Brian Kelly had a large press gathering today to officially introduce his coaching staff, and we’ll cover that extensively over the weekend, but before that I wanted to get out a few interesting notes that accumulated over the week.
* I’m a sucker for stuff like this, only because I can just picture the writers sitting in the room and discussing it, but Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o was named the the Honolulu Advertiser’s All-Decade football team. He’s one of two linebackers on the squad -- the other former Hawaii linebacker Blaze Soares -- and one of two players from Punahou high school to be listed. I know next to nothing about Hawaiian high school football, but I’m guessing Kahuku is a pretty legit program, as 12 of the 29 people on the roster were part of the football program.
(Complete aside, but remember when Julius Jones was named to Athlon’s NFL All-Decade football team, when they projected the 2000s? Think they probably missed on that one...)
* Former defensive line coach Randy Hart, who spent only one season at Notre Dame after two decades at Washington, joined Brian Polian on the staff at Stanford. That’s two Irish assistant coaches joining Harbaugh in Palo Alto, and Hart will be there just in time for heralded recruit Blake Leuders to take his official visit. Hart is a guy with a lot of roots on the West Coast, and I’d never fault anybody for taking a job at a university like Stanford, but Irish fans are hoping he doesn’t persuade Leuders to join him.
* Speaking of recruiting, it’s time for our weekly update on Seantrel Henderson, the gargantuan left tackle prospect who is still considering the Irish. The Columbus Dispatch spoke with Tom Lemming, who will telecast Henderson’s decision on his Signing Day television show, and he seems to think Pete Carroll’s defection puts Ohio State firmly in the lead for his signature.
Talking with someone close to both Henderson and the proceedings at the All-American game, Henderson spent much of his time in San Antonio hanging out with Trojan recruits. While Ohio State probably does have the lead with Henderson, there has yet to be a big-time recruit from Cretin-Derham Hall end up in Columbus, and that hasn’t been for lack of effort by the Buckeyes. As I’ve said before, I think Brian Kelly and Mr. Michael Floyd are the two biggest factors in Irish recruiting.
* While it isn’t directly related to Notre Dame football, Penn State assistant coach Jay Paterno submitted a letter to the editor at the State College newspaper and had plenty to say about the coaching carousel that kicked off when Pete Carroll decided to leave USC. He decried the state of his profession, citing the uselessness of contracts and the propensity for broken promises.
Here’s a taste:
A year ago The University of Tennessee took a shot at a young coach who had been fired following a 5-15 stint with the Oakland Raiders. That coach, Lane Kiffin, rewarded Tennessee for its hiring of him by bolting after one 7-6 season for the vacancy created at USC.
The University of Tennessee paid out more than $5 million in coaching salaries (not to mention several million dollars to buy out the previous coach’s contract). At a time when universities are cutting staff and faculty, Tennessee spent more than $7 million to win seven games. A year later it is right back where it started.
This profession has lost touch with the reality of the world around us, and some coaches have lost touch with what the mission of our profession should be.
It wasn’t too long ago that we saw head coaches’ salaries go past the $1 million dollar mark -- they have now surpassed the $5 million mark with no sign of slowing down. We are starting to look as arrogant as the Wall Street bankers raking in seven-figure bonuses.
The astronomical explosion in coaching salaries continues at a time of 10 percent unemployment in America and exploding tuition costs burdening working class families.
I am not saying that every coach should take a vow of poverty or stay at his school for three decades, but we must remember what has made ours a noble profession. It is the mission of our profession: the use of sport to help young men transition from high school and prepare them for the world that awaits them after college.
Coaches walk into a recruit’s home and talk about how they will look out for that young man’s future. When the parents or guardians pass their boy on to college, they put his welfare into that coach’s hands. The expectation is that the coach will help to guide him through a very formative time.
* BlueandGold.com is reporting that Chris Stewart, Darrin Walls, and Dan Wenger are all returning for a fifth year at Notre Dame. They’ve also heard that Barry Gallup Jr. will be receiving a fifth year, which is a little bit bigger surprise, though something I wondered when I heard that Brian Kelly was taking over the program. I think Gallup is one of the players that with benefit the most from the coaching change, and he’ll be a perfect guy to use in Kelly’s offensive attack, with his experience running, receiving, and returning.
* Finally, I’ve gotten a lot of emails regarding the coaching change at Southern Cal, and I thought I’d just give my opinion on the move. (I’ve already done this over at CFT, but I’ll make it short and quick here.) I think it’s a great short-term move for the Trojans, and it’ll likely rescue their small, but star-studded recruiting class. That said, I think the worm has officially turned on the public perception of the program. Chris Huston, better known as the Heisman Pundit, spent years working in the Sports Information department at USC, and helped orchestrate three successful Heisman campaigns. He’s still incredibly connected to the football program and its athletic department.
Here’s what he had to say on the hiring, which he called “suicide:"
My criticism of this move by USC doesn’t touch upon the horrible football decision that has been made. It doesn’t touch upon his failings as a head coach or his lack of qualifications as a head football coach or his lack of qualificiations for a prestigious job like USC’s. It doesn’t even touch upon his shoddy interpersonal skills, his numerous closeted skeletons that have yet to emerge or his unjustified rise through the coaching ranks that has been aided and abetted by his father, Monte Kiffin, and his godfather, Pete Carroll...
Kiffin was able to convince USC that he was that guy. But the reality is that by hiring Kiffin, USC is sticking a fat middle finger in the face of the NCAA, the media and its fellow institutions. With probation pending, it has hired as its coach a man who is a walking, talking, living, breathing NCAA violation... USC might as well have invited a permanent microscope upon itself at a time when it should be battening down the hatches and fixing its issues. Rather than making a clean break from the anything-goes Carroll Era, it has chose to continue it.
It’ll be an interesting few months in Los Angeles, and while the Trojan dynasty may have breathed its last breath, the talent they still have within the program means they’ll likely be back for more. But if Ed Orgeron’s actions in the hours after Kiffin resigned at Tennessee are any indicator, it’s still business as usual...