SOUTH BEND, Ind.—When he concluded enumerating the reasons for dismissing his football coach Monday and setting the framework for finding a new one, Jack Swarbrick alluded to the Notre Dame legacy of Rockne and Leahy and Parseghian and Holtz, and his excitement about buoying that heritage.

And that’s the central dilemma facing the Notre Dame athletic director: Setting national-title standards while unearthing a coach who can rekindle championship magic now two decades old.
“This is a drought,” Swarbrick said as he announced Charlie Weis’ departure after five seasons. “And I have every confidence that we will end the drought and succeed spectacularly.”
Succeeding spectacularly starts with this search. Whoever anted up the eight-figure buyout for Weis probably not-so-subtly suggested that Swarbrick locate a grand-slam hire to justify the expenditure. What remains to be seen is if the available names match the demands.
Swarbrick said Notre Dame had “absolutely not” contacted any candidates before Monday. Regardless, Urban Meyer, Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy are all out of the running. Bob Stoops said earlier Monday that he was “going to be at Oklahoma next year, so I can’t be in two places at once.”
Early poking around led Swarbrick to conclude that there is “great interest” in the job. Interest is one thing, but ability to produce Bowl Championship Series berths is another. And that, unmistakably, is the standard.
“It’s absolutely realistic,” Swarbrick said. “I don’t think there are any endemic reasons why we can’t. ... And the standard for success in this industry now is to be in a position to be selected for the BCS each year.”
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s small-picture future actually might be just as fuzzy. Assistant Rob Ianello was pegged to run the program for now and would coach the team in a bowl, according to Swarbrick.
Golden Tate said Friday he will sit down with Weis and discuss what opportunities might await him at the professional level. Tate barely had digested Weis’ official dismissal when the NFL questions came again, and not shockingly, the next Notre Dame coach will be a factor in his choice.
“It could make a good difference or a bad difference,” he said. “I guess Friday, that’s when I’ll have a better understanding of that.”
There also appears to be no consensus on playing in a bowl. Defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore gave a “we’ll see” on the topic, while center Eric Olsen was more enthused.
“I can speak for all the seniors and the guys that this might be their last football game ever, it’s definitely something that we want to do, to play another game, to get that taste out of our mouths,” Olsen said.
Even when Weis would address the team as a whole or hold a news conference was unclear. But ex-coach speaking engagements were minimally important Monday.
Swarbrick wants someone who has “an ability to build and sustain a Division I college football program.” Leadership, he said, is “the whole key.” And it wouldn’t hurt to run a pretty stout defense, either.
“Given where we play and who we play, we need to be able to play good defense,” Swarbrick said. “There’s a correlation between BCS standings and defensive abilities. So it’s important to us, but it’s not a limiter in terms of the background of the coach.”
Everything is on the table, including contacting coaches whose seasons are not over—i.e., Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly. It must be so, because it has to be the “full-bore” search that Swarbrick promised. Notre Dame’s aspirations require thinking without limitation.
“I’m confident that the resources are in place to have really qualified coaches excited about coming here,” Swarbrick said.
It’s a critical moment for Swarbrick to prove himself right.