Question about the final 2-3 years of the Holtz era...

What hurt Holtz the most wasn't the assistants leaving..

It was the ones who showed up just looking to get ND on their resume. No intentions of the long haul. That led to plenty of turnover.

I would say this

I don't recall the last few years of Holtz with the happiness I remember the stretch from 86-93. He had tougher losses, less recruiting success, and something just didn't seem right. Looking back, I can see how the stories about less support from the administration combined with a tighter recruiting criteria made it tougher for Holtz to have the on field success that he and ND fans were accustomed to. This may be a little strong, but it felt like Holtz was holding on versus the '86-'87 years where the program was ascending like a Saturn rocket.

A few things I heard back in the 95-96 timeframe:
After the OSU losses, Holtz was bitter and said something to the effect "it's hard to coach against another team when many of those players wanted to commit to ND but the academic side declined them"

After an emotionally tough loss to Air Force, it was rumored that Holtz went in to the AD and asked for a job description. He may have been using this ploy to see what the expectation for him and the program was. He may have been looking for the AD to give him a buck up conversation and offer 100% complete support of Holtz.

Recruiting restrictions made his job harder.

Sometimes, I wonder what Holtz/ND would have looked like had Moss enrolled/played at ND for three or four years. Sometimes, it's time to go. It was easy to understand that when Holtz left he was an excellent coach...but it also felt like the time was maybe right. Then his replacement came in and you knew that you were COMPLETELY wrong.

The main reason that recruiting suffered so much was

assistant turnover and the fact the Yelovich wasn't a good RC. His communication with Admissions left much to be desired. This was fixed when Chmiel came on board and recruiting suddenly got better. Standards hadn't gotten any more strict. They were prepared to admit Randy Moss, for gosh sakes, if, on the fifth request, he'd turned in just a decent application.

Lou was fried by 1996. I don't blame him. The job wipes out the best of them. Could be why Kelly is not "wiped out". He isn't in the 'best of them" club.

Lou was still recruiting very well at the end

The 94 class wasn't good but 95 was rated as one of the 10 best in ND history.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/582778-notre-dame-football-top-ten-recruiting-classes-of-all-time

Also could be because Kelly feels utterly no expectations to

perform unlike every single one of his predecessors.

Agreed. Losing Vinny Cerrato hurt big time too. *

asking for a job description wasn't a rumor

that's on the record; Wadsworth typed up a description for him in 1996.

But I had understood that Holtz didn't ask for it

and that this was one of Wadsworth's ways of trying to push Holtz out.

from what I understand he did ask for it

in a sense of exasperation in terms of "geez, Wadsworth, I'm not even sure what I am supposed to be doing here. Can you get me a job responsibilities checklist?"

Instead of assuring Holtz that he was a valued coach/employee of the school he actually had a list of duties typed up

That would harmonize both versions *

what'd it say?

kiss my ass everyday
Prepare Bob Davie to be your replacement
Make sure your players don't get into pre-game scuffles

oh, and try really hard to win...when you can.

What would Swarbrick’s version say now? *