Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE N otre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick admits to losing some sleep back in September 2011, while he tried to keep his student-ath- letes in the eye of an NCAA hurricane that was swirling all around him. Through expansion, defection, re- alignment, money, surprises and guess- work, college athletics seemed to be blindly reinventing itself, perhaps for better, perhaps for worse, but definitely for richer and not poorer. Because of independence in football and the national appeal of his univer- sity, Swarbrick faced more pressure than any AD in the country when he weighed the tough decision of whether to stay put, hunker down and ride out the storm as a member of the Big East Conference, or pack up his athletic programs, evacuate and seek higher ground. "I woke up every night worrying about that. You never knew. You didn't have perfect information," Swarbrick explained of those turbulent times. "So you were in sort of this constant state of anxiety of 'what don't I know?' and you lived in sort of constant fear of a shift that left you without options." Notre Dame enjoyed a dominating run with 126 Big East championships in various sports and a great relationship during its 18 years in the league. But with premier teams such as Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia bailing out of the conference in favor of rumored new members such as SMU, Houston and Boise State, storm watches turned to red-flag warnings for Swarbrick and his school. Through research and instinct, Swarbrick keenly recognized that a move to the Atlantic Coast Confer- ence was clearly the best option for his programs. And based on the Olympic sports results from the inaugural ACC season last year, and the benefits of be- ing a part-time conference member in football beginning this year, Swarbrick's decision to join the ACC was perfectly timed and measured. Notre Dame's New, And Best, Conference Home ACC commissioner John Swofford said, "We would have never brought in a member other than Notre Dame that wasn't a full member." PHOTO BY SARA D. DAVIS/THEACC.COM