Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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we'll do okay in the Directors' Cup." Among the many hats Swarbrick has worn since taking the reins of the athletic department in August of 2008 has been undertaking enhancements to sports performance by student-ath- letes. His emphasis on sports science that includes a technology toy chest of Catapulut, Eliteform and so many other advancements compensates for the lack of glitz compared to the Uni- versity of Oregon or the glamour at warm-weather school Alabama in the never-ending arms race that has be- come collegiate sports. "It's interesting when you read our fans' talk about the decisions prospec- tive students make to come here or not come here on an athletic scholarship — the amount of time they talk about weather," Swarbrick said. "The kids almost never talk about weather in their decision. When I'm sitting here with prospective students, it never comes up. Fans have a percep- tion that it's an obstacle to our recruit- ing. I don't think it is. "I think it's about relevance. You don't make the decision to come to a place like Notre Dame because of what the locker room looks like. You just don't. As Brian [Kelly] so effectively says, 'We shop in a different aisle.' "I meet a lot of the prospective stu- dents who come here to compete in athletics, and the conversations I have with them about what we offer and what our expectations are if people come here, young men and women either respond to that or they don't. "You're signing up for something different. We want to have great facili- ties because that's Notre Dame. Notre Dame has great dorms, great class- rooms, great laboratories and great chapels, and athletics shouldn't be any different — but they need to look like the rest of the University and feel like the rest of the University. They need to have and reflect the same values. That's our approach to facilities. It's not externally focused; it's internally focused. "We don't spend a lot of time look- ing at what other people are doing. We spend a lot more time focused on how do we reflect who we are the best possible way." Besides, Swarbrick noted that at most Power 5 conference schools, fa- cilities — Notre Dame's have been ranked among the best — resources and recruiting strengths all have their merits. "The difference will be in sports sci- ence and analytics," Swarbrick said. "We've seen very significant results from our focus on nutrition — very significant. That's one small example of it … medical services, data manage- ment, analytics … those are the things that make a difference in those critical contests. "[Former NFL head coach] Tony Dungy always said to me most foot- ball games came down to three or four plays. It's giving yourself the best shot to come out on the right end of those three or four plays that become so im- portant." TAKING FOOTBALL TO A HIGHER LEVEL An athletics director understandably will not state publicly that his football coach is on the hot seat before any sea-