Heisler poured cold water on the Miami idea
WTF is going on up in the AD's office? Are they not on the same page? Swarbrick says, "here's what you could do", the next day Heisler pipes up and says hold your horses.
Questions derived from below:
1. How many long term contracts are we really locked into? With whom, and for how long?
2. When Hansen says, "the flexibility simply doesn't exist", is that him speaking based on his own read of the situation, or is that what Heisler really told him? There seems to a chilling finality that statement, and I'd like to know the source.
---------
(from Eric Hansen's article today)
Not so fast
A recent Miami Herald story quoting Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick as "very interested" in awakening the dormant football rivalry with Miami has gained a little more momentum than reality might allow.
The Irish do have holes in their upcoming schedules, but all of them involve teams that would either be willing to play in South Bend with no return game or at an off-site game in which Notre Dame controls the TV rights and gate receipts.
Home-and-home series could only be created by bumping a current partner from an existing contract.
"I'd have to say that some of it is Jack, in his first year, kind of taking stock of where we are and where we're headed relative to scheduling," said ND senior associated athletic director John Heisler, who deals with scheduling on a day-to-day basis. "He's looking at what sort of commitments we have in contract form and at the more informal conversations we've had and then just trying to figure out just what roads we're going to try to head down.
"I think all that is a little bit of a work-in-progress still. In fact, it's a lot of work in progress."
Could the Miami-ND series happen? Yes, but other than an off-site game it could not without either restructuring existing contracts with long-time partners, departing from the 7-4-1 scheduling philosophy (seven home games, four road games, one off-site game) or both. The flexibility simply doesn't exist.
As for Swarbrick, he is smart enough not to be quoted as saying Notre Dame would be "very uninterested" in a series with anyone.
Good questions.
by San Pedro 
, Thursday, March 19, 2009, 14:25 (6341 days ago) @ Jay
I really hope we haven't locked ourselves into long term contracts with Purdue, Stanford, and MSU that don't give us flexibility to schedule more home and homes with heavyweights.
I wonder how much of White's mess can be cleaned up - presumably we could modify our current deals with some sweeteners.
I thought the only official one was the scUM games
If someone signed on to play Purdue/Stanford/MSU for the next 30 years we would have known about it, right?
I also think USC/Navy isn't technically under contract either but all of the parties involved are rational, self-interested adults, usually.
I think you're right.
by San Pedro , Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 07:57 (6337 days ago) @ MadisonDomer
Which is why Heisler's comments were curious. I don't believe we are locked in with these teams for multiple decades. But I would hope that we could get Miami (or another heavyweight) on the schedule within the next 5-7 years or so - that might require some manuevering, and PU/MSU and Stanford appear to be the logical choices.