News » as ever given up in its first four games

Fans inside Notre Dame Stadium who were calling for defensive coordinator Brian VanGorders job on Saturday got their wish one day later, as Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly fired the beleaguered defensive coordinator Sunday and promoted defensive analyst Greg Hudson to the post.Saying that Hudson and every other staff member was on a public interview for the rest of the season, Kelly has turned to a fresh set of eyes in hopes of fixing a defense that has allowed 149 points through a 1-3 start, the most points the program has ever given up in its first four games.What I was looking for in this particular instance -- each situation you evaluate it at face value -- and what I was looking for, I thought Greg was the perfect fit to bring that energy level up to where I want to see it, Kelly said during a conference call, shortly after the school announced the change. Guys play hard, but we lack some of the energy and enthusiasm and the fun, quite frankly, that you need to have when youre playing on defense.Notre Dame is 1-5 in its last six games dating back to last season, with its only win coming in Week 2 over Nevada. The Irish have allowed 206 points in those five losses.Notre Dame currently ranks 103rd nationally in total defense, 101st in scoring defense, 104th in yards per play, 96th in rushing defense and 87th in passing defense.Hudson had joined the Irish defensive staff in June and has coordinator experience at Purdue, East Carolina and Minnesota, in addition to serving as assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Florida State.Obviously, this is a difficult day for our coaching staff, but Im excited and honored about the opportunity that Coach Kelly has afforded me, Hudson said in a release earlier Sunday. Weve got to improve on defense, without a doubt, and Im confident that we will. We have great student-athletes and a tremendous defensive coaching staff. I cant wait to get started with our group.Kelly had staunchly defended VanGorder at every turn this season, even saying after Saturdays 38-35 loss to Duke that all 22 starting players jobs were up for grabs but that he was pleased with the coaching staff. He explained the change in public stance Sunday by saying that news conferences are not the appropriate time or place to evaluate his staff, an evaluation that he said took place Saturday night after the loss.Thats not the appropriate time to get into talking about your coaches and where do you feel they fit on that continuum of how well theyre doing, Kelly said. Im going to defend them in those public settings. As I got a chance to further evaluate our football team and our current situation I felt that it was in our best interest to make the move that I did.Kelly reiterated Sunday that the defensive vision and personnel will likely be tweaked in the coming weeks.You know, Ill spend a lot more time with the defense obviously, he said. But you know, terminology will stay effectively the same. Were not going to go and pull the rug underneath the kids at this point in the season.But youll see some certain tweaks that I feel like are necessary and some things that I know that as a group, that we will collectively come to an agreement in our best interests.He added that his role will be more as a supervisor to help the transition following?VanGorders dismissal.Kelly said he did not consider a staff change in the offseason after Notre Dame lost its final two games in which it surrendered a combined 82 points, but he said he did evaluate everything internally following this seasons 50-47 double-overtime loss at Texas in the opener.Tax records released to ESPN.com this past spring showed that VanGorder had been among the schools highest-paid employees in 2014, making $1,106,156 in his first year. Multiple sources told ESPN.com that VanGorder had signed a three-year deal when he joined Notre Dame. By comparison, previous Irish defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, now the third-year head coach at UConn, had made $672,824 in his final season with the school, according to tax records obtained by ESPN.com.VanGorders son, Montgomery, is a redshirt sophomore quarterback with the Irish, and Kelly said he addressed the coordinators dismissal with the signal-caller immediately.Asked if an in-season turnaround now must be coach-led or player-led, Kelly said: It starts with the coaches, its got to be coach-led, and theyve got to start the fire. Then those players that have that intrinsic motivation, that fire within, they will come along with us. Those that dont, were going to leave them along the side. But this is going to start with the coaches. Cheap MLB Jerseys . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Cheap Tampa Bay Rays Jerseys . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. http://www.cheapraysjerseys.com/ . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Cheap Rays Jerseys China . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Cheap Rays Jerseys Authentic . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. Premiership contenders Melbourne have hung on to claim a desperate 20-16 NRL win over a gritty Newcastle at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.The Storms Fijian finishers Marika Koroibete and Suliasi Vunivalu were the difference, crossing for three of the sides four tries and coming up big in defence on several occasions.A spectacular try from Knights fill-in fullback Jake Mamo three minutes from fulltime set the game up for a grandstand finish.Mamo leapt over Storm fullback Cameron Munster to snatch a Jarrod Mullen kick out of the air, scoring his second try of the day next to the posts to put the Knights within striking distance.But ultimately it was too little too late for the Knights, who lacked the polish to finish off the match.Munster would make amends a few minutes later when he defused another bomb as Mamo was racing through on what would be the Knights last roll of the dice.The Storm momentarily move to the top of the NRL ladder with the victory, their 10th win in 11 games.It was the Knights 11th straight loss and they now appear destined for a second consecutive wooden spoon.Newcastle dominated territory and enjoyed aa 70 per cent share of possession in the opening 20 minutes, but couldnt manage to crack the Storm line.ddddddddddddKoroibete turned defence into attack in the 11th minute when he latched onto a spilled ball from Mamo and raced 85 metres to score.Newcastle finally turned possession into points 10 minutes later when Mamo, who was filling in at fullback for Dane Gagai, took a short ball from halfback Trent Hodkinson and touched down to score.The video ref had a look at a possible obstruction, but ultimately gave the Knights the green light, much to the chagrin of Storm skipper Cameron Smith.But the Knights lead was short-lived. Only three minutes later Vunivalu latched onto a Munster cut-out pass, beating two defenders to touch down for his 17th try this season.After halftime, Koroibete scored his second when he steamrolled over Knights winger Brendan Elliott to score in the corner.The teams then traded tries before Mamo sailed past Munster to score and set the game up for an exciting finish. ' ' '