Here’s what Notre Dame’s new running backs coach Tony Alford had to say about joining the Irish staff.
“Notre Dame is the epitome of college football,” Alford said. “To join a place with the tradition and history of Notre Dame is very exciting and I’m grateful to Coach Weis for extending me this tremendous opportunity.
“I have several people in my life that I greatly respect and use as sounding boards for important life decisions such as changing jobs. When this position opened, I counseled with those individuals and they were as enthusiastic about this opportunity as I am. I am very flattered that Coach Weis considered me for this post and my family and I are thrilled to join the Notre Dame family.”
Pretty much just some coachspeak for now, but I’ll be very interested to hear his first press conference to see what he says about the talent he now has to work with.
Jason:
I’m not sure I agree with you that Tony was hired for his reputation as a recruiter more than anything. He did a pretty good job coaching running backs at Iowa State and, just as importantly, he coached the kickoff return unit with great success. He had 1,000 yard rushers seven straight years and his return team was nationally ranked.
His reputation as a recruiter is, in my opinion, still suspect. Iowa State and Louisville aren’t exactly WOW schools that entice recruits to come. In fact Tony has not recruited anyone over 3 stars for Louisville.
I’m thinking his ability to coach running backs and return men is the primary reason for his hire. He has pretty much been a running backs coach his whole career which tells me this is what he knows. If he turns out to be a good recruiter, then that will be an added benefit.
apparentlty he was hired because of his reputation as a recruiter more than anything else. i wish himthe best of luck because the better he and verducci are, then the better the team will be. hopefully we can get some more updates on how the team is doing in recruiting as we near signing day.