Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS are now head coaches, and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer poached another pair of Irish assistants. "We're obviously going to have a lot of turnover in our coaching staff, but for all the right reasons," Swarbrick told Blue & Gold Illustrated Dec. 19. "If you're building a great program, your coaches are leaving to go take head coaching jobs. I would love for [offensive coordinator Chuck Martin and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco] to stay, but they have our full support as they go [to Miami (Ohio) and Connecticut, respectively]." The main question in South Bend should be how long Notre Dame can keep Kelly before he inevitably pursues a greater challenge. Last offseason, he interviewed with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles before deciding to stay put after what he called "a learning experience" in which he was legitimately intrigued. "I'll stay away from the specifics of sort of … that's a supervisor-employee discussion and I'll defer on that question," Swarbrick replied when asked if there is an expectation that Kelly will decline future advances from other teams. Swarbrick, 59, said he "doesn't]have any designs to do anything else" other than continue as athletics director until retirement. He did, however, admit to the draining effect of the position. "My guess is when I decide I'm probably not doing this anymore it'll have everything to do with just the taxing nature of the job," he said. "Someone asked me several months ago how long I had been in the job. I said this is my sixth year. And he said, 'It's like dog years — you've been here 42.' There's that element to it, but the people I get to work with here, it's special. It is a great place." Effective leaders possess the ability to adapt to any situation, and it's a trait at which Swarbrick and Kelly excel. "Every day presents challenges you couldn't anticipate. That's what makes the job at its core so fun. You learn from each of them. You get some of them right and a bunch of them wrong and move on to the next one," Swarbrick said. His employee, Kelly, has displayed a similar acumen during his evolution as Notre Dame's head coach. "What makes a great coach a great coach is in every aspect of their program they're looking to get better," Swarbrick said. "Even the things they do exceptionally well they're trying to do one degree better. Brian has that gene. He explores every element of the program and asks himself what can we do to be better this year than we were last year." The Everett Golsons, Manti Te'os and Zack Martins of a program will come and go and, in many cases, so do the coaches and administrators. But, in Notre Dame's situation, the ticket to finishing a season No. 1 in the near future depends on how long Swarbrick and Kelly guide the program. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com