It didn't take long.

In the wee hours Tuesday morning, like a Web wave stretching from sportswriters along the shores of Lake Michigan east to Erie, Pa., and west to the San Francisco Bay, the word was — Jack Swarbrick for University of Notre Dame's new athletic director.

Swarbrick, a 1976 Notre Dame grad and partner in the Baker & Daniels law firm in Indianapolis, was named Monday by the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets as the likely candidate to replace Kevin White.

That's just a few days after Steve Orsini said he was staying at Southern Methodist University and the AD short list narrowed.

The Chicago Tribune quoted university spokesman Dennis Brown, who said the school was not prepared to comment. And messages left for Swarbrick overnight were not returned to SBT24/7 News by morning.

But that didn't stop the buzz among bloggers and others anxious to hear if the former chairman of the Indiana Sports Corp. and onetime candidate for NCAA president is coming to South Bend.

For further updates on this developing story, stay with WSBT-TV and WSBT.com.