LATEST STORIES FROM THE BLUE-GRAY SKY
Hanging up our Jerseys
If you're a regular reader, you've probably noticed the updates on BGS have been less and less frequent of late. Heck, that's an understatement: we've been MIA for over a month. As the season wound to a close and we entered into yet another coaching transition, Pat kept the lights on with the occasional update, but I and the other contributors haven't...
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March 25, 2010
Discuss
Untitled Huffhines
This is the second-to-last post on BGS. I think it was Shakespeare, or maybe The Situation, who said, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” As the curtain is drawn on The Blue Gray Sky, the best sports blog on the internet (I can say this without being immodest since I had so little to do with it), I feel a curious mixture of joy and pain. Of sunshine and rain, if you will. The joy...
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March 25, 2010
Team Transition
Ok, let's get to breaking down the latest recruiting class. What was shaping up to be a decent class took a big hit when Charlie was fired. Most recruits said they would remain with ND, but over time a few were chipped away. Kelly's recruiting prowess, one of the major unknowns at this point, was put in the spotlight as he tried to keep the current commits intact while closing...
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February 11, 2010
Final Day Decisions
Wrapping up the individual recruit profiles before getting to the end of the season recruiting roundtable, here's a look at the two players that decided to pick ND on Signing Day. As it turns out, it was the player with perhaps the longest connection to the ND coaches and the one with the shortest.First up on Wednesday was Ohio offensive lineman Matt James. James had been mulling...
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February 08, 2010
Happy Signing Day!
Feel free to hang out here today and follow the ups and downs. Also make sure to check out und.com's Signing Day Central for interviews with the coaches. Coach Kelly's official Signing Day press conference is scheduled for around 4 p.m.
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February 03, 2010
Quarterbacker
As we head into National Signing Day's Eve (make sure to hang your Christian Jones stockings by the chimney with care) there's one last recruiting update to churn out before turning our attention to what und.com has in store for us tomorrow morning.After visiting ND this past weekend, Colorado athlete Danny Spond returned home before deciding to join the 2010 ND recruiting...
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February 02, 2010
Heggie Hears a "Who?"
The final recruit to go public this past weekend is the center of one of the more surprising recruiting stories in recent memory. Florida lineman Bruce Heggie was a virtual unknown just two weeks ago with no rankings on any recruiting site and not a single offer to play Division I football. Now, he's getting ready to fax in his letter of intent tomorrow morning to play for the...
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February 02, 2010
Runnin' Roback
On to the next recruit to publicly commit to ND over the weekend: 6'3" 220 pound Ohio QB/athlete Derek Roback.Roback is an interesting example of the ups and downs of recruiting coverage. When Roback was in junior high he was a national finalist in the Pepsi Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. He followed that up by being named the Freshman MVP at the National Underclassmen...
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February 01, 2010
Bringing in the reinforcements
It's a wild finish to the recruiting season as Kelly and his new staff brought in a large group of uncommitted players this past weekend and so far have gained three public commitments with the possibility of a few more deciding to join up shortly. Ohio QB Luke Massa, Ohio athlete Derek Roback, and Florida DE Bruce Heggie all jumped on their chance to be a part of the 2010 recruiting...
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February 01, 2010
Statistically Speaking: 2009 Season
When you have to fire your coach, digging into the stats to see what happened is a bit unnecessary. No one needs to look into a box score to understand that while ND's (passing) offense was excellent, the defense was horrendous, and the overall production of the team was not good enough for Charlie to keep his job.Still, now that the bowl games are over and the final 2009 season...
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January 26, 2010
Nichols is number nineteen
Recruiting took another quick turn when the second Kentucky player offered a scholarship to Notre Dame committed instantly and became the 19th member of the 2010 class. Offensive tackle Tate Nichols visited campus this past weekend and as soon as ND offered, he accepted."I didn't have a scholarship offer going up there," Nichols said. "They had a version of my...
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January 19, 2010
Running down the list
The whole staff, minus new father Mike Elston, assembled for a press conference and interview session this past Friday. Und.com has the collection of transcripts and videos which are worth your time. It's a nice way to put some faces and voices with names.Since the coaching staff names were doled out over time, I figure it might be handy to put all the names, faces, and interesting...
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January 17, 2010
Spring prep
As we look towards Signing Day, the official roster got a bit bigger with the addition of some early enrollees, announced 5th year players, the return of a former preferred walk-on, and a QB recruit who will stick with ND.On Tuesday, the largest group of early enrollee football players ever all settled into their dorms and started classes. Here's the list of the five early enrollees...
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January 14, 2010
Don't Drive Angry.
If case you were wondering why I called ND's hiring process "lengthy" and "labyrinthine" in the past few posts, well, the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen sheds some light on why...
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January 13, 2010
A fully-staffed staff
Though perhaps over-shadowed a bit by Lane Kiffin becoming Public Enemy #1 in the state of Tennessee, the rest of the ND coaching staff was finally officially announced yesterday evening after all members had made their way through ND's labyrinthine hiring process. First up was the new strength coach and his assistants. As expected, Paul Longo will be the new strength coach...
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January 13, 2010
Most Hands on Board
A few of ND's newest assistant coaches managed to finally come out the other end of ND's lengthy hiring process and can now hit the road to help Brian Kelly and Tony Alford recruit. Mike Denbrock, Mike Elston, and Chuck Martin were officially announced late tonight on und.com.Mike Denbrock, who coached at ND under Willingham, will coach tight ends at ND. Mike Elston, who...
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January 05, 2010
Checking the cupboard
While we wait for the coaching staff to be officially announced during this week, let's take a look at the players they will be coaching. When Brian Kelly was hired, he stated that he didn't care what he didn't have on the depth chart, he only cared what he did have. This post will take a look at those players he does have, specifically the ones that got some playing...
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January 04, 2010
Meet the Presses
When Kelly was hired, I had three major concerns about how he would make the transition. Over the years he has clearly proven that he knows how to coach, but I wondered about how he would assemble a coaching staff to compete against some of the best staffs in the country, how he would recruit nationally against those same elite recruiters, and how he would handle the media on a much...
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December 31, 2009
Kelly grabs his first
Quick, name the first player to publicly commit to Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis. The answer for the Brian Kelly era is Kentucky athlete Austin Collinsworth.The son of former NFL player and current NFL announcer Cris Collinsworth, Austin was just offered by Kelly a few days ago and didn't take very long to make his decision. His commit brings the 2010 class tally back to 18...
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December 21, 2009
It's Unanimous
Golden Tate's run of post-season awards has resulted in him becoming the first Notre Dame wide receiver to win the Biletnikoff Award for the nation's best wide receiver and the first Irish Unanimous All-American since Shane Walton in 2002. He's the first offensive player to reach the unaimous status since Aaron Taylor in 1993 and the first WR since Rocket in 1990.The...
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December 17, 2009
The first few days
Whenever there is a new football coach, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the excitement and promising possibilities given the clean slate of a new coaching staff and feel-good quotes from the press conference. However, in the particular case of Notre Dame football and our recent history of hires, it should be just as easy, and perhaps even a bit wise, to stay jaded and treat...
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December 16, 2009
Prowling the Sidelines, one last time
There's obviously a lot to read about the Kelly announcement. But one of his quotes in particular (from Hansen's article in the SBT today) caught my ear:Within two years, Brian Kelly was the defensive coordinator. Two years after that, he became the head coach when Tom Beck was plucked from the top position to join Lou Holtz's staff at Notre Dame. The dominoes tipped...
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December 12, 2009
Officially Official
Just released...Brian Kelly Named 29th Head Football Coach at Notre DameBrian Kelly, a veteran of 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach -- and most recently the architect of two consecutive Bowl Championship Series appearances at the University of Cincinnati, including a perfect 12-0 regular season in 2009 that earned him national-coach-of-the-year honors – tonight has been named...
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December 10, 2009
Brian Kelly: Notre Dame Head Football Coach
Making it even more official.Notre Dame football: Kelly to be next coachBy ERIC HANSENTribune Staff WriterFollow me on TwitterSOUTH BEND — The search is finally over.According to two university sources familiar with the search process, University of Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly will be named Charlie Weis' successor at Notre Dame.Kelly is expected to meet with his team...
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December 10, 2009
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