Awful And Preventable Tragedy At Notre Dame

Declan Sullivan Death Addressed at Notre Dame Press Conference

10/28/2010 4:28 PM ET By John Walters




SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- "I turned to the north and experienced a pretty extraordinary burst of wind ... and I heard a crash."

Those were the words of Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who was no more than 20 or 30 yards away from the scissor lift on which student Declan Sullivan was perched when it toppled over on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Swarbrick addressed media for the first time since Sullivan, a 20 year-old junior from Long Grove, Ill., died from injuries he incurred in the fall.

"The investigation began immediately," said Swarbrick, fielding questions as to who was responsible for Sullivan being atop the tower on a day when winds gusted upward of 50 mph. "Indiana OSHA is on the scene. There is a lot to learn here, and we will learn it all ... we don't have those answers today."

Clad in a brown suit, Swarbrick recalled entering the complex "at about 4:47 or 4:48" on Wednesday. He noted watching a couple of passes being caught before the high winds came from the southwest. At the sudden gust, Swarbrick said, he noticed Gatorade bottles blowing about and the netting behind the goalposts "waving sporadically. And I heard a crash."

The scissor lift upon which Sullivan stood had fallen to the north, across the top of the chain-link fence that abuts the field, and onto the road behind the facility. "I didn't see anything at first," said Swarbrick, "because there was nothing to see."

Notre Dame deploys two scissor lifts (and two permanent metal towers) during practice. Each lift is located behind the northern end zone of the offensive and defensive fields, respectively. Sullivan happened to be videotaping the defense, which occupies the middle of the three fields at most practices.

"The response was extraordinary in every way," said Swarbrick, noting that first responders from the school's campus security were on the scene within three minutes.

As players and staff, who had initially rushed through the gash in the fence to check on Sullivan, were herded back into the facility, Swarbrick and coach Brian Kelly remained with the mortally injured student.

"He appeared to be responsive to some commands," said Swarbrick, but as Sullivan was en route to Memorial Hospital in South Bend in an ambulance, the athletic director was informed that he had stopped breathing on his own. Sullivan was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

The questions that began to filter in Thursday in the wake of Sullivan's death, Swarbrick said, will not be answered immediately. As to policies regarding safety or oversight, he said, "Every (athletic) program makes it own decisions."

Earlier Wednesday afternoon Sullivan, who worked as a member of the athletic department's video crew, tweeted, "Gusts of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work...I guess I've lived long enough :-/"

But after an hour or so of practice, which began at 3 p.m., wind gusts were up to 51 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Shortly after 4 p.m., Sullivan sent out another tweet: "Holy (bleep) holy (bleep) holy (bleep) this is terrifying."

Notre Dame, which is scheduled to host Tulsa on Saturday, canceled Kelly's Thursday post-practice press conference and radio show. The Friday kickoff luncheon and pep rally, staples of home football weekends, have also been canceled. As for postponing the game, Swarbrick said, "Certainly we talked about it. Had a discussion on whether it was appropriate to play. We concluded it was, if only to honor Declan."

The Irish will wear decals in honor of Sullivan, who had been a football videographer "for at least two years," and observe a moment of silence before Saturday's 2:42 p.m. kickoff.

Other details worth noting:

• Sullivan, the oldest of three children, is survived by his parents Barry and Alison, sister Gwyneth, a freshman at Notre Dame, and 15-year-old brother Mack. A campus official phoned Barry Sullivan to inform him of Declan's death. Sullivan requested that he phone his daughter on campus personally to share the news, which he did.

• Players and staff were informed of Sullivan's death at around 7 p.m. during a meeting inside the Guglielmino Athletic Complex. Swarbrick said that he then spent another hour with Kelly. "It was a very emotional evening for him," said Swarbrick. "I tried to provide support."

• Notre Dame will practice indoors Thursday and Friday at the Loftus Athletic Complex.

• Asked how long after the accident the second hydraulic scissor lift was lowered, Swarbrick replied, "Right away."

• Swarbrick noted that he had attended outdoor practices in which the scissor lifts were not up. Pressed for details as to who is responsible for deciding whether they are elevated or not, he said, "People are being interviewed and asked those questions." Pressed further about possible changes in protocol, Swarbrick said, "I don't want to speculate as to what conclusions we'll draw. Certainly we'll learn from this."

• As to why Kelly was not made available to the media, Swarbrick said, "We're going to leave the football team and coaching staff to deal with this privately until Saturday."

• Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., spoke briefly before Swarbrick and did not take questions "Declan Sullivan was a bright, energetic and dedicated young man," said Jenkins, "and we will miss him greatly."

Whitlock said this.
Updated Oct 30, 2010 4:20 PM ET
There are some mistakes coaches can’t survive. Brian Kelly made one Wednesday.


Before Notre Dame reaches a financial settlement with the family of Declan Sullivan, the 20-year-old videographer who died in a tragic practice accident, the school must sever ties with its first-year head football coach.

Kelly should not coach the Irish on Saturday when they take on Tulsa.

We don’t need a thorough and exhaustive investigation to recognize Kelly’s negligence. A coach’s most important job, particularly at the amateur level, is to take every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety of the young people under his control.

Kelly failed in the worst way possible.

In recent years, Notre Dame dismissed Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis for failing to win enough games. The school canned George O’Leary for exaggerating on his resume.

Those "crimes" pale in comparison to allowing student managers to go up in 50-foot-tall lifts to film practice in hazardous wind conditions.

Mitigating circumstances do not matter. Notre Dame’s video coordinator should not be held responsible. Declan Sullivan, who tweeted before and during practice the weather conditions were terrifying and life threatening, certainly isn’t to blame.


The head football coach has final say over everything that transpires on the practice field. Everything. That’s why Ohio State’s Jim Tressel moved the Buckeyes’ practice inside on Tuesday when wind gusts made conditions unsafe.

“I don’t know if we’ll be inside or out,” Tressel told Ohio reporters 24 hours before the Notre Dame tragedy. “It looks a little nasty. I worry about our cameramen, their well-being up there 50 feet in the air.”

That’s the proper mindset of a head football coach. He’s paranoid about everything.

On Tuesday, Kelly and the Irish practiced indoors because of tornado warnings. On Wednesday, Kelly chose to take the Irish out into the elements. Coaches love to say, “If we’re going to play in the North Pole, we’re going to practice in the North Pole.”

That’s fine for the players. Student videographers don’t film games from 50-foot lifts on Saturdays. Not to mention lifts of the kind that aren’t recommended for use in winds above 25 mph.

Kelly’s negligence is inexcusable. He ignored the risks. Notre Dame should treat Kelly like a drunk driver whose negligent behavior killed a passenger or another driver. An apology and a financial settlement are not enough.



Having been young and stupid, I know how people make the mistake of drinking and driving. When I read about a drunk-driving tragedy, I have sympathy for all parties involved.

Having played college football and worked with coaches most of my life, I know how Kelly made this mistake. His team is soft. He wanted to test his players mentally and physically in difficult conditions and he wanted to grade the test on tape.

I get it. And I get that he’s experiencing terrible emotional pain.

But there are some mistakes coaches just can’t make without suffering stiff repercussions. This is one.


CONTACT JASON WHITLOCK If you have a question or comment for Jason, submit it below and he may just respond. :

This is worse than a recruiting violation or a sex scandal or even academic fraud. This is a 20-year-old kid who lost his life when he absolutely didn’t have to. This is a fundamental failure.

Notre Dame and athletic director Jack Swarbrick have no choice but to remove Kelly from his position. On Thursday, during a news conference, Swarbrick seemed most interested in making sure he retained his job and minimizing the public-relations damage.

Swarbrick made it clear that he was at practice less than four or five minutes before the lift holding Sullivan fell over. Swarbrick told reporters that he was on a conference call before he walked over to practice — the inference being he wasn’t there long enough to tell Sullivan to come down from the lift.

Swarbrick then suggested the winds gusted with an unprecedented ferocity, leading to the accident that killed Sullivan.

“Things started flying by me that otherwise had been stationary for all of practice,” Swarbrick said. “Gatorade containers, towels, etc. I noticed the netting on the goal posts start to bend dramatically, and I heard a crash.”

How does Swarbrick know what was “stationary for all of practice” if he only arrived four or five minutes before the crash? And given the weather reports for that part of northern Indiana on Wednesday, it’s ridiculous for Swarbrick to suggest the 50-mph wind gusts were surprising.

Notre Dame might need a new coach and AD.

Funeral held for Notre Dame studentEmail Print Comments176 Associated Press

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. -- Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly and several of the team's players were among several hundred mourners Monday at the funeral of a student killed last week when a tower from which he was videotaping a practice toppled over.

A bell tolled as an altar boy holding aloft a large crucifix led Declan Sullivan's casket out of the St. Mary Catholic Church following the 90-minute funeral service in suburban Chicago.

Holding hands, the junior's mother and father followed closely behind the dark-wood casket -- Alison Sullivan falling into the arms of a clergyman in white robes after pallbearers carefully slid her son's casket into a silver hearse.


[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Mark Black)
Mourners gathered on Monday in suburban Chicago to attend the funeral of 20-year-old Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan.
A somber-looking Kelly descended the steps of the yellow-brick church a few minutes later, as did star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o and half a dozen other members of the team.

Sullivan had been on a scissor lift last Wednesday that fell as wind gusts reached around 50 mph. Kelly didn't speak to reporters Monday, but said over the weekend that it was his decision to hold practice outdoors on a windy day.

During the service, Kelly and the players spoke briefly to the student's parents, Sullivan's uncle, Mike Miley, told reporters afterward. At the family's request, reporters were not permitted inside the church.

Sullivan's sister, Wyn, told attendees her brother's life was a spark, and though he died too young, that spark would continue through others he touched, Miley said.

Notre Dame's vice president for student affairs, the Rev. Tom Doyle, delivered the homily, telling attendees "to let go of the things that give you pain and ascend to a stream that will give you joy," Miley said, paraphrasing Doyle.

Doyle also compared Sullivan to a pilot character in Richard Bach's novel "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah," saying he shared the same passion and aversion to conventional thinking.

While nearly everyone at the service had tears in their eyes, Miley said, there was also laughter and smiles as attendees remembered Sullivan.

The packed church in Buffalo Grove, not far from Sullivan's hometown of Long Grove, listened to family members perform Irish music. Among the flowers laid by the casket, many were sent by universities from around the country, Miley said.

Kelly had said Saturday that dealing with Sullivan's death was especially difficult because he had gotten to know him personally as they spent time together in the film and video offices.

State regulators have launched an investigation into the accident to see if the school violated safety rules by allowing Sullivan to shoot the practice from the lift on a blustery day.

But family members have focused on celebrating Sullivan's 20 years of life and aren't thinking, for now, about who may have been to blame, Miley said.

"We aren't engaged in that process," he said.

Two buses brought dozens of Notre Dame students from South Bend to attend the funeral, Miley said. He added that the Sullivans have been grateful for the emotional support Notre Dame administrators and students have provided.

During a game on Saturday in South Bend, both Notre Dame and Tulsa players wore helmet decals in the shape of a shamrock with the initials DS in the middle. And just before the team captains met, a moment of silence was observed as Sullivan's name and picture were shown on the scoreboard.

The family has long been Notre Dame boosters, even before their son entered the school, Miley said. He added that Declan Sullivan himself was passionate about his job filming the team.

"He died doing what he loved," Miley said.


Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press