With all the big changes happening in the college football world lately, I and others have been asking a lot about Notre Dame's position and where it fits into what college football will ultimately look like. There was a story. How will the Irish adapt? How will they fare in the new College Football Playoff model? How will Notre Dame navigate a situation that feels more professional than collegiate?
These are legitimate questions and concerns. Especially in the last 30 years, the lack of proper administrative measures to protect and support football and the poor leadership of the coaches would have threatened its survival. I feel like this situation has changed in many ways recently, and I now have more confidence than ever in Notre Dame's ability to overcome this new situation and still try to compete.
Let's think about why I feel this way.
Notre Dame is different from other college football powerhouses for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons why this happens is because the Ireland head coach does not have the unilateral authority that other head coaches have. At many schools, the football coach is the King. he gets what he wants. That's not the case at Notre Dame, where academics take precedence over athletics.
It takes a very unique personality to navigate Notre Dame's complex web of relationships and get things done. A head coach must be able to effectively engage and communicate with the “authorities” in a way that makes them want to help the program. Freeman has demonstrated the ability to do this at a far more effective rate than any Irish coach over the last 30 years. This is no small feat and is a challenging behind-the-scenes job.
Administrator consent
Notre Dame's administration has made more progress in keeping Notre Dame truly competitive in the past two years than in the past 25 years combined. They paid top-end assistants SEC-level salaries, rapidly expanded their NIL, began renovations to their football facilities soon, and made significant changes to their transfer process.
All of these actions are evidence of a group that cares about football success and is trying to adapt to the times as much as possible within the guardrails of Notre Dame. Indeed, Jack Swarbrick has been heavily involved in many of these changes, but so has his successor, Pete Bevacqua. We look forward to seeing further progress in these areas under his leadership.
Setting up a safety net
Notre Dame is aware of how so many dramatic changes are happening so quickly in the sport of soccer these days, and more changes are coming soon. Their job is to protect Notre Dame's football brand. Not just history and heritage, but true competitiveness as well.
If independence is no longer a realistic or financially viable option, the Irishman's future back-up plan would be to join the B10. I value my independence and this is a great backup plan if needed. As a long-time supporter of Notre Dame's independent stance, this is painful to admit, but it's true, and Irish fans should have financial security and generous support should they need to move in the future. You should feel safe knowing that you are getting what you pay for. Systems from industry power players.
For more Irish news and notes, follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always in Irish on Youtube or your preferred audio podcast provider.
This story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire
