Jack Swarbrick hasn’t been in this position in 12 years.
The Notre Dame director of athletics is searching for a new head coach to lead the Fighting Irish football team. When he conducted a search a dozen years ago, he landed on Brian Kelly fresh off a perfect 12-0 regular season at Cincinnati.
Swarbrick much prefers the conditions related to his predicament this time around, and he thanked Kelly ad nauseam for that during a press conference at Notre Dame Stadium on Tuesday morning.
“Then, I was in the process of trying to find someone to fix a very broken program,” Swarbrick said, “and in a circumstance where, frankly, a lot of people didn't think this was a place they wanted to be because they didn’t think Notre Dame was committed or able to produce championship football teams.”
Swarbrick continued, “I couldn’t be more pleased with the difference I see today as I embark on another search. In my 14 years, this program has never been in better shape. We have never been in a better position to take the next step in building this program into a consistent contender for national championships.”
That next step isn't just contending for national championships. It’s winning one. Kelly never accomplished that despite becoming Notre Dame’s all-time leader in wins (113). So, obviously, Swarbrick is looking for a replacement who can get over the hump and win the whole thing.
But what other qualities must the right candidate have? Swarbrick detailed those, too.
“Fit at Notre Dame is number one,” Swarbrick said. “This is a unique place. It is important that you understand and support the uniquenesses. That’s a critical element of this.
“Increasingly, the role of college football head coaches is a CEO role. Clearly understanding your approach to building and managing staff becomes very important. Next, what’s your approach to playing the game? What’s your style? How do you achieve victory on the football field?”
Swarbrick said “attracting and developing great student-athletes” is also a main point of emphasis. On the surface, it sounds like that can be summed up into one word: recruiting. But Swarbrick said it’s deeper than that.
“I’m really pleased with where our recruiting is today, the improvement we've made in it, the resources we've put into it,” Swarbrick said, “but I still want to be a great development program. So, what are your ideas on developing young men to be great players, great champions and great parts of our community?”
Swarbrick did not name an interim head coach during Tuesday’s press conference. He said if it got to the point of Notre Dame needing to do so, that person likely would not be a candidate for the full-time job moving forward. That leaves current defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman in play for now.
Swarbrick also said he doesn’t want to limit his candidate pool by not considering coaches who do not have head coaching experience. Freeman does not. Swarbrick likely needs to act swiftly if he’s honing in on Freeman, though. The Athletic reported that Kelly has made an effort to lure Freeman into following him to LSU.
It’s likely Kelly will take other staff members along with him. If Notre Dame doesn't promote Freeman, then the hire will almost certainly come from outside the program. Swarbrick said as of Tuesday morning he hadn't contacted any potential hires, but he had plenty of outreach from interested parties.
So, let the search begin. Swarbrick said he could land on his choice as soon as the coming days. He said it could take weeks. However long it takes, Swarbrick just wants to be sure he has found the right replacement.
“Every search process has its own rhythm,” Swarbrick said. “You want to do the best job you can, not the fastest job you can. We’re going to do the best job we can to find the right person to lead Notre Dame.”
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