Notre Dame AD Search: Hey, Look at My Guy

As Notre Dame prepares to make its choice for the next athletic director, it's confronted with an enviable problem: seemingly too many good candiates.  The truly comforting thing is that this time around there are so many talented candidates with real Notre Dame connections.

That's the good, but also the bad.  The hard part for those who are connected with the candidates is to separate friendship and relationships from reality—to have some dispassionate distance to evaluate candidates free of lobbying.

I just read Tim Prister's articles shilling for Rick Chryst and now find myself feeling a little dirty.  Prister interviews Gene Corrigan ostensibly about all the candidates for the Notre Dame AD job, but then procedes to ask Corrigan only about Chryst, knowing full well Corrigan is a Chryst backer.  In fact, Corrigan is forced to give Prister "the journalist" some perspective in the article.

The basis for Prister's argument, that ND is a conference unto itself and therefore needs a conference commissioner with a seat at the table, sounds good in theory, but on further review less applicable if applicable at all.  Negotiating on behalf of the MAC does not equal representing Notre Dame.

In fact, whoever is the Notre Dame AD will have a "seat at the table" and no one's yet defined why Chryst has a good working relationship with the BCS committee, why that would translate to Notre Dame, or why another candidate couldn't easily establish such relationships.

Now to be clear, Chryst sounds like a great guy, a smart guy, and someone who has performed well.  Corrigan's endorsement also carries weight.

Chryst looks like a great candidate on paper, but so do others like Steve Orsini—and half-cocked relationship-driven endorsements masquerading as journalism don't help enlighten anyone, nor do they necessarily help Chryst.

My purpose isn't to endorse one candidate over another here (not that it would matter), but everyone should heed such advice for the moment.  Certainly more depth and understanding is necessary, and Prister's already handicapping the race for AD like it's the Belmont.

Slow down Big Brown.

For the first time after what seems like decades in purgatory, it looks like Notre Dame is in a no-lose situation.  Shills like Prister should holster their lobbying and instead engage in thoughtful discussion over candidate attributes.

After so many years of struggle in ND athletics, we're finally at a point in time where ND can tab strong leaders who can credibly influence others in the larger community.  This is no time for friend lobbying, but for doing what's best for Notre Dame.

And as a bonus, most people would probably read such a dispassionate analysis and think better of Chryst and Prister.