Notre Dame AD: Swarbrick - Teasing or Torturing ???

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Tuesday he won’t be rushed into finding a replacement for coach Brian Kelly even if the Fighting Irish manage to secure a College Football Playoff berth this weekend.

“Every search process has its own rhythm,” Swarbrick said a few hours after he and Kelly addressed players during a hurriedly called 7 a.m. meeting. “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.”  Less than 24 hours later Notre Dame Hire Marcus Freeman  Could have a thing or two about the CFP penalizing Notre Dame for its coaching indecisiveness. 

Is Swarbrick playing with us or torturing Iowa State Fans.   Maybe a little of both.   Matt Campbell's name continues to remain at the top of the list of almost every article I read for candidates to replace Brian Kelly at Notre Dame.   I have two quick points. 

1. The longer they take to make the replacement at Notre Dame the better that is for Iowa State fans.   Matt Campbell has certainly gained his share of clout for the coaching job he has done at Iowa State.   But, replacing a coach at Notre Dame is not something they take lightly.   And if there is one thing I know about Catholics - I don't like to skimp the process.   Bow your heads we must pray on this, Amen. 

2. I believe that Luke Fickle, Cincinnati and Marcus Freeman, DC at Notre Dame are the top candidates.   I do believe that Matt Campbell will get a courtesy call, but going 7-5 with the team and the talent level would not instill a lot of confidence in me, if I were an AD at a Blood Blood like Notre Dame.   I believe they would get a fair amount of blow back from the Alumni base for highering a 7-5 guy at The Notre Dame Gold Domers. 

• I believe Luke Fickle is the top candidate and they are waiting to see what happens with him and the Bearcats.   Brian Kelly was also hired away from Cincinnati before coaching The Irish.  Cincy is currently in the CFP but just by the short hairs.   If Cincy falls out of the CFP they could make an argument for Notre Dame being a better chance of winning a National Championship.   If Cincy holds on and gets in the playoff, I think it is more likely for Fickle to stay put, since they will be moving to a new Big 12.  
• Marcus Freeman is the current Defensive Coordinator at Notre Dame and was the assumed interim head coach for the bowl game.  However, there are rumors that Brian Kelly is trying to bring Freeman and Tommy Rees, OC to LSU.   LSU is attempting to make Freeman the highest paid Defensive Coordinator in College Football, my guess is this the kind of head coaching money that Matt Campbell currently makes.   Notre Dame didn't name Freeman interim, because they recognize Kelly is attempting to kidnap the key master.  
• It seems like the analysts predicting potential candidates at the big name programs have mostly been wrong, in particular USC and LSU.  So, I don't know why we would expect this search to follow the path of the leading candidates listed in the sports pages.  Between, Oklahoma and Notre Dame - I'm expecting some new drama and unforeseen surprises. 

Finally, if there is one thing we have learned about the Catholics while handling crisis and controversy - it is that they don't react quickly.   So, this coaching search could drag on well into January.   

*** As a side note:  I am a practicing Catholic, so it is my attempt with this post at a little bit of self-deprecating humor.   I apologize if I have offended anyone with Catholic jabs.