SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Jack Swarbrick has a lot of ideas swirling in his head as he settles into his new role as Notre Dame's athletic director.

On the job full time only since Aug. 18, the first-time AD said Thursday his job now is to figure out which ideas will work and which won't.

“You come in with ideas and you figure out if they can convert into priorities,”

Swarbrick said. “My perception is that this and this are important to us, but are they? How does it relate to what's going on?”

When the Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, introduced Swarbrick at a July 16 news conference, Jenkins said he brought “an unconventional set of skills and experiences to the job.” Swarbrick was an attorney known for bringing sporting events to Indianapolis, including attracting the 2012 Super Bowl and NCAA Final Fours.

Swarbrick said those experiences will help him in his new job at his alma mater.

“I have very extensive relationships in the sports industry – a pretty deep network of people in broadcast, professional sports, collegiate sports and Olympic sports – that I can call on,” he said.

When Swarbrick was introduced last month, he talked about the need for Notre Dame to be in the forefront as college athletics undergoes massive changes over the next 10 years. Swarbrick believes his experience building coalitions will help.

“Whether it's building a major athletic facility, bidding on a Super Bowl, working with the NCAA and the NBA to come together over a new youth basketball business, all of those things involve taking parties who aren't necessarily natural partners, or don't have an existing affinity, and trying to create some commonality and a shared vision,” he said.

Swarbrick has met all the coaches, but still is in the process of sitting down with each to discuss their program's needs and desires.

“I want every coach to have clearly in mind what their path to a national championship is,” he said. “Now we may conclude for facility reasons or for scheduling reasons or other things it might not be practical for that squad to get there. But that's the starting point of the evaluation.”

Football is not one of the sports where a national championship might be impractical for any reason, Swarbrick said. Swarbrick said he likes football coach Charlie Weis even though Swarbrick, who grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., cheers for the Mets and the Colts and Weis cheers for the Yankees and Patriots.

“I'm a fan of anybody who is passionate about what they do, cares desperately about his family and who is direct,” Swarbrick said. “You have those three things, you're going to have a hard time having a bad relationship with me.”