The Triple Option: Buttigieg & Harbaugh Coming To Notre Dame

Welcome to the Friday edition of The Triple Option. Here are four stories you may have missed from the previous 24 hours.

BUTTIGIEG TO JOIN NOTRE DAME FACULTY, RESEARCH

Pete Buttigieg, former Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, was named Thursday as a faculty fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study.

“Buttigieg will work on two research projects at the NDIAS: one that explores how to restore trust in political institutions and another that considers the forces distinctively shaping the 2020s,” the release noted. He joins a group of more than 30 faculty and student fellows who will be conducting research on the nature of trust, the institute’s 2020-2021 research theme.”

Notre Dame undergraduates will also have an opportunity to take a course taught by Buttigieg, which will focus on “the importance of trust as understood through different fields. The seminar draws on literature, politics, economics and philosophy and students will have the opportunity to engage with other guest experts.”

No word, at present, if your homework includes watching weekly Dave Matthews Band concerts on YouTube.

HARBAUGH JOINING NOTRE DAME TEAM

The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team includes 12 new faces, including incoming freshman Alison Harbaugh. Harbaugh, who plays attack, is John Harbaugh’s daughter (and Jim’s niece.)

If you follow women’s lacrosse recruiting — and who doesn’t?! — this isn’t news. Alison verbally committed to Coach Christine Halfpenny’s squad in September 2018 and got a special shout out from dad when she signed her National Letter of Intent last November.

In case you’re wondering, John’s deal with the Baltimore Ravens goes through 2022 and is much more lucrative than what he could probably make at Notre Dame.

JERIAN GRANT HEADED BACK TO NBA

Jerian Grant, a key component of Notre Dame basketball’s Elite Eight run in 2015, is joining the Washington Wizards when the professional league restarts.

The Wizards actually drafted Grant in 2015, but he never played for the team because he was traded twice on draft night. After playing a season with the New York Knicks, Grant was traded to the Chicago Bulls. He started 54 games for the Bulls over two seasons before being dealt again to the Orlando Magic in 2018.

Grant was most recently playing for the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards’ D-league team. And, fun fact: He was a Wizards’ ballboy in the 1990s when his dad, Harvey, played for the Bullets!

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: “I SEE YOU”

“It’s amazing to me how much you can say when you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Bridgers co-wrote this song with Marshall Vore, her drummer, about their breakup. Pitchfork has named her new album, “Punisher,” one of the best pieces of new music available.

ARE THE SALAD DAYS OF MEGA BUYOUTS OVER?

That’s the question that Ryan Nanni is wondering aloud in his new Banner Society piece.

Here’s the part that made the most sense to me:

“Athletic departments know these coaches are unlikely to get much public sympathy. Most of them are millionaires, after all. Worse, they’re failed millionaires. Fans and boosters are not going to be moved by the plight of coaches that are no longer part of the program and didn’t meet expectations when they were.”

What else are you reading today? Share it in the comments below or sound off on today’s topics.