(The Rock Report) – Charlie will be back in ’09 and he’s going to have the most talented team to walk through a Notre Dame tunnel since 1993. But will they be better? If Charlie makes the right hires, I believe we’ll be a BCS team the next two years.

That’s a big if, but Mike Brey was in a similar situation just a few years ago. Brey’s teams had consistently underperformed, missed the NCAA tournament three straight times and were considered soft.

Our offense was three point gimmicky and easily defended.

In my opinion two things were happening. The first was that Notre Dame lost assistant coach Anthony Soloman who was the catalyst that made players tough and pushed them to perform. Brey has always been known as a great guy to get a beer with, but he needed a ying to his yang (or is that the other way around?) When he lost Solomon, Lewis Preston for whatever reason, didn’t work.

But there was a second reason Brey was struggling, his teams were unbalanced after some difficult recruiting years. The Big East almost dissolution killed his recruiting classes and his only full recruiting class is this year’s senior class. I had counseled waiting to judge Brey until this (not like I’m usually right) year’s senior class at least became Juniors. Most players need time to develop and if you look at Luke Zeller, he’s a completely different player this year than when he arrived.

Brey had two issues to solve, one was talent and the other was coaching. And there were many ardent basketball fans calling for Brey’s mock turtleneck at the time. But with maturity of his good classes and two successive good hires in Cross and Soloman again, Notre Dame is a top 10 team.

Will that happen for Notre Dame football? It’s an unknown, but not too far off where we were with Notre Dame basketball. There were a lot of fans who were “sure” Brey couldn’t get it done. Now a Harangody changes the equation on his own, but what I’ve seen is the whole team improving.

Charlie has some serious decisions to make about coaches and he has to get these right. Starting on the offensive line. Whatever the dynamic is, it hasn’t worked and isn’t working. Latina needs to be replaced by someone who can coach kids to be aggressive. Obviously our offensive coordinator position has been a failure and it’s time for Charlie to bring in a true OC and quarterback’s coach. Powlus is a great Notre Dame guy, but he doesn’t have the experience for the job. On defense we need defensive line coach that can light a fire under these kids and get them upfield. Finally, we need a Strength and Conditioning coach who increases strength and conditioning. Our players look woefully slow, weak and generally out of shape compared to their peers. Something’s obviously not working here this needs to be addressed immediately. The players deserve better. Perhaps we need a strength and conditioning coach who is both fast and strong himself? I await the rotten tomatoes.

Like Brey, Charlie has a development problem, but also a very big coaching problem to solve. The maturity problem will take care of itself next year. The talent at Notre Dame is now top 5.

Our offensive line will be composed of all seniors next year, almost all of whom were good recruits, though Young was the lone top tier recruit. Their progress will depend on their S&C; and the new offensive line coach.

The Tight End position, in direct opposition to this year, will be loaded with talent with Ragone, Yeatman, Fauria and Rudolph in 2009. That’s obviously a major upgrade.

Our Wide Receiver positing is as strong as any in the country. Floyd, Tate, Kamara, Walker and Evans will be the best overall group Notre Dame has ever had.

Clausen, Sharpley, Crist and Montana give a highly rated and experienced quarterback position.

Finally, Cierre Wood adds the “Wow” factor to a good stable of running backs.

That’s an offense that should be able to put points up on any team in the country.

The defensive line is our biggest worry, but Ian Williams, Darius Fleming and Ethan Johnson give the Irish some talented building blocks to mesh with Nwankwo, Wade and co. Tyler Stockton is a player who could have an immediate impact under a new coach. Jappy Oliver has been okay, but just okay. Okay isn’t good enough.

Brian Smith will be back at linebacker with a lot of experience and Steven Filer, but Notre Dame
could really use a talent infusion from top targets Manti T’eo and Jelani Jenkins.

With Darrin Walls returning in the secondary, Notre Dame will be deep and talented. Walls was the best player on defense in 2007 and he’ll be joining a secondary that will have experience and talent with McCarthy, Smith, Blanton, Gray and McNeil among others.

Suddenly our kicking situation doesn’t look that bad.

Despite a dismal 2008 (after a promising start) the Irish have the pieces in place for a two year run in 2009 and 2010. Right now, like Brey two years ago, we’re missing the secret sauce, which is why keeping Charlie was a bit of a gamble. But if Notre Dame makes the right hi
res for strength and conditioning, the offensive line and defensive line, we could see across the board improvement that will allow our 5-star players to show their talent.

It’s a big “if” still, but not one without precedent. This should be Charlie’s last bucket list.

If you haven’t seen Irish basketball this season, you should check them out.