Axford pitching Tom hamilton mentioned how ND went to the College World series in 2002 and were very successful in the Big East, but now can't even compete in the ACC. He mentioned ND has really gone down hill. Aoki needs to go soon and your suggestion is as good as any.
Accordingly, Aoki remains the coach.
to where it was when Swarbrick took over as AD?
Arguably, won-lost record is the biggest factor (including post-season), but off-the-field issues, facilities and trends in won-lost, recruiting, etc., are also relevant.
Football -- on-field arguably a wash, although Weis left behind Te'o, Floyd and others. I'd argue that Kelly's current recruiting trend is poorer than Weis' final few years. Of course, we didn't forfeit any wins under Weis.
Men's basketball -- better, although with an inherited coach. Arena was updated/upgraded under Swarbrick, but more importantly, the allegedly forthcoming new practice facility was far too long in the making.
Women's basketball -- better in that the five straight final fours arguably eclipse the 2001 national championship, certainly in terms of sustained excellence. Again, though, with an inherited coach.
Hockey -- on the ice, roughly the same, with an inherited coach. Facilities have been radically upgraded, although by all public accounts, the lion's share of the funding came via a benefactor's relationship with the inherited coach.
Baseball -- remains mired below mediocrity; Swarbrick's hire is beyond question ill-suited for the job but just completed his seventh season -- 1 NCAA bid, two seasons with plus-.500 record.
Softball -- remained mired in mediocrity, at least if competing for championships is truly the standard.
I'll defer to others, but men's and women's tennis don't seem any better than when Swarbrick was hired; women's tennis definitely has dipped, although that may have predated Swarbrick's arrival.
Men's soccer -- approximately the same; program did win its first-ever NCAA championship during Swarbrick's tenure, with an inherited coach. Was the current (relatively new) soccer stadium funded and built during Swarbrick's tenure?
Women's soccer -- unquestionably worse since Swarbrick took over. Ditto regarding stadium, shared with the men's program.
Men's lacrosse -- has reached new heights under an inherited coach; I believe the new stadium was funded and built during Swarbrick's tenure.
Women's lacrosse -- seems pretty much the same; they share the new facility with the men's team.
Volleyball -- although not a sport that I follow closely, this may be the sport that is poised to show the greatest improvement under Swarbrick. After finally getting rid of a long-time "protected" (by virtue of marriage) head coach, it appears that we have an elite head coach, although by public accounts (I have no knowledge), the head coach was pretty determined to land at Notre Dame.
Men's and women's track and cross-country -- it seems to me that all of these squads reached new heights during the latter stages of head coach Joe Piane's long career, which ended in 2013. I haven't paid close enough attention to what's happened since Piane retired.
Men's and women's golf -- no idea, although I'm aware that the men's golf coach was fired at the conclusion of the recently-completed season.
Men's and women's swimming -- no idea.
Rowing -- no idea.
Men's and women's fencing -- I know that we've recently won at least one national championship, so we've got that going for us.
Am I forgetting any sports?
Other facts, arguments on the state of ND sports?
It was completed on Swarbrick's watch, but was set in motion under White.
The Compton Family Ice Arena was announced in 2009, under Swarbrick, but as you note, the funding apparently came from a benefactor's relationship with a head coach who had fallen in White's lap.
I'd grade Swarbrick as follows:
1. Stewardship of football -- F
* C for the initial hire of Brian Kelly, F for keeping Weis an extra year, F for keeping Kelly this long, and F-minus for the Declan Sullivan tragedy and its aftermath
2. Stewardship of basketball -- B
* A for keeping Brey and McGraw, D for the very slow crawl to a practice facility (will upgrade to a C if/when it's actually finished)..
3. Leaving the Big East for the ACC -- C
* A for its impact on sports other than football, but a D for its impact on football.
4. Stewardship of baseball -- F
* Aoki was an uninspired hire, his failure should've been predictable, and he's stayed too long.
5. Everything else -- B
* None of his decisions outside the above categories has been particularly momentous, at least as far aa I can tell.
To calculate Swarbrick's GPA, I'd assign 5 units for football, 3 each for basketball and ACC joinder, 2 for baseball, and 2 for everything else. That gives Swarbrick 15 grade points for 15 units, for a GPA of 1.0. A tad better than Blutarsky, but not good enough by a long shot.
In the video link attached. He may not be good at hiring coaches but he has every marketing buzzword down.
If you want to watch a "Mendoza dialogue" where you might learn something, watch the one with Malpass.
he has shaped the face of ND well into the future, getting us in the ACC and keeping football independent and getting us the money etc. he helped pull off the Crossroads project. He hits big time on the big issues. He is a leader among other ADs and has the respect in the sports industry e.g his deal with Under Armour, our NBC contract, our ACC contract for basketball, etc. These things far outweigh whether he makes all the correct coaching hires or fires in the minor sports (minor sports defined as those that cost the university much more than they bring in).
After the legendary Moose, the modern-day ADs of Corrigan, Rosenthal, Wadsworth and White all were better.
The limited success Notre Dame has had under Swarbrick -- men's and women's basketball, fencing -- has come in spite of him.
Morale in the athletic department is in the shitter. Most sports have regressed or stagnated.
He has stayed too long and can't leave soon enough.
A shitty Athletic Director, for the most part, retains and hires shitty coaches and make shitty decisions regarding the athletic department operations.
How Swarbrick, Wadsworth & White directed the ND football program tells you all you need to know about their ability to lead the ND athletic department.
replacing him with Willingham, the need for Jenkins to tell him to fire TW over Malloy and White's objection, and the CW contract extension after 5 games. I'll give him Brey and Jeff Jackson, but that doesn't make up for the multiple botch jobs on FB coach hirings. Hell, we had guys like Steve Mariucci and Mark Mangino turning us down in public, even though they weren't offered.
Under neither Wadsworth nor White did the athletic department overall decline so markedly. And White really modernized the athletic department and fully fund the Olympic sports.
Notre Dame football.
Nothing else they might have done can overcome their dreadful oversight of Notre Dame football. They greased the skids for the decline of Notre Dame football which is the face of Notre Dame athletics. They will always be remembered as complete failures because of their mismanagement and squandering the tradition and heritage of Notre Dame football.
Wadsworth essentially fired Lou and hired Davie. Nothing more need be said.
White's modernization and fully funding olympic sports is a pimple on a gnat's ass compared to the apologetic Willingham firing, the O'Leary hiring and firing fiasco and the Weis hiring and imprudent 10 year contract.
That is my point. At least Wadsworth and White succeeded elsewhere. Swarbrick has succeeded nowhere.
In my opinion, anything else that was done under their watch is of no consequence or is outweighed by their failure of managing ND football in ranking their performance. As a result I rank them as equals at the bottom. We will just need to agree to disagree on the ranking criteria and results.
Those both look like albatrosses right now. And the NBC deal is a partnership that far preceded anything he had to do with. In fact, under his watch, ND has watered down the deal to allow for NBC Sports coverage.
The ACC deal was about what anyone could've gotten us. The market dictated the ACC's move. A big hitter wouldn't have let them dictate five games to us.
And it would've been easier to make all these deals and for greater benefit to ND if he could hire an elite coach. It's really the only issue that really matters.
He epitomizes being a small hitter on big issues. People confuse the size of the issue with the quality of the hit.
at least as far as football is concerned. The baseball program is in even worse shape, but we're basically never on TV anyway and that certainly won't change under the current regime.
The only "elite" coaches he hired either were assistants here (e.g. the fencing coach) or wanted to come here (e.g. volleyball). The coaches he personally found have not proven much.
It would have been preferable to hire somebody with AD experience. Maybe we can get Gene Smith to come here in a couple years?
He fired a Final Four coach who built the women's lacrosse program from scratch and replaced her with a super average coach who has taken the program a step back every year.
It isn't just that he doesn't have the ability to hire elite coaches. It's that he's shown no recognition of the need to. If he shitcans Aoki (or Kelly) and then strikes out on their replacements that sucks but at least he knew enough to know that a change was necessary. As is, he doesn't even see a need to make a change in the first place.
What's so special about continuing to renew the NBC contract that has been in place since the 1990 season? Has he negotiated significantly higher broadcast rights fees from our "partner?" Have the production values improved? Has he held NBC's feet to the fire about starting times? Has he kept all of our home games off a cable network that many ND alumni and fans don't receive?
Aside from whether the ACC contract was good or even necessary to preserve football independence, could he have negotiated fewer than five annual ACC football games?
And while I obviously made my post on the baseball site, Jack's stewardship of the football program warrants immediate termination. His disregard of the baseball program is just icing on the cake.
I've had the pleasure of meeting DBC. Fine fellow he is.
He'd be an excellent choice...perhaps the greatest benefit in addition to an infusion of new energy-- anyone coming in as new hire who's not low hanging fruit will demand the changes in the program that will put it on at least competitive ground relative to ACC.
Chris gets it and would bring the energy and understanding of ND baseball identity that's been lacking