Jack Swarbrick heard the backlash from Notre Dame fans and others in college football about how the school handled the offensive coordinator search as it related to Utah’s Andy Ludwig.

The Notre Dame athletics director sent an email, per Irish Illustrated, to clarify how the Fighting Irish handled it.

“In this case, the passion is, however, misdirected because it springs from a fundamental misunderstanding. During our discussion with a candidate for our offensive coordinator position a national reporter accurately noted that the candidate’s buyout in his current contract was an “obstacle.” Without seeking any clarification from us, some of the individuals who comment on Notre Dame Football concluded that this meant that Notre Dame was unwilling to pay the buyout. That is not and never was the case.”

Swarbrick continued to say that Notre Dame typically doesn’t discuss personnel matters as a matter of policy, however it did this time because of the “extraordinary reaction by you and others.”

“To the extent the buyout was an “obstacle” in the case of one candidate, that was true of a brief period of time only because of conflicting information that had been provided to us regarding the amount and mechanics of the buyout. However, it was an obstacle we knew could be quickly resolved.”

The AD also added that Notre Dame will never apologize for being a good steward of the resources provided to us by our fans and partners.

The Irish ultimately promoted Gerad Parker to the offensive coordinator position.