drinking the Kool-Aid," and an early judgment on the state of this team:

All I would say is, what's the rush to judge this team just yet? Having said that, in Nevada, I thought this was a dangerous team for the Irish. I thought Nevada would score points. I didn't know if Nevada could stop Notre Dame, but I thought they could score points, because they did against just about everyone last year. They averaged 37 points a game.

We were telling people to curb your enthusiasm if you will, but I think there's a lot to look forward to, but I just don't think we should judge the team just yet. Let's wait a few more weeks. If they can beat Michigan, and I think if they can beat Michigan State in week three, then there's some hope for the Irish faithful.

Michigan State is a little like Notre Dame in my mind, because Coach Dantonio has recruited a lot better than they have in the past, and they have some good young players there. Maybe they aren't as highly thought of as Notre Dame's, but they have a different style than what we've seen. It'll be tough for the defensive coordinator for the Irish, because they play a different style team nearly every week. Spread teams the first couple weeks, then a pound 'em team like the Spartans, then a balanced team like USC, then an option team like Navy. It's a tough task for a defensive coordinator.

On the dynamic of defensive coordinators Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta:

I think Charlie Weis wanted Jon Tenuta as the defensive coordinator. And Corwin Brown is a good enough guy and secure enough in his role that he's not worried about his title. Corwin told me Friday that in 20 years, nobody is going to remember the titles, they'll just remember if we had a successful season or not.

On becoming the lead analyst for Notre Dame football, after being a USC Trojan:

I had been in broadcasting for about 15 years before NBC called me. I had first worked college football for CBS after I retired from the Rams. For 8 or 9 years I did college football, then did pro football for Turner Sports. When Turner lost the NFL contract, NBC called me to see if I'd be interested in doing Notre Dame broadcasts.

I get asked this question a lot, but NBC hires the announcers, not Notre Dame. They have a national broadcast, and they don't want any appearance of bias, I think. I give NBC a lot of credit for doing it. I was an experienced broadcaster, and it was a great opportunity for me, as I've always had a great deal of respect for Notre Dame. And quite honestly, the six game schedule, it really kind of fit into my business life. This is my 9th or 10th year, which is a lot longer than I thought I'd do, but I've enjoyed it a great deal. It's been fun.

On balancing a successful career with broadcasting:

I work full-time with my business, including when I'm at Notre Dame on Fridays. Usually I have several conference calls or whatever I need to do with work. Broadcasting is a hobby for me. I'm a partner in my investment firm, Riordan, Lewis & Haden, which I've been doing for 22 years now. We've had a long, successful track record at my investment firm that we're very proud of.

On his life during an average Notre Dame home football weekend:

I arrive in South Bend on Thursday nights. We have a production meeting and dinner with Tom Hammond, our producers and director. By the time we get there though, we've already done a lot of homework. The first game is probably the most prep for me, as I don't know as much about ND as I do after the first game. On Fridays, we usually watch game tape from 8:30 to 10:00. At ten, we meet with Coach Weis for about 45 minutes to an hour, then we meet with Corwin Brown for about 25 minutes or so, then meet with some players. Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Kyle McCarthy, Sam Young. We meet 4, 5, 6 players each week, hear a little about the game plan, what's going on with their life, with school, and then get some stories that don't have anything to do with football.

The Nevada came in Friday afternoon, we watched them walk through practice, talked to their head coach, quarterback, and a few other guys, but we'd already had a conference call with them on Wednesday for about an hour and a half. And then we do the game. By on Sunday on my flight back, I've already spent four hours working on Michigan State. I've already read about 30-40 articles on them. And Monday I'm back in the office, I'm back to work. I try to read an article or watch some tape every morning while I'm on the treadmill to prepare for the next game.

On mixing professional football and the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship:

I was drafted by the Rams, but I had received the Rhodes Scholarship. The World League allowed me the opportunity to play 6 or 7 games and then still go to Oxford. So that's why I didn't sign with the Rams. I signed in the World League, played 7 games, then went to Oxford. The next two years of my Rhodes Scholarship, I actually played for the Rams for six months, then went to school for six months in Oxford. I did my scholarship over three years, and I played football for all three years. They wouldn't let me do that now. And then I came back and went to law school, and they probably wouldn't have let me do that either.

On how this ND team will handle adversity?

I asked Jimmy Clausen the same thing. I said, "Jimmy, why should anybody expect you guys to play better when you've got basically the same team?" He told me, "we've been together for three years now. We've suffered the highs and lows together, and we refuse to have as many lows. We've got great upperclassmen and leadership."

That really resonated with me. This year, JImmy has a different aura around him. I've talked to Jimmy a lot of times, but Jimmy had a different feel about him, a different vibe about him. That was the most encouraging sign.

On if this team's psyche is finally repaired?

I think it is. There's a whole different kind of spirited leadership. Brian Smith is a solid leader. Jimmy Clausen appears to really be developing as a leader. Kyle McCarthy is a good leader and Scott Smith is the captain of special teams, and a really solid guy. There's going to be some adversity, it's going to happen to every team every season. I mean look at Florida, they've never gone undefeated in the years they won the national championship. You're going to have those moments, and how you respond to adversity really tells you about the quality of the people and the quality of the team.

(Catching Up will be a regular feature at Inside the Irish. Feel free to send along suggestions or nominees for future weeks.)

Kory Minor is a fascinating person. A five-star recruit before there were five-star recruits, Minor was USA Today's national player of the year coming out of high school in Inglewood, California. Minor signed with coach Lou Holtz and the Irish and spent four years as a starter playing under both coach Holtz and head coach Bob Davie.

If you had to find a person that embodies what Notre Dame wants in its student-athletes, Kory Minor is that person. His unbridled love and passion for Notre Dame and what it stands for was clear from the start of our hour-long conversation that ran until almost midnight last night.

He spoke candidly about his time at Notre Dame, what it was like during the transition between Lou Holtz and Bob Davie, his four years in the NFL, and what he's doing with his life after football.

On the transition from Lou Holtz to Bob Davie:

No one has ever asked me about that... I'm not going to lie, for me, it was tough. I was a Lou Holtz guy. Besides academics and football, he was the main reason I went there. When he left, I actually thought about transferring for a little bit, then I realized that the institution where I was at, that was the right place for me to be.

Lou leaving just caught all of us off guard. I remember being in the office when he was clearing it out. I remember talking it through, shedding a few tears with him and saying goodbye. We had Davie as a coordinator, but he was nothing like Lou Holtz. I'm sure the guys at Penn State or Florida State they understand, there aren't any coaches like Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden. And there certainly aren't any coaches like Lou Holtz.

On recruiting, and the changes between then and now:

It's tough to say because I'm so far removed from it, but I'm getting back to following all of it. It's so weird. I keep reading stuff, about Top 10 classes, Top 5 classes, but I don't see it on the field yet. I'm not sure if it's development, or what's going on. We have our standards, we have our criteria, I know that. But you're telling me we can't find great athletes who are great students, too? When I was coming in, we had 8 or 9 guys in our class highly ranked, and that included Randy Moss, who didn't end up coming. We were all great players and we were all smart.

I just don't know enough on it from the recruiting side of the business, but I do know that we've got some great guys coming in and some great young guys on the roster, and I'm really excited to see the maturation going on, and seeing Notre Dame being up to speed and seeing what it's all about. I'm in the middle of SC country, and I hate it. I want to see the guys that are coming turn out to be the guys that they're built up to be. We can get guys that are great athletes and that can live up to great academic standards.

On the Ty Willingham situation:

I don't think he got his just due. He had a great inaugural season. He didn't have the second season that he wanted. But I don't think he got his just due. We talked on the phone quite a bit, and any time I can meet a person and the guy can look me eye to eye and say to me 'It's not just my roll to win football games, but to make these players better men and people,' that's what Notre Dame stands for.

I was a little upset when he left, but I wish him the best, and I would've liked to see him have more time there, only because he embodied what Notre Dame was all about. All the principles that he stood for, you don't get many men that say that. Those were the same principles that Coach Holtz stood for.

Do I think race was a factor? I can't say that it was or it wasn't. I think his time was short, but maybe they just wanted to go in another direction, and they totally had that right.

One (okay, maybe a couple) quintessential Lou Holtz story:

You don't find many coaches that say they have an open door policy and actually mean it. It didn't matter what it was -- a school problem, family, girlfriend, it didn't matter, his door was open. I remember a time when a player would say, 'I'm going to talk to Coach Holtz,' and he'd have someone else in with him, and he'd kick him out.

When a coach comes to your house and he tells your mother that he's going to take care of your son, and tells me all about life at Notre Dame, I got to the campus and it was the same thing.

On the field, Lou used to drive a golf cart when he watched practice. If he'd see something wrong, he'd jump off the cart and just start yelling at someone, but the cart would just keep going. Man, it was hilarious. He's a small guy, but his voice, his persona, it was commanding. He'd be yelling at someone and that cart was still running, and you'd be dodging that cart because it was coming and going to hit you.

He is a guy that I truly love and care for. He really loved and cared for me. Everything he came out and told my mom, it was 100 percent true and then some. It was everything he said it was going to be and more.

On his four years in the NFL, and the transition to life after football:

The transition from high school to college is enormous. The transition from college to the NFL, it there's a word that's way bigger than enormous, that's what it would be. The speed, the size, you're playing against veterans, against real pros. It's tough not to be shell-shocked.

The NFL was one of the best experiences I ever had. I played a total of four years in the NFL, and played in some great games. Won some, lost some, but it was a great game. I always told myself that if it ever got to be a job that it was time to go. I had done a lot of things in the community, had gotten some internships that really got entrepreneurship running through my blood. And the game started to feel like work. I had a chance to keep playing with the Cleveland Browns but I knew it was time to go.

On his life as a Domino's Pizza franchisee and pitchman:

I've been a franchisee for two years now, and worked my way through the business. We have a rally every year for Domino's people, and people know I'm an outspoken guy, so they asked me to come down and say a few words. I said 'Okay, no big deal,' got up there, said a few words, and they didn't think anything of it. A couple days later, I get a call and they say they want to put me in a commercial. 'Oh, you do? Okay, sweet.' They shot it downtown Los Angeles, it was a lot of fun, but a long day -- 180 takes because I talk so fast. But I tell you what, I wouldn't mind getting paid like that on a regular basis.

His advice for Manti Te'o:

He's just got to come in and not worry about it. Come in, play well, and don't believe the hype. Good or bad, just come in, be you, and let the talent take care of itself.

His expectations for this season's Irish:

This is the first time that we've got a schedule that can help get the program in the right direction. I believe that we need to get the team developed and get some wins. A 'W' is a 'W,' I don't care who we play. This is the first year since I've been following ND that we've played a schedule that is easier. And other schools do it every year. This is the first time that we're almost there, and that we've got a schedule where we can do it. I think we're at a place that we can win 9 or 10 games.