The best way for female athletes to leverage their talents is to get the best education they can from their scholarship opportunity. NFL, NBA or even MLB riches do not enter their calculus. ND's value proposition should dwarf State U's. Only coaching incompetence can hold Irish women's sports back.

My daughter's vb teammate is one of the top recruits in the country in the '16 class. She's a dominant 6'4" MH fresh off of leading her catholic HS to a state championship. Her father wanted her to consider Notre Dame, but she had no interest because of the coaching situation. She has aspirations to make the Olympic team, so she has verbally committed to Minnesota. I don't know if the McLaughlin hire changes her thinking at this point (pretty hard to beat McCutcheon's pedigree), but the idea that ND wouldn't be a viable option for top recruits because of mediocre coaching in inexcusable.

The Irish should be a sleeping giant. In my experience, girls volleyball is dominated by Catholic high schools filled with players who got their start in CYO. ND recruiting should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

at SAMO or UCSB?