I want to begin by saying I am not much of a Notre Dame fan, however I do love College Football.  Clearly with the talent you have year in and year out there is no reason why your record is worse than 10-2.  Your next coach should be Mike Belloti who is now the Athletic Director at Oregon!  Here's why:

1)  The Team Oregon has this year is his players.

2)  Phil Knight (Nike) wanted him to retire so he could keep the rights to Chip Kelly who is the up and coming Coach.

3)  Belloti wanted to stay on for one more year but Phil gave him the boot for the young guy.

4)  What a perfect opportunity for Notre Dame?  Look at his tenure at Oregon.  His Staff, Tedford at California, half the coaches at Boise State came from his staff?

Why do I give you this great piece of advise?  I went to Arizona and have been a Beaver fan all my life, there is nothing the Duck fans would hate more that Belloti goes to ND and has a National Champion within Two years. 

Good Luck