Catching up with... Pat Haden

Pat Haden and Notre Dame football are improbably intermixed. That an award-winning quarterback at USC becomes a prominent part of Notre Dame football is undoubtedly odd, but Haden has become a staple of the Notre Dame broadcasts along with partner Tom Hammond.

In his own right, Haden is a fascinating character. He was a part of three Rose Bowl teams, a member of two national championship squads, and played professional football from 1975-1981. He was also one of the more distinguished scholar-athletes in college football’s history, winning the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which he pursued during the offseason of his professional football career.

After a solid professional career, Haden made a career in broadcasting, and 22 years ago started a private equity firm that has been one of the more respected in the industry. Many question Haden’s choice as a play-by-play man by NBC, yet after catching him on the phone during a layover in a busy terminal at LAX, it’s clear that Haden is as smart, thoughtful, and as insightful as they come.

(Who knew USC made guys like that?)

I hope you all enjoy “Catching up... with Pat Haden.

On what he made of the performance against Nevada:

I just think they have pretty good players that they haven’t had in a long time. I think that was my biggest observation, they were a deeper, faster, team. I thought they played brilliant on both sides of the ball. Jimmy Clausen was awesome and the blitzing defense of Jon Tenuta caused all sorts of problems against a pretty dangerous offensive team in Nevada.

On “drinking the Kool-Aid,” and an early judgment on the state of this team:

All I would say is, what’s the rush to judge this team just yet? Having said that, in Nevada, I thought this was a dangerous team for the Irish. I thought Nevada would score points. I didn’t know if Nevada could stop Notre Dame, but I thought they could score points, because they did against just about everyone last year. They averaged 37 points a game.

We were telling people to curb your enthusiasm if you will, but I think there’s a lot to look forward to, but I just don’t think we should judge the team just yet. Let’s wait a few more weeks. If they can beat Michigan, and I think if they can beat Michigan State in week three, then there’s some hope for the Irish faithful.

Michigan State is a little like Notre Dame in my mind, because Coach Dantonio has recruited a lot better than they have in the past, and they have some good young players there. Maybe they aren’t as highly thought of as Notre Dame’s, but they have a different style than what we’ve seen. It’ll be tough for the defensive coordinator for the Irish, because they play a different style team nearly every week. Spread teams the first couple weeks, then a pound ‘em team like the Spartans, then a balanced team like USC, then an option team like Navy. It’s a tough task for a defensive coordinator.

On the dynamic of defensive coordinators Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta:

I think Charlie Weis wanted Jon Tenuta as the defensive coordinator. And Corwin Brown is a good enough guy and secure enough in his role that he’s not worried about his title. Corwin told me Friday that in 20 years, nobody is going to remember the titles, they’ll just remember if we had a successful season or not.

On becoming the lead analyst for Notre Dame football, after being a USC Trojan:

I had been in broadcasting for about 15 years before NBC called me. I had first worked college football for CBS after I retired from the Rams. For 8 or 9 years I did college football, then did pro football for Turner Sports. When Turner lost the NFL contract, NBC called me to see if I’d be interested in doing Notre Dame broadcasts.

I get asked this question a lot, but NBC hires the announcers, not Notre Dame. They have a national broadcast, and they don’t want any appearance of bias, I think. I give NBC a lot of credit for doing it. I was an experienced broadcaster, and it was a great opportunity for me, as I’ve always had a great deal of respect for Notre Dame. And quite honestly, the six game schedule, it really kind of fit into my business life. This is my 9th or 10th year, which is a lot longer than I thought I’d do, but I’ve enjoyed it a great deal. It’s been fun.

On balancing a successful career with broadcasting:

I work full-time with my business, including when I’m at Notre Dame on Fridays. Usually I have several conference calls or whatever I need to do with work. Broadcasting is a hobby for me. I’m a partner in my investment firm, Riordan, Lewis & Haden, which I’ve been doing for 22 years now. We’ve had a long, successful track record at my investment firm that we’re very proud of.

On his life during an average Notre Dame home football weekend:

I arrive in South Bend on Thursday nights. We have a production meeting and dinner with Tom Hammond, our producers and director. By the time we get there though, we’ve already done a lot of homework. The first game is probably the most prep for me, as I don’t know as much about ND as I do after the first game. On Fridays, we usually watch game tape from 8:30 to 10:00. At ten, we meet with Coach Weis for about 45 minutes to an hour, then we meet with Corwin Brown for about 25 minutes or so, then meet with some players. Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Kyle McCarthy, Sam Young. We meet 4, 5, 6 players each week, hear a little about the game plan, what’s going on with their life, with school, and then get some stories that don’t have anything to do with football.

The Nevada came in Friday afternoon, we watched them walk through practice, talked to their head coach, quarterback, and a few other guys, but we’d already had a conference call with them on Wednesday for about an hour and a half. And then we do the game. By on Sunday on my flight back, I’ve already spent four hours working on Michigan State. I’ve already read about 30-40 articles on them. And Monday I’m back in the office, I’m back to work. I try to read an article or watch some tape every morning while I’m on the treadmill to prepare for the next game.

On mixing professional football and the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship:

I was drafted by the Rams, but I had received the Rhodes Scholarship. The World League allowed me the opportunity to play 6 or 7 games and then still go to Oxford. So that’s why I didn’t sign with the Rams. I signed in the World League, played 7 games, then went to Oxford. The next two years of my Rhodes Scholarship, I actually played for the Rams for six months, then went to school for six months in Oxford. I did my scholarship over three years, and I played football for all three years. They wouldn’t let me do that now. And then I came back and went to law school, and they probably wouldn’t have let me do that either.

On how this ND team will handle adversity?

I

asked Jimmy Clausen the same thing. I said, “Jimmy, why should anybody expect you guys to play better when you’ve got basically the same team?” He told me, “we’ve been together for three years now. We’ve suffered the highs and lows together, and we refuse to have as many lows. We’ve got great upperclassmen and leadership.”

That really resonated with me. This year, JImmy has a different aura around him. I’ve talked to Jimmy a lot of times, but Jimmy had a different feel about him, a different vibe about him. That was the most encouraging sign.

On if this team’s psyche is finally repaired?

I think it is. There’s a whole different kind of spirited leadership. Brian Smith is a solid leader. Jimmy Clausen appears to really be developing as a leader. Kyle McCarthy is a good leader and Scott Smith is the captain of special teams, and a really solid guy. There’s going to be some adversity, it’s going to happen to every team every season. I mean look at Florida, they’ve never gone undefeated in the years they won the national championship. You’re going to have those moments, and how you respond to adversity really tells you about the quality of the people and the quality of the team.