What they're saying: Reaction to Link Jarrett leaving Notre Dame for Florida State
If you had to try to craft the perfect goodbye speech, it’d look something like what Link Jarrett communicated in front of the Notre Dame baseball team this week. Nothing is perfect, but some things are pretty darn close.
Jarrett spoke passionately and affectionately about his time as the Notre Dame baseball coach. But sometimes people are called home, and that’s the way he felt about leaving the Irish to take the head coaching position at Florida State — his alma mater.
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Notre Dame fans understand his rationale for making the move. Who wouldn’t want to be the head coach at a program that shaped you, molded you and set you on a career course? Notre Dame fans also understand how wholesome Jarrett’s farewell address was from an Irish player’s perspective.
And so does the rest of the country.
“In a world where coaches continuously handle these situations as poorly as possible, Link could not have handled this any better,” tweeted Matt Sefcovic, a contributor for Card Chronicle covering Louisville baseball. “Kudos to him for facing his team before it was announced he was heading to FSU. That is a rare occurrence these days.”
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Former Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly faced his team before bolting for LSU last November, but fans on Twitter have pointed out the differences in the speeches. Kelly called a 7 a.m. team meeting less than 12 hours prior to it starting. Not every player showed up. He left the room in silence. No applause or reciprocated goodbyes.
“There is no easy way to do these,” tweeted Sosua Stoute, a radio personality for The Sports Den. “But I’ll say this, I’m sure those young men appreciated it more coming from him. I have to respect that.”
There were Florida State fans interacting with the tweet getting more and more excited about luring in an alum who treated the situation in the manner in which he did. There were obviously plenty of Notre Dame alums who felt sad Jarrett was on the way out but happy the program was fundamentally altered in a positive way by him for three years.
A coach can mean everything to a program, for better or worse. People like former Notre Dame football player Mike Golic, who played for Gerry Faust in the years leading up to the Lou Holtz era, know that.
“If a coach is going to leave, this is the way to handle it, be in front of the players, talk to them,” Golic tweeted. “Thank you for your time at ND Link, and best of luck in the future. Except against the Irish.”
