Now that Charlie Weis is officially out as the head coach of the Notre Dame football team, it’s high time we run out the usual suspects to find Weis’ replacement. While media outlets have been reporting on potential replacements for the past week or so, the reality of the situation is that nobody has any real clue on who will be the next head guy, especially with the Bob Stoops rumors quelled.
With Stoops unwilling to talk about whether or not he’s been contacted about the job, I’m not able to say with any certainty that Stoops talked to Swarbrick or somebody within Notre Dame, but message board folks are contending that Notre Dame actually put a financial package together and showed it to Stoops before he said that he was returning to Oklahoma. If that’s the case, that’s certainly news-worthy, and I imagine it’ll only be a matter of time before we find out the reality of the situation.
All that said, let’s take a look at the suspects:
BRIAN KELLY
Kelly hasn’t exactly hid his interest in the job, and with Stoops likely out, he seems to be the odd-on-favorite. There’s nothing you can really say about Kelly that’s bad, he’s won at every place he’s been and he’s taken Cincinnati to historic levels. He fits the Catholic/Irish thing to a tee, and while he’d never admit it, he’s likely plateaued with the Bearcats.
BOB STOOPS
Even with the denial, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in South Bend. And while he certainly doesn’t twinkle like the bright shining star he was five years ago, there’s no question he’s an elite head coach with a defensive background, something most Irish fans and administrators are probably looking for. This would be a grand slam for Jack Swarbrick.
URBAN MEYER
I give this a one percent chance of happening, but if the Notre Dame job is open, you’ve got to at least drag Meyer’s name into the fray and force him to declare his allegiances to Florida again for the thousandth time. (That said, if I’m Meyer, now is the perfect time to leave Florida. No Tebow, National Championships by the handful, and the chance to take a Notre Dame team with a very good talent base to greatness. This is a lot better job than the one Ron Zook left him in Florida.)
JON GRUDEN
Some people might flinch at the idea of bringing in another coach with a professional background, but this is a Super Bowl winning head coach with a personality that’s already won him a contract extension on ESPN for being so likeable, making me think he’d probably be a true weapon on the recruiting trail. I don’t have any doubts that Gruden could figure out the college game, especially when he made mention that he was going to spend this year out of coaching learning the spread offense and other things that are dominating the college game. I don’t give this option much of a shot, but it’d be a pretty exciting hire for Irish fans, and at the very least, press conferences would be a ton of fun.
GARY PATTERSON
TCU’s coach will be mentioned just because he’s a seemingly good fit for the job. He turned his team with allegedly less into one of the more vaunted in the country, and the defense the Horned Frogs play has to have Irish fans frothing at the mouth. Still, Patterson is far from a perfect choice and his surly personality might not jive with the attention that is hoisted onto the head coach at Notre Dame. He should certainly get mentioned, but I’d be surprised if he wanted the job.
SKIP HOLTZ
Would it be a list without mentioning Skip? He’s the head coach of East Carolina, the son of Lou, and a graduate of Notre Dame. He was an offensive coordinator under his father at Notre Dame and South Carolina, the head coach at UConn, and has turned the Pirates into a fairly respectable football program. Some throwback fans would probably be happy, but Holtz would likely be in over his head.
WILL MUSCHAMP
Muschamp’s name might as well represent all the hot coordinators out there, and I really don’t see this happening either. He’s the coach-in-waiting at Texas, a place that has a strangle-hold on talent that makes even Urban Meyer jealous. Still, he’s the type of guy that might end up Notre Dame’s head coach, and get many Irish fans riled up because the administration wasn’t able to get a bigger name.
KEYSER SOZE
Okay, so maybe the mysterious underworld kingpin from The Usual Suspects isn’t actually a candidate for the job. But there’s a very real chance that someone nobody is talking about ends up coaching the Fighting Irish next season. Just because fans at the water cooler or we in the media haven’t thought of him, doesn’t mean there isn’t a good unknown fit out there. The bottom line is, that good football is being played at schools all around the country. Notre Dame no longer can tout it’s games being covered on national TV or it’s deep storied tradition as reasons for people to step into the South Bend pressure cooker.
Since the ouster of Tyrone Willingham, it’s felt like the tail has been wagging the dog at times, with the calls for change coming from inside the walls of the fanbase and the board of directors. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick has taken control of the situation and so far handled it with dignity, but also swiftness. I don’t doubt that Swarbrick has a plan in place and that the plan will carry itself out in a much smoother fashion than the last time there was a vacancy at head coach of the football program.
(For an even longer list of potential replacements, check out this article.)