Notre Dame football won’t be facing Mark Stoops after all

There was a time when Notre Dame football fans thought they might be facing Mark Stoops in next year’s season opener. That’s not happening now.

There is a lot of uncertainties about Notre Dame football in 2024. Who will be the starting quarterback after Sam Hartman leaves?

Will Al Golden leave for a head coaching job? Will Gerad Parker still be in charge of calling plays?

For one shining moment on Saturday night, it appeared one thing that we did know about next season would be who would helm the Golden Domers’ season-opening opponent. It was supposed to be Mark Stoops.

That was until Texas A&M fans clarified they didn’t want him. They really, really didn’t want him.

They not wanted him so hard that it appears that either he said hell no, or Texas A&M pulled the offer, depending on who you ask. What is clear is that it took about an hour for things to change dramatically.

To be fair to Mark Stoops, the move never made a ton of sense. Texas A&M just fired a rock star of a head coach. Someone who is a solid strategist but hasn’t put up eye-popping numbers with Kentucky seemed like an odd fit.

Maybe the Aggies felt like they needed to go with substance over style. But it feels like there are guys out there who offer both.

Notre Dame football waits on news for Texas A&M head coach

How much does it matter in the long run that Stoops isn’t going to be the guy? Probably not that much. It’s not like the Aggies are an annual rival for the Irish.

Two things are going to be true of whoever is in College Station when the Notre Dame football team opens there next August 31:

Whoever takes the job will have a ton of talent to work with. And whoever takes the job will have a tall task ahead of them for Game 1.