The Greatest Job Nobody Wants

No need to run a background check on this, but George O’Leary may have told another fib on Dec. 9 when he said Notre Dame was one of the two best coaching jobs in sports.

Remember?

The comment kicked off O’Leary’s magical five-day run as Irish football coach.

“I believe there are two great coaching jobs in all of sports,” O’Leary said at his introductory news conference, “one being the manager of the New York Yankees and the other being the head football coach at Notre Dame.”

We can’t speak for all those who managed the Yankees under George Steinbrenner, but if the job as Notre Dame coach was as good as advertised, O’Leary wouldn’t have been hired in the first place.

What’s more, if South Bend is an end-all destination, how come many of the nation’s best and brightest coaches are running from Athletic Director Kevin White as though he were chasing them with subpoenas?

O’Leary got the job only because Jon Gruden and Mike Bellotti and Steve Mariucci were not available.

Since O’Leary’s resignation was accepted--order ESPN’s transcript with Fibber McGee for the latest legal mumbo-jumbo explanation--Notre Dame has been let down easy and/or respectfully rebuffed by some of the best coaches in the business: Tom Coughlin, Rick Neuheisel, Tom O’Brien and Mike Shanahan.

Some job, huh?

A lot of what is going on with the Notre Dame hire has been circumstantial--right job, wrong time.

There’s also another dynamic working here, the same one we saw in action last year with USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett in his quest to hire Paul Hackett’s successor.

The dynamic is this: The men doing the hiring think the job is better than it actually is. Garrett was delusional in thinking USC, because of past glories, would simply put a call to the best coach available and that coach would sign on the dotted line.

Instead, Garrett made millionaires of two coaches who stayed put in Oregon, Bellotti at Oregon and Dennis Erickson at Oregon State, and ended up hiring Pete Carroll, who was out of work.

The same saga is playing out at Notre Dame. Out of deference to the hallowed institution, coaches are saying all the right things about Notre Dame while also saying “no thanks.”

Notre Dame is still a top-shelf outfit, a place where the right man could win a national title, but the job has its share of pitfalls, among them:

* Expectations: They are enormous and out-of-whack. As O’Leary discovered, the scrutiny is unparalleled. O’Leary could have coached the rest of his life at Georgia Tech without his phony background ever being exposed. It only mattered because he was head coach at Notre Dame.

* Myth vs. fact. Notre Dame used to be one of the few places that had an inside track to national championships. But the 85-scholarship limit has leveled the national landscape and made high level competition possible in places such as Eugene and Pullman.

Notre Dame will always be able to attract talent. The right coach with the right plan could again make the Irish contenders. Yet, coaches the Irish have courted have good reasons for staying put.

Bellotti is making $1 million a year in Eugene and has Oregon on the cusp of national title contention.

Neuheisel just renegotiated his contract in Washington. He can drive his boat to work. He’s at a school that has won a national title more recently than Notre Dame and next year’s squad in Seattle should be favored to win the Pacific 10 Conference.

Tyrone Willingham has won nine games more than he has lost at Stanford, yet his job has never been in jeopardy. Bob Davie was 10 games over .500 at Notre Dame and got canned.

Mike Shanahan just built a $6-million house in Denver. He has led the Broncos to two Super Bowls and has grip-like control of the organization.

And now you want him to pick up and move to South Bend?

You couldn’t blame Shanahan this week when he said of the Notre Dame job, “I’m absolutely 100% not interested.”

Nothing personal, you know.

* Competition. Notre Dame’s national schedule cuts both ways. The upside is unprecedented television exposure and an express elevator access to the top 10.

The Irish, however, have learned the hard way what happens when the talent is not on par with the competition. It doesn’t get easier, either.

Next season Notre Dame plays Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, Florida State, Boston College and USC. In 2003, the Irish add Washington State and Brigham Young to the mix.

In 2004, the next Notre Dame coach can look forward to playing at BYU, at USC, at Tennessee and at Michigan State while getting to host Michigan, Washington, Purdue, Stanford and Boston College.

Notre Dame is also at a disadvantage, as an independent, of having to win nine games to earn a big-money BCS berth. Schools tethered to conferences gain automatic berths by winning their leagues. That’s how Louisiana State can go to the Sugar Bowl at 8-3.

Some within Notre Dame circles seem to have a better grip on the reality. A group led by former star Joe Montana is making a big push for Tom Clements, a former Irish quarterback who is an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Clements is a risk because he has no head coaching experience. Yet he could be the kind of unspectacular hire that makes more sense as more and more “name” candidates remove their names from consideration.

Envelope, Please

It’s time for my annual performance review.

We throw a lot of stuff out there before the season starts and not all of it sticks, so let’s recap some of the hits and misses.

Then: We wrote in August that Oregon was the nation’s No. 1 team.

How it shook out: Not bad, huh? The Ducks are 10-1 and No. 2 in both polls and still have a shot to win the Associated Press national title if they beat Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl and Nebraska beats Miami in the Rose. For what it’s worth, Oregon was No. 7 in the AP’s preseason poll and No. 8 in the coaches.

Then: We wrote in August that Oregon State was No. 2

How it shook out: Not good, huh? It didn’t seem like that much of a reach, what with Oregon State coming off an 11-1 year and a lopsided victory over Notre Dame, but we underestimated the strength of the Pac-10 and the Beavers’ ability to reload at key positions. Oregon State never recovered from its opening loss at Fresno State and finished 5-6. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, though. Oregon State lost by seven points to Washington State, to USC in overtime, to Oregon by three and defeated Washington.

Then: We had Oregon beating Oregon State and meeting Texas in the Rose Bowl for the national title.

How it shook out: Darned if it didn’t almost happen.

Then: We wrote the early August death of Rashidi Wheeler would have a negative impact on Northwestern’s on-field performance.

Now: Northwestern finished 4-7 after being picked to win the Big Ten.

Then: We said Penn State would struggle and predicted Joe Paterno wouldn’t break Bear Bryant’s victory mark until Sept. 29 at Iowa.

How it shook out: Penn State finished 5-6 and Paterno notched career win No. 324 on Oct. 20 against Ohio State.

Then: We said Virginia Tech had the easiest path to the Rose Bowl.

How it shook out: Virginia Tech had the easiest path to the Gator Bowl.

Then: We wrote this was the year Florida State’s dominance of the Atlantic Coast Conference might end.

How it shook out: Maryland lost to Florida State but won the ACC.

Then: We wrote that this could be the first time a Pac-10 player could win the Heisman Trophy since USC’s Marcus Allen in 1981.

How it shook out: Oregon’s Joey Harrington finished fourth in balloting.

Then: We said Arizona State could be the surprise team in the Pac-10.

How it shook out: Washington State was the surprise team.

Then: We said USC landing Norm Chow as offensive coordinator was the best off-season hire.

How it shook out: Maryland hiring Ralph Friedgen was the best off-season hire.

Then: We said two coaches on the hot seat were California’s Tom Holmoe and Terry Allen of Kansas.

How it shook out: Both schools have new coaches.

Then: We said UCLA should cut its losses at four and not accept an invitation to a bowl game.

How it shook out: UCLA did not go to a bowl and finished the season at 7-4.

Then: We said we earned three letters as a football player from the University of New Hampshire and had a master’s degree from New York University.

How it shook out: Actually, George O’Leary said that.

Hurry-Up Offense

For what it’s worth, a person familiar with the situation labeled as “garbage” the notion that Rick Neuheisel was considering a $2.5-million contract offer from Notre Dame.

A few quick-hit quips at the four bowl championship series games:

* Rose: Miami vs. Nebraska. Comment: Nebraska’s only shot is to keep Miami’s offense off the field. This can be accomplished with the Eric Crouch-led option attack eating up yardage on time-consuming scoring drives.

* Fiesta: Colorado vs. Oregon. Comment: Potentially the best BCS game, although both teams have concerns. Colorado may be distracted by an ongoing inquiry of an alleged rape in Boulder that took place at a party attended by a few players and recruits. Oregon’s continuity might be thrown with offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford’s hiring as the new California coach. Last year, Mark Richt stayed on as Florida State’s offensive coordinator through the bowls after he accepted the Georgia job. Was it too much to handle? In the national title game, Florida State was held without a touchdown in a 13-2 loss to Oklahoma.

* Sugar: Illinois vs. LSU. Comment: the Sugar Bowl bean counters got saved when LSU fell in their laps.

* Orange: Maryland vs. Florida. Comment: Tennessee beats Florida on the field but gets shafted by bowl politics.