The search for a new athletic director has begun.  President Fr. John Jenkins gave no timetable for an announcement, but we expect to see something in the next few weeks.  There have been numerous outlets throwing names around, but no one has any real idea about who might be involved.  Here’s a few names that have been floating around as of late and the good and bad about these candidates, alphabetically.

Mike Bobinski (ND ‘79) – AD, Xavier University

The Good: He’s had a successful two stints with Xavier over the past decade.  He’s guided a successful basketball program and Xavier just started a club football team which could become bigger in a few years.

The Bad: He has no experience with directing a football program.  If he wants a chance, he’ll probably have to move from Xavier, something I’m not sure he will be comfortable doing.

Rick Chryst (ND ‘83) – Commissioner, MAC

The Good: Many say that Notre Dame’s AD is similar to a conference commissioner, so Chryst would have a great deal of experience (9 years) in that role.  He’s been successful in creating a popular conference tournament for basketball and has secured 3 bowls for MAC teams in college football.  Being a conference commissioner, he is well-connected and respected among the college athletics world.  He also looks to be an intelligent guy, graduating Notre Dame as a Rhodes Scholarship candidate and attending Duke University for Law School and graduating with honors.

The Bad: He has no athletic director experience at all.  And while Commissioner of the MAC is an impressive position, it’s not on the same level as a BCS commissioner.  Some MAC fans are also disappointed with his inclusion of Temple as a football-only program.  Getting Temple to switch conferences for basketball would be huge for the MAC and many fans were upset at that.

Missy Conboy (ND ‘82) – Deputy AD, Notre Dame

The Good: She has been around Notre Dame for a long time.  She also has a law degree and would be a monumental hire since female AD’s are still rare.

The Bad: No athletic director experience.  She also has ties to many of the failed regimes (White and Wadsworth) and there’s no guarantee she would have a different philosophy.  Way too big of a chance for Notre Dame at this point.

Bubba Cunningham (ND ‘84) – AD, Tulsa University

The Good: He’s considered to be an up and comer among college athletic directors.  His biggest hire was last year when he replaced Louisville-bound Coach Kragthorpe with Rice University football coach Todd Graham.  Graham led Tulsa to successful 10-4 record after having one of the best seasons in Rice history.  Before Tulsa, Cunningham was at Ball State for 3 years and at Notre Dame for 15 years.

The Bad: Like most of the other candidates, he lacks big-time college football experience as an AD.  Tulsa and Ball State, while fine institutions, are nothing like that of Notre Dame.  There are also concerns over his past experience with ND under Monk Malloy.  He was also involved in an interesting, but unpopular move to buyout a home-and-home against Texas Tech and schedule a one-and-done game against Arkansas next season.  The main reason was money, something that might be okay at Tulsa but would be looked at as inappropriate at Notre Dame.

John Heisler – Associate AD, Notre Dame

The Good: He is familiar with the program after being at Notre Dame for over 30 years in a variety of different roles.

The Bad: He is more of a publicist than an AD.  In his short time in charge of scheduling, he has been a disaster.  Not a good choice at all.

Joel Maturi (ND ‘67) – AD, Univ. of Minnesota

The Good: Maturi inherited an athletic program that was in disarray and has rebuilt it since landing there in 2002.  He spearheaded an impressive campaign to build a new and separate stadium on campus, to be completed in 2009.  As AD at Miami University, he hired the late Terry Hoeppner who guided the RedHawks to successful seasons before leaving to go to Indiana University.

The Bad: He is probably one of the older candidates for the position, in his early 60’s.  He made a questionable hire in football last season, bringing in an inexperienced but talented recruiter in Tim Brewster.

Bob Minnix (ND ‘72) – Associate AD, Washington State

The Good: African-American candidate who played football for the Irish in the 70’s.  He’s led the compliance office at FSU (err…wait a minute) and has had a lot of experience in college athletics.

The Bad: Bob has no head AD experience and his work at FSU might throw some red flags.

Steve Orsini (ND ‘78) – AD, SMU

The Good: He’s had two successful stints as athletic director at Southern Methodist and Central Florida.  At Central Florida, he hired George O’Leary, which looks to be good choice.  This past winter he hired June Jones from Hawaii to head SMU’s football program, a huge get for the university.

The Bad: While he’s worked at two decent sized programs, he doesn’t have experience at a big-time stop.  He also hired Matt Doherty as his basketball coach, which most veteran college basketball fans would question.

John Paxson (ND ) – General Manager, Chicago Bulls

The Good: A recognizable face to many, John is a high-profile guy in the NBA.  Under his leadership, the Bulls made a quick turnaround before having a tough season last year.  He is a famous ND graduate with impressive experience and an interesting portfolio.

The Bad: He has no experience in college athletics.  A number of Bulls fan also question some of his personnel decisions which have been questionable to say the least.  If offered the position, he’d be looking at a decrease in salary, something he might not be willing to do.