Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/76097
Irish AD Jack Swarbrick oversees own programs and plays role in massive NCAA changes year after claiming a Big East Conference title; an unlikely run to the NCAA Tour- nament by the men's basketball team; a national semifinal appearance by the men's lacrosse team, which also won a league crown; both cross country teams advancing to the NCAA Championship and notching top-25 finishes; and conference titles in men's golf, swimming, indoor track and outdoor track, women's hoops, tennis and rowing. On July 18, Fighting Irish athletics direc- T he last athletic calendar at Notre Dame featured the women's basket- ball team reaching the national cham- pionship game for the second straight tor Jack Swarbrick sat down for a one-on- chat about the state of the program, as well as the other high-profile projects he's been a part of over the last year or so. "I feel great about it," Swarbrick said of BY WES MORGAN when talking about programs on solid ground, despite another disappointing 8-5 season last fall. From procuring young talent to a cohesive coaching staff ready to develop it, led by head coach Brian Kelly, who is preparing to enter his third year at the helm, Swarbrick isn't worried about the future of Irish football or any other sport offered by the university. "As I look across our programs I feel where you can't compete." Swarbrick includes the football team Notre Dame's athletic accomplishments in 2011-12. "What we have are I think maybe the highest number of highly performing, mature programs we've had here at one time. From my seat, that's what you're try- ing to achieve. "You want sports programs that have all the elements in place. Some years they'll win a lot; some years they won't. But what you don't want are ones that are deficient in key areas of what they do, because then you're going to go through a period of time really good about that," he said. "Both la- crosse teams, both basketball teams, the list goes on and on. We just had a great year in track and cross country. The golf teams have been performing well. When you're talking about recruiting, or sched- uling, strength and development, medical services — any of those holes will under- mine a program. How your coaching staffs are. Again, I just feel we have more high- performing, mature programs than I think we've probably ever had." game didn't suffer in the last year due to a lack of playing time. He said he never had a golf game to begin with, so he hasn't missed out. Though he didn't dwell on how ex- hausted he truly is after big decisions, big ideas and big changes made to the biggest AUGUST 2012 58 Speaking of golf, Swarbrick said his THE BIGGER PICTURE AND INDEPENDENCE