My guess

by BPH, San Diego, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 09:22 (3 days ago) @ Tim

is that he was less than convincing before because he was less than convinced. Yes, he loves ND and wasn't looking for a reason to leave, especially for a different college job (even OSU). But he's the ultimate competitor, and the NFL tends to intrigue people like that. He felt that he had to do his due diligence in exploring those opportunities, and that's what he did last offseason with the Giants and the Steelers. He did so exhaustively, as with everything he does, and what he took away is that the NFL is not for him. It doesn't suit his particular coaching style of molding young men into a team, plus the parity of the league punishes people like him who at the college level can use his charisma and tireless work ethic (plus ND money) to build a massive talent advantage over his competitors. That's just what he's doing now, and a sustained run of great success is going to follow. Why would he want to give that up to go 10-7 and earn a wild-card berth in the AFC North?