Why Notre Dame football will never be great again
It has been over 20 years since the Notre Dame football team won a national championship. Its present coach, Charlie Weis, is on the brink of being fired. But it doesn’t matter who is at the helm. The Irish will never be great again. Here are the reasons. First, the cultural memory of Notre Dame greatness has vanished. This means that recruits, all born after the last championship, will not be lured by that tradition. Second, compared to the cities in which the sunbelt football powers reside, South Bend, Indiana feels like a refrain in a Dust Bowl folk song. If you were 18 years old and had a choice between a football power in the sunbelt or Notre Dame, where would you rather play? Third, the ND campus is a geographic and aesthetic nightmare. It is both sprawling and cluttered, if you can imagine such a combination. And because of its geography and infrastructure, it always feels abandoned. Unlike other campuses, you don’t get the sense that there’s anything going on there, except when there’s a home football game. Fourth, ND refuses to join a major conference. Their schedule is haphazard and aside from the lopsided USC rivalry, each season brings no real “big games” to look forward to. At Texas, for example, there is Oklahoma, A & M, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. At ND, there is Michigan and Michigan State in addition to USC. But the former two are not in their ascendancy, and ND is no factor in their conference standings.
Let’s face it. It’s all over for ND. Remember the golden age fondly. But it’s gone forever.
I disagree. I think Swarbrick has yet to fully make his own impact on the team/department. Also, with the return of former heavyweights like Alabama and Oklahoma, I slaver at the idea of an ND-Bama matchup, provided we’re actually good.
I’d vote for Brian Kelly of Cinci.
I’ve also heard through the grapevine that ND has banned all tracking of the University jet. Does this mean they’re flying all over the country, screening new candidates?
I respectfully disagree.
Kids are choosing to play at ND. They just don’t seem to perform well for Weis. A new coach match NDs highly touted recruits with on field results that match the hoopla.
Also, I think ND has several more years with NBC. A couple of good seasons and they will be on firmer ground when it comes time for renewal.
That being said, I do think it would be best for ND overall if it joined the Big Ten. What ND lacks is a home state recruiting ground. They already do well mining talent from PA and OH. Joining the conference would probably help them pick off a few more kids from those states.
As a Penn State Alum, it would give us someone to set up an end of year rivalry game with. MSU just doesn’t cut it.
Sorry – I omitted a word.
A new coach ‘could’ match NDs highly touted recruits with on field results that match the hoopla.
Isn’t despair a sin?
/s/
Loyal Domer
Frank, someone is just disgusted with your attitude!
Chasing a stupid dream causes nothing but heartache…
Everything you say here is arguably true except your characterization of the campus as an aesthetic nightmare. In my four years at ND, I found ND’s campus far more beautiful and pleasant than the most other college campuses I visited — you know, the ones smack in the middle of the city where you have to hail a cab to get to class. Always feels abandoned? I don’t think any undergrads would share that sentiment. Quiet, maybe, but then that’s what a place of study should be like, right?
ND’s got a lot to be criticized for. The campus isn’t one of them.
The football team and commencement speakers, on the other hand…
I knew someone would bring up “Rudy”!
But even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Thats right boys and girls, its over. Pack it in. ND is history. Pretty soon ND’s games will have no more significance than Ivy League games.
Don’t despair, this frees you up to do something you should have done long ago; pick a real team from the SEC and enjoy college football the way it was meant to be enjoyed.
I’m curious, Joel, since there’s always a lot of chat on this blog about the greatness of southern values, like honor and integrity–do you think the SEC football factory system, with its 50% graduation rates, rigged schedules where only 4 or so games a year are competitive for good schools, recruiting scandals, and general mockery of the idea of being a student athlete, reflects well on those values? Is Nick Saban someone you would want a son of yours to grow up to play for, or be like?
Jay,
First of all, if you think SEC teams only play about four real games a year then it is obvious you have no idea of which you speak. I guess Alabama could follow ND’s example and schedule a perennial powerhouse like Navy each year. Oh, thats right, with the frequency with which ND increasingly loses to Navy you probably think they are a powerhouse.
For a school with an undeserved T.V. contract that banks on ethnic/racial pride to bolster it’s fan base (two thirds of ND’s fans would not exist if their mascot was the fighting Koreans) you sure are willing to cast stones from your glass house.
I would rather have my son play for a proven winner like Saban than a demonstrated loser like Charlie Weis.
Joel,
I’m no ND fan; I think (D. IA) college football is basically corrupt through-and-through. And I obviously can’t dispute the absurdity of ND’s all-service academy plus Syracuse and Washington State schedules. I’d rather watch the NFL, where they’re at least honest about being professionals. Anyway, this weekend, Alabama plays UTenn-Chattanooga. They have previously played powerhouses such as Florida International and North Texas. Most absurdly, Alabama’s 12-game regular season schedule includes a total of four away games (plus one neutral site). How is it legitimate to let a school play more than half its games at home? The whole thing is a scam.
More broadly, I’ve just never gotten why college football fans love it so much, as opposed to the pros. You inevitably get a tirade about “spoiled” professional athletes (as if those mentalities came out of nowhere once the athletes went to the NFL). But if you actually like the sport itself, why wouldn’t you want to watch it played at the highest level, by the best players?
There was a column, I think in Slate, a few years back about how college football is the only popular American sport where games are routinely decided simply because the players aren’t technically very good (missed field goals, bad QB decisionmaking, etc). I’m not sure I totally buy that view, but there’s at least something to it.
Jay,
Every year Alabama plays powerhouses like LSU, UT, Auburn, and Florida. They also play several interconfrence games in the toughest division in the toughest confrence in college football.
I’d be all over the Fighting Koreans…
Frank, you are right that ND faces challenges — serious, structural ones — and that it probably will not ever be the world-beater in football it once was. (Though, a team with Clausen, Tate, and Floyd is a team that, one would think, could do a lot of damage, with the right leadership.) That said, your observation about the campus is way off base. ND’s campus is gorgeous, and football weekends on campus are a delight.
It has been reported in the last week or so that ND will fire Weis and that OU’s Bob Stoops is a top candidate. It seems like Oklahoma goes through this every year with a rumor as to whether or not Stoops will stay. But, the South Bend paper reported this, and this is a bad season here for Stoops, so who knows? But, ND would definitely improve with Stoops.
What Rick said.
I wouldn’t be so pessimistic. ND fb still has a great fan base. This brings in money to support the program, and means that lots of football crazy kids grow up dreaming of playing for ND. But, most importantly, even potential players who don’t grow up as ND fans (& who don’t remember ND’s last championship) want, among other things, to play where football is a big deal — & it’s a very big deal at ND.
“do you think the SEC football factory system, with its 50% graduation rates, rigged schedules where only 4 or so games a year are competitive for good schools, recruiting scandals, and general mockery of the idea of being a student athlete, reflects well on those values? Is Nick Saban someone you would want a son of yours to grow up to play for, or be like?”
Alabama has more graduating seniors than any other school in FBS football
If Georgia Tech and Texas Tech can be competitive at a high level, so can Notre Dame. It might very well take a coach with a contrarian offensive philosophy — again, see the Yellow Jackets under Paul Johnson, and TT under Mike Leach — to do it. Such coaches are a rare breed.