Feb. 5, 1997

An Interview With Coach Bob Davie

Q. Coach, a lot of the so-called recruiting experts made a big deal that you guys did a wonderful job as far as aggressiveness with recruiting, a couple said you were a lot more aggressive than the last few years with Notre Dame recruiting. Would you explain what they were trying to tell us and what you did differently, Bob?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I don't know what they mean specifically. I do know that this staff tremendously impressed me just with their tenacity and their willingness to really not take no for an answer in some cases. I do think that we were relentless. I do wish that we had more time. The only obstacle we really fought was time, because as you know in any coaching change there's some obstacles that are inherent. The longer the process went I think the stronger that we got. And we really were tenacious. We won several battles, all through late last week and really late in the last night and we've still got one out there. So I think we just got a bunch of good coaches that are enthusiastic about coaching. They're very competitive. And I think that's what's so exciting about the future.

Q. Did the coaching change hurt you guys at all, Bob?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think obviously anytime there's change, the time element becomes a factor. I got the job late in November, first thing I did was hire two coordinators and got that done quickly. We didn't have quite as many recruits in for the recruiting -- for the football banquet as we normally do. But, yeah, I think anytime there's change, just the element of time, you know, of trying to get the staff together, of trying to go back and reevaluate those players that were on the board, because let's face it we had a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, a new head coach. So we really tried to slow the process down ourselves, to make sure that every player we signed was someone that we really wanted. But you know in the end I really don't think it was a negative.

Q. I was just curious how your maybe prerecruiting expectations met with reality, how you would compare the expectations with what actually happened?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think we feel very positive about it. We know this is not an exact science, there's a lot of different ways to evaluate classes. Ultimately only time will tell. But our priorities going into this recruiting were No. 1 to find the right fit for the University of Notre Dame, to find kids that we felt really, truly belonged here, belonged on this campus and as a result would stay here. We feel that we did that. The second thing we did was to try to find players with speed. We felt like we accomplished that. When you look at Cooper Rego and you look at Tony Driver, Joey Getherall, to name a few. The third thing I thought we needed players with speed, also had some height to them. That's one thing I think the last several years, our fast players sometimes tended to be the shortest players. Particularly with wide receiver and defensive backs, I felt like we needed more height. And the third thing I think we needed to do was just go out and sign good, productive ball players, and not base it so much on potential. I wanted to see it actually on the films and on the tapes. So from that standpoint, you know, I feel like we were successful, and that's the criteria we used, and that's really the only criteria I'm interested in.

Q. You've got a kid now, Ron Israel out of New Jersey, could you comment on him, and especially his family background, his brother, Steve, played for San Francisco, and what he brings to you guys?

COACH DAVIE: I think he's a great kid and we were really excited to get him. He came in to visit, it was the weekend after he visited Ohio State and he really enjoyed Ohio State. We evaluated him as one of the top defensive backs in the country. He's a big corner, maybe could be a safety; was also a receiver. But the thing that I was so impressed with was his family. Both brothers played college football, as you mentioned one brother plays for the San Francisco 49ers. He knew what it was all about and his family knew what it was all about. And I think it really sends out a signal that he was able to be so strong after committing to us, because he was extremely highly recruited.

Q. Could you tell me what you like about Cooper Rego, and what plans you have for him?

COACH DAVIE: Well, there's no question that Cooper is one of the top running backs in the country. Once again, we were very fortunate, I think Urban Meyer did a great job recruiting him. He was in our summer camp so we knew exactly what we were getting. We were able to make an early offer on him. He had a great senior year, never once waivered. We went in and I appreciate him being patient with us, letting us come in as really a new staff and sell ourselves to him. And I was glad he gave us the opportunity to do that without waivering. He's an excellent football player, I've had a chance to look at a lot of tape on him. He's as fine a back as I think there is in this country.

Q. How do you plan to use him?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think only time will tell. It's so difficult to judge just watching those tapes, just exactly where he'll fit in with your team. Certainly with our situation at tailback, Autry Denson is really our only tailback coming back, so there's plenty of opportunity there for a young man to come in and earn some playing time.

Q. How many of these 19 kids do you see as making an immediate impact as far as next year? COACH

DAVIE: Well, I think that's almost impossible to judge. Hopefully not many will have to make an immediate impact. We've got some awful fine football players coming back and we've got some experience coming back, particularly on offense. But I think it's just impossible to tell. Certainly I'm comfortable with playing freshmen. We started-- Kory Minor started for us as an outside linebacker as a true freshman. Ivory Covington and Allen Rossum were playing for us as true freshmen. So I've got no problem playing a freshman. The bottom line the best player will play. I think time will tell what impact they'll make and how quickly they'll make it.

Q. Were there certain positions that you highlighted as far as recruiting this year?

COACH DAVIE: I think just skill positions in general, because I think it's -- I think you get into problems sometimes when you say you're just going to recruit receivers to be receivers, you're just going to recruit defensive backs to be defensive backs. I look at all those running back, wide receivers, DB-type players as just skill position players. And I think we were fortunate to sign so many quality skill positions.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Zak Kustok, the quarterback out of Orland Park?

COACH DAVIE: Zak is also a young man that committed to us early. He comes from a great family. I think he's only going to get better, I know Jim Colletto was in his home over the weekend, and he says every time he goes in to visit him he seems to grow an inch and matures. He's a young man with a lot of potential. Because of getting Zak Kustok we never really pursued another quarterback. With Zak we felt we had four on the roster for the fall, and that's why we really didn't recruit any others. So we're very comfortable with Zak.

Q. A couple of familiar names, Dansby, Wisne?

COACH DAVIE: I think so. Obviously when you talk about good fits, I think Melvin Dansby has been an outstanding student and citizen for us. And his brother, Melvin -- I think his brother is probably a little farther along as a football player than Melvin was when Melvin came out of high school, at least that's the consensus down there. And Andrew Wisne, obviously Jerry Wisne is here, and I think having Andrew here will really help Jerry's development as a player, because they're extremely close. But Andrew Wisne is a guy we felt fortunate to get. He was a young man, he was a basketball player as a sophomore, really didn't play football until his junior year. It's amazing how much he has developed since his junior year. And as you watch tape on him during the season he actually developed as the season went on. He was recruited by A & M and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and Kansas State and I think we've got a really fine football player there. But the thing I'm excited about is we obviously have two good fits in both of those young men.

Q. Coach, in past years you've recruited, Notre Dame has recrude 23, 24 players. And four years later 16, 17 are still here. Out of the 19 you've got on the list right now do you have a pretty good feeling that you might have 18, 19 here in four years?

COACH DAVIE: That was a priority to us. And really the process and evaluation maybe was done a little bit differently. As I mentioned, my first priority in all of these young men that we brought in and offered scholarships to was trying to find a proper fit. And what I did was I leaned heavily on the faculty. I think our faculty did a great job for us through this recruiting process. And different members of the faculty as well as different members of admissions interviewed each one of these prospects when they were on this campus. And then I leaned heavily on their recommendation as to the long range success of these players. And before I offered any scholarships I made sure that I had really the endorsement of the people I just mentioned, the faculty and admissions. And the second thing I did, I was in every home of every young man we offered a scholarship to. The third thing, 17 of the 19 young men that we signed the parents visited this campus on a recruiting trip, which I think is remarkable when you look at the distance some of these kids have come from. Make no mistake about it, as much as we think we tried to make the proper fit. And by those three methods of getting the faculty involved on their long range success, by getting in the homes and being around the family and also by having those families come on this campus, I think we did a good job evaluating that, at least the potential of them being able to stay here and be successful.

Q. In light of who came in last year, do you feel this is a pretty good compliment to maybe some of the weaker areas, in other words like the junior and senior class two years from now will be a good balance and they will carry the load of responsibility?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think so, and that's one advantage I think of having been here. I believe, for instance, we have 14 or 15 offensive linemen right now on scholarship. That's why we went out and signed really two offensive linemen. So knowing our roster and knowing our personnel I felt like it was pretty easy to evaluate what we needed and that is skill position players with some height. And I think another area -- we could give 21 scholarships, that was the maximum we could go to to get to 85. I would have been totally comfortable with 16 or 17 because next year we only have 12 legitimate seniors, the senior class. Now we've got five fifth year seniors, but that would be 17 scholarships next year if we would have gone to 21 this year. And I would much more balance that out over a two-year period and also take advantage of our whole coaching staff and our whole recruiting philosophy being intact for a year. Make no mistake about it, these recruiting classes really are in two-year increments, I believe.

Q. Coach, I read that you had hoped in the future to concentrate some of your recruiting efforts on the Midwest. Obviously you went all over the country on this particular year. Could you perhaps elaborate a little bit on that?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think so. I think you bring up a good subject. I don't think you can ever put just a numbers on how many you're going to take from a specific area, but one thing I would like to do is pull it in a little bit and get a little more of a true recruiting base. By that I mean Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, Indiana. I would like to pull it in and get a base and get more players -- start with an earlier evaluation period. By that I mean find out academically who fits in at Notre Dame earlier, athletically who fits in earlier. And then invite a lot more of these prospects, particularly from local areas, to our summer camp. And I would really like to get a strong recruiting base a little bit closer to home, if possible, so that we don't get in as many late recruiting wars so far away from home, because it's tough. Make no mistake about it, as special as Notre Dame is, and these people all over the country realize that, when you're fighting distance and you're fighting weather late in recruiting, it becomes quite an obstacle. So let's face it, we're going to recruit the best players all over the country, but I would like to get more of a base in more of a local geographic area. And then only go after top notch players from outside that geographic area.

Q. Coach, also it's been suggested that Notre Dame sometimes held too high of a standard in evaluations in recruiting, in other words there have been some reports, well, this isn't a particular good class, not a top 10 class. Other people said well if it was any other school other than Notre Dame, this would be considered a terrific class. Could you put your own spin on what kind of a class this is?

COACH DAVIE: Well, as I mentioned we had our set of criteria that we adhered to. And I felt all along that we would have a strong class, because I knew exactly what we were looking for. I think it's amazing sometimes when people try to decide for you or try to evaluate who you've offered and who you didn't get or who beat you on this kid when I think very few people really know that. And I've got a lot of confidence in our staff. We've got a lot of confidence in our ability to recognize players and recognize good fits for Notre Dame. So we're totally comfortable with this class.

Q. Coach, it was suggested by one recruiting analyst in particular that Notre Dame is going to have to lower its academic standards to win a national championship, that the standards are too high and the pressure to win a national championship at Notre Dame is too great, that this might could end up happening and if it does Notre Dame could end up compromising themselves. Could you answer that charge?

COACH DAVIE: First of all, Notre Dame is never going to compromise their standards. And secondly, I am in total agreement with that. After having been out -- this obviously being my first year as being the head coach and getting a chance to go across this country, there are a lot of good students out there that you could win national championships with. We had no problem finding enough good players that also had the type of academic background that can be successful at Notre Dame. So I think that's what makes us different. And I think that's what we sell. And if some of the people late in recruiting, the final issue did come down to academics. With Tony Driver it came down to academics. I knew with Hugh Holmes it came down to academics at the end. That's what we have, that's what we have to sell. That's what what's different about Notre Dame and in no way are we going to compromise those standards.

Q. Bob, what do you feel was your biggest coup in the recruiting, was it getting Irons or Driver or getting one of the other 16, 17 kids, sir?

COACH DAVIE: Well, you know that's a tough question to answer, when you go in those homes and you see the magnitude of the decisions for these kids. Some kids are more highly recruited than others. Some may have more to choose from, but all of them it's a major, major decision in their life and in their family's life. And I really think all of them are coups, because to convince anyone to put their trust in you and come to a university for four years, you're proud of the fact that they think that highly of you. I think each one of these 19 kids -- I'm proud that they decided to come and put their faith in us.

Q. Coach, how many of the 19 are running backs?

COACH DAVIE: Actually five.

Q. (Inaudible.) Is there a suggestion that you would make?

COACH DAVIE: It does get mad. And when you're -- it's amazing, but this year it came down to -- it seemed like in every state we were pretty much on the top kid in that state. And all of a sudden you've got -- like a governor calling the high school coach. I thought about giving the Pope a call. I wasn't sure what NCAA restrictions he was under. But it does get a little crazy at times. And the phone just rings nonstop. And very few of the calls are from coaches. It's from a lot of outside people, they'll want to know which coach is in that house that night, which coach came in and did a good job, which coach did a bad job, where are you leaning. But that phone rings constantly in those homes. And it's remarkable the pressure these kids are under, particularly when they have not made a decision early. It really mounts on them at the end.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: You know, personally I haven't given a lot of thought to it, but I wouldn't like it. I have a hard time -- the only early commitments or the only scholarships I perceive us making are kids that are in our camp. If kids come to our summer camp and they show us on the field that they're worthy of that scholarship, prior to ever playing a game their senior year, I'm going to have to see them in person, unless that kid is just a world beater that everybody knows is that kind of a player, and there's very few of those out there. I'm uncomfortable giving those scholarships out before a young man ever plays a down of football their senior year. If I was a high school coach, I believe I'd feel the same way. I'd hate to think that he's already achieved in the prospect's mind what he set out to achieve before he ever played a down of football his senior year. So I honestly hope not.

Q. Your first year you had responsibility for recruiting, you talked about the emotional roller coaster of the kids, what about you and (inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: No, really. We started out and I wanted to get the two coordinators on board right away. We had some players already set up for those first couple of weekends in December. And then in all honesty we slowed the process down. We slowed the process down and really wouldn't take commitments until we came back over Christmas and took the entire staff and went in here and just watched every kid on tape as a staff and really laid out our plans for what we were looking for. So we actually showed that process down until later in January. And the only thing I was nervous about was what that weather was going to be like late in January when we brought these kids in. I knew we had a lot of good kids coming in, I knew we had a great opportunity to get our share of them, we did a great job evaluating them, I knew they could get in school and be successful here. It was a matter of bringing them in and letting them see this campus. All I was worried about was the visit, the weekend. As we know here, that last weekend we had, the weather was bad. So a lot of it came down to my only anxiety was trying to forecast that weather. But I never did, I knew -- to be honest I knew I wasn't going to be injured on one recruiting class or one recruit. This is a long range thing. And building a foundation with the right people and the right coaches and making the right decisions, I wasn't going to panic. And that's why I said if we signed 16 or 17 I would have been totally comfortable, because I know that next year we're going to go out and be able to sign -- we'll have a great class next year, that's one statement I will make, just based on the work ethic and the tenacity of these coaches and all of us being on the same page and knowing exactly what we want.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Well, I really recruited just like I was an assistant coach. I tried to get out there and just recruit as aggressively as I ever did. It was a little bit different when you've got an assistant coach picking you up, and the rental car is waiting for you, and you've got somebody making the reservations at the hotel, and it's a little easier in a lot of ways. But you put a lot of miles on, because I felt a responsibility to see each one of these kids. And last week, for instance, I was in Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Houston, L.A., Phoenix, and back to South Bend last week. So being the head coach here, when you get spread out recruiting as we do, it's a big -- it's a lot of responsibility just physically being able to see each kid. But I felt like that was important.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: That's a great point. I think that's what really gives me confidence. You ask if you got nervous or you panicked. I never felt that way, because the response was so positive. Not only when you went out off this campus with the prospects and the families, but the faculty was so positive. And most of all our players. The bottom line in this whole process, those players sell your program to these kids that come on this campus. They relate, obviously, to the young men coming on this campus more so than we do. And it has really been so positive and I really appreciate our players doing that. Because it's not fun for them. But they felt like they're committed to the program and they know in all of our best interests that we need to get some of these young guys to sign. But I think the attitude was great.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Well, here, you know admissions is not done until their final transcript is in following their senior year. But I really don't foresee any problems, because we work so closely with them in the process of not only who we offer scholarships to, but just who we invited on the campus. So I feel pretty confident that we've taken the right steps to -- so that we don't get blind sided on anything later in the year.

Q. In terms of your slowing the process down, (inaudible)? COACH DAVIE: We invited 43 kids on the campus.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: There were just a lot of kids. When you took that pool of all those names on that board, when you went in and evaluated them as hard as we did in December with academics and just athletic ability and what we were looking for, that pool shrank down pretty quickly. That's a tough question, that's a tough question to answer next year what we'll do. I just know this year that pool of prospects dropped pretty quickly.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: I agree.

Q. Talk a little bit about Tony Driver.

COACH DAVIE: I think just persistence, you know. A lot was speculated on that Tony had made some kind of secret commitment back in August or September or whatever. I really don't think that was the case. He was a guy that we just stayed with. And I think at one point he was leaning towards Florida State, I don't think there was any mistake about that. But I just think by staying on him and developing a good relationship with him and -- and had a lot of people involved, Jim Colletto went down twice, Charlie Strong went down, Greg Maddison went down, I was down there. We just had a lot of people involved, and I think he really became comfortable with our staff. I think he really became comfortable with the staff and the direction it was going. And I think he was really comfortable with the academics. His family is from Glasgow, and he actually lived with a guardian in Louisville, so that he could attend Male High School, because he felt like academically that would be the best thing for him. And so academics are important to him. And I think in the end being comfortable with the staff and the academics at Notre Dame brings, that combination got him to come here.

Q. And as a player?

COACH DAVIE: I think he's a great player. I know the only thing I'm nervous about is John McCloud is going to get a chance to watch him play basketball. He's a heck of an athlete, 6-3, 210, can run and jump. And very mature. So I'm looking forward to watching him.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Yeah, I think as I mentioned before, these skill position players, if I was a high school coach I'd probably put my best skill position player as running back, and get his hands on the ball as many times as he can get his hands on the ball. Without knowing which one or which one specifically or whatever happens, we're not going to keep all 5 guys at running back. We just recruited the best skilled athletes and let the chips fall where they may. And that always takes care of itself. But once again getting guys that can run fast and guys that have a little bit of height to them I think was really important.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: I think we set out to get a bigger linebacker. We wanted a bigger inside linebacker, certainly Grant Irons is that. He is all of 6-5. So we do need a little more size on the inside linebacker position. We're starting out with him a linebacker and our full intentions are that he is a linebacker and will stay there. Hugh Holmes, once again, just an impressive basketball player. Runs and jumps and really a good football player. He'll be an outside linebacker, I think or maybe a will linebacker. And then Kevin Dansby, a lot like Hugh Holmes, just a good athlete that can run. And both of them are really good students. So we've got three good linebacker prospects. One of them is bigger, which I think we need.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: It's hard to tell right now. He really wants to be a rush backer, he likes rushing the quarterback. But we've got to find a backup to Kory Minor, a drop backer, and both of those kids being really smart, we may put both of them there, let them try to win a backup position, because we really do think they're talented.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: You know, I was kind of surprised because like -- even though I don't pay a lot of attention to all the media stuff, you do hear that, well, he now has kind of lost interest in Notre Dame. And the mechanics of me getting down there to see him got changed a couple of times. And then -- I mean once I got in that home, though, I knew we would be in it right to the end. I knew. So I kind of thought that, because I just heard those reports. But once he and I got a chance to just sit down and visit I knew right then we'd be in it right to the end.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: He's just a great kid. And I knew that he, by his story of staying at Male High School, it would have been easy to go back to Glasgow and play football, but he stayed at Male so he could also seek the type of education that he needed. I knew that education was important to him. So I knew we had a chance, because he realized that and he realized what Notre Dame could do for him. And he had sacrificed to get to that point. It would be silly not to take advantage of that sacrifice and come to a place like Notre Dame.

Q. When you talk about finding a fit, what kind of personality trait would jump out at you?

COACH DAVIE: I think the first thing is you've got to be a good enough student. You've got to be a good enough student that that fits, because let's face it, if you come here and it's just an uphill, uphill fight for you day one academically, that's going to wear on you. And so from that standpoint, that's why I leaned on the faculty so much and admissions so much and I really listened to what they had to say. And then it's just spending time with them and being with their families, finding out what really is important to them. And then the third thing is trying to get them. So it's not an exact science in any way. There's no set of questions you give them or anything, it's just having a feel. I think that's why having been here three years I think that helped me. And then from the academic standpoint I leaned on people that have been here for a long time, academically.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: You know, I don't really know. I really don't know. I just -- I just did.

Q. Talk about the running back (inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: He's at running back, he sure is. I've been after him for two years, now. No, he's going to stay at running back, sure.

Q. Trying to find the right fit (inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Well, as I mentioned that board, we brought in 43 visits, and I think the NCAA rule is 56, you're allowed to bring in 56. And it knocked some people out. And there were -- we didn't offer every young man that visited this campus. That's what I think sometimes people give opinions on who beat who in recruiting, it's not every young man that comes on the campus is offered a scholarship.

Q. But did you feel -- (inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Well, to be honest, we narrowed it down before we brought them on this campus. So, yeah, there's a lot of great players out there that we couldn't bring on this campus for one reason or another or we weren't comfortable bringing on this campus for one reason or another. It definitely limits. You go on the list of who the great players are, it knocks out a big percentage of those kids.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: No question. And I think if you look at our recruiting in the past, our football banquet weekend should always be big, because let's face it, it's a football banquet but also the weather. You get them here in early December, and it's more conducive to getting those kids. This year because of the coaching change we didn't bring in as many kids. So I think that hurt us a little bit. And then if you'll look -- you usually do get them in waves. You get them in waves, and on these weekends when these kids come in there's a certain chemistry, there's a chemistry, and you feel it and it's going good. And there's usually a tie to why they all kind of jump there at one time. Greg Maddison and I this morning, we came down to the wire on another young man that went another school and we were waiting there and we were waiting for Hugh Holmes both at the same time. And you get into what jinxes you and what doesn't jinx you. And I made Greg get up and leave, and I sat there and waited on the other one. They kind of come in waves. And there is momentum. Because the other thing, as I coach you get fired up. You get fired up and your energy and those kids get energy when they're making that decision, and it's contagious. And you're surprised how much kids call each other. Tony Driver called Grant Irons the other night, like Sunday night called Grant Irons. They've never met. If Tony Driver calls Grant Irons just to talk about Notre Dame, this is after he commits. So it all is contagious. That's why those recruiting weekends are so critical. Because you get all those kids there at one time.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Yeah, there's a bunch of numbers going on, I promise you that. But I don't make any promises on that. What happens those varsity players that are here always have first call on the numbers. But, yeah, there's a lot of that and a lot of things like that.

Q. How about the new stadium? (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: I think that's going to be a big benefit. I think it's a big benefit. And next near our offices, our football offices are right now in the process of being remodeled, we're going to start in the next day or so and redo this whole office complex. That combined with the new stadium, with the new meeting rooms in the stadium, new locker room, bring the players in the stadium where they can look up and see the new press box. There were some obstacles this year, on top of just the coaching change. So, yeah, all those things will be a factor, I think, in the future. And that's what I'm so excited about. I think that you really gain confidence just seeing how the staff and how the faculty work together, with all the new things happening. I think we're going to be tough to beat in the future recruiting, I really do.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: It could get to 20. It could get to 20 for sure, yeah. Why, do you know something? Have you heard something?

Q. Do you know anything good, bad or in between?

COACH DAVIE: I know it's close to good, but it's probably in between. They kind of all are in between right now when they get down to this point.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Yeah, I think you make a good point. I would like to have taken a one more pointer, one more true pointer. Brock Williams, the thing I liked about Brock Williams, he was in LSU's camp in the summer, and LSU tried really hard to recruit him. Second thing, Brock William's brother is going to be a high draft choice out of Southern University as a corner. So he knows what it's all about and he works out with his brother. He's a true corner, very confident. I think the way he handled this recruiting was very confident. He committed with about three weeks left and he was able to hang on right there close to LSU. And I like him. And as I mentioned before, Ron Israel is, I think, a great prospect as a defensive back. Whether or not one of those running backs can move over, I don't know yet. I don't know yet.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Maybe. It's hard to tell, though, until you get them out there and just -- particularly that position.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Well, it's not going with us. Next year what we're going to do is maybe some of you already know, we're going to change the process and Bob Chmiel is not going to coach a position. He's going to take 365 days a year and just find players and identify players. In fact we've already started. We spent the last several days junior recruiting for next year. So we are not going to wait on anyone's list. We're going to go get our own list, and not be dependent on anyone else. Because it is such a specific place to coach here, we have specific things. And I don't really trust that to anyone else. I want us to do that. And to do that you've got to have one person that does that 24 hours a day all year. So, yeah, we may use lists as a double check, but we're going to go out and find our own players and evaluate our own players.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Yeah. I mean it's a little different. I didn't know much about the Internet and that whole thing, but I do now. It's amazing some of the things, and the interest, and the interest in it. But it's kind of exciting to me. I enjoy that. It's fun to be in a kid's home when people care about what's happening. But it does get to be a little bit of a hassle. And what happens in the whole process, people get bits and pieces of information. They get bits and pieces of who really wants who and did they really offer this kid or did they really beat this school to get this kid or maybe they didn't offer him. It's hard for people to get the whole story. So a lot of stories get out there that aren't really factual.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: You make a great point. What I did -- there was a young man at Pittsburg that committed to Penn State. And I'm from Pittsburg, so as soon as I got the job, I was going back, I was going to try to get that kid. Before I did that I called Grant Teaff, who's the president of the AFCA. And I said here I am, I'm head coach of Notre Dame, I've known Grant a long time, and he knows I'm going to do things the right way. As far as ethics, what's your feeling on this? And he said as long as that young man and that family allows you to actively recruit him it's wide open. That whole commitment thing is just -- that's nothing, as long as the young man continues to let him proceed. Now if that young man wants to end that process by using that commitment to end the process, then that's a different thing. But if he entertains you and entertains the conversation, it's wide open. So it depends on how they make that commitment. Some of them are firm, some of them are wide open. If they're wide open we're going to take it right down to the wire.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: Did I hear it from the kid and the family. And then you make the decision. And I'm going to take it right to the signing date. Just like Hugh Holmes, as long as we have an opportunity and he welcomes us to recruit him because you know what, they're doing it with us.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: There were probably more than normal. There were probably three or four that made verbal commitments. And I'm sure we had some of our own.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: No, we didn't -- every kid that committed to us stayed with his commitment. And I think that's part of -- I really don't think we had any that waivered much. And I think that is part of really -- what I would do, I wouldn't accept a verbal commitment. You have kids that want to verbally commit but they want to take a visit the next weekend. That makes no sense. You're either coming or you're not. And if you're coming you don't need to go visit somewhere else. On a couple of these kids here, they wanted to commit earlier, I said no. I'm not going to shake your hand and take this commitment until you have totally gone through the process and you're coming.