OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 5:50 a.m. ET July 17, 2008

Matt Hayes

Notre Dame is soulless, everyone.

The once-proud university has become a corporate gorilla that has lost its trend-setting, peace-making, ever-loving way.

Don't believe it? Listen to the sanctimonious blowhards weep and whine about the hiring of Jack Swarbrick as the new Irish athletic director. You'll hear how Notre Dame is football-obsessed; how president John Jenkins and the board of trustees run the program with an iron fist; how Swarbrick will be no different from former athletic director Kevin White, a great man who had no control over the hiring and firing of the football coach.

You'll hear how Jenkins and the board of trustees are the prime example of what's wrong with college football. To this I say:

So?

Presidents and boards of trustees have been running big-boy football programs for decades. Anyone who thinks differently is a few yards shy of 100.

It's not a Notre Dame thing; it's an institutional thing.

Jeremy Foley is the nation's best athletic director. He is paid better than half of the 120 Division I coaches -- about $1 million a year -- to run one of the top three sports programs in the nation. And when it comes to football, he's No. 2 in the administrative hierarchy at Florida.

When Foley set out four years ago to hire Urban Meyer, he did so with the blessings of president Bernie Machen. Foley's dogged pursuit of Meyer -- he eventually beat out his good friend White and Notre Dame for Meyer -- is legendary. And you know what?

If Machen wanted Derek Dooley, guess whom Foley would've hired?

"Certainly," Foley says, "it doesn't happen without our president being involved."

That's not minimizing how Foley convinced Meyer to walk away from his dream job at Notre Dame. It simply shows the reality -- and enormity -- of the situation.

Randy Spetman, a highly regarded administrator at Utah State and Air Force, recently was hired as athletic director at Florida State. But you better believe president T.K. Wetherell will be -- in the parlance of our political times -- the Decider when it comes to Bobby Bowden's departure. Wetherell already has decided who will replace Bowden (Jimbo Fisher), and former athletic director Dave Hart had little say in that matter.

Tim Curley, one of the most respected ADs in the nation, has no say when iconic coach Joe Paterno goes. Penn State president Graham Spanier will decide when, where and by what means -- and who will replace him.

Mal Moore, a guy who doesn't get nearly enough credit for what he has accomplished at Alabama, had zero say in Mike Shula's firing two years ago.

A year earlier, he gave Shula a contract extension.

Here's a quick flowchart of the administrative absurdity of college sports: the boards of trustees hire and fire presidents, who hire and fire the NCAA president, whose organization is, in theory, the upstanding conscience of amateur sports.

Now all of a sudden, out of the clear blue, something so insignificant as the new athletic director at Notre Dame has our hairs tingling. Here's a hint, everyone: Google Bobby Lowder and bask in the glory of who runs Auburn football -- yep, the board of trustees chairman.

Yes, Jenkins and the ND board of trustees ran former coach Ty Willingham out of town. And you know what? Washington's Mark Emmert -- a brilliant, hands-on president -- will be the Decider if Willingham can't get things turned around this fall in Seattle.

Swarbrick, like every other big-boy athletic director, has a huge job of managing and overseeing a multi-million-dollar sports budget, Notre Dame's monetary position in the BCS structure (read: the Irish want more cash) and facilities upgrades. It's a tough and often thankless job.

Imagine how much harder it would be if he actually were the Decider.

MORE FROM NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

Notre Dame Central Section Front

Notre Dame season preview Hansen: Keys for Irish vs. San Diego State Hansen: Potential difference makers for Irish and SDSU Weis worried about unexpected vs. San Diego State Predictions 101: Irish to roll in opener Hansen: Five Irish who could surprise Walters: Clausen will be most impactful player Hansen: Players more comfortable with Weis Notre Dame approaching 20 years without a title Hansen: Irish youth movement in full swing Notre Dame Central Section Front   Add Notre Dame Central headlines to your news reader: