Stability 1, Splashability 0

 I know what you're thinking, Domer Nation, on this second day of December. You're thinking Santa just brought you socks instead of that cool new virtual reality game you wanted.

You Domers, or some of you anyway, are thinking Notre Dame opted for stability over splashability, the hometown hire over the Vegas hire. Those of you who've been down a few paths with the Irish before might even be thinking this:

OH MY GOD WE JUST HIRED BOB DAVIE AGAIN.

Because, listen, there are similarities, as the elevation of Marcus Freeman to Notre Dame's head coach becomes an all-but-done deal. Davie was the defensive coordinator for an immensely successful head coach; Freeman was the defensive coordinator for an immensely successful head coach. Neither had ever been a head coach before Notre Dame promoted them.

Davie went on to win a few games and lose a few games and not be the answer in South Bend, which is why Notre Dame fired him five years later.

Freeman, on the other hand ...

Well. Let me tell you why this is not Bob Davie again, and why this is the hire that makes the most sense right now.

First of all, Davie inherited a flabby-for-Notre-Dame program, one that went 6-5-1, 9-3 and 8-3 in Holtz's last three seasons. Freeman inherits a program that's won 54 games in the last five seasons, is 44-6 in the last four, and, at 11-1 this year, could still shoehorn into the College Football Playoff if all the tumblers fall right.

You want to keep that going, you hire Marcus Freeman, who was Kelly's baller recruiter and whom a pile of choice commits have already said is the guy they're coming to ND to play for.

Ditto a whole bunch of players already in the program, whose loyalty to Freeman is absolute and who, thanks to the transfer portal, had easy access to other programs had Jack Swarbrick decided to go with the splashy hire.

A lot of folks seem to think that would have been Luke Fickell of unbeaten Cincinnati, the latest Hot Prospect. Notre Dame could have poached Fickell the way LSU poached Kelly, because that's just how it's done now. After all, Kelly came to ND from Cincinnati, and Freeman came to ND from Cincy, where he was Fickell's DC. So it made a certain amount of sense.

Here's the thing, though: If somehow Freeman doesn't work out (and most Notre Dame observers think he's the perfect guy to replace Kelly), Fickell will still be get-able. No matter where he is. 

That's the lesson of Kelly-to-LSU, see. It is a new day now, and just because a coach lands at Notre Dame and stays for 12 years and is hugely successful, it doesn't mean he's going to be there until he dies and they bury him next to Rockne. 

It means he stays there until LSU, awash in tradition itself, pulls a wad of cash out of its pocket and a bunch of incentives and oh by the way, Coach, did you know we've won three national titles in the last 20 years? When's the last time Notre Dame won one?

So off Kelly went, for $10 mill a year and (to him anyway) a better chance at a ring. You can slam him for that, and you can dust off outmoded concepts like loyalty and honor, but college football is what it is and has been for awhile: A culture as thoroughly corporate and professional as the NFL, in which looking our for No. 1 is the driving market force.

As Scrooge said when one of his business partners complained that his practices weren't fair: "No. But it's business."

True as true. Like it or not.