“Davie was starting to build a new house in South Bend and (somewhere in early) October, suddenly, it stopped. That was probably the time when this thing happened.” — An N.D. Alumnus on signs of Davie’s firing.

Bob Davie will have officially coached his last Notre Dame football game Saturday, collegeBLITZ.com has learned.

And if the Fighting Irish athletic and administrative hierarchy can wend their way through a few contractual minefields, the successor could be one of four people.

• Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden
• Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops
• San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci
• Oregon coach Mike Bellotti

"Yeah, it's 100% sure," one very well-placed source said. "It's been a done deal for a while now."

"It's a combination of things," he continued. "But he was told earlier this season he would not be retained. That simple."

Sources from coast to coast confirm this, varying from former athletes to influential alumni familiar with the school's inner workings to connected professionals who know numerous faculty and administrators.

The likeliest timeframe, collegeBLITZ.com.com learned, is that Davie was informed as far back as the period following the 24-3 loss at Texas A&M, Sept. 29, but the decision may have come even farther back, possibly after the 17-10 home loss to Michigan State, Sept. 22.

The Irish are 4-6 this year, 34-25 in Davie's five seasons in South Bend going into Saturday's season-finale against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

The litany of grievances — real and imagined — against Davie is as seemingly nearly as long as as a post-game walk up Juniper Road to a "prime" $10 parking space.

"First, there was the Joe Moore thing," one former athlete said. "The black-eye the university took from the (age discrimination suit brought by the former offensive line coach released by Davie) didn't sit well."

"But he never grasped the concept of what it is to be a Notre Dame guy. It's that simple. He was constantly complaining, asking, 'How come we can't have facilities like Tennessee or Texas A&M?' That was one of the most common complaints.

"And he complained about the academics, about admissions, about players riding their bikes to practice."

There likely were tales dating back to Nov. 23, 1887 when the Irish, without an official coach, started waking up the echoes with a tough 8-0 home loss to Michigan.

Not enough hot water, bus trips too grueling, why can't we get new helmets...

But Irish coaches plowed through it all, win or win. And they won often, over 75 percent of the time.

What did Davie in wasn't the off-campus booster where a female supporter allegedly played fast and loose with a few N.C.A.A. rules, offering players a variety of perks.

It dug far deeper, according to one suburban New York graduate who is well-connected to Notre Dame's administrators. The day-to-day operation was often a study in confusion.

"They went into too many games unprepared," he said. "They simply had too many times under Davie where they were clueless. The Michigan State game, two years in a row, was lost on virtually exactly the same play. That comes back to coaching."

But the clincher may be this, according to one east coast alumnus. "Davie was starting to build a new house in South Bend and (somewhere in early) October, suddenly, it stopped. That was probably the time when this thing happened."

Davie's ashen look after the 21-17 loss at Boston College Oct. 27 seemed to underline the likelihood he was already history. The tone of his voice about "turning it around" rang hollow.

The fact that through west coast sources, Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden has said he's been in contact with Notre Dame people would suggest he was more than actively seeking the job. And more importantly, that it was already available.

Gruden is under contract to the Raiders for one more year, but the feistiest Raider of them all, owner Al Davis, has a dark past of his own and is no stranger to a courtroom.

He'll no doubt throw up a legal gauntlet.

If the Gruden chase hits a major snag, Stoops' name continues to resurface. The Youngstown, Ohio, native is a practicing Roman Catholic with a deep Notre Dame affection and reportedly has an out-clause in his Oklahoma contract.

The O.U. website has been afire the past couple of days with rumors of Stoops' leaving Norman.

The other two — Mariucci and Bellotti — are longer shots, and some have mentioned Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez as an outside possibility.

But it would appear the primary candidates are Gruden and Stoops. It is probably over 90 percent certain that one of those two will be prowling the Irish's sidelines next fall.