STANFORD, Calif. -- When last we heard from Bob Stoops about coaching at Notre Dame, he was tongue-lashing the media on the subject -- though not exactly issuing a denial worthy of a tongue-lashing. "There's not even a job [open] at Notre Dame. That's ridiculous,'' he barked. "Some guy makes stuff up.'' Uh, hear any sort of refutation in there?Me, neither.
Well, the job most likely is open effective immediately, with the glare of the Golden Dome beaming directly upon the Oklahoma coach. And let me say here amid the evergreens of Stanford Stadium, where the football program has succeeded at a finer institution of higher learning while the Fighting Irish have not, that Stoops would be thebest candidate to replace Charlie Weis. He has a marquee name. He has a national-title pedigree. He has years of experience in big games. And he's Irish, Catholic and a Midwest native, all things paramount to any Notre Dame coaching candidacy, though sometimes I wonder why heritage, religion and geographical background really matter at the most national of football programs.




