Campus News:
This past fall the Main Building turned 125 years old. And beginning on March 7 the golden dome started being regilded for just the tenth tie in school history. The scaffolding system around the Main Building took three weeks to install. The regilding process consists of applying 3,500 square feet of 23.9-karat gold leafs. The regilding can only be done during optimal weather conditions. The process is done by hand and can only be applied on dry days without wind. The material includes eight ounces of gold. Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin, Wisconsin is doing the work for a cost of $300,000.
The last regilding took place in 1988. The number of years between regildings is not set in stone. It is only decided after an evaluation. The process will take the spring and summer. There are also plans to make additional repairs to the outside of the Main Building and to paint parts of the drum on which the dome stands.
Historical facts: The dome was added to the Main Building in 1882. Initially administrators thought the gold gilding would be extravagant and suggested that yellow be used instead. ND founder Father Edward Soring insisted it be gold. (Good call.) By the way, there was a time when students were not supposed to walk up the front steps of the Main Building until after they had graduated.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
One ND girl will have an extra seat at graduation come spring, thanks to a visiting pal. At a recent home game, our Domer's friend (from another school) knocked back a few too many Bacardi Breezers and walked....er, stumbled...away from the stadium at halftime as the proud owner of a ticket for public intoxication from NDSP. But the loving embrace of Our Lady, ever hospitable and welcoming to campus guests, didn't stop there. When our out-of-town friend returned to her own place of higher education, she was greeted by the following love letter at the post office:
"Dear Ms. Public Intox,
Based on a report by the security police department, it has been determined that your presence on the grounds of the University of Notre Dame can no longer be permitted. Your entry upon university property will be subject to arrest for criminal trespassing and violation of criminal code."
Just a tad harsh. Now, the Gipp could be mistaken, but isn't that also the same punishment dealt to students expelled from the university for alleged felonies?
Hall Notes:
Last week you were given the update of Chris Hesburgh '93. He also provided a story. Let's call it "Revenge of the Red House"....
It seems that most of my time at ND was spent trying to avoid getting in trouble with Fr. Sullivan. Although a good friend now, at the time, he was like the Higgins to our Magnum PI always trying to break up our fun. Still, we snuck a few past him as history shows. During one such event during second semester of our Freshman year, Dave Regnier and I somehow convinced our roommates to throw a party. Our party planner Rob Leatherman decided the best way to get a solid turnout was to simply spend 3 hours going through the "dog book" and calling every girl in there to invite them. Needless to say the attendance was a bit more than our 4-person room could handle. People spilled out into the hallways (back then I was right across the hall from Fr. Sullivan so thank God it was his night off!) and into the kitchen, TV room, and common area. The music was loud and the beer was plentiful.
What we didn't know was that 4 Senior Vermin who lived off campus (The Red House) were also having a party that night and because of our little shindig their house was empty. Wondering what was going on, they called back to the dorm RA (I think it was Joe Meyer) who explained that there was plenty of action at the dorm. Well being Seniors - they exercised their right of control and had Joe shut down our party. Now, that may not have been very cool but what was cool was the sight of "The Red House" residents arriving shortly after with a caravan of cars to transport all the disgruntled party goers to their house to continue the festivities.
That's the Vermin way: shut down one party to host a better one!
NDSportscenter:
Last month the NCAA introduced the new academic performance standard. Thirteen of our twenty-two athletic programs scored a perfect 1,000. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) was a series of formulas related to student-athlete retention and eligibility to measure the academic performance of all participants who receive a grant-in-aid on every team at every NCAA Division I college and university. Beginning next year, programs not achieving a score of 925 or better will be barred from replacing a scholarship athlete who leaves the institution while academically ineligible. Programs with chronically poor academic records based upon a rolling four-year rate ultimately will be barred from postseason competition, in addition to losing scholarships.
Our overall APR was 979. We had the third highest percentage of teams with perfect scores. The national average was 944. The football team had an APR of 934. ND and Ball State were the only Indiana schools without a team scoring below 925. Only four teams in the state appeared in trouble of possibly losing scholarships next season. One would be the Purdue football team that scored 881. Indiana basketball just missed the cut at 920. Purdue's men's and women's basketball teams scored 904 and 911, respectively. Ball State had a higher average than us at 983. As I recall, the athletic director at Ball State was a long-time member of our athletic department before taking that job.
Campus News:
University and South Bend city officials recently pitched ideas to roughly 50 developers concering property immediately south of campus. The plan is to revitalize the northeast neighborhood. The 90-minute presentation touched on numerous topics. Certainly the proximity to campus was a key selling point. There was the idea of building retail stores operated independently from the University in a village-style format with apartments on the second and third floors. Developers could construct additional residential properties that consist of town homes and row homes that residents access from alleys. This real estate was pitched by extending streets into the area formerly known as Notre Dame Woods just south of the JACC.
The conceptual plan was developed with input from neighborhood residents. The neighborhood was not given a timetable but the University hopes for the retail development as early as late 2006 or as early as the middle of 2007. The residential projects will be slower because of re-zoning. The potential homeowners will most likely by University faculty and staff, people who work downtown or current residents of the neighborhood. The University believes the new Center for the Performing Arts will link the southern end of campus with the neighborhood. One of the driving forces behind the project is to create a college-town atmosphere close to campus. In 20 years, official said they envisioned an "arts quad." There has already been interest from a number of tenants. Developers and the University will foot most of the bill. The city and state will most likely cover road extensions beyond the Juniper and Edison realignments that Notre Dame is paying for.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholatic:
Let's start things off right: Welcome, Coach Weis. But let's try not to get our hopes up too high. As our former Head Coach Bob Davie reminded the sports world, the Irish just can't land top recruits because of the school's: academic standards, location, affinity for Bon Jovi, etc. For example, we could never succcessfully recruit a future NFL standout like David Givens, who recently graced the cover of "The Sporting News" scoring a touchdown for Weis' offense in Super Bowl XXXIX. Oh, wait....
For the record:
David Givens' receiving statistics for his 44 games during his entire Notre Dame career under Head Coach Bob Davie: 72 receptions, 814 yards, 3 TDs.
David Givens' receiving statistics for the 17 games (including playoffs) during his latest season with New England Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis: 68 receptions, 978 yards, 6 TDs. One thing is sure, Givens certainly didn't get those arms at Notre Dame, or that touchdown dance....
Hall Notes:
Chris Hesburgh '93 was an accounting major as an undergrad. Graduation was followed by a summer in California before a move to Chicago to work for Schwarz Worldwide. For three years Chris was an Account Executive on the McDonald's business. Career paths were then altered to advertising. The next job was at Draft in Chicago on U.S. Postal Service business. Chris then moved to DDB Needham Advertising where he again worked on McDonald's, managing all their sports alliances. (Chris' quote: "Those who knew me at ND would not be surprised at my affinity for McD!") In late 1999, Chris got hitched and worked for the McDonald's racing team in California. For two years he marketed and traveled for NASCAR, CART, and Off-Road racing. Now married, the hectic life was wearing thin. Chris got hooked up with the advertising firm of TracyLocke in Wilton, Connecticut. For the past four years, Account Director Hesburgh has been working on the Pepsi Cola account. Wife, Mary, and dog, Knute, make up Chris' immediate family.
NDSportscenter:
The 4th Annual Baseball Opening Night Dinner took place in February. Each year the team aims to add a famous speaker to the dinner. This year there were two speakers. One was Domer Brad Lidge of the Houston Astros, arguably the game's best reliever. The other speaker was an Astros teammate. All-World pitcher Roger Clemens graced the dinner with his presence. Obviously the event sold out. An audience of 1,750 was thoroughly delighted.
The men's basketball season was a horrible disappointment. But there were some noteworthy points: Chris Thomas became our 3rd leading scorer in school history. He also became only the third NCAA player in history (Gary Payton, Sherman Douglas) to score at least 2,000 points and dish out 800 assists. Thomas was also 1 of 19 players up for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year. Thomas was named 3rd Team All Big East....Chris Quinn and Colin Falls were Honorable Mention....The men's team had a winning conference record for the 5th straight year. Only Syracuse has matched that stat....The students have really rallied around this team. In addition to the frenzied section at games known as "The Leprechaun Legion," the die-hard fans get to the JACC hours before the game to get the best first-come-first-served seats. Some students even camped out OVERNIGHT for the boston college game. (Overnight in February in the Bend makes the overnight Duke fans look weak.) Coach Brey even brought out care packages for the overnighters....Incoming recruit recruit Luke Zellar, a 6'11", 235lb. center, is a McDonald's All-American. This past season he scored 21 ppg and grabbed 9 rpg while leading the team to a record of 20-2. The McDonald's game is March 30 at the JACC....Alum Matt Carroll was named January's Player of the Month in the National Basketball Development League. It's his second season with the Roanoke Dazzle. He averaged 22.3 ppg, shot 49 percent from the floor and 64 percent from 3 in January. He leads the league in scored (19.4 ppg) and free-throw percentage (89.1). Matt scored a career-high 43 points in one game....Speaking of basketball alums. here is the link to check out the Irish All-Century Team commemorating 100 years of Notre Dame basketball....
http://und.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110404aac.html
Campus News:
Spring break for the campus was this past week. The break began with a bang last Friday. President George W. Bush made yet another visit to campus and northern Indiana. The President secured the JACC to speak to an audience of 5,000 about his push for social security reform. The JACC was rented independently and not sanctioned by the University. W was greeted by U.S. Representative Chris Chocola of this district.
The favorite watering hole for underage Domers has officially closed. The Boat Club ceased doing business on December 22 after agreeing to place its liquor license in escrow. The bar had been doomed by two police raids and over 250 underage citations. The bar will have up to five years to sell the license to new owners. However, the South Bend attorney's office would closely examine potential buyers and likely not favor any re-opening as a student bar. The Observer quoted student sadness about the closure. Senior Emily Godlewski said the closing marked the end of a Notre Dame tradition. "What's going to happen to Robbie the cup collector? Boat was part of the Notre Dame experience....Truthfully, I really loved Boat because it had the ability to unite ND students with mullet heads."
The escrow action took place after a December 9 raid in which there were 32 citations for underage drinking. The ticketed students will face penalties from the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office. Past raids have carried the penalties of pretrial diversion linked with fines and community service hours. The Office of Resident Life will likely add more punishments. The 2003 bust that captured over 200 minors still lingers. The Boat Club owner had sued the students claiming their false identification ruined the bar. Indiana courts ultimately ruled in favor of the bar that he could sue the students. Some students settled while others appealed. The status of those lawsuits is unknown in the wake of the bar officially closing. The Boat Club joins Bridget's in the bar graveyard. Bridget's was destroyed within the past year and is now a vacant grass lot.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
From this past Fall....
While making the rounds through his favorite all-ages Web sites, Gipp happened upon a particular destination that held quite a juicy rumor for all to see - full of intrigue, deception and, possibly, stifled romance. As it would seem - and Gipp must stress that this has not yet been verified - at some point last month an interested devotee of the traveling tackle football team left a discontented voice message with a certain Irish assistant - we'll call him Kent B. - suggesting that the coordinator was not exactly waking up the echoes, nor shaking down any thunder. Unfortunately, it turns out that our caller reached Coach B. on a bad day. In fact, you could say that the coach's day had been the absolute Pitts. In any case, later that evening, Coach B. returned this concerned fan's call and, in no uncertain terms, challenged his manhood in a manner worthy of Errol Flynn. Being somewhat put off by this, the fan in question brought the conversation to an abrupt end. Coach B., assuming a bad connection, attempted to call back. But he was betrayed by caller ID, and his number was declined. Later that evening, however, this suddenly very popular fan received a call from a different, unknown number. Curious, he answered, only to find himself verbally accosted once more by Coach B. If only some of that craftiness had made its way into the pigskin gameplan...
Hall Notes:
Current Vermin track star Selim Nurudeen led the men's track and field team to the Big East Indoor Championships. The men won and Selim was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer of the meet. Nurudeen claimed champion status in the 60 meter hurdles and 200 meter sprint. His time in the 200 meters was 21.38 seconds. And in the 60 meter hurdles Selim set a Big East record with a time of 7.72 seconds. Man...7.72 seconds to run 200 feet while jumping over things. I can barely get out of chair in 7 seconds.
NDSportscenter:
There's even MORE news about Charlie Weis' staff. He has added two more. Chad Klunder, a graduate assistant coach the last two seasons, has been named director of football operations. He will assist with team travel, day-to-day scheduling for the squad, budgets and special events such as coaches clinics.
But the BIG news is that of the other new addition to the staff. Ron Powlus is back in an administrative role. He is the new director of personnel development. He will handle recruits that come to campus only. He will not be on the road or making calls or be on the sideline. Powlus was one of five former players who interviewed for the position. (Word on the street is that this is the position Tim Brown was seeking.) Ron was the only one of the five who was completely fine with only being in an administrative role. Apparently the others were itching for some coaching duties.
Powlus is our career leader in passing yards, attempts, completions, and touchdown passes. He set 20 school records. For the last three years Powlus has been in the business world, working in the health care and home mortgage industries. Ron originally signed as a free agent in 1998 with the Tennessee Oilers and then was on the Detroit Lions' preseason roster in 1999 and the Philadelphia Eagles' roster in 2000. Powlus played with the NFL Europe Amsterdam Admirals in the spring of 2000.
Two-time All American, two-time Super Bowl winner, and Trustee Dave Duerson was recently charged with assaulting his wife. The incident occurred in the early a.m. hours while the couple was on campus for a Board of Trustees meeting. Alicia Duerson was treated at a hospital and released. The prosecutor's office filed two counts of battery and two counts of domestic battery, each a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $5000 fine. Following the incident, Mr. Duerson resigned from the Board and as president of the Monogram Club.
Campus News:
The University announced that tuition will jump by 7 percent for the 2005-06 school year. That equals a $2,622 increase. Tuition and fees will be $31,542 while the average room and board will be $8,010. So students and families are looking at a combined total of $39,552. The Graduate School, Law School and Master's of Business Administration program all had 7 percent tuition increases as well, raising costs to $31,100 and $31,820, respectively. A little over $59 million in financial aid is given out per year in the form of undergraduate scholarships. The financial aid has continued to grow despite increased tuition. The University continues to declare that we are still below the average in overall cost compared to other top 20 schools. The University is listed at #13 in the national "best value, best price for what you're getting" rankings. Director of Student Financial Services Joseph Russo stated, "This is affordable if you just look at the financial aid opportunities, including the loans. But there is a value. It's an investment and it will pay you back in all kinds of ways."
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
The Travel Channel usually shows little of interest, with the obvious exception of an occasional world-class poker game. But once in a very special while, it searches America for ghosts. On the Travel Channel's Web site, paranormal detectives investigate "Loretta Lynn's Haunted Plantation," "Murderous Pirate Phantoms" and, to Gipp's surprise, "Notre Dame's Divine Power." The investigation begins with a sappy football montage and a Class of '04 alum recounting the last minutes of George Gipp's short life. Things become exciting (read: asinine) when a Washington Hall janitor accuses the Gipper (the ghost, not your favorite writer) of haunting her place of work. "He's real bad, " she states. "He'll scare you to make you want to run out of the building."
Gipp (the writer) is perplexed because he was sure his namesake's ghost had abandoned Washington Hall - like everyone else on campus - and now preferred to haunt the Performing Arts Center. Gipp recommends that this custodial comrade dilute her ammonia and open a few windows the next time she spots the Gipper (the ghost) in the balcony running a power sweep.
Gipp
(back to the writer for good) also learned - courtesy of the Travel Channel
- that, like the
pyramids in Egypt and Stonehenge in England, Notre Dame is strategically located
to harness divine power. A C.S.C. priest explains in the segment, "There's
an energy there. All you need to do is just take a dousing rod and you can feel
it, and know it, and see it on occasion." Not kidding. Then, in what is
sure to be Monk and Co.'s favorite part, the priest says he believes that at
least two levitations have occurred on campus in recent years. Gipp believes
someone has been reading too much "Da Vinci Code." Not even Gipp's
literary genius can fully capture the ridiculousness of this expose, so, Gipplings,
you'll have to check it out for yourself:
http://media.travel.discovery.com/convergence/hauntedtravels/videogallery/wt/weirdtravels.html
Hall Notes:
Cris "Pimpi" Diaz '96 has moved from working at the University of Florida to a new job in Miami. Here's the story:
After living in Gainesville for 8.5 years, and having FINALLY obtained my Master's in Sport Management from the University of Florida this past August ('04), I realized that it was time to make a career move. Don't get me wrong...the University of Florida Athletic Association is a first-class program and were there more opportunity for advancement, I might've made a career out of it. But, my boss has lived in Gainesville all his life, has a wife and 3 kids and he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
So I began searching for jobs this past summer telling myself that I would not take the first thing offered. I was living comfortably in Gainesville and didn't need to leave right away. In August I interviewed and came in 2nd for the Director of Retail Operations position at the American Airlines Arena, the home of the Miami Heat and the Shaq. Then, in October I flew up to Newark NJ and interviewed with the Newark Bears, an independent minor league team that had among others, Rickey Henderson on its roster. The job was offered, however, the salary was not commensurate with the job and the New York/Newark area isn't exactly in a low cost of living area. So I passed on that as well.
Enter Nike...I got a call in early November from one of my contacts at Nike (remember, Florida is a Nike school, so I'd met some folks at headquarters in Oregon throughout my 8.5 years at UF), who happens to be a Domer (always lookin' out for each other). She told me about a position opening up in Miami at one of their NikeTown stores (only 12 nationwide). I applied for it and went through about 4-5 interviews and finally was offered the position in early December. I started at Nike on Dec 27th.
I am now the Business Manager at Niketown Miami. I am essentially responsible for the entire women's dept at Niketown Miami (the entire 2nd floor of the store!). I have 8 sales associates which are direct reports. In addition to the regular retail aspect of the job, we also are involved in various marketing events throughout the year here in the South Florida area (we are the face of Nike in this area). We're gearing up for the Ford Championships early next month (PGA event) and the Nasdaq-100 open Tennis tournament (ATP & WTA).
So, that's it. The opportunities for advancement within Nike are endless and I hope to continue up the chain.
NDSportscenter:
Coach Charlie Weis is going to the students. He is visiting all the dorms on campus. To acquaint himself with the current Notre Dame community, Charlie will visit dorms from 10:15pm to 11 pm each Monday through Thursday until all have been accommodated. Weis currently has the time because spring practice does not officially begin until March 29. The 76th Blue-Gold Game is on April 23. Weis also is available because his family is not here on a regular basis.
Three players suspended last fall willl return this fall. Reasons for the suspensions were not released. All three players - defensive end Dwight Stephenson Jr., fullback Ashley McConnell, and defensive back LaBrose Hedgemon - are sophomores.
Charlie has added another recruit to this latest class. Sort of. Omaha Creighton Prep quaterback Dan Gorski has agreed to come here as a walk-on next fall. Gorski's mother went to St. Mary's and his father has a law degree from Notre Dame. Dan was 1st Team All State and led his team to a state championship. He looked at playing for Nebraska and Princeton. Dan scored a 32 on the ACT and has a GPA of 4.0. Four scholarships will be available in the fall and Gorski hopes to win one.
Four
Domers were invited to the NFL Combine which took playce from February 23 through
March 1. The Combine was at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The four Domers in
attendance were tight end Jerome Collins, linebacker Mike Goolsby, running back
Ryan Grant, and defensive end Justin Tuck.
Campus News:
Provost Nathan O. Hatch is leaving the University to become president of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hatch, 58, has been our provost since 1996. Wake Forest had conducted a 10-month search. Provost is our 2nd ranking position. The post was established in 1970 and Hatch is our third provost. The provost, at the direction of the president, exercises overall responsibility for academics. It is unclear how long we will be without a provost. Procedure says the president asks the Academic Council to form a committee composed of five of its elected faculty members and one of its student members to assist in the process. The president chairs the committee and consults the Board of Trustees to elect the new provost. Incoming president Rev. John I. Jenkins will be the chair.
Hatch has actually been serving Notre Dame for 30 years. Nathan became a part of the history faculty in 1975. In 1989 he was elected vice president for graduate studies and research. He leaves us in the midst of his second five-year term as provost. The most interesting thing is that Hatch is the first Protestant to serve as provost. In 1996 Hatch said, "The fact that I am not Catholic and was asked to do this job, it's something I guess is humbling and makes me feel privileged.
Hatch is an influential scholar in the study of the history of religion in America. His 1989 book "The Democratization of American Christianity" was nationally acclaimed. It garnered three major prizes and was chosen as one of the two most important books in the study of American religion.
Under Nathan's leadership there has been a 120 percent increase in funds received for sponsored research for a total of more than $73 million in the 2003-04 academic year. The full-time faculty has increased 37 percent to 1,194 in 2003-04. He has appointed the deans of most of the colleges within the University. Hatch also established the Erasmus Institute, a major center for Catholic scholarship. He recently coordinated our 10-year strategic planning process that was approved by the Trustees. The plan is the foundation for the on-going $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign that began last summer.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
Here's a story about an uncouth incident at the local yachting establishment. From what Gipp understands, a certain high-profile athlete was revving his competitive juices for a rousing upcoming game of "flip cup." Unbeknownst to our athlete, however, was that another nautical gentleman present that evening refilled one of the relevant pitchers with a little something from his own personal microbrewery, evidently believing that all golden brown liquids are created equal. What this sloshed seafarer didn't realize was that his warm cider ended up being consumed accidentally by our very own varsity heartthrob. No word on whether or not our athlete's crushing loss in flip cup left him with a bad taste in his mouth. Please, take Gipp's advice and lay off our highly disciplined athletes. Without them, there would be no one on this campus to second-guess. Well, almost no one.
Hall Notes:
Vermin Rick Cornett of the men's basketball team is finally getting some minutes this season. Arizona transfer Dennis Latimore had been taking his minutes. But with the embarrassingly ineffective play of Torin Francis and Latimore has come more opportunity for Rick. Because of the lack of minutes, Cornett struggled with game experienced when thrust into the closing minutes of a tight game. In the Pitt contest he committed an intentional foul and badly missed a crucial free throw at the end of the game. Rick bounced back against Providence. He logged a career high 27 minutes. Rick scored 14 points (including four free throws) and snagged 14 rebounds, 8 of them offensive. The 6'9", 260 lb. Vermin made an impact and even had a solid two-hand jam off a sweet dish from Chris Quinn. Keep an eye out for our Vermin brother.
NDSportscenter:
Charlie Weis' official full first week as our head coach on campus was two weeks ago. To start the week he greeted all students that would come to the JACC at 6 a.m. Monday morning. The announcement of the meeting was not highly publicized and was seemingly impromptu. Yet 207 current Domers heard about it and showed up. Weis spoke for 25 minutes and then answered questions for about 15 minutes. Charlie introduced himself and spoke at length about his commitment to the team. Weis declared: "I'm telling you right now, I don't know how long it's going to take, but we're not going to be a 6-6 football team very long. I don't know if it's going to be done in one year. I don't know if it's going to be done in three years. I'm not making any promises, but I can tell you one thing - every week we're going to be competitive."
Charlie said he was told by NFL people to not take the job. They said an NFL job would be available. He could have gone to the Miami Dolphins. He passed because he wanted to be here and said South Bend was best for his family.
One of the students who attended shared some of what was said:
- Told the team that he doesn't want to hear any whining about so and so being fired, because if they hadn't been 6-6 last year, it wouldn't have been necessary.
- "Boo hoo, we've got 4 out of 5 on the road to start the season. wah, wah, wah." That's who they've scheduled, so that's who we're playing.
- He'll take an equal interest in defense, offense, and special teams. Coach Minter will call the plays on defense, but he wants to know what's going on at all times, what we're doing, and why.
- Our special teams "stunk" last year, and that's going to change. Starters to special teams.
- The offense is his baby, and he's not going to give up the play-calling until he knows for sure that the guys he's handing it over to can do it as well as he can.
- Doesn't care about green jersey this, blue jersey that. Winning games is about preparation, and a green jersey stunt only lasts until the first quarter.
- He brought in some great coaches, and the administration gave him the money to do that, so think about that when you criticize the administration.
- Going to work on recruiting all year long, with the juniors coming in for the UCLA basketball game.
- Doesn't wear his Super Bowl runner-up ring, because that's a loser's ring. Told the football office to put away the trophy we got for competing in the Insight Bowl, because we "got our butts kicked" in that game.
- Biggest strength the team has is its character. The biggest weakness is having to learn a new system. He understands the limitations on how much you can give guys in college to learn, and he won't overload the players with new information.
One final quote from Charlie: "My goal is to be able to leave this campus on my own terms about a decade from now with everyone saying, 'God, I'm glad we hired that guy.' "
Campus News:
Another substantial individual donation has been made to the University. John W. "Jay" Jordan II '69 is bestowing a gift of $40 million. Jordan is currently a member of the Board of Trustees. The surprise announcement came at a Friday luncheon during the Trustees annual winter meeting on campus. Jordan has given many gifts over the years. This particular donation is the second largest single gift ever given to the University. (#1 Joan Kroc, 2003, $50 million; #3 Thomas and Kathy Mendoza, 2000, $35 million; #4 Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., 1989, #33 million) The latest Jordan gift now places him as the largest donor in school history. Joan Kroc, widow of Ray Kroc who founded McDonald's, donated $69.1 million. The University has not stated Jordan's total but have said it exceeds Kroc's. The purpose of the $40 million has yet to be determined. Information was not released about whether the donation is in the form of cash, stocks or other securities. It was also not revealed whether it will be a gift in full or provided over a period of years.
Jordan is the principal benefactor for the Jordan Hall of Science currently under construction. The $70 million hall broke ground in 2003 and is scheduled for completion in summer 2006. The science hall will include 40 undergraduate laboratories; two 250-seat lecture halls, a 150-seat multimedia lecture hall; two classrooms; 22 faculty offices; offices for pre-professional (pre-med) studies; and a greenhouse, herbarium and observatory. Jordan also gave generously to the construction of the Mendoza College of Business. The auditorium in that building is named in his honor.
Jordan earned a bachelor's degree in finance in 1969. Before being elected to the Board of Trustees in 1993, he was a member of the advisory council for the College of Business, serving as its chair for four years. Currently he is the chair of the Trustees' investment committee, which oversees the endowment, and a former chair of the finance committee. His son and daughter are '01 and '03 Domers, respectively.
Jordan is the founder of the Jordan Co., a private investment firm that acquires, manages and builds companies for the TJC partnership account, and is chairman and chief executive officer of the Chicago-based holding company Jordan Industries Inc.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
Gipp received another minor tip this week related to the topic of poor health care and sanitation standards. Again, this tale doesn't have a zingy punchline, but hopefully it'll still mildly amuse your wandering minds.
This concern was raised by a student who attended a local beerhouse. Waiting in line for the bathroom, he was approached by an employee of the bar, who insisted that, to speed up the line, the student should just relieve himself in the bathroom sink. Gipp's glad to see personnel take such pride in their workplace. Unfortunately, the sink's drain was clogged and the sink was filled to the brim with the natural nectar. Gipp's never seen or smelled a sink full of sitting urine, but he's pretty sure it's not the worst thing the tipster has ever witnessed in a local pub. Let's just say that many-a-boy has had himself "relieved" in other ways in those very same bathrooms.
Hall Notes:
Scholastic recently published its annual Football Review. Every piece centered on the 2004 season, obviously. A Q&A was done with a senior. It just happened to be Vermin Carlyle Holiday, who actually lived off-campus this year. One question was:" What is your favorite spot on campus?" The answer from Carlyle: "When I lived in Carroll Hall, there's a basketball court that I would go play on when I got bored - right by the lake. Either that, or the library. (Laughs.) Just joking."
NDSportscenter:
The Thompson Twins, Christian and Catrina, our phenomenal sophomore tennis duo, went to the second tennis grand slam tournament. Because they performed so well in the first grand slam event (runner-up), they were named the No. 2 seed in the ITA National Indoors. Nationally, the twins were ranked #7. In the first round they beat the #3 tandem from Kentucky. The #28 team from Miami was beaten 8-5 in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately the ladies fell 9-7 to #13 Stanford in the semi-finals. The twins were the only doubles team to reach the semis of the first two grand slam events.
Men's soccer news: senior goalkeeper Chris Sawyer was named a 1st Team All-American. He's the first men's player to make the first team...three Domers were drafted by Major League Soccer teams. Midfielder Jack Stewart was the 10th pick by the Chicago Fire. He is the first Domer to be selected in the first round. Defensive midfielder Kevin Goldthwaite was taken 17th (5th pick of 2nd round) by the San Jose Earthquakes. And the previously mentioned Chris Sawyer was chosen by the Kansas City Wizards 24th overall... Sophomore Greg Dalby is on the U.S. Under-20 National Team. Greg helped the squad receive a berth in the FIFA World Youth Championships which will be held in June.
The
men's cross country team finished the regular season ranked #5. The men took
first in the Big East. It was their 4th Big East title overall and first since
2001. At the Big East Championships junior Tim Moore was our highest finisher
at sixth place. The team went into the NCAAs feeling confident. However, that
was short lived. Sophomore Kurt Benninger had our best showing at 42nd. The
team was a disappointing 11th. The squad should be better next year. Six of
the top seven runners will be returning.
Campus News:
The Guglielmino Athletics facility, which is currently under construction, was elaborated on a few weeks ago. Since then even more details have been revealed and the University has released some photos. The two best snapshots are provided below. One shows a balcony view of the new weight room. The balcony is part of the second floor recruiting lounge. As you can see, the weightroom is essentially complete. Flooring, lighting and weights were surely installed first for the benefit of recruiting. The recruiting lounge is in the middle of the building. On the west side of the lounge will be a large window that will provide a view of the Basilica, the Dome, the Stadium and Touchdown Jesus.
The other photograph below is an example of the new lockers destined for use by the football players. The lockers are wide, with many compartments and are in a stylish wood finish. The bottom of the lockers has a shoe warmer compartment so that the previous day's rain-soaked footwear will be dry by the next day's practice. The practice-week lockerroom will be very spacious and have a number of televisions.
The University also detailed what will be near the new weight room. That's where the strength coach offices will be located. Next to them will be a three- lane track for speed workouts and a 40-yard Prestige Turf athletic surface for team workouts.
Surely more photos will be released as more is completed in advance of the grand summer opening. Updates will be coming.
Gug Weightroom View from Balcony (left) and mock up of new lockers (right).
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
Gipp received a minor tip this week related to the topic of poor health care and sanitation standards. This tale doesn't have a zingy punchline, but hopefully it'll still mildly amuse your wandering minds.
We'll begin with the tale of a student who was experiencing prolonged, inflammatory pain down in his jimmy johns. Obviously this was a problem, as you won't feel at ease showering at the Rock when your rocks are as inflated as the ego of a jersey-chaser who just reeled-in her first catch(er). He reportedly went to our friends at the University Health Center, where he was inspected by a doctor. He wouldn't have minded dropping his drawers for his jewels to be examined, but the fact that the doc left the door wide open during the entire peep show made it a little less comfortable. "WELL, JEFF, I'D LOVE TO GO TO YOUR SYR, BUT I WAS GETTING A FLU SHOT YESTERDAY AND HAPPENED TO WALK BY YOUR EXAMINATION.... WASN'T THAT IMPRESSED, TO BE HONEST." The tipster proceeded with an awkward story in which our wounded soldier had his cannonballs waxed by a nurse's cool gel, but Gipp can only pack so many stories about male readers' packages into one column. So, we'll move on.
Hall Notes:
Last week's story was contributed by Vermin alum Pat "Flash" Flood. Pat graduated in 1986 with a degree in government. Then it was on to law school at the University of Iowa. Flash got that degree in 1989. Omaha was the next destination. Pat went into private practice in Nebraska and has been there ever since. Besty is Pat's wife. Three children complete their family.
NDSportscenter:
Charlie Weis got Super Bowl ring number four and David Givens got ring number two, along with his second Superbowl touchdown reception.
Football has dominated this segment for months. It's time to catch up on some other sports from the Fall semester. But first let's report on our standing in the Directors' Cup for overall athletic excellence. After the final fall standings we were FIRST with 337 points. It's the first time we have ever been in the lead. Our previous best at the one-third point was second. Women's soccer was the big point-getter for us. The National Championship garnered 100 points. Maybe Kevin White's job is safe after all.
Last fall Domer track alum Ryan Shay ran for a time of 2 hours and 14 minutes in the New York City Marathon. He finished 9th in the race of 37,257 people and was seoond amongst Americans. Shay's personal record helped place two Americans in the top 10 for the first time since 1993. Ryan has been dominating races since graduation in 2002. He won the U.S.A. Marathon in 2003 and followed that with wins at the U.S.A. Half Marathon and the U.S.A. 20k Championships. He was the youngest U.S.A. Marathon winner in 30 years.
Official women's boxing bouts debuted in November of 2004. The inaugural Baraka Bouts were held at the JACC with 22 competitors. Last year the women's boxing club had exhibition bouts in conjunction with Bengal Bouts. Now ND is the only school to officially have women's boxing.
Chris Thomas became only the 6th men's basketball player to score 2,000 points. He has already passed Troy Murphy (2,011) and will probably end up second or third overall. The rest on the short lists are David Rivers (2,058), Pat Garrity (2,085), Adrian Dantley (2,223) and Austin Carr (2,560).
The
volleyball team again won the Big East regular season title. It was our 9th
title in 10 years. The ladies went into the Big East tournament with a record
of 18-8. The Irish knocked off Pitt in the final for the 8th Big East Championship
in 10 years. The win carried with it an NCAA berth. Valparaiso (29-4) was the
NCAA first round opponent. The ladies dispatched the fellow Indiana squad and
advanced to face Wisconsin. The Badgers dropped us 3-0 and the Irish finished
with a record of 21-9.
Campus News:
U.S. Marine and 2000 Domer Lt. Dustin Farrell had his Purple Heart revoked by the U.S. Department of the Navy. Originally the Heart was awarded for combat-related injuries suffered in southern Iraq the night of March 22, 2003. Farrell was first told that a rocket-propelled grenade had hit his vehicle. Dustin broke most of the bones in his face, lost 14 teeth, and shattered his jaw. Turns out it was actually an accident, not combat-related. The letter he received telling of the revokement of the Purple Heart stated: "Although your injury occurred during a combat operation, your command verified that your injury was the result of a vehicle accident and was not caused directly or indirectly by enemy action." However, Ferrell noted that Purple Hearts are awarded in cases of friendly fire but not in an accident such as this. He said he knew of at least 10 others who had theirs revoked. Ferrell is allowed to keep the Heart he received but not to wear it. Dustin does not want his medal reinstated but he is fighting to get them reinstated for the others. With the help of an Indiana Congressman, Dustin is contacting the military to fight so Hearts are reinstated and to get the military to never be incorrect in awarding such medals so they aren't revoked in the future. His story was on NBC Nightly News. Ferrell, though, does not regret going to Iraq. He now has a non-combat job as an assistant operations officer at Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan did not have his visa reinstated by the U.S. State Department. He resigned from the faculty on December 13. Since he no longer has a teaching appointment, Ramadan's visa will likely not be reinstated. The University says it will continue to pursue international and Muslim scholars of distinction.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
This issue, Gipp wanted to present a "Tyrant of the Week" award. He recognizes that there are many worthy candidates. The incumbent, of course, is the team of yellow jackets who swarm to our creamy puffs every home football game, picking off students left and right with little or no reason. One student reported that she was grabbed by an usher who said he THOUGHT she MIGHT have been throwing marshmallows, but wasn't sure. He attempted to cart her off but, thankfully, was unsuccessfu. Then there are the students reportedly ejected after not having touched a single marshmallow. And the student ejected for yelling "power trip" at an usher. And the student threatened with expulsion for watching an usher remove another student. Gipp could continue, but there's no need. After all, these actions only occur in front of thousands of people. Hey, if Gipp was a pathetic, wannabe law-enforcement officer practicing martial law, he would at least wait until no one else was looking to bust somebody without proof.
Now, the word on the street is that the Queen Bee of these operations has never been a fan of the Gipper, so, once again, Gipp has to declare this crew "Tyrant of the Week."
Hall Notes:
This is the story from Pat "Flash" Flood '86. Let's call it "DIRECT HIT"...
I worked hard at cultivating relationships with chicks, and one warm spring evening in my freshman year, I had a boss chick out on the 2nd floor roof (above the chapel) with me and we were drinking wine and things were going well. All of the sudden, an upperclassman came to the window right there on the second floor and said: "Flood, you have a phone call from home." Real serious stuff, it sounded like. As soon as I got to the window to enter the hall, I heard a slightly familiar "woosh" (of a "water drop") coming from above. DIRECT HIT. With that, I was in the building, running up to the 4th floor, and, by the time I got there, guys were gone. I yelled and screamed, and told them all to get out and face me like a man, but the culprits would not come forth. In fact, my investigation fell on deaf ears. I was the victim of a mass Vermin conspiracy of silence. To this day, I still don't know who did it. Over 110 guys have lied straight to my face.
So, after all my ranting and raving, and still hanging out in my wet clothes, I returned to my date on the roof and she wanted to go home. Turns out that all the ranting and raving freaked her out, and she didn't want to have anything more to do with me. What do you do when you've been totally punked by the Vermin? You lighten up, join in the fun, and hang through senior year.
NDSportscenter:
February 2nd was signing day for recruits. Charlie's first class topped out at 15 recruits. It's not bad considering the situation but certainly cannot be repeated. Darius Walker was an excellent freshman but last year's recruiting class was subpar also. Weis will need to come up big in recruiting in the next few years or we will be in huge trouble. Charlie acknowledged the extents he went to this year. He himself called around 500 recruits. He said he could have put 20 players in this class but wasn't just going to take anybody. He was up front and honest with recruits and that soured some of them who apparently wanted more personal attention. Now it's up to Charlie to see how many 5th year players come back next year.
Our 15th recruit was a steal from Penn State. Linebacker Steve Quinn had verbally committed to the Nittany Lions but had second thoughts when we recently made an offer. Apparently someone called our coaching staff and told them to look into Quinn. They dug out some tapes, liked what they saw, and made an offer. Steve is 6'3", 204 lbs and attends Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep. Last year he had 74 tackles including 14 for a loss. Quinn had 6 sacks, 2 interceptions and broke up 20 passes. His coach said he is a tremendous athlete with great quickness, speed and closes on the ball well.
Rivals.com rated our calss the 39th best. Scout.com had us at 27th. Tom Lemming said we were somewhere between 25th and 30th.
Do
you know what you never hear about Charlie Weis? The type of system he runs.
With Willingham, it was "West coast offense" this and "West coast
offense" that. Don't hear anything like that about Charlie. Why? Because
he doesn't have a system. He has EVERY system. Perhaps the best thing Charlie
has shown in his coaching career - specifically with the Patriots - is his ability
to maximize is players' potential. Examine his work with New England. First
he developed All-Pro tight end Ben Coates. Then running back Curtis Martin.
Wide receiver Terry Glenn actually produced under Weis. Now Tom Brady is The
Man. And this year Corey Dillon went to the next level with big time play in
big time games. Charlie's system is the realization of his players' talents.
We shall see if we actually lack the talent, as our critics claim.
Campus News:
Dan Kish, a 19 year old freshman who lived in Keough, died of complications from heart surgery in Indianapolis. Dan was a graduate of Penn High School in Mishawaka. He had received a heart transplant while in high school. Dan had experienced partial heart failure during winter break. Kish traveled to Indianapolis for surgery to implant a pacemaker, which would regulate his heartbeat. Because of the heart problems Dan was withdrawing from school for the semester. He needed another heart transplant before he could return to a normal school routine. Dan had to live within three hours of Indianapolis in case a new heart became immediately available. He never complained about his condition and was praised for having "the greatest laugh" by a close dorm friend. Dan's older brother, Jeff, is a Domer senior.
The Ebersol family continues to heal from the charter plane crash that claimed the life of 14-year-old Teddy Ebersol. Senior Charlie wrote a very moving Letter to the Editor in The Observer thanking the Notre Dame Family for all its love and support. The father, Dick, is still bedridden, recovering from a fractured sternum, pelvis, coccyx, three ribs and six vertebrae. A memorial service for Teddy was attended by 400 people. On December 30 the National Transportation Safety Board issued a warning letter prompted by the Ebersol incident. The alert instructed all pilots of corporate jets, regional jets, and private aircraft to take time before takeoff to run their hands along the wings of their aircraft and check for the formation of potentially dangerous ice particles. Though the Colorado crash prompted the alert, the Safety Board said that ice has not been confirmed as a factor in the accident.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
While we didn't have any clear-cut winners in the "Best On-On-Campus Parking Spot" photo submission contest, someone apparently thought the Gipper had launched a "Funniest Damn T-Shirt Ever" contest. The sole entrant - and obvious winner - appears below.
Hall Notes:
Pat "Flash" Flood '86 passed a note to VerminNet. We'll break it into two pieces. The first is more of an introduction of Pat to Carroll. The second is a full story. So here is Flash's preamble:
"I arrived at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 1982, expecting to be placed in one of those old dormitories where everybody behaved and respected your right to privacy. My first sign that maybe things were not quite according to plan was when the taxi driver from the South Bend Airport dropped me off at Holy Cross [the old dorm] and I had to walk around the north end of St. Mary's lade. Fr. Steve Gibson arrived as Rector a couple of days later, and shenanigans totally took over. You had to be aware of the water drop at all times when coming in and out of the building. There always seemed to be a bunch of upperclassmen who never went to class and played ultimate frisbee on the lawn."
More next week.
NDSportscenter:
Recruit signing day is February 2. Charlie and his staff have been hard at work. They had a lot of ground to make up. Word on the street is that the staff called 200 players to guage their interest. Expert opinion is that we should have our list down to 50 to concentrate on. We went with 200 because we had to hit the ground running.
Just prior to Charlie coming on board we landed a four-star recruit. Joey Hiben is a tight end out of Waconia, Minnesota. Joey had originally committed to Purdue but jumped ship after we came calling. Hiben is a 6'5", 235 lb and extremely athletic. He soars 20 feet in the long jump, hurls the shot put 53 feet and runs the hurdles. Joey hopes to major in architecture.
Last week we left off at recruit #12. That was followed with the verbal commitment by Patrick Kuntz of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis. Tom Lemming rated him the 24th best defensive tackle. last year the 6'3", 255 lb lineman had 109 tackles and 14 sacks. Kuntz was also looking at Louisville, Michigan State, Duke and boston college.
Another defensive lineman came on board. Derrell Hand of Philadelphia West Catholic has been listed as 6'2" and 6'4" on two different sites and 298 lbs and 315 lbs. So we'll split the difference and say 6'3", 306 and one half pounds. Last year Derrell had 68 tackles and 7 sacks. He is the 25th best player in the East according to Lemming. Hand is tough, has great technique and is hard to block but will have to work on his strength and quickness. Derrell passed over Wisconsin and Michigan State.
Mickey Marotti, our strength and conditioning coach since '98, has left and gone to Florida. In his place we have hird Ruben Mendoza, who had been at Mississippi for the last four years. Jimmy Gonzalez, our director of football operations, has also left. He is on to Oklahoma State. And it's this opening that has had tongues waging. Some threw out the thought that Tim Brown, the NFL great and former Heisman winner, might be up for the spot. (Truthfully, that position is way beneath him.) Brown did, though, come to campus to meet with Kevin White about how he could help the team. Under NCAA rules, a person must be a staff member to do anything with the team.
Then
last weekend we simultaneously landed a recruit and lost one. David Nelson,
a wide receiver and #57 ranked overall player by Tom Lemming, de-committed from
us and will be going to Florida. (Boy, for a coach who didn't want to come to
Notre Dame, Urban Meyer sure is infringing on our turf.) But we gained athlete
Kyle McCarthy of Youngstown, Ohio. Kyle attends Cardinal Mooney and has a brother
that's a current Domer. McCarthy is 6'0", 180 lbs and went with us over
Ohio State and Northwestern. Kyle is listed as an "athlete." He played
quarterback in high school but will most likely have his 4.47 - 40 speed in
our secondary and returning kicks.
Campus news:
The new post office/security building opened on campus in early January. It's located where the Stepan basketball courts used to be. The facility is accessible by vehicle from both Douglas and Juniper Roads. There are 12 customer-only parking spaces adjacent to the building. The new building is known as Hammes Mowbray Hall. The post office is in the west half of the new three-story hall. The new office features a 24-hour lobby with post office boxes for rent, a stamp vending machine, a coin-operated copy machine, and an electronic scale to weigh and rate letter and packages. It took nearly two years to complete the 40,000 square foot building at a cost of $10.97 million.
The security part of the building has a 24-ATM machine, an interview room, meeting rooms for local, county and state law enforcement training and safe building entry areas through the garage so those in custody can avoid the public if necessary. (Sweet. Can't wait for the upcoming episode of "Cops.") There is also an academic classroom and a seminar room that will hold daily classes. The old building was built in 1944 and was only to be a temporary home for the security crew.
We have had a U.S. postal station since 1851. Notre Dame's founder, Rev. Edward Sorin, knew that having a post office would bring federally funded roads and would put the young campus on all official government maps. Sorin petitioned for and received a governmental appointment as postmaster of Notre Dame. The old campus post office was built in 1967. It will now serve as the temporary home for the campus counseling center until the health center renovation is complete. The former campus security building will be modified and serve as a temporary home for the student health center while that building is renovated.
Hammes Mowbray Hall was designed by Moake-Park Group, a Fort Wayne architectural firm that also designed the clubhouse at the Warren Golf Course. The construction was underwritten with a gift from Jerry and Dorene Hammes of South Bendk; their nephew, Jerry Hammes Mowbray of Reno, Nevada; and their son, Jeffrey Hammes of Kankakee, Illinois. All three men are Domers. Jerry Hammes' parents, Romy and Dorothy Hammes of Kankakee, underwrote the construction of the original Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore on campus. When the new campus bookstore was built, it retained the Hammes name.
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
No one's an angel while intoxicated, but Gipp's attention has been brought to a scholar who still can't seem to find the appropriate level of moderation. Recently, on the subject's 21st birthday, he celebrated his entrance to manhood by blacking out in the women's restroom at a local Stately nightclub. He eventually was awoken by a female friend and made it back to his domicile, where he had to try out the beds of a few strangers before deciding to stick with his own. Later that night, he confused a radiator for a toilet. This must have been a trick he picked up in the ladies room in that nightclub, where apparently the gals do things a bit differently.
His bodily fluid disposal problems continued a week later. After a night of yachting, he went home to get some sweat-drenched Z's. Our tipster - his roommate - noted that our friend fell out of bed around 5 a.m. and realized he needed to find a lavatory. The roommate later was awoken by someone tapping on his bedroom window: The drunkard was locked out of the dorm. He had been wandering around shirtless outside of South Dining Hall, looking for his dorm's bathroom. Son, the Gipper's seen a lot of things outside of South, but a Dillon bathroom is not one of them.
Hall Notes:
Last week photos were provided of the wedding of Dean Busack '97. There are more photos to share. Duane "Cobain" Cobenais '97 has a son, Elijah Thomas, that is about to turn one in February. Here are a couple photos of lil E.T. Oh, by the way, Big Daddy Cobain has another one on the way in a couple months. No word yet on the name but I'm guessing it won't be "Alf."
NDSportscenter:
The challenges for Charlie Weis keep mounting. Team MVP defensive end Justin Tuck has decided to jump to the NFL. He leaves as our all time sack leader with 24.5. He is considered an undersized end at 261 lbs. Analysts project him to be drafted between the late first round and third round. Tuck has recovered from an ACL tear but still has tendinitis in his knee. Tuck is set to graduate in May with a degree in business management/entrepreneurship. And to make matters worse, the USC quarterback, Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart, is coming back for another year.
Charlie became our coach with 11 verball commitments from high school recruits. Three of those 11 de-committed with the firing of Tyrone. (They left because Tyrone was gone but none of them committed to Washington where he is now coaching. You try to figure that one out.) So Charlie was down to 8. Despite being with the Patriots, he and his staff got to work. The Patriots had a playoff bye so Weis came to campus. Recruits came to a men's basketball game and Charlie spoke to the crowd at halftime. That weekend helped convince two recruits.
Offensive lineman Michael Turkovich was verbal #9. He is out of Bedford, Pennslyvania and attends Valley Forge Military Academy. Michael is 6'7", 285 lbs, runs a 5.0 - 40 and benches 365 lbs. Tom Lemming did not have him in his top 200 players but did say he had "a lot of upside." Turkovich chose us over boston college, LSU and Wisconsin.
Paul Duncan, another offensive lineman, also verbally committed. The 6'6", 295 lb lineman attends East Paulding High School. The 10th verbal and Dallas, Georgia native was rated the 17th best tackle by Tom Lemming. LSU, Duke, Oklahoma, and UCLA were passed over. Duncan scored 1090 on the SAT and has a 3.4 GPA.
#11 is Ray Herring of Melbourne, Florida. The Holy Trinity Academy product is a 5'11", 195 lb. safety. In 8 games last season he had 76 tackles and 9 interceptions. Ray carries a 3.7 GPA. Lemming had him in the top 75 in the southeast. Maryland and Georgia Tech missed out. And Ray liked us so much he cancelled a trip to Tennessee.
The
big get, though, was D.J. Hord who played in the U.S. Army All Star Game. He's
a four-star receiver from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri. D.J.
is the best player in Missouri and the #11 wide receiver in the nation by Rivals.com.
Hord is 6'2" and 190 lb. Wisconsin and Kansas State lost out on D.J. The
biggest thing about Hord is his speed. He runs a 4.3 - 40. The Rocket: Part
2?
Campus News:
Construction continuees on the new Guglielmino Athletics Complex. And "complex" is a key word. This was first labeled as an "addtion" to Loftus. Well, most additions are a room or maybe a wing. The complex is HUGE. It is in the classic gothic architectural style as the other new buildings on campus. About half of the complex has a second floor. The peak of the roof is quite high. The complex looks almost as big as a new dorm. The facility will open next summer in time for the next football season. Already it is believed, though, that it is being used. It is and will be a key in recruiting.
This building will be a difference-maker. Solely because of this structure, I believed Tyrone would keep his job. I thought they would give him at least two years with the complex to see what he could do with it. I guess if Willingham was going to be let go, this would be the year to do it so that new coach could come in fresh with a brand new complex. The facility has been considered "a living brochure, a silent sales pitch to visiting recruits." The amenities include an expansive weight room, a recruiting lounge, film rooms, lockers, an auditorium that seats 150 with folding arm tablets (and the seats are extra wide for the big guys), offices, other meeting facilities, and has been tagged "second to none." Previously the resources were spead across Loftus, the JACC, and the Stadium. If we are to challenge the current top programs, this facility was needed. It's current use is luring high school stars. "They are great consumers today," Kevin White said. "These guys come in, it's incredible how well-informed they are. Your warts tend to really become magnified through that process, so a facility absence becomes bigger than life." White declares this complex could revive the program. "I've been at other places where a facility has had a real catalyst effect on a program and I think we're going to experience the same thing here. Not only in the recruitment aspect, but also in the development of the young people that are in our program currently."
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
One day, a few overachievers were attemptingbto do a dorm activity they call "24 in 12." Unlike their architecture-major friends, they weren't aiming for 24 hours of sleep in 12 months, but rather 24 brewskies in 12 hours. Our lead, who we'll call "Ian," got a little hot-tempered during an argument and, as our tipster noted, "broke one of his Corona bottles on his sink to persuade others to see his side of the issue more clearly." Well, that tactic seems to work in the movies, at least. The commotion caused by this uprising quickly drew the attention of the hall staff. When Ian learned that an assistant rector was approaching, he attempted to hide in one of the room's closets. This proved futile, as his figure was only partially blocked by a few articles of clothing. Convinced that his clever idea left him completely invisible, he assumed the dorm staffer's calls for him to come out were simply a ruse. This forced the AR to drag Ian out of the closet (since we all know it's usually hard to come out of it at ND). Then, we're told, the AR was forced to "dislodge a bottle of Captain Morgan's, which [Ian] had apparently been sitting on." No word on whether the bottle cap was on or off. Frankly, the Gipper doesn't even want to know.
Hall Notes:
Because not everyone has a digital camera, sometimes patience is needed to finish a roll of film. The holidays offer a solid excuse to complete a roll. So the photos from Dean Busack's ('97) wedding were finally developed. One is a photo of the happy couple. Dean is 6'3" and Jessica is without heels in this photo. So look for a 6'6" Irish forward named "Busack" in about 20 years. The second photo is of the five '97 Vermin in attendance. From left to right are Bob Fincutter, Tom Mullarkey, Dean, Dan Delgado, and Jim "Sweet Baby" Zawada. The final two snapshots are of the dancing queens. Having her toes not being stepped on by Tom is Colleen O'Brien '97. And Karen Kerney '97 is actually smiling while dancing with Bob. (He actually has MORE than two left feet.)
NDSportscenter:
The information the University released on Charlie Weis' staff was plentiful. In fact just printing out the text produced eleven sheets of reading material. The highlights have been plucked out. Here's the quick and dirty on the nine staff members.
David Cutcliffe will be an assistant head coach for the offense and the quarterbacks coach. Most recently David was the head coach at Mississippi. He is considered one of the best offensive minds in college football. Cutcliffe has coached eight players who became first-round NFL draft picks. The biggest stars are Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, and Deuce McAllister.
The offensive coordinator and running backs coach is Michael Haywood, a former ND player. He left Texas where he was the running backs coach, assistant special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator. Texas was 5th in rushing in '03 and 2nd this year. He also coached this year's Doak Walker Award (top running back) winner, Cedric Benson. Before Texas he coached running backs at LSU including Dominick Davis and Kevin Faulk. LSU had a top 10 special teams unit while Haywood was there. While at ND Michael was a flanker ('82) and a cornerback ('84-'86).
Our receivers coach and recruiting coordinator is Rob Ianello, formerly the tight ends coach at Wisconsin. Prior to Wisconsin he was the recruiting coordinator at Arizona and their receivers coach. He was an assistant recruiter at Alabama before that. In 1999 Rob was named one of the top 10 recruiters in the nation by ESPN.com and one of the top six recruiters by The Sporting News.
John Latina was previously on Cutcliffe's staff. Our new offensive line coach was the offensive coordinator and o-line coach at Mississippi. For two seasons at Ole Miss the o-line allowed the fewest sacks in the SEC. John has 26 years of college coaching experience and was actually hired by Steve Spurrier at South Carolina. He left after two weeks to join us. John is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he was an offensive lineman for four years.
The assistant head coach on the defensive side is Bill Lewis. He will also coach our defensive backs. He was the d-backs coach for the Miami Dolphins for the last nine years. He's also been the head coach at Wyoming, East Carolina, and Georgia Tech. The Dolphins finished in the top eight in pass defense six of the last seven seasons and were #1 in 2001.
Rick Minter is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Name sound familiar? He was our defensive coordinator in '92 and '93 under Holtz. Rick was with Lou at South Carolina and the head coach of Cincinnati prior to that. Minter has a stellar defensive mind and produced 18 pro players during his two years here. Rick was our defensive leader in '93 when we had Bryant Young, Bobby Taylor, and Jeff Burris.
Defensive line coach Jerome "Jappy" Oliver was also previously with Lou and has 25 years of coaching experience. He knows a thing or two about discipline since he coached at both Air Force and the Naval Academy. Jappy is a graduate of Purdue but we'll let that slide.
Bernie Parmalee will coach our tight ends and special teams. Bernie had been coaching with the Dolphins for 3 years and prior to that he played nine seasons with the Dolphins and Jets. While Bernie was playing with the Jets, Charlie Weis was his offensive coordinator.
The assistant defensive backs and special teams coach is Brian Polian. He is a young one. He graduated from John Carroll in '97. Last year he was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Florida. His father is the current president of the Indianapolis Colts.
Is it possible to have too much coaching experience? Tom Lemming labeled it "an outstanding staff." We have a solid mix of Domer connections, pro coaching, and college experience. All the main coaches have topnotch football minds. And we really stacked our staff in two areas that had been hurting us: recruiting and special teams. We'll have to see how these coaches mesh.
Campus News:
Busted. Again. The Boat Club was raided just as finals week was about to end. Timing is everything. The information is sketchy as of now. The Indiana State Excise Police issued citations to between 20 and 50 underage patrons. The majority of the underage people were Domers and were identified with a campus directory. No actual arrests were made this time. Citations issued included minor in a tavern, minor in possession, minor in consumption, and false identification. This is the second raid of The Boat Club. The other was January 24, 2003 when 213 minors were busted. The Boat Club's days are numbered. When its license runs out, that's it. (I wonder if this bust may even hasten that.) Two months ago the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission voted not to renew the bar's liquor license.
That's incredible! Two Domers were involved in the animated film, "The Incredibles." John Walker and Pamela Gay Walker met at ND back in the day and have been married 23 years with two children. They both work for Pixar, the most highly acclaimed animation studio in the world. John is the producer of "The Incredibles." Pamela, a native of South Bend, teaches at Pixar University, the studio's educational arm. Prior to Pixar, John was in Warner Bros. animated division and was the associate producer on "Osmosis Jones" and "The Iron Giant." The husband-wife duo even provided additional voices for "The Incredibles."
Campus Watch by the Gipper from Scholastic:
We've all heard the oft-expressed frustrations over the availability of on-campus parking. Those students who have escaped the bubble have found that, every year, it seems to be more difficult to find a parking spot. To make matters worse, it appears - judging by the ever-so-classy inflatable gorilla on Edison Rd. - that the JACC parking lot will double as a used-car lot this year. But why wouldn't we make students' lives less comfortable in exchange for a few extra bucks? What do you think we are, an ACADEMIC institution? On most days, the Gipper finds that it's easier to bike-it than to drive, then walk 28 minutes to class. Plus, it's not good for your GPA when the closest parking spot is at the Linebacker Lounge. We all know, "American Literature II" really can't compare to an 11a.m. brew.
Since the University cares about off-campus students as much as it does about non-donating parents, no solution seems to be in sight. So you have Gipp's permission to park wherever you damned well please. That's right, your classroom in DeBart will only be a short jaunt from your new parking spot in the middle of DeBartolo quad's graciously green grass. Let's make it a photo-entry contest: Funniest on-on-campus parking location wins. The Gipper has no idea how to get a car into the end zone of Notre Dame Stadium or the lobby of the Basilica, but you don't really love Notre Dame if you don't either do it or die trying. So grab your camera and keys and get to work.
Note: The lawyers at Scholastic want to remind you that during your potential trip to ResLife, the Gipper's identity will remain anonymous but yours definitely will not. To clarify, the Gipper would never promote illegal activity of any kind.
Hall Notes:
Two Vermin in the NFL have had strong years. Dallas Cowboys running back Julius Jones got off to a slow start. He missed half of the year recovering from a broken scapula. But he made a splash upon returning. On Thanksgiving he ran for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. That was followed with a Monday Night Football performance of 3 touchdowns and 198 yards. He had been the key to the Dallas offense and has actually made them competitive. Julius' speed is astounding. For the season he had 819 yards rushing, 7 touchdowns, and averaged 4.2 yards per carry in only half a season. He's a definite fantasy pick next year.
Bert Berry, defensive end of the Arizona Cardinals, had led the NFL in sacks for much of the season. He had 4 sacks against the New York Giants and is a tremendous leader in the lockerroom and on the field. ESPN even did a small piece on Bert telling of his initial fall from the league, a brief (very brief: 2 weeks) stint in the CFL, and subsequent return to the NFL. Actually Bert was drafted in '97 by the Colts in the 3rd round. He was in Indy for 3 seasons. The Rams then released him in training camp. After dropping from the CFL he was out of pro football for a year. He returned with the Denver Broncos and had a breakthrough season in 2003. In the offseason he signed a free agent deal with the Arizona Cardinals for $25 million over 5 years with a $5 million signing bonus. All praise the wealthiest Vermin! There was even tentative talk of Bert being named an All Pro. Well, he was. Bert Berry '97 is the first Vermin to make the Pro Bowl. He was 2nd in the NFL and 1st in the NFC in sacks with 14.5. Bert also forced 4 fumbles, had 39 tackles, and assisted on 10 other tackles. Certainly he is deserving of a tripto Honolulu. Vermin in Hawaii.....has a good ring to it. Well done, Bert.
NDSportscenter:
Charlie Weis actually met the football team LAST year. He made a visit to observe them during winter conditioning. Charlie made an impression. Justin Tuck remembered him because he didn't praise them but sort of got after them to be better. Well Tuck was a player rep who first met with Weis. Before meeting the whole team Weis first went before a six-player student-athlete transition team. Tuck was joined by Brady Quinn, Ryan Harris, Anthony Fasano, Victor Abiamiri, and Brandon Hoyte. Charlie said he felt like he was on "The Apprentice." Obviously, he was not fired.
Word on the street is that Bill Parcells put in a call to the University in support of former assistant Weis. Charlie certainly showed he had been taught by Parcells. The first press conference was blunt, honest and in-your-face. Some hubbub was made about one comment in particular. Charlie said he wanted to make the team "nasty." Go to it, Mr. Weis.
Charlie plans to retire here. He's not looking to go elsewhere and has no desire to coach another team. He comes with a wife, Maura, and two children, Charlie and Hannah. The South Bend Tribune stated: "In 2003 Weis and wife Maura established the Hannah & Friends Foundation, dedicated to children affected by development disorders (his daughter has the affliction). The foundation is dedicated to providing a better quality of life for children and young adults affected by Autism and Global Delays. Weis serves on the board of directors as secretary and treasurer."
Charlie has received his last rites. He nearly died after undergoing gastric-bypass surgery. The procedure produced life-threatening complications. (Actually Charlie recently filed a lawsuit against the doctors and hospital for malpractice.) After recovering from the surgery a doctor advised Weis to take a year off from coaching. Charlie missed only three days of Patriot training camp. Hopefully our team will pick up some of his toughness.
Details
on Charlie's staff next week.