If Byrne wanted to be a head coach, his window of opportunity was rapidly closing. I would love to seem him succeed Corrigan here, when the time comes. But there's only about a 3-year age difference between Corrigan and Byrne, so perhaps that isn't in the cards.

And while I'm no expert on the subject, I would say that at first glance, Notre Dame came out from this about as well as could reasonably be expected. We landed Wellner, a highly-regarded assistant who could be a HC sooner rather than later, to replace Byrne. And we also added Wojcik, who has HC experience and probably could be expected to replace Wellner should Wellner get a HC opportunity after next season.