Notre Dame Post Mortem Thread...

[Scooch]

Chris Carlson made a good point on the Axe postgame pod. He said that the staff had been telling us through their actions about how they value, or rather don’t value, Carney. That if they thought he had any upside he’d have been playing since it would signal that they’re invested in his development.

Sure seems like he’s gone, along with Collins and every other QB on a schollie aside from Angeli.

 

[Orangello]

I will drive ERob and the OL coach anywhere they want to go in the continental U.S. I'll even stop at Buc-ees

 

[Entropic]

Premature anything isn't any good.

I call it maximum efficiency.

 

[DuxburyO]

I wonder if Fran already informed some guys they won't be invited back. That could also explain the lack of effort.

Not knowing and only guessing but I think it’s a lot more.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I don’t see how either the OC or DC should be back next year. JW should not allow it.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Chris Carlson made a good point on the Axe postgame pod. He said that the staff had been telling us through their actions about how they value, or rather don’t value, Carney. That if they thought he had any upside he’d have been playing since it would signal that they’re invested in his development.

Sure seems like he’s gone, along with Collins and every other QB on a schollie aside from Angeli.

Oh they don't believe in him at all. It's very clear.

 

[Scooch]

I don’t see how either the OC or DC should be back next year. JW should not allow it.

I was OK with Nixon. But then I read the quote from Fran the other day where it was very clear that Nixon has carte Blanche to do whatever he wants with the O. I’m sure that’s the promise Fran gave when he hired him, but I don’t think the program can operate that way. It’s clear there’s too much deference in that relationship. He’ll be back but I’m not sure he should be. Doesn’t seem healthy.

Robinson should have been fired after last year. If he’s still around next season then Fran isn’t serious.

 

[Irishsecra1]

Yeah, honestly, I have been a bit annoyed that he has been talking about next year for a few weeks now. To me, that doesn't send a good message to the seniors while doing that in-season. If I were a season ticket holder who had paid good money for THIS year, I can't say I would be thrilled with that attitude either.

It's one thing for him to think that had have that mindset, but I think you can go a bit overboard by being too public with it.

Well I won’t be going to the BC game.
Have had season tickets for 30 years, have never ever missed the last game of the season. My season ticket money went down a rat hole but I will not spend another 35 on top of that.
It is obvious since NC game that Fran looks at the remaining games as little more than practices. He doesn’t care if we win, or are even competitive, he just wants to accomplish certain things he values.
Apparently treating Carney like a yo yo and throwing our sixth string walk on QB into an NBC game which would lead to utter humiliation for the team and all the fans was an object lesson he wished to teach.

It is more than the coaches being grossly incompetent, it is truly mean spirited.
I truly don’t understand it.

I was one of the many a few weeks ago who proudly said In Fran I Trust.
How stupid was I to truly believe that.
I feel like I was playing one of those shell games where the ball was not under any of the shells.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

I was OK with Nixon. But then I read the quote from Fran the other day where it was very clear that Nixon has carte Blanche to do whatever he wants with the O. I’m sure that’s the promise Fran gave when he hired him, but I don’t think the program can operate that way. It’s clear there’s too much deference in that relationship. He’ll be back but I’m not sure he should be. Doesn’t seem healthy.

Robinson should have been fired after last year. If he’s still around next season then Fran isn’t serious.

The thing that always bothered me as a former exec was that Fran jumped two levels to his current job. In a perfect world, he would have then surrounded himself with experienced coordinators. But he didn't. He got two guys who were also were also basically newbies. Robinson had a brief stint at A&M, but very brief.

So Fran made a rookie mistake that resulted with everybody learning on the job. Nixon has been up and down but our D has been uniformly poor under Fran.

Perhaps JW's metrics are very high level, i.e. a bowl game and I don't care how you get there. Or perhaps they are multiple metrics and with some nuance. Either way, I think the conversation has to be had about how poorly we have performed on defense the past two years and Fran's plans to rectify that. And if JW thinks those plans are too vague or too general or merely not firm enough, a more definitive expectation has to be made regarding staff.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I’m not sure why people think we’re going to be so much better next year. Obviously, Angeli helps, but we’re going to be young again. You don’t win with freshmen and sophomores playing major roles. I have little confidence that we will bring in ten difference makers from the portal. With what we will need all over the field, we can’t afford. We got leftovers this year and hoped for the best. Most were totally ineffective. Peal is the closest of being somewhat competent. Everyone else has been subpar. We’re also bound to lose some players that we probably can’t afford to lose. We lost some of our better players to the portal last year. I expect the same this year too. I won’t be surprised if a couple of recruits flip in the next two weeks.

 

[MikeSU02]

We're the top post on r/cfb

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was OK with Nixon. But then I read the quote from Fran the other day where it was very clear that Nixon has carte Blanche to do whatever he wants with the O. I’m sure that’s the promise Fran gave when he hired him, but I don’t think the program can operate that way. It’s clear there’s too much deference in that relationship. He’ll be back but I’m not sure he should be. Doesn’t seem healthy.

Robinson should have been fired after last year. If he’s still around next season then Fran isn’t serious.

It seemed, when Angeli went down, that there was an opportunity to take advantage of having a pretty good receiving TE in Villari and a pretty good receiving RB in Nixon that there might be an opportunity to skew the offense a little bit toward the short passing game, maybe run a bunch of play action.

But, no. Just no. Not that.

 

[hoopsupstate]

The thing that always bothered me as a former exec was that Fran jumped two levels to his current job. In a perfect world, he would have then surrounded himself with experienced coordinators. But he didn't. He got two guys who were also were also basically newbies. Robinson had a brief stint at A&M, but very brief.

So Fran made a rookie mistake that resulted with everybody learning on the job. Nixon has been up and down but our D has been uniformly poor under Fran.

Perhaps JW's metrics are very high level, i.e. a bowl game and I don't care how you get there. Or perhaps they are multiple metrics and with some nuance. Either way, I think the conversation has to be had about how poorly we have performed on defense the past two years and Fran's plans to rectify that. And if JW thinks those plans are too vague or too general or merely not firm enough, a more definitive expectation has to be made regarding staff.

I was surprised when Texas A&M didn’t try to keep ERob. They could have easily outbid us if they really wanted.

 

[MikeSU02]

Oh they don't believe in him at all. It's very clear.

The *best* case scenario is that they don't believe in him. They other option is that they have NO idea what they are doing.

 

[Scooch]

The thing that always bothered me as a former exec was that Fran jumped two levels to his current job. In a perfect world, he would have then surrounded himself with experienced coordinators. But he didn't. He got two guys who were also were also basically newbies. Robinson had a brief stint at A&M, but very brief.

So Fran made a rookie mistake that resulted with everybody learning on the job. Nixon has been up and down but our D has been uniformly poor under Fran.

Perhaps JW's metrics are very high level, i.e. a bowl game and I don't care how you get there. Or perhaps they are multiple metrics and with some nuance. Either way, I think the conversation has to be had about how poorly we have performed on defense the past two years and Fran's plans to rectify that. And if JW thinks those plans are too vague or too general or merely not firm enough, a more definitive expectation has to be made regarding staff.

I figured that Fran’s plan was to use Robinson’s recruiting acumen to load up on D talent immediately. Then that’d give Robinson some runway to learn on the job. Clearly it hasn’t panned out.

Nixon had a stellar year last season, and seemed off to a good start this year. But he royally screwed up the post Angeli offense. At least he had 17 games of track record to lean on before this collapse.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The *best* case scenario is that they don't believe in him. They other option is that they have NO idea what they are doing.

Yeah, that's uncomfortably true.

 

[Scooch]

It seemed, when Angeli went down, that there was an opportunity to take advantage of having a pretty good receiving TE in Villari and a pretty good receiving RB in Nixon that there might be an opportunity to skew the offense a little bit toward the short passing game, maybe run a bunch of play action.

But, no. Just no. Not that.

It seems Nixon really thought Collins could run the Angeli offense. And obviously he was disastrously wrong.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I was surprised when Texas A&M didn’t try to keep ERob. They could have easily outbid us if they really wanted.

They did try to keep him. I remember Fran specifically mentioning that it cost a lot to get Robinson.

I would say Robinson has not lived up to whatever his pay scale is.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

It seems Nixon really thought Collins could run the Angeli offense. And obviously he was disastrously wrong.

Who knows, maybe.

He might also have just run with his sinful pride.

 

[tptcuse]

I figured that Fran’s plan was to use Robinson’s recruiting acumen to load up on D talent immediately. Then that’d give Robinson some runway to learn on the job. Clearly it hasn’t panned out.

Nixon had a stellar year last season, and seemed off to a good start this year. But he royally screwed up the post Angeli offense. At least he had 17 games of track record to lean on before this collapse.

Is there any indication that Robinson has made any difference in recruiting?

 

[Archbold44]

I don’t believe in karma… but if I did, I’d say that Fran got some cosmic blowback for having his team run sprints after UConn. That was such a “look at me!” marketing moment and I don’t think the football Gods appreciated it. Clearly they cursed Angeli and his awful staff for the slight.

But I don’t believe in karma.

The putting Angeli back in against Colgate….

 

[Scooch]

Is there any indication that Robinson has made any difference in recruiting?

I honestly don’t follow recruiting closely enough to know.

 

[Scooch]

I made the mistake of watching the first 4 minutes of the Fran post game press conference. Had to tap out. There’s only so much “family” and “love” nonsense I can take.

 

[Orangello]

The thing that always bothered me as a former exec was that Fran jumped two levels to his current job. In a perfect world, he would have then surrounded himself with experienced coordinators. But he didn't. He got two guys who were also were also basically newbies. Robinson had a brief stint at A&M, but very brief.

So Fran made a rookie mistake that resulted with everybody learning on the job. Nixon has been up and down but our D has been uniformly poor under Fran.

Perhaps JW's metrics are very high level, i.e. a bowl game and I don't care how you get there. Or perhaps they are multiple metrics and with some nuance. Either way, I think the conversation has to be had about how poorly we have performed on defense the past two years and Fran's plans to rectify that. And if JW thinks those plans are too vague or too general or merely not firm enough, a more definitive expectation has to be made regarding staff.

Well said. Same for me. I have seen this once before in a long career at a major corporation. The CEO hires the enfant terrible who did one great thing in a former life and gives them carte blanche in their new role. La enfant has some initial success but then, lack of social skills, sharp elbows and refusal to work well with others leads the mandarins in any bureaucracy to begin circling the wagons and pushing back (think passive agressive). Failure ensues shortly.

If I'm Frans boss (JW), I would be very concerned at this point. This is not the behavior of a rational adult but rather a captain willing to risk his ship, crew and passengers to prove a point. You simply can't throw away seasons.

 

[Archimedes]

It is more than the coaches being grossly incompetent, it is truly mean spirited.
I truly don’t understand it.
I was one of the many a few weeks ago who proudly said In Fran I Trust.

I'm still all in on Fran but this is the first time I've been disappointed. Today's performance does not reflect what he professes. And sending out 4 freshmen as captains may be a nice investment in the future but we paid a high price in the present. Live in the present, Fran.