Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ment will more forward with its plans in less than two years. It was decidfor the football stadium and upgrades edly a failure, but Swarbrick says he for several others sports. learned a critical lesson there about the The top priority on that list is a new importance of hiring the right people. basketball practice facility to aid re- Finding and keeping top talent has cruiting. Notre Dame's team currently been a peg where the athletics director practices in a basement gym known as has tried to hang his hat since coming "The Pit" beneath its game floor in the to Notre Dame five years ago. Joyce Center. A new Perhaps his biggest standalone building accomplishment in "Without question will help Irish coaches it's a step up, but it's that arena came this Mike Brey and Muffet past year when Notre not a leap. In our McGraw attract more Dame hung on to all expectations, we'll talent to keep pace 10 members of its footcontinue to be very with the highly comball staff — includsuccessful." petitive Atlantic Coast ing head coach Brian Swarbrick on Notre Dame's Conference, which Kelly — after a 12-0 move to the ACC both teams join in the regular season. upcoming season. Swarbrick said the Past head coaches at Notre Dame new building had been high on the complained about the lack of money athletic department's to-do list before available to retain good assistants. making the jump to the ACC. Swarbrick said their ability to keep "Perhaps as much as any sport we this group together came from an inhave, basketball players spend a lot of crease in resources as well as a broader time honing their craft by themselves," push to give coaches more responsihe said. "They just go in the gym for bilities and prepare them better for hours at a time, and you need an envi- head coaching positions in the future. ronment where from a scheduling per"You have an interesting dynamic spective and an availability perspective with coaches," he said. "The focus that can happen." is on the head coach, but success is Other projects in the near future in- often determined by the continuity clude a new boathouse for the 2013 Big and quality of the entire staff. One of East champion women's rowing team the things we worked hard on here and a playing surface that will allow in recent years is to build continuity the baseball team to practice on its field and quality across the staff. I'm really earlier in the year. pleased with our ability to do that." Since Notre Dame's trip to the Coaches And Competition BCS title game in January, Swarbrick Thirteen years ago Swarbrick ac- and Kelly have been in the process cepted a job as the head of a fledgling of working on a contract extension Internet media company called LMiV. that would keep the latter happily emThe company hired 80 new employees ployed by the Irish. While the school in its first few months, but fell apart has yet to announce any new agree-