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http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/19447559.html

Bubba Cunningham
The Tulsa Athletic Director is a Notre Dame alum and previously served as an Associate Athletic Director for the Irish. Before Tulsa, he was the AD at Ball State.

Steve Orsini
The SMU Athletic Director is also a domer. He knows all about Irish football as a former captain on the '77 National Championship team.

Rick Chryst
Another Irish alum. Chryst is the Commissioner of the MAC. He has not been an AD before, but knows all about being those BCS meetings.

Bernard Muir
The Georgetown Athletic Director is not an alum but served as ND's Deputy AD under Kevin White prior to leaving for G-Town.

Gene Smith
Ohio State's Athletic Director would be a major score for the Irish... if he is interested. When asked Saturday about his interest in the position by a Columbus newspaper, Smith elected not to comment. He was a member of the '73 National Championship team.

John Paxson
The former Irish basketball player is not being mentioned by many, but would make for an interesting candidate. Paxson knows a lot about winning, clinching a NBA title for the Bulls with a game-winning shot. He also knows about running in a big-time program, currently serving as the General Manager of the Bulls. Pax does not have any college experience, however. He also does not have experience with football.

Missy Conboy
The former Irish basketball player has been Notre Dame's Deputy Athletic Director for the past few years, having worked in the Athletic Department for two decades. She is currently taking over the AD position on an interim basis.

Other Candidates
Associate Athletic Directors John Heisler and Bill Scholl could also be considered.

Go Bubba Go

Betcha Gene Smith gets the first right of refusal before they look at the guy from Tulsa and Orsini.

I bet Steve-O ends up landing his dream job.
Hope not, but I bet he does.

I'll admit to being a little nervous on this one. Still think Steve stays here and ND looks elsewhere.

Big Steve O fan, who wants him to achieve his and our goals for athletics at SMU. But, if ND calls, I won't hold it against him.

Let's hope he stays, gets us to the top 25 in all sports.

I don't think it's a sure thing he goes to ND. He'll have to do a turnover of the culture there and I don't know that those people, particularly the trustees, will give him the power to do what he wants...alum or not. If it's anything like how they treated Kevin White during the whole Willingham affair, I can't see him even wasting his time with that situation.

That is an interesting point of view. Here things have been so bad for so long that many of the influential adminstrators/boosters/alums handed over the reigns to Steve and said whatever you have to do then do it. At Notre Dame they still have a very heightened sense of who they are and the way things should be done. SMU has taken the steps under Orsini that needed to be made for us to get out of the dungeon. Culture change at Notre Dame could be a very difficult proposition.

Having conceded the primary to Notre Dame, I could make the case that Steve would be better serve by staying and getting to an actual "mission accomplished" (sorry for the analogy) story.

He has us in a much better situation with two new, high profile revenue sport coaches, succeeded in getting key boosters to ante-up and shown SMU alumni, fans, students and recruits that we are back in the game.

What we haven't accomplished is the results of this campaign yet. At SMU and in Dallas, Steve can write his own powerful story. At ND, that would be debatable, if even possible.

I won't diminish the appeal of returning to his own alma mater, a genuine, high profile player in college sports;but Steve may like the real phoenix story here in a wonderful city and market.

If they offer, he goes, and I'll wish him well. You're right that ND might be more resistant to change some things, but rest assured, Steve-O has an ego, too, and will race up to Dear Ol' Alma Mater with the confidence - either right or wrong - that he can get it done.

I always thought that the Pope was the ND athletic director.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 7334.story


http://www.modbee.com/2051/story/314680.html

There's a Target ad next to this thread showing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the Notre Dame campus for sale for $19.99. >

Prophetic?

I thought the president of NBC Sports was the AD of ND

Orsini has left SMU athletics in much better shape than when he found it.