...since I actually got into recruiting. Remember the classes where ND was lucky to get a couple 4 star players? It wasn't that long ago. Now, 4 star is the norm. And as any college coach who has had success at any level and in any sport will tell you, it all starts with recruiting. It makes your job as a coach much easier when you have elite players coming in. It increases the competition on the practice field as well. You find the real competitors who want to constantly better themselves and compete for positions. Of course, it really helps recruiting when the coach looks like he could put the pads on today. But, geez, it's fun to read the boards again when a big time recruit announces where he is going. Reminds me of the old days when internet recruiting when it was a real free for all and rumors were everywhere and neay all were bad. But ND was still scoring some great classes. I won't rehash the past too much but there were some subsequent coaches were, shall we say, a bit lazy when it came to recruiting and it showed on game day.
One thing my dad always said is that if you surround yourself with good people, you will be successful. I think Freeman has done that, but only time will tell. Ultimately, he is the guy who has to make the key decisions on everything, and part of that is listening to your assistants. I think he is the "buddy" coach right now, but to be successful in the long term, he will have to make some difficult, and unpopular, decisions. The head coach has to be the "bad guy" at times. Winning has a way of softening such decisions though.
One thing I remember from the Holtz years was Holtz recruiting the best athletes he could get in. Sometimes running backs player defensive backs. Safties grew into linebackers and linebackers morphed into linemen. It worked because they were great athletes. Such players moved to other positions because they wanted to compete and get on the field any way they could. I am not saying this is the formula Freeman should use, but he is getting in the same kind of players. Well, I think he is! So I don't have a problem with Freeman moving his best lineman to center. That is the most important position on the line. He has the ball at the beginning of every play, so he better be the "captain" of the offensive line.
Like many, I have expressed my concerns with having a first time head coach at ND. Let's face, there is little learning curve at ND and history shows that. But if you can get the elite athletes in from the start, it makes things a lot easier!
I am glad I got to see a game last season. It will he impossible to go to a game next season as I will not be healthy enough to go to any. At least I can "enjoy" some banter on the board and be into recruiting again. At least that is fun again.
-Wass