Jack Swarbrick calls state of college athletics a 'complete disaster'

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick recently made an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show. There he made it clear that he stands on the current state of college athletics.

Swarbrick blamed those working in the industry for the issues he’s now seeing in it. In particular, he voiced his frustration with the recent changes in conference realignment.

“Complete disaster,” Jack Swarbrick said of college athletics.

At this point, Dan Patrick asked him how we got to this point.

“I wish I knew. And listen, I’m not — everybody in the industry has to take responsibility here. I’m not excluding myself from that. I think the decision-making lost its way in terms of the focus on the student athlete and what’s primarily best for them.”

The biggest piece of fallout from this round of realignment has been the death of the Pac-12, which is down to only four schools after six more programs joined USC and UCLA in leaving for either the Big Ten or Big 12. While it’s possible the conference will bounce back, Swarbrick also admitted that this might be the end of the conference.

“It’s looking that way more & more every day, yes.”

Since the movement of schools from the Pac-12, those remaining have looked for a solution. That includes Stanford and Cal trying to move to the ACC, which Jack Swarbrick reportedly made a large push for within the ACC.

“You can’t have two of the great academic institutions in the world not have a place to play. We’re working on (a solution). There’s still consideration of the ACC as a home for those schools.”

12 of the 15 ACC schools, which includes Notre Dame, need to vote ‘yes’ for admission into the conference to add either Stanford or Cal. As of now, four schools have voted ‘no’ to block the move. Still, momentum is reportedly gaining for these two programs to join the ACC. That push seemingly continues to be led by Jack Swarbrick.

What Jack Swarbrick previously said about Stanford and Cal going to the ACC

Earlier in August, ESPN college football reported Heather Dinich appeared on Get Up. There, she shared what Jack Swarbrick told her about Stanford and Cal being left behind in the Pac-12.

“I was texting back and forth this morning with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick,” Heather Dinich said. “Because it was reported and sources confirmed that Notre Dame was pushing for Cal and Stanford, and I want to read to you the text message that he sent that I can use on the record. He said, ‘The notion that two of the very best academic institutions in the world who also play D-I sports could be abandoned in this latest chapter of realignment is an indictment on college athletics.’ He’s absolutely right and that’s absolutely fair, but it is not the ACC’s job to clean up this mess.”