Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING connected with tradition. However, that is sometimes also perceived as a negative. One can get so set in its ways that it doesn't acclimate to a changing world. In the 21st century, the Fighting Irish brand at times has been equated to or stereotyped as the old man screaming at the neighbor kids to "get off my lawn." Elston recognized a need to walk the fine line between tradition and change. This included "untraditional-like" ac- tions such as taking Notre Dame's 18-wheeler to Georgia and parking it at Robertson's house. It made a splash (legally, too) in social media and, as Kelly noted, helped break up the "mo- notony" of the final week before Na- tional Signing Day. "We don't want to be stuffy, always serious," explained Elston, who ac- tively engaged in his own humor on Twitter. "… We want to be as aggres- sive as we can be with the cutting edge, but also not lose sight of what our distinctions are. "It's always a question about how cutting edge do you want to be. … If you're going to go in the South and recruit, you better roll up your sleeves. We want to have some fun, too. On social media, we want them to see our personality. "The biggest thing to draw back on over the last year is having the ability to trust in Coach Kelly to move the staff forward and change some things. He's allowed us to do certain things that he was either comfortable with In his first year as Notre Dame's recruiting coordinator, Mike Elston made some positive changes such as an improved presence on social media and sending Notre Dame's 18‑wheeler to visit a recruit a week prior to National Signing Day. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND