The feeding frenzy began long before Sunday's announcement that Bob Davie was out at Notre Dame. Christian Olsen, a top-10 QB recruit from New Jersey who verbally committed to ND over the summer, started receiving calls from other schools five weeks ago.

"As soon as all the speculation hit, they started calling," says Olsen's dad, Chris, his coach at Wayne Hills High. "But then after we watched that press conference Sunday afternoon, we got flooded. Coaches from California to the East Coast and the deep South all wanted to talk with Christian."

Similar drama was unfolding all over the country at the homes of the other 11 recruits who had already committed to ND. "Between 5 p.m. and 10:30 Sunday night, I think I had 30 schools call me," says Jeremy VanAlstyne, a 6'3", 235-pound LB from Greenwood, Ind.

In recruiting, perception is everything. Rival recruiters know the longer the Irish wait to name their new leader, the more vulnerable their recruits are. It doesn't help matters that the Irish assistant coaches, the ones who reel in the recruits, are almost certain to be booted along with their old boss. So keeping the ties strong isn't easy.

Late Sunday night, the Olsens received another call. Chris Olsen says this one came from Bernard Muir, an associate AD at Notre Dame, who told the young QB that his visit to South Bend this weekend was cancelled (Jake Carney, a DB commit from Kentucky, had also been scheduled to visit), along with the Irish football banquet. "He told us he thinks they can have this whole thing wrapped up in seven to 10 days and have a new coach named," says Chris Olsen. "And it will be a big name."

Notre Dame officials and coaches weren't available for comment. But based on interviews with recruits and their families, it appears that the lame-duck ND assistants are doing their duty, as the unwritten code of college football requires them to do. (They are still under contract for the rest of the year, or until canned by the new boss.)

On Monday, the assistants started to re-connect with their recruits. VanAlstyne got a visit at school Tuesday from Irish WR coach Joker Phillips. VanAlstyne says Phillips told him he had talked with the admissions people at Notre Dame, and assured him that his scholarship was secure.

On Wednesday, ND O-line coach Steve Addazio dropped by the Olsen house. The 6'4", 225-pound QB remembers Addazio's message as simple and direct: "Notre Dame was Notre Dame before we got there, and it's going to be Notre Dame after we leave. And Notre Dame is the right place for you. Don't panic."

From there, Addazio gave a similar speech to Anthony Fasano, a tight end recruit who lives just down the road in Verona, N.J. After that, he was off to see Ibrahim Halsey, a TB from Elizabeth, N.J., who has yet to commit.

The Irish know keeping their class intact will be tough. Rival recruiters are great at working off of innuendo, and they're even better working off of fact. "They have no coach in place," says one assistant who has called a few of the ND prospects. "If I were a 17-year-old kid, I'd be worried about that. How do you know where you fit into the new guy's plans when you don't even know who he is? And some of the guys they're talking about are NFL guys, so they're gonna want their own people in there. That's a bad spot to be in."

The Olsens can only wait and watch and listen. "To say we don't have any concerns would be less than truthful, says Chris Olsen. "We need to meet the new man and find out what his plan for Christian is. You want the new guy to want Christian as much as Bob did."

Bruce Feldman covers college football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espnmag.com.