Notre Dame Lacrosse Team Members Drafted into NLL
The National Lacrosse League held their annual draft recently, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were well represented in the selection process. A total of four players were drafted by NLL teams, with the highest pick,. Michael Podgajny, being selected No. 7 overall by the San Francisco Dragons. Since 2001, the Irish have sent 12 players to the professional level. Michael Podgajny was the highest draft pick ever for a Notre Dame player. Here is the list of lacrosse athletes who have graduated from Notre Dame to play in the NLL. The athletes from this past year are in bold.
Steve Bishko
Tom Glatzel
David Ulrich
Devin Ryan
Brian Giordano
D.J. Driscoll
Pat Walsh
Brian Hubschmann
Michael Podgajny
Joey Kemp
Sean Dougherty
Taylor Clagett
This is great news for the Notre Dame athletics department. It’s always a good thing when these great athletes can go on to play their sport at the professional level. We would like to wish Michael Podgajny, Joey Kemp, Sean Dougherty and Taylor Clagett the best of luck as they pursue their new careers.
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Notre Dame Lands Transferring Perdue Forward
Scott Martin, a sophomore forward who played for Purdue last season, will be playing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from now on. Scott announced yesterday that he intends to transfer to Notre Dame after playing at Purdue for one year. The decision was made in part because he liked Notre Dame as a school, in part because he didn’t like Purdue, in part because liked the players, but mostly because he likes coach Mike Brey’s philosophy about the game. Scott Martin felt that Notre Dame could best use his skill set, that he could become the best possible player if he went to school in South Bend.
This is great news for Irish fans, coach Mike Brey and the whole Notre Dame community. Martin has a shot at becoming a great post player, one who should be a leader on the team for years. He can’t play next season, but after that he will have three years of eligibility left. Ben Hansbrough, Tyler’s brother, transferred to Notre Dame earlier in the offseason. Together, these two players could be the future of an exciting Notre Dame team.
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Notre Dame to Play in Dallas in 2013
Although there are a couple of cool news stories floating out there in the Notre Dame world, including Charlie Weis’ trip to the Middle East and the continual predicating and position battles that happen over the offseason, we decided that we couldn’t skip over this news item for much longer. Apparently the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is going to play a game in the Dallas, Texas area in 2013.
The game is slated to take place at the not-yet-built new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Irish will play Texas A&M, a team who they don’t usually get a chance to play in the regular season. The game will be one of the many off-site games for the Irish coming up in the next few years. Other off-site games will be played around the country- so look out for an Irish game coming to a place near you.
Of course, the game in Texas has some implications. Although we have no idea how good Texas A&M will be in 2013 (though we assume that Notre Dame will be pretty good), the one thing we can comment on is the tickets sales. Apparently the tickets will be awarded by a lottery system typical of Notre Dame football games. Just make sure you can get down Texas way by 2013, and it should be a great opportunity to see the Irish outside of South Bend.
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Coach Weis Visits the Troops
Ivan Maisel of ESPN has kept up a nice little journal about his visit with US military service men and women in the Middle East. He was following five of the most famous college football coaches in the nation: Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, Georgia’s Mark Richt, Miami’s Randy Shannon, Yale’s Jack Siedlecki and our very own Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis. It’s a long read, but a god one, so the Notre Dame Blog suggests that you print it out and read it in the break room for lunch. Basically, the coaches came back from their trip humbled. One of our favorite quotes from Charlie Weis:
“We just wish we could have brought our players over there, you know, the 18- to 23-year-olds that we deal with, so they could see what maturity looks like at a young age and teamwork to the utmost. I tell you what, on behalf of all five coaches, I can — it was just an invigorating experience, one that we’ll always treasure the rest of our lives.”
Being that Notre Dame has a national fan base, it would make sense for Weis to go on such a trip. If you remember, last year Mike Brey, the head basketball coach, went on a similar trip with other college hoops coaches. It’s a great thing that Notre Dame coaches and personnel take the time to visit with the troops, and if you read the article, you’ll see that the appreciation for the visits works both ways with the coaches and the military.
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Is Charlie Weis on the Hot Seat?
Is Charlie Weis on the hot seat? Is there pressure to win and win big in the upcoming season? Will the Irish brass try to get Weis out of the head coaching position if the team has another lackluster season like it did in 2008? These questions weigh heavily on the fan base in South Bend, as well as the legions of Notre Dame fans around the nation. There are some who think Weis is a great coach who has had some unfortunate luck. Others, though a minority we’re sure, don’t want to see him on the sidelines anymore. No matter what you think about Weis, though, the fact remains that coaching in college football is a tenuous gig at best. That’s why CBSsports.com’s own Dennis Dodd has put together a list of every coach in the nation. He’s given each a ranking, 0-5, to determine the hot seat factor.
So where is Coach Weis on the list? What’s his number? Weis is ranked as a 3, right in the middle of the spectrum. Dodd says that a 3-3.5 is “On the bubble- you never know.” But what does that say? Not much more than the Irish fans already knew. When you have a bad season with the country’s most popular team, there’s going to be those who nay-say. Let them. Coach Weis and the Irish will be back with a vengeance in 2009. You wait and see. Weis’ score will turn to a 1 real quick… and that will also be the amount of losses in the record book for next season.
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Notre Dame Ends Baseball Season with Big East Tourney Loss to WVU
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team completed their season yesterday with a 13-6 loss to West Virginia. The loss came during the Big East Tournament. Notre Dame’s final record for 2008 will stand at 33-21-1, not bad at all for a college baseball season. If Notre Dame had capitalized on a couple of loaded bases opportunities, the score might have been a lot different in their last game, but, then, there’s always next year, and we should take this moment to congratulate the Domer baseball players for yet another outstanding season.
As you might know, the Irish won the Big East Tournament in 2005 and 2006, so something tells us that they will be at the top sometime very soon. The Notre Dame Blog would like to congratulate the following senior baseball players. Thanks for the memories, and good luck in your future endeavors.
NOTRE DAME’S SENIOR BASEBALL PLAYERS
Brett Lilley
Ross Brezovsky
Sean Gaston
Wade Korpi
Tony Langford
Justin Gingerich
Chris Soriano
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Does Spygate Affect Notre Dame? …Nah!
If you follow sports news, then you have by now heard at least a little bit about the NFL’s so-called “Spygate.” Allegedly the Patriots were caught stealing defensive signals from other teams by secretly videotaping footage of their opponents’ practices. Bill Belichick has been getting plenty of heat for this, and the Patriots organization as a whole has taken some huge PR stings over the past year. The issue has come up once again, the media fever over it is hard to deny. But lately, even Notre Dame has been caught up in the whole mess. Why? Because head coach Charlie Weis was a defensive coordinator for the Patriots before he got a job with the Fighting Irish, and he’s been accused of being involved in the scandal.
It’s hard to blame the media for following the logical route. If Charlie Weis was involved, then that’s bad news. However, as the Notre Dame athletic director, Kevin White, has said, “the issue is not a Notre Dame matter.” The Notre Dame blog agrees. Even if Weis was involved in cheating (and he’s innocent until proven guilty, of course) it’s still something that happened a long time ago. Imagine if you were still getting in trouble for the mistakes (allegedly) that you made at your old job when you’ve already moved onto another job. Before I was writing blogs, I certainly delivered a lot of late pizzas. But I’m not about to have to wash dishes for those cold pizzas today. Perhaps that’s why the Hot Meter on the rumor site is still very much in the blue, cold range. Not hot!
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Charlie Weis Running Back Quote: Discuss!
Charlie Weis is never one to avoid talking about the Fighting Irish. I found this quote at CBSsports.com’s Notre Dame page in the Notes and Quotes section. The Notre Dame Blog would like to take a few minutes to discuss. Here’s the quote:
“I don’t know how it’s going to play out. The best part about it is you’re not worrying about who is first. They’re all going to end up playing. That’s a good thing.” — Coach Charlie Weis, on his tailback situation.
Alright. So we know the running back situation last season was, well, less than desirable. The Irish were actually one of the worst rushing teams in the whole D-1 NCAA, so there were certainly some players underperforming on the ground. While there is a lot that goes into making a good rushing attack (offensive line, play calling, an established passing game), the Irish clearly did not have the same tailback situation as Arkansas—two first round draft picks in the backfield.
Who will start on Day 1? As the quote seems to suggest, there will be a platoon of players in the backfield next year. Do you think this is a good thing? Should there be multiple tailbacks instead of one or two? It didn’t work very well with the quarterback situation last season, but maybe running back is a different sort of beast.
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The Face of Notre Dame Football
ESPN’s feature “Conversation” this week has to do with determining the “face” of the program. What that means, basically, is discussing what face best emblemizes Notre Dame Football. Who do you think of when you think of the Fighting Irish? For most fans who participated in the discussion, the “face” was that of Knute Rockne, the legendary coach of Notre Dame during the 1930s. The Notre Dame Blog will now list their favorites:
TOP TEN “FACES” OF NOTRE DAME
1. Knute Rockne
2. The Leprichaun
3. Touchdown Jesus
4. Rudy
5. The Gipper
6. Lou Holtz
7. The Four Horsemen
8. Joe Montana
9. Samwise Gamgee
10. Rocket Ismail
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You heard it here first. Well, you actually heard it here and here first. These are links to UHND.com and College Football News. CFN has predicted that Notre Dame will match up against Miami in the Gator Bowl this upcoming season. UHND.com is where the Notre Dame Blog found the article, so we thought we’d include the link as well. As pointed out by UHND.com, most of the world likes to make doom and gloom scenarios when predicting for the Irish. Last year the doom and gloomers were dead on, but this upcoming year, they all seem to be taking a break from dishing out pain on the Irish in their predictions. And we’re not just noting it here. There are other places on the internets saying that the Irish aren’t going to be all that bad next season. Some even say they will be good. Imagine that!
No need to let your guard down, though. The Irish still have a long way to go to improve from their 3-win season of yesteryear. The running game needs a boost in a hurry. The defense lost some key guys and a few leaders. The passing game needs to get established early, and the coaching situation will be different. There are a lot of things up in the air right now. Hey, it’s the offseason. That’s how it’s supposed to be.
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