On a separate but related note: ALL ND coaches in all sports should be required to take the Marcus Freeman ND recruitology 101 course and how to sell ND to recruits.

Perhaps "ALL ND coaches in all sports should be required to take the" Niele Ivey "ND recruitology 101 course" until they get 90 percent of their recruits from the top 30 players in the nation. :)

Doing better in the portal, but Freeman (and assistants as it is more than the just the head coach) is recruiting the heck out of bigs and skill positions.

Umm... Ivey was the primary recruiter for MM's teams and she was therefore very responsible in bringing Turner and later transfer Shepard (for which we were #2 behind home state NE. first time around) to our championship and runner up teams. Oh and that Canadian who turned out pretty good, Ace, was also recruited by her.

Not too shabby threesome.

Q

it's hard to argue against the thought that we have had, "forever," a numbers shortage of quality bigs.

Cherry picking three (including a transfer) over the past 10 years doesn't put a dent in the "numbers" argument.

Are you really comparing recruiting women's basketball at Notre Dame to football? I don't even know where to start on this and hope you were kidding. In football, you have to get 15 kids or more every year that are elite against a pool of 30-40 schools that can make a case that they are or can be elite programs with all the requisite resources. Basketball requires about 2-3 elite players each year. Not to mention, there are probably about 15-20 programs at most that would be on par with ND and that used to be about 5-8 until the past few years. That's just scratching the service - I could go into many other factors. I have no idea if Freeman can coach (nor do I know yet if Ivey can), but based on results thus far, Freeman is setting the standard on recruiting in comparison to past history. I would argue Ivey has maintained what McGraw was able to do in terms of recruiting. And this isn't a knock on Ivey - just suggesting that I'll take my chances right now with Freeman as it relates to recruiting.

So in terms of recruiting leading to National Championships where does Ivey compare to ND football?

Trying to compare Football recruiting to Women's/Men's basketball recruiting is an exercise in futility. The class sizes and teams are so different that it's almost impossible to correlate the programs. Comparing Men's basketball to Women's basketball recruiting would be a lot more accurate.

As an example:

For those that say that they believe that NI is a superior recruiter than Marcus, they will point out the many top players that have played for NDWBB throughout the years, including many stars that are playing at the next level. Also, the great players on the current roster that will soon be in the WNBA if they choose to do that after graduation. When adding in the portal recruiting, NI has done a good job and excels in recruiting.
If you are in Marcus Freeman's corner, you can debate the recruiting rules. Sure NI recruited some awesome talent over the years but, that was as an assistant to Muffet. It's easier to recruit top tier talent for a Hall of Fame coach when that coach has laid the groundwork and has yearly National Championship expectations each season. Recruiting, when YOU are the face of a rebuilding team isn't that easy. Besides, even as a Defensive Coordinator, Marcus did as good as a job as he did with bringing in better recruits even with the disadvantages of having Brian Kelly as his head coach. If you want to judge recruiting by what has happened as Head Coaches, Marcus believers will say that he has more than doubled the better recruits than his predecessor as opposed to NI which has only signed 4 players (including Emma) in 3 years.

I don't think that it is fair to say either way because of the circumstances and needs of each program. I am just thankful that we can have such debates because that means that we have 2 coaches that look to excel at recruiting. Whether this translates to Championships or not remains to be seen. All I know is that there are hundreds of other schools that would love to have this debate.

To my great regret I actually *did* read your response. I guess I thought it would be more humorous,…but you did say "service" for "surface", so that was funny!

And hopes that we actually look for qualified candidates both inside and outside the ND organization.

...remember, Lauren Ebo's initial (at least) connection to ND is via Coquese Washington, who recruited her to and coached her at Penn State for Ebo's frosh year.

Did Ebo come to ND for Coach Washington? Or to play on another top-notch team for one year that can continue to help Ebo raise her profile. I don't know if she's signed on the dotted line yet for ND. She'd get tons of PT at Rutgers, but Coach Washington is pretty much starting from scratch there.

My gut is Ebo stays to get coached by Coach O, play with 'Liv, Soni and Maddy, and patrol the middle with Kylee.

As for who would take Coquese's place:
- Coach O will continue to take care of the posts
- Michaela takes care of the wings and off guards
- So, was Coquese coaching the PG's or was Niele working with 'Liv? If the former, do you bring in another PG coach, let Niele do it or just get the best possible candidate.

And is that best possible candidate an ND grad? Maybe yes, maybe no...Niele says she's looking for the "right fit."

I'm going to list some ND grads who are now coaching in D-1 as assistants because, heretofore, Niele has gone with whom she knows. And she knows all of these folks.

- Charel Allen, Class of 2088, Assistant Coach at Fullerton State in California since 2017. She, if I recall correctly, was on the short list when Muffet hired Michaela Mabrey.

- Ashley Barlow, Class of 2010. Was assistant coach on Wright State when they won a game in the NCAA's, then followed Wright State Coach to Memphis State. She's an Indy native who scored 1,000 points at ND, grabbed 500 rebounds and had more than 250 steals and assists. Has handled recruiting.

- Ariel Braker, Class of 2014, two-year starter and multiple-year captain.
Just followed her coach to West Virginia and might very well stay there.

- Markesha Wright, Class of 2015 . Director of Player Personnel at University of Oklahoma, working for Jennie Baranszyk, whom she followed from Drake.

- Melissa Lechlitner-Lewis, Class of 2008, currently Reginal Director of Athletics in Athletic Department. Have no idea if she wants to get back into coaching, but she was the point guard link from Megan Duffy to Skylar Diggins.

- Angie Potthoff-Barber. A Penn State grad but former ND assistant coach now serving as Director of Operations. Worked for Muffet and then left, I believe, to start a family. She came back to fill the Director of Operations slot when the then ND Dr. of Operations fell gravely ill. Have kids grown up? Would she want to coach again? She was a terrific forward at Penn State

And here's an outside the box idea for point guards.

- Lindsay Allen, Class of 2017. Superb point guard who was cut by Indiana Fever and has not gotten re-signed yet. Always struck me as a coach in waiting Who better to advise Miles and Brown? Very, very close to Muffet and Niele.

Has not coached before but her involvement in the pro game in both the WNBA and Aussie leagues keeps her on top of the game and makes her relevant to prospects who have pro aspirations. (Not to mention current players!)

Probably won't happen, but you never know....

some promising young former Irish player assistants right now but I think they need to build their own resumes. Niele should hire the best person she can get and not get too focused on ND background.

...including me...that Niele should hire the best person available. Absolutely.

I'm just seeing a pattern of going with whom/what she knows.
With coaches, Muffet started hiring former ND players (Niele, Beth Morgan Cunningham) and/or rehiring previous assistants (Coach O, Angie Pottoff as director of operations).

BTW, a lot of the players I've listed have built their own resumes. Charel Allen and Ashley Barlow have both been in this business more than a decade and have many years as assistants. They are adding value to their programs. Whether Niele thinks it's the right kind of value for ND, she'll determine.

I'll be interested in seeing what direction she goes.

Why limit the search that way?

Get the best coach you can. Muffet didn’t go to ND. Nor did Ara, Lou or Freeman. There’s a big world of talented people out there. Don’t limit the search.

Done to date - only consider people she has recruited before, worked with at ND, played for or coached at ND.

It was a quick list of people that meet that criteria. I tend to agree that we need the best and should ignore ND history. That wasn’t the intent of this specific post.

BTW, I totally agree with badelman, SorinBasement and others who think that Niele should find the best coach she can to help the team, regardless of any previous association with ND.

Up to this point, Niele has talked about players having to have "the right fit" and that seems to translate into having a vetting period and/or experience with ND andor, perhaps, with Niele.

As such, for a short turnaround for Neiele (and the Bench, for that matter), I just listed the ND players/personnel (Angie P.) that she could look at...which she probably will, anyways.

A night after posting this, I come back to Ashley Barlow, who is Katrina Merriweather's top aide at Memphis and in her early 30's, plus Charel Allen, who most certainly interviewed for the post Michaela ultimately got.
Both are experienced, yet relatively young and could relate to players.

Remember, I flew the idea of Lindsay Allen -- even though she has no formal experience in coaching per see -- well, Troy just hired Chelsea Dungee, another WNBA player fresh off multiple cuts to be an assistant.

Whereas Coach Ivey was looking for an experienced hand when she hired Coach Q a few years back, I'm thinking Niele seems quite comfortable in her shoes right now and still has Coach O around. Plus, Michaela has been active and obviously has involvement. So, I could see a young(er) person here to join Mike and help relate to younger players.

Stay tuned.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) she's still going strong in the WNBA.

... she'll be in the WNBA a bit longer. A smart, good post can stay in the pro leagues a long time.

Personally, I think that's not a bad thing for ND, either. Why? By the time Ace bows out of playing, it may be around the time Coach O is thinking of calling it a day coaching posts. I have absolutely no doubt Ace would be a great teacher of and draw to young post prospects.

If you have read the football board, one recurring point was made that young coaches often benefit from having an experienced hand around. I know Carol Owens and Coquese were supposed to provide that benefit, but it could be another factor to consider.

I'm wondering if maybe Melissa D'Amico would leave a HC job at Boston University if Niele called. I don't know how close the two are.

Maybe she could see serving as an assistant at her alma mater, a Top 25 school as a stepping stone since that's her first year as a HC.

She's only been at Boston for one year and the team went 17-14.

Leaving a HC position (after only 1 year) to self demote yourself to an assistant again seems like a backwards solution. Although I am not acquainted with the BU offense, I'm pretty sure that their offense uses some form of the Princeton offense which she is proficient at. Coming to ND where those concepts are/have substituted to a different, unfamiliar offense would make this fit even harder. It's in her best interest to go the Megan Duffy route and work her way up to a Power 5 program if that's what she desires.

I’m thinking Niele and Q combined to work with Liv, if I’m not mistaken. I’d still think Niele would want a guard oriented coach that can work with the PGs (we’ve got two of them now 🙌🏻) while she works on overall things.

I do wonder if maybe thinking outside the ND box might be best here, just some new perspective on things.

...in virtually everything she does, from initial coaching staff to recruits and transfers. Not saying you don't have a good idea (you do), but I'll be she might -- at first -- look at the extended ND family.

I'll have a post on possible folks in a jiff.