Irish Round Table

Per the SBT:

Hey, Coach

Seems like we are coming to a head with this coaching search. Two relatively small pieces of info put together to imply one major move:

1) Media Banned From Cincinnati Football Banquet

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2)ND Athletic Department Cancels Casual Friday Dress Code

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Brian Kelly will be named head coach tomorrow

Maybe.

Notre Dame Interim Head Coach Rob Ianello will be taking the Akron job leaving the Irish coachless. Let’s hope Swarbrick names someone soon and this ridiculous search ends shortly.

Akron is expected to name Rob Ianello its new head coach in a news conference this afternoon.

Ianello spent the past five seasons serving as an assistant coach at Notre Dame and was named interim head coach after Charlie Weis was fired on Nov. 30.

“Rob brings a great amount of experience and a lot of energy, and is known as one of the best recruiters in the country,” Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill told the Akron Beacon Journal. “We feel he is going to be a great leader for the players in our program.”
Ianello replaces J.D. Brookhart, who was fired on Nov. 28 after a 3-9 campaign. Brookhart was 30-42 in six seasons with Akron.

Ianello served as recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Notre Dame. In January 2009, he was promoted to assistant head coach/offense.

Ianello is best known for his recruiting skills and is credited with bringing in players such receivers Golden Tate, Duval Kumara and Michael Floyd and running backs James Aldridge, Robert Hughes. He won’t be able to recruit the same type of talent to Akron, but he’ll probably be able to increase the team’s talent level, which has fallen off over the years.

Akron last won the Mid-American Conference championship in 2005 and also won the MAC East Division in 2000.

The Zips haven’t had a winning season since 2005 and have never won more than seven games as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Prior to working at Notre Dame, Ianello was the tight ends coach at Wisconsin in 2003 and 2004. He also served as a recruiting coordinator at Akron, Wisconsin in the early 1990s and Alabama.

Here’s an interesting piece ESPN did this morning featuring Notre Dame All-Big East point guard, Kyle McAlarney

ESPN- In the wake of Charlie Weis’ firing after a disappointing season, it’s unlikely that Notre Dame will accept a bowl game invitation, athletic director Jack Swarbrick said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“I agree [no bowl] is the likely outcome, but we are reconvening the leadership counsel to make a final decision,” Swarbrick said, according to the report.

From the Sun-Times:

Phil Fulmer, the longtime Tennessee coach who was forced to step down last season, would like to return to college coaching, and a jobs he covets is at Notre Dame.

Whether the interest is mutual remains to be seen as Notre Dame’s coaching search continued Thursday.

‘I know he’s interested, and he’s an aggressive, relentless recruiter,” said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, who works with Fulmer at CBS College Sports. ”He would bring in a real good staff, and he’s a relentless worker.”

Fulmer had a 152-52 record during a 17-year stint at Tennessee that included a national championship in 1998. Fulmer has made no secret about his desire to return to coaching and has said he’ll only consider programs committed to winning national championships.

The 59-year-old also has been linked to the opening at Louisville.

Prediction: No one will care about this report other than Phil Fulmer.

Source:

Folks, I can tell you that Randy Edsall has not been contacted by Notre Dame according to my sources. Today, I can tell you that. I can’t say he won’t be. I can also tell you to forget about him going to Kansas. That ain’t happenin’. I can tell you that. I haven’t heard anything about Virginia but don’t take that to mean anything.

Hartford Courant

Comcast and NBC finally inked a deal. With Comcast now owning NBC, changes may be in store for Notre Dame football coverage.

In order for Comcast to compete with ESPN using Versus or, more likely, a re-branded NBC Sports Network, it will have to populate that cable channel with compelling live events.

And Notre Dame Football seems a likely place to start.

According to the Sports Business Journal , Comcast has its sights set on the Irish, in part because NBC’s current contract with Notre Dame contains a clause that allows for a certain number of games to “mitigate to cable.”

A quick glance at the 2010 schedule reveals a slate ripe with cable-caliber opponents: Western Michigan, Tulsa, Utah, and perhaps even a nostalgic, neutral-site date with Navy at Yankees Stadium.

Such reallocation to a cable channel would surely be perceived as a demotion and rankle a segment of the Notre Dame base, already disgruntled by ABC/ESPN’s oxymoronic coverage-map approach to national broadcasts.

Fighting Irish faithful routinely combat the perception of entitlement, but the one arrogance we can’t deny is the “right” to watch our team for free every Saturday during the fall.

That same insatiable appetite for blue and gold, despite an extended era of mediocrity, represents the potential exposure Comcast sees in Notre Dame football.

The opportunity to play six, and in recent years seven, home games on NBC has long been a selling point for Notre Dame recruits and their families. It also generates revenue for the University that makes a hefty financial buyout of Charlie Weis possible.

It would be too strong to state that the Comcast-NBC Universal merger threatens that competitive advantage in any significant way.

Because of popularity and independence, Notre Dame still has more access to broadcast television than any college football program.

However, in the context of a multi-billion dollar deal between media conglomerates, Notre Dame is a mere pawn.

Not only will this potentially impact what channel games will be on, but also the gameday production itself. We can most likely say goodbye to Hammond and Haden.

Try to lighten the mood around here:

1. Tiger’s new movie is out: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hydrant.

2. Apparently the police asked Tiger’s wife how many times she hit him. She said “I don’t know exactly… but put me down for a 5.”

3. Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole-in-one.

4. What’s the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards……..

5. What were Tiger Woods and his wife doing out at 2.30 in the morning? They went clubbing

6. Tiger Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree. He couldn’t decide between a wood and an iron.