Jack Swarbrick passed on the chance to lobby for Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff inclusion regardless of the ACC Championship Game outcome. It would be in poor taste given his position on the College Football Playoff’s management committee, he thought.
“I don’t want to be seen as in that position,” Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s director of athletics, said Wednesday during a Zoom conference with reporters.
But …
“I think our team’s performance speaks for itself,” he said.
No. 2 Notre Dame (10-0) can lock up a CFP spot when it plays No. 3 Clemson (9-1) for the ACC title on Dec. 19. A loss still might not knock the Irish out of the top four. Swarbrick wasn’t interested in discussing playoff hypotheticals, but he had plenty of other things to say Wednesday in his first Zoom session with reporters since the spring. Here is a recap of some of the topics he addressed.
On The Idea Of Expanded Syracuse Game Attendance
“Around midseason I identified that as a hope. What we found as we progressed through the season is we were really well-served by articulating a clear standard as to who we would allow in the stadium, and that was people who were engaged in campus life every day – part of the testing program, part of the protocols.
“Establishing that parameter, our own spectator bubble, if you will, really served us well. It started with students and extended to faculty and staff. If you weren’t in that cohort, it was a nice place to draw the line. You can imagine the calls we all fielded — [President] Fr. John [Jenkins], myself, others — as the season progressed who said, ‘Yeah, I know you have a rule, but just let me come.’ We were able to stay grounded in that principle. When we got to the Syracuse game, it was important to maintain that principle.”
On Notre Dame’s On-Field Identity
“I love the clarity of it. We like to talk about a certain identity for the team, but we haven’t always executed on it. This year we’ve played to that strength. We’re about the two lines of scrimmage, tight ends, really smart play in the back end on defense and offense. That’s what we’ve been this year. Coach [Brian] Kelly set that standard, but the implementation by Tommy Rees and Clark Lea has been remarkable. So proud of the leadership and tone those coaches have set.
“We’ve been as physical as any team we have faced this year. We have a lot of talented offensive linemen, extending a heritage that populates the NFL with talented alums, great tight end play, and I love the depth of the rotation on the defensive line. All that makes for a team with a physical identity that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. On top of that, we’ve been led by a quarterback who implements that plan exceptional well and brings his own set of talents.
“Our cultural identity is a team that is as close and has as much affection for each other as any team I’ve been around. They love each other, they love playing with each other. You can see that on the field.”
On COVID-19’s Financial Impacts
“It has been extraordinary. Hard to understate. We’re probably as reliant on the income from one sport as any school in the country. We largely went without that revenue this year. When you add to that the significant loss of a portion of all our distribution — a reduction of the CFP distribution, the NCAA distribution, conference distribution — it puts you in a really difficult position going forward. We will deal with the consequences of this year for a long time.
“We’ve been in a hiring freeze, which has really strapped our staff. They have done a great job of managing through it. We’ve cut back everywhere we can. Conversely, you take on a lot of expenses managing the pandemic. Football used to travel with four buses. We now have eight to get spacing on the bus.
“The testing costs have been extraordinary because we’ve been so aggressive in testing on a regular basis. That’s a long-winded way of saying it’s impossible to overstate the financial consequence here. We’re going to have to reimagine a lot of our business. We’ll have to continue some of the savings we’ve achieved.”
On What He Learned Playing Through The Pandemic
“What we learned is the risk associated with practice and competition was very small. We just didn’t have evidence of transmission during those periods. I’m not sure there hasn’t been any. But we wound up with some pretty compelling examples, our South Florida game being a good one where we discovered after the game we had people playing active with the virus. Yet there was no transmission of the virus.
“We discovered what America has discovered. The No. 1 risk time is meals. When you’re seated in that environment, engaged in consuming food, it presents a special challenge.”
On Fixes After The September Football Outbreak
“We had to ask people to accept different housing arrangements. You couldn’t have a group of offensive linemen, tight ends, pick your position group, all living together. The housing would produce contact tracing if one student got sick. We became very intentional about that once we saw the consequences in action.
“There was a moment postgame in one of the earlier game when Brian interrupted himself in his comments and said to a couple guys in the front row, ‘By the way, you two can’t live together anymore.’ It was a funny moment, but we had to look at it that way.”
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