What they’re saying about Notre Dame not paying the Andy Ludwig buyout
The takes are flying. Social media was sent ablaze Monday night with Pete Thamel’s report that Notre Dame will not hire Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig because of his buyout being “an obstacle” for Fighting Irish brass.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported Ludwig’s buyout to be $2.8 million. The Irish administration not being willing to spent that amount on a candidate head coach Marcus Freeman brought to a Friday night hockey game in South Bend got the masses fired up on Twitter.
The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel threw shade at Notre Dame by calling a $2.8 million buyout “closing costs” in the SEC. The Athletic’s Notre Dame beat reporter, Pete Sampson, called the move not to flip the bill for the buyout “a bit of a shock” because the Irish had so much interest in Ludwig.
Award-winning author Jack Sacco sympathized with the rather large portion of the fan base that views Notre Dame’s unwillingness to fork out a figure just shy of $3 million as unserious and not dedicated enough to doing whatever it takes to field a championship-caliber program.
“Notre Dame, you have perhaps the largest and wealthiest fan base in the world,” Sacco wrote on Twitter. “Please support Marcus Freeman and give him whatever he needs to win a championship. Otherwise, you bring misery on all ND fans, including the ones who donated the cash for that $18 million endowment.”
Some of the fans’ and outsiders’ speculation is just that — completely speculative. One report from a credible source saying the Irish are not hiring Ludwig because of the buyout does not mean that was the sole determinant in not getting him to South Bend. But Thamel rarely misses, and making it about the money by any degree was not going to fly over fans’ heads.
One Notre Dame fan account spelled it out in numbers.
“Average ticket to a ND home game in 2022 was $389,” @NotreDame_Prime tweeted. “Andy Ludwig’s contract buyout was $2.8 million. Notre Dame makes an average of $30.2 million in ticket revenue alone per game … Absurd.”
Those figures aren’t verified, but the sentiment behind them remains the same. There is frustration in a school as powerful and wealthy as Notre Dame choosing not to spend an amount the administration could easily write a check for.
The Irish could still come away with a strong hire. The Ludwig buyout could become a distant memory. But for now, just a few days after Ludwig was sharing elbow space with Freeman cheering for the Irish inside Compton Family Ice Arena, it’s rightfully a major topic of conversation.
