A major transfer of power became official last month when former NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua officially took over as Notre Dame’s athletic director. The University announced last summer that Bevacqua would succeed Jack Swarbrick, who took over the role in July 2008, with Bevacqua working under Swarbrick throughout the academic year to get a feel for the role.
Notre Dame and the college sports landscape are in a much different position than when Swarbrick arrived. The Irish have won 10 national championships in five different sports during his tenure, the most of any athletic director in school history. The biggest part of Swarbrick’s legacy is arguably what he’s done off the field, impacting everything from campus architecture to athletic facilities and the school’s media capabilities.
Swarbrick recapped all that and more last Thursday in a public talk at DeBartolo Hall. The event was hosted by Maria Wainscott, a senior at Notre Dame who planned and hosted the interview as her capstone project for the sport, media and culture minor. Here are the most noteworthy points from the hour-long conversation.
Changes to college athletics
Oh, where to begin? From the allowance of athletes to profit on name, image and likeness (NIL) in 2021 to the advent of the transfer portal in 2018 and the massive conference realignment that will take place starting next year, Swarbrick saw it all in his 16 years at the helm.
Swarbrick, now and in the past, is clear about his position. Athletes having greater rights than they did in the past is a good thing.
“It’s a fundamental shift in the relationship between the student athletes, the university, not just here, but everywhere. And by and large, it always is very positive. Very good for the student athlete. We were the first university in the country to advocate publicly for extending name image and likeness rating system. We were an early proponent of allowing transfer without the penalty of the lost year of competition or last year of eligibility. Both were driven by the same core principle,” he said.
But the current free-for-all situation is unsustainable, Swarbrick added.
“I had an NBA player say to me, ‘Boy, I wish we had this form of free agency’ ... If we want to have additional compensation for student athletes, fine, but let’s be honest about that, let’s call it what it is. Let’s figure out what it should look like and how it should be regulated. Right now, you can do anything you want, financial transaction, and call it NIL. It sort of ruins the whole purpose of NIL,” he said.
One thing that hasn’t changed is Notre Dame football’s lack of conference affiliation. The Irish remain in a power position in the college sports landscape, and as long as that remains the case, don’t expect that to change.
Other areas of college sports are changing, though. Another new change for 2024-25 is the College Football Playoff’s expansion from four teams to 12. Swarbrick had a heavy hand in creating the new format, which automatically rewards a spot to the winners of the four major conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC) and the next highest-ranking conference champion, plus seven at-large bids. The top four seeds will receive a first-round bye to the round of eight, which Notre Dame is automatically ineligible for, given it can never win, a concession Swarbrick was happy to make.
“A lot of our fans weren't happy with the fact that [Notre Dame] can’t have a bye, even if we’re ranked in the top four. The reason for that was that everybody else plays 13 games to qualify for the playoffs, we only play 12. So the way to address that for me … was to say okay, we’ll treat championship week, when you all playing the conference championship game, as our bye week. So we are getting a bye,” Swarbrick said.
However, further consolidation of college football could result in more changes. The Big Ten and SEC are head and shoulders above the rest of the sport, which could further shift the tides.
“We already have two power conferences. That’s the reality,” Swarbrick said. He also said that waiting to implement the 12-team playoff now, as opposed to two years prior when the concept was developed, is what ultimately led to the death of the Pac-12.
‘Be Irish’
One un-newsworthy but interesting peek into Swarbrick’s mentality was the slogan he tried to, but never could quite instill: “Be Irish.” It may not sound much different than the classic “Go Irish” chant that fills Notre Dame Stadium every fall. But to Swarbrick, it encapsulates not just Notre Dame’s special identity, but the school’s equally special commitment to it. At a time when many schools are trying to keep up with modern trends, Swarbrick’s focus has always been on doubling down on Notre Dame’s most unique traits.
“Go Irish is a cheer. Be Irish is a value statement … having our own identity, our own sort of values, and it reflects that. Be Irish. Be one of us. Believe in college athletics the way we believe on it. Act on that,” Swarbrick said.
While the phrase didn’t catch on, Swarbrick attempted to instill the thought behind it across the world of Irish athletics. That meant focusing on head coaches and making sure their sights are set in the right place.
“I’m leaving behind the best compliment of coaches in my 16 years. The coaches we have here now are really good and the future of these coaches is incredibly bright,” Swarbrick said.
When asked about what it takes to build a championship culture, Swarbrick said, “You have to be clear that that's your expectation. You’re always maxed out at whatever goal you set for yourself. And I always told our coaches, look, we love conference championships, hope we win a lot of them, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is national championships for Notre Dame. You’re not always gonna get there, but if you don't send an expectation, if you don't begin the year by saying, ‘What do you have to do to win a national championship?’ You are never getting there.”
Media landscape
Bevacqua is very experienced in this area from his time at NBC Sports and his six-year tenure at the PGA. However, Swarbrick built Notre Dame up from a passive player in this area to a leading force, a development that started with the creation of Fighting Irish Digital Media (now Fighting Irish Media) in 2011.
“I get the legacy question all the time, and I never answer without talking about Fighting Irish Media (FIM). There are a number of things I’m proud of, but that’s very high on the list,” said Swarbrick.
FIM’s growth meant so much to Swarbrick because he was starting from ground zero when it came to the University’s digital communications capacity. After talking with University president Fr. John Jenkins, he convinced him that developing FIM would benefit not just athletics, but create something that could be used by the University as a whole.
The same principle behind the creation of FIM explains much of Swarbrick’s tenure — a desire to be first, a leader in new frontiers. The latest evolution of this principle is in streaming, with Notre Dame airing one regular season game exclusively on Peacock each of the last three seasons. This was an idea that Swarbrick engineered — an idea he admitted that hasn’t always gone smoothly. But in a way, that’s sort of the point.
“I wanted to be a leader in that space. We were the first college to ever have a national television contract. We were the leader. We were the first one to have Lindsey Nelson doing highlights to the whole word. We were the leader in radio,” Swarbrick said. “This was clearly the future, I wanted to be first. I wanted to be first not just to claim the flag — I wanted to be the first one to figure out how to do it. Because it’s not the same.”
Moving on from Notre Dame
Board of trustees chairman Jack Brennan had a unique recommendation for Swarbrick about how to spend the beginning of his time away from the job.
“He said, ‘I want you to promise one thing.’ I said ‘OK, what’s that?’ He said, ‘Promise me you won’t do anything for six months,” Swarbrick said.
Swarbrick admitted that will be a challenge for him. The state of college athletics bothers him, and he wants to be a part of the solution. He will nonethless make an effort to follow that tip.
The talk ended with Swarbrick providing two different pieces of advice. The first was to his successor, who he believes has a better base than he did as a lawyer of nearly 30 years, but there will still be a learning curve.
“There's not much I can tell him. He loves this place as much as anybody I’ve ever met,” Swarbrick said. He did tell Bevacqua to continue embracing the school’s differences and stick to who Notre Dame is.
The final word was for those hoping to start a career in sports themselves. Passion is important, but Swarbrick cautioned that there’s so much more to working in sports than just that. And in his eyes, that’s the way it should be.
“Don’t be afraid to go do something else first,” Swarbrick said. “And then you’ve got a [transferrable] skill. If you really distinguish yourself in something then when you’re interviewing with me or Pete, you’ve got a different story to tell.”
And with that, Swarbrick concluded the story of his 16-year tenure as the face of Notre Dame sports.
