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Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he reached out to a number of people during the search for Notre Dame's next football coach.
But one of the most important groups Swarbrick listened to before deciding on Brian Kelly was the players.
Armando Allen, Dayne Crist, Michael Floyd, Kapron Lewis‑Moore, Zach Martin, Kyle Rudolph, Brian Smith, Chris Stewart and Manti Te'o were the players who shared what the team would want in a new coach.
"I couldn't have been more thrilled to be a part of that," Rudolph said. "For him to take the time and find out what we are interested in and what we care about says a lot about him and how much he cares for this university."
Swarbrick said the players didn't offer any names to replace Charlie Weis, who was fired Nov. 30, but their input helped create the perimeters for what he was looking for in the next coach.
"They were critical in helping shape the criteria Swarbrick said. "I probably had seven or eight criteria when I started this. They added another four or five.
"Listening to them, hearing them talk about the program and what they are looking for and what they felt was important to win a championship, I got some great insight."
Rudolph said Swarbrick laid out a foundation for what the new coach needed to bring in relation to football and the class room.
"We added stuff like being energetic and being a younger guy that really gets in with the players and runs around practice," Rudolph said. "We got into development and strength and conditioning, things that we kind of expected would put us into the best situation to win."
