Blue and Gold Illustrated

UNDER THE DOME Five Questions With … HOCKEY HEAD COACH JEFF JACKSON Jeff Jackson took over at Notre Dame in 2005 and has led the program to the NCAA Tournament six times in his first 10 years. The Irish have advanced to the Frozen Four twice under his leadership, advancing to the title game in 2008 and the national semifinals in 2011. Since his second season at Notre Dame (2006‑07), Jackson's program has been among the best in the nation in wins and winning percentage, going 213‑125‑36 (.618) over the nine‑year span. BGI: What does your average day consist of? Jackson: "Mondays we'll spend three to four hours reviewing the previous weekend and preparing for the upcoming opponent, and Tuesdays we'll go over recruiting. We'll have practice later in the day; then we'll try to review our practice afterwards. "Late evenings sometimes I watch more of practice or watch some recruits on FASTHockey." BGI: What are some of the biggest challenges you find at your position? Jackson: "One that comes to mind most is the recruiting perspective. We've done a great job recruiting some talented players, but getting them to campus or staying for four years has been tough. We've lost three recruits a week before school started in the last four years; kids that were committed here, but then pro hockey signed them. "Then it's challenging to replace those kids because of the academic standards at Notre Dame — we can't just go out and recruit anyone. We have to be diligent." BGI: How do you try to overcome those obstacles in recruiting? Jackson: "We want our players to dream of playing in the NHL and we want to get them there, but we also want our players to get a degree from our great university that'll impact them for the rest of their lives. Even if they play for 10‑15 years in the NHL, they'll still have 50 years of their life left in the work force. "We try to sell that, the education, and the experience our guys get as a student‑athlete living at Notre Dame." BGI: What are the expectations for this year's team? Jackson: "This year's team will have 15 underclassmen, so still a fairly young team, but the freshman class from last season has a year under their belt now and some of those guys took big steps in the second half of last year. "If they come into this year as they finished last year, that bodes well for us, in addition to a great senior class, five guys that will be captains this year." BGI: How would you assess the Hockey East going into this year? Jackson: "Top to bottom, the depth of the conference is extremely good. There are no lightweights in the conference; it's very challenging. You've got six to seven programs that could all compete for the conference title, and hopefully we're in that mix. "We'll host some of those quality teams this year." — Jordan Wells JACKSON

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