When Jack Swarbrick officially announced the Notre Dame football schedules for the next three years he spoke about scheduling the Irish to play in all parts of the country and against tough competition to help the Irish build a strong playoff resume each year. What he didn’t say though was that the schedules for the next three years give Irish fans a ton of options for some awesome road trips.
Aside from seeing Notre Dame host programs like Texas, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in addition to yearly staples like USC and Stanford, Notre Dame will have at least two great road trip options for fans each of the next three years.
October 18, 2014 – at Florida State
Fresh off their title run this year, Florida State will host Notre Dame next season. With Jameis Winston returning, Florida State is going to be a top 10 team again next season. Notre Dame’s last and only trip to Tallahassee came in 2002 when Tyrone Willingham led the Irish into Doak Campbell Stadium and took out the Seminoles 34-24. Notre Dame traveled to play Florida State in 1994 as well, but the game was played in Orlando. Notre Dame has to play both Michigan and Stanford earlier in the season so how those games play out will determine if this game is a matchup of top 10 teams.
November 8, 2014 – at Arizona State
Notre Dame and Arizona State played a great game this season in Dallas and Todd Graham has the Sun Devils poised for another good season in 2014. What will make this an attractive road trip for fans though is the venue. Temple, Arizona in November will make for a great long weekend for Notre Dame fans. This game will be the first of a rough four game stretch to end the season for Notre Dame next season. Following Notre Dame’s trip to Tempe, the Irish will host Northwestern and Louisville and then end the season in Los Angeles against USC.
September 12, 2015 – at Virginia
A week after starting off the 2015 season by hosting Texas, Notre Dame will travel to Charlottesville, Virginia for the first time ever to play the Cavaliers. The two programs have actually only met one time – the 1989 Kickoff Classic in Giants Stadium. Notre Dame won that only meeting 36-13 in the first game in defense of their 1988 National Championship. Charlottesville is an awesome college town and Scott Stadium is a pretty intimate environment to watch a game.
October 3, 2015 – at Clemson
Back when Notre Dame announced that is was joining the ACC in sports other than football and hockey, one of the venues that we talked about really wanting to visit was Clemson. Memorial Stadium, aka “Death Valley”, is a raucous environment that many Notre Dame fans would like to see Notre Dame Stadium resemble in terms of intensity and decibel level. Notre Dame has played at Clemson just once before in 1977 on the road to their 10th National Championship during Dan Devine’s third year at Notre Dame.
November 21, 2015 – vs. Boston College @ Fenway Park
I already wrote about how amazing of a road trip this game will be for Notre Dame fans, but its worth repeating. Notre Dame, in Boston, in Fenway Park. Sign me up right now. Tickets are likely going to be at a premium for this one due to the size of the stadium, but Notre Dame fans have almost two years to start saving so that shouldn’t be an excuse. I finally got to Fenway Park for the first time this fall and got to see the Red Sox score 20 runs, hit 8 home runs, and David Ortiz collect his 2,000th career hit. I’m hoping to see some offensive fireworks out of the FIghting Irish for my second trip to Fenway Park.
September 3, 2016 – at Texas
Notre Dame last traveled to Austin in 1996 during Lou Holtz’s final season in South Bend. 20 years later Brian Kelly will lead the Irish into Texas Memorial Stadium once again. In the 1996 matchup Notre Dame won a nail bitter when Jim Sanson hit a last second field goal as time expired. This game will kick-off the 2016 season for Notre Dame what better way to start things off than a road trip to Austin, Texas. Texas comes to South Bend the first week of the 2015 season so one of these programs will also be looking for revenge when they face off in Austin.
November 12, 2016 – vs. Army @ Alamodome
This matchup probably won’t get too many fans overly excited but the venue and city will make this one worth the trip. San Antonio is a great city to visit and the River Walk will give fans plenty to do before and after the Irish and Black Knights square off. An added bonus for this game is that the pressure should be off in terms of coming out of the trip with a victory. Sometimes even a great road trip can be soured by a rough loss. That shouldn’t be the case with this one. At least we all should hope that’s the case.
There are some other away games worth checking out that probably won’t require a lot of fans to have to spend too much money on a road trip. The Irish will be playing in Indianapolis for instance next year. Lucas Oil Stadium is located right in downtown Indy with a lot fun bars and restaurants within walking distance. Notre Dame will be playing in Irish fan hot beds like New York, Washington DC, and Philadelphia as well.
Bottom line. If you are a Notre Dame fan living in the United States, there are going to be plenty of chances for you to see the Irish in some excellent venues over the next three seasons.
kind kelly get to the top, here is how others do it.
SEC Defensive Coordinator Salaries
The Southeastern Conference, or SEC, is the premier conference in college football. An SEC team has won the Bowl Championship Series national football championship every year since 2005. Salaries for SEC football coaches are among the highest in the country. Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder are the highest-paid defensive coordinators in college football at $950,000 and $850,000 a year, respectively. Tennessee defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri signed a new contact in 2012 at $800,000 per year, Georgia’s Todd Grantham inked a new deal at $825,000, and LSU’s John Chavis signed a mammoth three-year contact in 2012 paying him $900,000 annually.
Big 12 Defensive Coordinator Salaries
Salaries for defensive coordinators are somewhat lower on average in the Big 12. In 2010, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables received $449,000, Texas A&M’s Tim DeRuyter earned $400,000, and Nebraska’s Carl Pelini pulled in $375,000. The defensive coordinator for the Texas Longhorns, Manny Diaz, was paid $625,000 in 2011. Kansas University’s Dave Campo (the former defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys) received $500,000 in 2012.
Related Reading: The Pay Scale for a Student Services Coordinator
Big 10 Defensive Coordinator Salaries
Defensive coordinator salaries in the Big 10 conference ranged from $250,000 to $750,000 a year. Both Ohio State’s defensive coordinator Luke Fickell and Michigan’s Greg Mattison have contracts worth $750,000 annually. Pat Narduzzi of Michigan State earned $500,000 in 2012; Tim Banks of Illinois made $400,000; and Tim Tibesar of Purdue is the low man on the Big 10 defensive coordinator totem pole, earning a mere $250,000.
Please tell me you will find the offense before 2013 runs out.
Jeff,
I might be able to lay down a ‘bunt’ and that would be with an ambulance close by! I love California’s 82 degree weather. Especially San Diego and warmer Palm Springs. I covered many conventions in those locations.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I hear Hendrix wants released from his scholarship. I wish him well in his future endeavors.
Kudos Storespook,
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Were you up eating the cookies and milk for Santa? Did you say Ho Ho Ho for the little one(s)?
My grandkids always check the cookies and milk to verify if Santa stopped by! Ho Ho Ho! Gota Go!
We have that traditional also including giving the reindeer carrots.
Kool…I forgot about your corn fields in Iowa…great idea! I love early bow season, I can still put six arrows on a paper plate @ 40 yards. However, not at Xmas time with the grandkids around! I would have handout two many kleenex! Grampa shot Santa’s reindeer! Hahaha! Bad, real bad!
Stay warm in the great state of Iowa…Chicago was 22 below yesterday. I am suuure glad I left South Bend for the Mid-South! 45 degrees today and 63 on friday!!!
Sounds like your having a great Christmas!
Peace!
JC
Wow minus 22 in Chicago yesterday. Thats crazy. It was 82 in SLO, Calif today. Playing Pebble Beach Golf course Friday for the first time. Six in the paper plate from 40 yards is impressive but what i really want to know is can you still catch up with the 85mph riser from 40 feet?
Merry Christmas
Jack,
We end up on the short end of the stick every year going on 26 years. BK will not hire anyone who could replace him. So no worries, the BK system definitely sucks, and a damn good reason why we got our ass handed to us by bama. BK is clueless in Div I just like CW. Lou had more successful Div I experience than the last four head coaches combined. BJ is also right on pulling the marketing trigger before the title. We cannot wish ourselves into an elite team, you have to earn it. So putting the elite marketing cart before the horse will produce more mega ass kickings in the limelight for all to vomit. If we are not as good as Duke under BK….What’s next? Do you really think we are are going anywhere with 6 to 7 ranked teams on the schedule for the next three years? We are not the damn four horseman! Ask Texas the King of marketing (139 million in revenues) how many titles that has boughten them since 2008? Texas should have bought Saban for 40 million out of their 82 million in profits if they are really serious about a title program. ND will not win a title on name alone or with BK either. ND is OLD OLD NEWS winning Championships! You either hire Saban or Meyer if you really want to win a title, or if not, just live with glitz and glamor mediocre results! End of story!
Also bj this is not a rining endorsement of BK, but if you are a coach you hire people that fit your system. If you system sucks, you lose and get fired.
its time for brian kelly to get real, put his ego aside and hire some great great oc, dc and special team coordinators. no more grand valley state or central michigan casting mistakes. is swarbrick clueless? where is the commitment?
Commitment
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
“Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
“I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.” VINCE LOMBARDI
“I love scotch!”
-Ron Burgundy
bj,
What you fail to realize is that all of these great coordinators came from great coaches and grew up in their system. I would rather Kelly hire a coach that believes in his scheme and coaches in his scheme. If you just go out and get names you get a Weis ran defense. I think he should hire someone that fits his system.
all they need now after the domerwood theatrics, dublin, fenway,uniform and helmet changes is a coach that can win a national title and hires assistants with big school, bcs type experience, not grand valley state or central michigan, swarbrick is on the wrong mission, he needs a winner before he maximizes the exposure
Amen bj,
Spot on…the PC boys need to wake-up! I love the elite schedule but, where’s the elite team after 4 years of excuses!
Like the great Rockne wannabe said: “WE ARE WHO WE ARE!”
Really? Absolutely amazing, interesting college football mantra for maladroits.
Further, how about the Toilet Bowl: #20 Fresno State vs #25 USC, ARE BETTER THAN ND? Or how about the MIGHTY #23 Northern Illinois, ARE THEY BETTER THAN ND? Or how about #24 Duke? Duke is better ND??
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
Pathetic!!!
2012 National Championship game DA!
Three 8 win seasons DA!
Yeah, 2012 NC Game! Our infamous leader said: “atleast we know were we are!” (I could not agree more, a fluke next to bama!)
W
How about Michael’s TD catch GO IRISH
congrats to Theo Riddick on his first (of hopefully many) NFL td’s!
Seems to me like ND has to play most of the tougher ACC teams on the road. Not only should they insist on them playing at ND, but the games should be mid to late November when it’s the coldest
The definition of “homerism”? But hey – I like the idea, Mike!
LOL